Just like Old Times ...

by Nestor on Feb 8, 2006 2:24 PM PST in Basketball

Of course we are not quiet there yet. We are not close. But as we have been saying during last few months - we believe in Howland. And, we are more than confident he is going to take us back to where we belong - top of college basketball. Here is a writer besides Brian Dohn who is recognizing what is unfolding in Westwood:

UCLA's Bruins are back. Seven or eight years late, for their hard-core fans. A year or two early, for their hard-core critics.

A basketball program that even 12 months ago embodied the concept of "once-great" is regaining its swagger. After putting former tormentor Arizona in its place, the Bruins hold first place in the Pacific-10.

UCLA pounced on the Wildcats on Saturday, running up a 24-point lead and coasting to an 84-73 victory at Pauley Pavilion, giving UCLA a sweep of Lute Olson's class-of-the-conference team for the first time since 1997. Which also was the last time UCLA won a conference title.

And with seven games left on the Pac-10 schedule, UCLA is alone atop the standings at 9-2, is 19-4 overall, ranked 14th nationally, and probably headed north.

Old-timers who recall UCLA's 11 national championships will say this is as it should be.

But for those whose memories extend back only as far as Steve Lavin's Reign of Error, consecutive Pac-10 finishes of third, third, fourth, third, sixth, sixth, seventh and third have conditioned the kids to consider UCLA a middle-of-the-Pac school.

"I'm excited about where our program is," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "It's about good players. No, great players."

For the first time since the regime of ethics-challenged Jim Harrick, UCLA has talent as well as effective coaching. It's a powerful combination that has UCLA back on the national radar despite its players' tender years.

Five of the Bruins' top six scorers are freshmen or sophomores. Including Arron Afflalo, Jordan Farmar, Luc Mbah a Moute and Darren Collison, the freshman from Etiwanda High School.

These guys are athletic, organized and increasingly confident. They run, jump and expect to win. Just like Old Times.

lol at reference to "Lavin's reign of error." HT to BruinHoopScoop for the article. The writer perhaps may be reading some of our posts here on BN! Anyways - this article is only a start. We are going to see lot more of these once the restoration of UCLA basketball is totally complete. Of course we are seeing all the signs of our comeback and despite few hiccups here and there (largely due to our unprecedented injuries this year), sooner or later we are going to take back this sport as THE PROGRAM in West. It is going to happen no matter how much whining we hear from clueless and unsophisticated basketball fans of a nouveou riche program such as Arizona (no need to mention other good programs from West by name here - they don't have NC banners in their gyms). GO BRUINS.

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The Empire Strikes Back

"We are going to see lot more of these once the restoration of UCLA basketball is complete."

Is it just me or does Nestor sound like the Emperor contemplating the potential of a fully operational Death Star. Actually, that's how I've been feeling lately. I'm telling everyone I know that gives a rip about college basketball that they aren't prepared for what's to come from Westwood in the very near future. Having started up my tenure at UCLA in 1996, the beginning of the Lavin era, I had the great misfortune of pledging my allegiance to a team on the decline. Even though we put up some decent records and made some tourney runs during that time, I always felt that a coaching staff of trained monkeys could have pulled off the same thing with the likes of McCoy, Henderson, Bailey, Johnson, Davis, Watson, Rush, Gadzurich, Moiso, Barnes, Kapono, etc. For anyone who has attacked Lavin's ability to recruit remember that for the first few years the team was full of stud ballers. The real problem was that those former high school superstars never really improved under Lavin. What's worse, they rarely lived up to their potential as evidenced by the fact that we frequently knocked off number ones while losing to squads like Ball St. As time went on, Lavin's incompetence and inability to get consitant performances started to directly effect our win loss record, and the win loss record and lackluster play started to directly effect recruiting and weak recruits combined with lackluster play and poor coaching...well, you get the picture.

Fast forward to 2006, we have a coach who knows how to win ball games (defensive intensity, rebounding) with or without talent, and on top of that we have talented ball players playing their hearts out. As for recruiting, we have a school that sells itself (sorry Martin and all other Cat backers, but the desert just ain't gonna cut it for top ten prospects when they have a championship contender ten minutes from the beach). In short, for Zona fans who have been coming here and comparing us to last year's Washington squad, you just don't get it guys. This is U.C.L.-frickin-A. and we're back.

by Pyrrhus on Feb 8, 2006 1:02 PM PST reply actions