Welcome back … The first weekend of the Pac-10 season is over,
and UCLA stands unbeaten at 2-0, with victories over Washington and
Washington State.
True, it doesn’t exactly make you stand up and scream
“Yahtzee!” but after home losses to San Diego and
Northern Arizona, the Bruins will take any win they can find.
Steve Lavin probably sent a basket of fruit and fine cheeses to
the schedule makers, thanking them for setting his struggling team
up with the two biggest powderpuffs of the conference.
I wonder what went through Lavin’s mind as he watched his
team win two straight. Maybe it went a little something like this:
“Hey, this white kid can really shoot … Their coach should
like, set screens for him or something … Man, this team is great
… I wonder if I can get season tickets.”
I’m sure Jason Kapono also feels very thankful for
defusing Washington State early on, after lighting up the Cougar
defense for 44 points, including nine of 10 from three-point
land.
Watching Kapono play at such a high level was a bittersweet
moment: on the one hand, you see his amazing shooting touch put on
display and it is a joy to behold; and on the other, you’re
painfully aware that these performances are few and far between,
that Kapono is a jumpshooter and little more, and that his senior
season will probably be no different than his freshman, sophomore,
and junior seasons. (Forgive me for lapsing into the second-person
narrative.)
Still, let’s see if we can’t get a glimpse into his
mind as well: “I’m a balla, shot calla, 20-inch rims on
the Impala … I’m awesome, call me Wally Sczerbiak … TJ,
quit shooting baby, gimme the ball! At least Ced knows better, Ced
always passes to me, even when he’s wide open … Shareef
don’t like it, Rock the Casbah, Rock the Casbah!”
Elsewhere in the Pac-10
Arizona and Oregon clashed up in Eugene. Apparently the Pit
wasn’t enough of a homecourt advantage to prevent a Wildcat
second-half comeback. Still, Arizona forward Luke Walton is playing
on papier maché ankles, and that might be enough for the other
Oregon Lukes, Ridnour and Jackson, to wrest Pac-10 supremacy away
from Arizona.
Man, is the Force strong in this conference or what? Next thing
you know Obi-Wan and Han Solo are going to be playing center for
Cal.
A little something from the “I Can’t Believe
It’s Not Butter!” files
The unranked, generally pitiful, 4-5 UCLA Bruins are currently
tied with No. 2, generally awesome, 9-1 Arizona Wildcats for first
place in Pac-10.
In the words of Keanu Reeves, “whoa.”
Next up on the schedule
Here comes The Rivalry Game, as the 5-4 USC Trojans visit UCLA
tonight at Pauley Pavilion. If the Trojans hadn’t blown a
10-point lead to lowly Washington, then we might have had a game
with first-place implications.
But, it’s still ‘SC.
Last year’s matchup in Pauley featured a dramatic game
winning three-point shot by Billy “It’s been my
lifelong dream to be a Harlem Globetrotter” Knight.
But Billy’s dreams were shattered. Apparently, his smooth
stroke was tragically underappreciated and he’s currently
pursuing professional basketball opportunities elsewhere in North
America and Europe.
Colin Yuhl will soon take a look inside the mind of President
Bush, but wonders what exactly he’ll find. E-mail him with
your suggestions at cyuhl@media.ucla.edu.