Sometimes it takes an outsider to show everyone in the group how
it’s done. And UCLA coach Ben Howland is doing just that.
Sure, this is his third year in the Pac-10, but he’s still
a relatively new face in the conference since moving west from the
powerhouse Big East Conference.
The Big East is widely considered to be one of the
nation’s top conferences.
Howland would love for the Pac-10 to join that group. That would
explain why he called out his fellow Pac-10 programs after the
Bruins’ loss to West Virginia.
Contrary to what many national college basketball analysts
implied this week, it wasn’t just UCLA’s loss to No. 9
West Virginia that has led to a down year for the Pac-10.
“Part of our problem is scheduling,” Howland said.
“Some of the teams in our conference are playing low majors
or mid-majors on the road.”
And he’s completely right.
You can’t fault an injury-riddled UCLA (as much as the
team won’t publicly use that excuse) for losing to a
higher-ranked West Virginia team.
Blame the Pac-10 for scheduling road games against teams from
non-major conferences ““ and losing them.
It might be an unfair system, but major conference teams
don’t have to play road games against less-elite teams. And
mostly, they don’t.
Road games are tough, no matter who you play. And major
conference teams already have little to gain from playing a team
from a lesser conference ““ why challenge themselves further
and set themselves up for a possible bad loss?
The other five power conferences understand this concept (ACC,
Big East, Big 12, Big 10 and Southeastern).
The Pac-10 though, does not. Here’s a look at other Pac-10
teams and their road games against non-major conference teams this
year (not including No. 7 Gonzaga and preseason tournaments).
Arizona ““ Houston (loss) and Utah. Cal ““ Eastern
Michigan (loss). Oregon ““ New Mexico (loss) and Portland
(loss). Oregon State ““ Tennessee Tech (loss), Fresno State
(loss), Portland (loss) and Western Michigan. Stanford ““
Montana (loss) and UC Davis (loss). USC ““ Loyola Marymount.
Washington State ““ San Diego State.
That’s 13 road games against non-major conference teams,
nine of them being losses. UCLA, Arizona State and Washington were
the only ones smart enough not to schedule any of those
season-wreckers.
Ңbull;Ӣbull;Ӣbull;
NEWS FLASH: Steve, from onepeat.com, told me Wednesday night
that he had gotten an exact price on the billboard from an ad
agency ““ $13,150. That’s only $3,000 more than the
$10,762.44 already raised. Those of you who thought about donating
but didn’t ““ now you can.
Ңbull;Ӣbull;Ӣbull;
With my column last week on onepeat.com and the proposed
billboard, I had one main goal in mind ““ rile up USC fans as
much as possible.
Not only did the column spark more e-mails to my inbox than any
column I’ve written except for two (out of 136), but it was
linked and talked about on many sports Web sites and blogs.
As usual, people took my column way too seriously.
Take the Daily Trojan, USC’s student newspaper, for
example. Columnist Patrick McFawn wrote an entire piece on
onepeat.com and my column.
Instead of addressing our (onepeat.com and my) main point
““ that USC only won one championship, something that has gone
largely unreported ““ he attacks us for wasting our time on
this.
McFawn and dozens of e-mailers seem to think I don’t have
a job or school to worry about. They’re right ““ I
devote all of my waking hours to onepeat.com and the billboard.
(Note the sarcasm, USC fans.)
All the onepeat.com guys have real jobs too. We have lives. This
is just something fun to do on the side. That’s what sports
is about ““ having fun. Sports is about bragging rights and
rubbing it in your rivals’ faces.
“So while USC has too much class to hurl generalized,
blanket insults toward the personality and character of
Bruins,” McFawn wrote, “It will most definitely
acknowledge that onepeat.com and the Daily Bruin’s support of
such a wasteful endeavor is nothing short of shameful.”
First of all, I don’t speak for the Daily Bruin ““ I
speak for myself. I’d forgive an average reader for not
understanding that, but McFawn, a writer for the school newspaper,
should understand that. It’s good to see that journalism
school at USC is being put to good use.
Secondly ““ I’ve received generalized, blanket
insults about Bruins from many USC fans. One of my favorites
pointed out that USC men’s sports had won more NCAA titles
than UCLA men’s sports, and “you have to rely on your
women’s gymnastics and softball programs to push you ahead of
us.”
I guess women aren’t supposed to play sports at USC
““ just cheer when Texas scores a touchdown (Google “USC
cheerleader cheering Texas touchdown” to see one of my
favorite photos).
I love sports, especially riling up USC.
E-mail Quiñonez at gquinonez@media.ucla.edu.