Author Archives: Ben Azar

Coach Kelly Inouye-Perez only had one word to describe the way the UCLA softball team played last weekend: ugly. It wasn’t just that the Bruins lost two out of their three games to open the Pac-10 season against No. 7 Arizona State and No. 5 Arizona; it was the way they lost. The Bruins had […]

ATLANTA “”mdash; As confetti dropped all over the place and Joakim Noah ran into the stands to celebrate with the pro-Florida crowd, Greg Oden walked slowly off the court, silent and stunned. The freshman center had just played one of the best games of his life on college basketball’s biggest stage, but it was all […]

ATLANTA “”mdash; The second time was twice as bitter. As the UCLA players sat in the locker room following their 76-66 loss to Florida, suddenly none of the things they had accomplished this season mattered. From the dejected, defeated looks on the faces of Darren Collison, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Lorenzo Mata, to […]

ATLANTA “”mdash; All season long, Darren Collison awed fans with his speed and skill on the basketball court. The sophomore point guard proved to be a more-than-adequate replacement for former UCLA point guard Jordan Farmar. Collison added a new dimension to the Bruins, carrying the team on his back on multiple occasions throughout the season […]

ATLANTA “”mdash; UCLA fell short in its second attempt to take down Florida. Now, Ohio State gets its own chance for redemption in tonight’s national title game. Back in December, the Buckeyes (35-3) were slaughtered by the Gators (34-5) 86-60 in Gainesville, Fla., in a game that was nationally televised. But the Buckeyes’ freshmen Mike […]

ATLANTA, Ga. ““ It’s one year later, but Darren Collison remembers like it was yesterday. All of the success, all of the glory that UCLA experienced on its way to the national title game was viciously hurled right back in its face. The Bruins had made it all that way, only to fall short in […]

Among the things UCLA lacked in last season’s loss to Florida in the national title game was any sort of spark off the bench to quell a Gator run or dash into the lead. The Gator bench actually outscored what was supposed to be a deeper Bruin bench 15-4. Without any sort of resistance from […]