Back in October, when UCLA’s Arron Afflalo was but a
wide-eyed freshman, he harbored dreams of leading the Bruins deep
into the NCAA Tournament.
Now a grizzled veteran of four months, Afflalo realizes that
simply making it to the tournament would be an accomplishment.
“Initially I thought it wouldn’t be a
problem,” Afflalo said. “I thought it was guaranteed
almost.”
Not anymore.
Heading into the final four weeks of the regular season, the
Bruins know they need a strong finish to put themselves in position
to earn an NCAA Tournament berth. A victory against fellow NCAA
hopeful Arizona State tonight at Pauley Pavilion would be a big
step toward that goal.
“It’s the most important game of the year,”
UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “That’s how the next game
always is. When you get to this point of the year, the biggest game
is always the next one. Then (tonight) at 9:30, the biggest game is
on Saturday.”
Some of the Bruins, however, believe that tonight is more
important than some of the other remaining games on the schedule
““ and with good reason.
One game is all that separates third-place UCLA (12-7, 6-5
Pac-10) and fifth-place Arizona State (16-7, 5-6) in the conference
standings.
If the Bruins do complete their two-game season sweep of the Sun
Devils tonight, that could give them a leg up in the eyes of the
selection committee if the two teams finish close to each other at
the end of the year.
“The games against teams that are on the bubble are going
to be big games for us,” center Michael Fey said. “It
will help us even more to get these wins over teams that are
competing with us to get to the tournament.”
The Pac-10 has received as many as six NCAA berths, as was the
case in 2002, but this season it appears that only five teams are
in contention for at-large bids. Washington and Arizona have all
but punched their tickets, leaving the Bruins, who are currently
tied for third place with Stanford, and the Sun Devils to battle
for the remaining spots.
There’s no sure formula for what it will take to get UCLA
into the NCAA Tournament, but the players agree that they need to
finish strong.
“Eighteen wins,” Dijon Thompson said.
“That’s a solid number for me.”
“And even that’s not comfortable,” echoed
Afflalo.
To secure their 13th win of the season tonight, the Bruins will
likely have to continue their run of success against Arizona
State’s Ike Diogu, the conference’s leading scorer and
rebounder. UCLA held the 6-foot-8 junior to 15 points on 6-for-16
shooting at Arizona State last month, frustrating Diogu by double
teaming him whenever he touched the ball within a few feet of the
block.
That’s a strategy the Bruins will likely employ again
tonight against Diogu, who is averaging 22.6 points and 10.1
rebounds per game this season.
“The biggest thing I have to do is keep him off the block
when he gets the ball,” Fey said. “Once he gets the
ball, I know I have help coming.”
Diogu, however, has been more successful against double teams
lately, scoring 35 points against Cal’s double team on
Saturday, two days after he torched Stanford’s man-to-man
defense for 39.
Asked if it was UCLA’s goal to have Diogu pass out of the
double team, Thompson laughed.
“He’s not going to pass,” Thompson said.
“He’ll pass if he has to, but he’s just a natural
beast inside.”
UCLA has won two of its last three meetings with the Sun Devils
including a 66-58 victory at Pauley Pavilion a year ago.
That’s a result the Bruins badly need to duplicate to stay on
course for an NCAA bid.
“We’ve lost a few games this year that we
didn’t think we would,” Afflalo said. “All we can
do is try to get to the tournament because from there it’s a
fresh start.”