When did this actually become a rivalry?
When did the Trojans get enough talent that I can legitimately
say three of their starting five would be starting for UCLA (that
is, if they didn’t have the brains and academic dispositions
of the Cookie Monster)?
When did beating USC become a feather in UCLA’s cap and
not simply an expectation?
Look, you can say Saturday’s game against the Trojans was
just another rendition in the old song of Bruin-Trojan basketball
relations. Those gutty little Trojans made a nice little run at
beating UCLA but ultimately could not keep it going, and Arron
Afflalo just added to the heartbreak that’s been going on for
years of Trojan basketball with his jump shot that sealed the game
with four seconds to go.
UCLA has always been better. One year during the Wooden years,
USC’s only two losses the entire season were to UCLA. But
““ poor Trojans ““ only the conference winners were
allowed into the tournament, so USC was left to be likely the
second-best team in the nation, but without a tournament bid.
This makes me cry great big tears of joy.
But here’s the problem: Those days may be done.
This makes me cry great big tears of sadness.
I was at the Galen Center on Saturday. UCLA was outplayed for
something like 38 minutes of that game. And the crazy thing was, it
wasn’t just a case of UCLA playing poorly. USC’s
starting five may have been more talented than UCLA’s.
Nick Young would start for UCLA. Taj Gibson would also start for
UCLA, if he weren’t a 21-year-old who took all the years
since high school to qualify academically for a Division I college.
And Gabe Pruitt would probably start for UCLA.
UCLA used to be so much better than USC that the Bruins
scheduled tough non-conference games during the week of the
‘SC game. I’m firmly convinced this was due to the fact
that otherwise it would have been like a week off.
Now you have Ben Howland saying after the game that USC
“is a very good team,” that it is a tournament
team.
OK, Howland has said that about almost every opponent this year,
including Sam Houston State, so maybe we shouldn’t lend too
much credence to his words. But the Trojans sure had the look of a
tournament team.
They almost had the look of a Top-15 team.
And the Galen Center certainly seemed louder than any time
I’ve ever been in Pauley Pavilion. I don’t know how
much of that was the building and how much was the hangover, but it
could be a very intimidating environment if filled with more than
65 percent USC fans.
This is all to say that, with the addition of O.J. Mayo next
year ““ as well as some other high-profile, poor-academic
basketball stars in the coming years ““ the good times of
beating ‘SC like a gong are probably past.
While UCLA will probably consistently be a better-coached team
(as Howland is probably the most prepared coach in college
basketball), the talent disparity might never again be tremendously
significant.
The Trojans will be able to get those L.A. recruits who
don’t qualify for a school of UCLA’s academic
standards, as well as some national recruits looking for the
spotlight of playing in Los Angeles for a year to boost their NBA
profiles.
Of course, UCLA will not have to deal with players who are still
hooked on phonics, so I guess that’s something.
E-mail Woods at dwoods@media.ucla.edu if you think it would
be better to have the new Pauley open up during basketball season
in 2010, despite the fact that it would not be on Wooden’s
birthday.