That’s the sound of everyone quickly clambering back onto the Bruin Bandwagon.
Just one week ago, after a dismal stretch against Arizona State and the Washington schools, fans and haters alike were throwing the UCLA men’s basketball team under the bus.
That’s just how it goes here in Southern California. It only takes a few consecutive rainy days for people to start crying “El Niño Dos!” and piling up the sandbags.
Admit it. You saw the grey clouds. You watched ““ with teeth a-chattering ““ as the UCLA offense clocked a wind chill of minus-30 and you ran for cover as UW’s Isaiah Thomas and ASU’s James Harden each dropped 24-point hailstorms on sluggish Bruin defenders. You saw all the ominous signs and you freaked.
You vowed not to waste any more time watching UCLA blow 11-point second-half leads and instead you would finally get around to studying for those midterms. You sold your tickets to March Madness’ Arizona Regional because, gosh darn it, at this rate they won’t even make the tournament.
But all of a sudden, after a dominating series against the Bay Area schools, I bet you are soaking up the sunshine, back in your usual attire: a Den T-shirt and flip-flops.
Don’t deny it, you’ve got good reason. The contests at Pauley Pavilion last week ran so smoothly for the Bruins, coach Howland may as well have been running a summer camp clinic. By the end of the Stanford game, freshman forward Drew Gordon was throwing down alley-oops faster than you could cancel your PayPal sale of those Sweet Sixteen tickets.
Now, after completing the first half of the Pac-10 season at a respectable 7-2, UCLA has only crucial games remaining. No doubt the question on everybody’s mind is which of these two starkly different Bruin teams will show up when it really counts: the one that goes for eight-minute stretches without adding to their point total or the one that seems to score at will from a vast and varied arsenal.
Bruin Nation need look no further than this week’s pair of showdowns against USC and Notre Dame for a clearer picture of what UCLA is all about.
One school of thought would point out that the lack of a consistent post presence (Hey, I hear Kevin Love is enjoying the winter up there in Minnesota!) will ultimately doom the Bruins’ chances. Both teams visiting Westwood this week will certainly look to exploit this supposed weakness as they bring with them some tall-order backcourts.
Despite the Fighting Irish’s trouble of late, forward Luke Harangody is still ruling the stat book as the third-best rebounder in the nation. The Trojans’ Taj Gibson isn’t far behind, ranking No. 16 with 10.1 boards per game and USC has returned forward Leonard Washington, who was absent from the teams’ game at the Galen Center last month.
On the other hand, however, UCLA’s biggest strengths are its experience and its sheer depth of talent, two attributes that often spell success in these last stretch runs. Howland has been singing the praises of his older players all season.
“In the previous two years, we didn’t have but one senior,” Howland said after Saturday’s game. “It’s great to have some seniors who have been through the wars together.”
In contrast, USC has no seniors in their starting five.
In addition to that veteran presence, UCLA has been dipping down into its bench quite often in the last few games to pull out some quality performances from role players. Notre Dame, however, has just seven players that average more than eight minutes per game, whereas UCLA has utilized 10 players at least that much.
If the Bruins want to stay on top, they will need those zone-breaking threes from Michael Roll, put-back lay-ups by James Keefe and superb passes from Jerime Anderson. The contributions these guys make are going to be huge, especially when the rest of UCLA’s schedule is loaded with potential battles.
The Bruins are the reigning monarchs of the Pac-10 kingdom, and they haven’t missed a Final Four since Dickie V had hair. Despite the dubiousness of some recent performances, the conference title and a strong seeding come March are still very much theirs to lose.
And as for you ““ ye of little faith, the bandwagon junkie wavering on the fence that stands between devotion and disownment ““ keep that umbrella in your left hand and the sunshades in your right.
This thing is far from over.
If you stealthily slide on and off bandwagons without making a racket, e-mail Smukler at esmukler@media.ucla.edu.