Final Four

First I just want to make a mention of my uncle David who passed away over the weekend after having suffered through a struggle with cancer. May he rest in peace.


How about them Bruins?!? UCLA came back from a 17 point deficit to Gonzaga and beat them by 2 points with an exciting steal, dish, and layup with seconds left. Then my Bruins went on to beat the number one seed in our region, Memphis, by frustrating them and holding them to a NCAA record low 45 points (for the regional finals.) That's 35 points lower than what Memphis averages!

UCLA makes it back into the Final Four! What an amazing way to go about it too this year, by winning the Pac10 regular season, beating Oregon St., Arizona, and Berkeley to win the Pac10 tournament and then going through Belmont(15), Alabama(10), Gonzaga(3) and Memphis (1). UCLA Basketball is back!

Sweet Sixteen

UCLA, by way of beating Alabama (62-59) this past Saturday have ensured their Sweet Sixteen berth. That game is against Gonzaga this coming Thursday night. I can't wait to see our defense against their offense, Most people will pick Gonzaga because they've emerged as from cinderella to dark horse to underdog to now, a favorite to reach the final four.

Due to the multiple season ending injuries to my UCLA Bruins this season, I wasn't sure what kind of a season we were going to have, but I did know that next year, we'd be an even better team than we are this year. As it turns out, that season full of injuries didn't sink our team as it would many others, it just made us deeper because we had to play and rely on our freshmen. I cannot say enough for how well all of our players, but especially our freshmen have risen to the challenge.

UCLA has been winning games because they play active defense. If we blow the other team out, it's because they can't score, not because we are scoring into the triple digits. If we are being outplayed on any particular day, we stay in it, giving ourselves a chance to steal it at the end, because of our defense. Against Alabama, we were tested, but really, if we had made our freethrows, the game would have been over. I hope coach Howland gets everyone to practice their freethrows before the game this Thursday.

Go Bruins!

Team on the rise

A terrific week of UCLA basketball. UCLA had already won the Pac10 regular season title, then they went on and demolished 3 teams in back-to-back-to-back games and won the Pac10 Tournament title as well. This past Sunday the field of 65 teams in the NCAA tournament was announced and UCLA is a number 2 seed! The first round games start this Thursday!

The Pac10 sent 4 teams to the tournament this year, UCLA, Washington, Arizona and Berkeley. They split the teams up across all 4 regions where the Tournament is played at and UCLA got the best region, the Oakland region. They play their first game down in San Diego, so not much travelling there. I can't wait for the games to start on Thursday! Go Bruins!!

edit: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=mrbracket/060315caple
good read. ;)

Madness Time Closing In

A wonderful, wonderful Saturday of basketball. UCLA wins the Pac10 title with a win over Stanford (after having previously beat Berekley on the past Thursday.) So they're the 1-seed for the Pac10 Tournament this week and will very likely have a high seeding for the NCAA tournament. Selection Sunday is this Sunday! And the Lakers beat the Pistons with Kobe going for 40 and Lamar for 24 points. It was the 3rd time this year that a player has scored 40 points on the Pistons and their defense, and the first time in those 3 times that the team with that 40 point scorer has won the game against the Pistons. I didn't think this team had a chance to beat the Pistons because of our defense, but it was a great win. I'm sure it instills confidence in the players, they've beaten the team with the best record in the league, albeit in just one game, but at least they know they can do it.

I'm such a terrible gambler when it comes to things that involve teams I love. I'm going to put UCLA into at least the Final Four this year in my office bracket. Depending on who they match up with, I might take them further but I'm at least going to send them to the Final Four. I really think this team has the heart and the talent to make a lot of noise in the tournament this year. It's probably a bit of a reach anyway though, but that's what I mean when I say I'm a terrible gambler. :) Which is also why I don't gamble on sports.