My time in the game thread is over.

Great win for the Bruins and while we can find plenty of issues with defense early, rebounding, etc., DO NOT underestimate the difficulty of winning conference games on the road. Rarely will road wins be pretty and our experienced guys really showed up tonight to pull out a gutsy win. Our starters played huge minutes and looked tired late, but they battled through it and played like true Ben Ball Warriors late.

Darren is the perfect example of a 4th year player who’s come into his own in a big time way. We are so lucky to have this kid. He’s such a gritty, classy player. They picked up the intensity, thank God, in the second half. There was a better sense of that desperation and more energy. The defense picked up. Howland managed a great game tonight. We were disciplined on offense, took good shots and made the timely free throws.

But, there were some big concerns. On one of those last possessions Darren had to make a circus shot after we passed it around to the guards and forwards without any entry pass to the inside. I think we need to utilize the inside a little more; at least get that extra pass down low. Also, Jrue vascillates between self-assured and tentative. He just needs to play basketball but I think is thinking too much. He’s such a talent. I hope he comes on here at the end and something happens. He needs to put out a better effort for sure, though. There were several times I thought he wasn’t hustling. It’s odd.

I’m glad we got the win and this thing is still a work in progress. I’m proud of this team for going up and getting two good road wins when we needed to prove to ourselves we could. This will give them confidence for sure. There just needs to be more passion on more possessions. Maybe they’re just trying to be under control but sometimes don’t hustle on every possession.

40 minutes of Knight was enough for me. Remember , this is the guy who agreed with that Kansas City Sportscaster who had him ahead of John Wooden on the alltime baketball coaches list.
I have a ton of respect for Pete Newell, but Knight comes from that side of the coaching tree and will never give Coach or UCLA thier proper respect. Head fake my ass.
I am hoping that tonights game is a watershed point for our Bruins. DC is the leader and clutch player that can lead us to some tournament wins but we need to be able to play lock down defense and take allowing scores personal. I liked when Coach Howland pulled four starters to put in a fresh crew.
Biggest concern for me was that there were many times that Cal went harder to the ball then we did. That accounts for at least one half of the rebound differential.
I’m glad we get the Beavers on a Thursday night at Pauley. They could be a problem.
Go Washington State- bite the Huskies.

1. Cal beating ASU would set them up for the third spot in the conference. That will give us the tiebreaker over UW if we manage to get into a tie with them. Also, if we lose a game next weekend, we’d get the two seed over Cal in a tiebreaker, but the three seed if tied with ASU because they swept us.

2. Cal is just outside the RPI top 25 and if they move into that RPI top 25 we’ll have three RPI top 25 wins on the year, which is a respectable number for the committee to look at.

One more note going into the final weekend. Not only do we want Wazzu to beat Washington for our own reasons, but if Wazzu beats Washington, USC will be playing in a Wednesday Pac 10 Tournament game regardless of what they do versus the Oregon schools.

If I can find enough to talk about I’ll put together a primer for the final weekend of Pac 10 player that delves into the possible scenarios conference-wide.

Field goal attempts: UCLA 65, Cal 51

Turnovers: UCLA 6, Cal 14

We held our own on the boards and took care of the ball. If DC can take his man off the dribble with consistency like he did tonight, and our D steps up, we’ll be a dangerous team.

Southern Cal goes down in flames again. SC basketball is irrelevant, as always.

Enjoy the No Interest Tournament, guys.

I was listening to the UCLA post-game radio show in L.A., and they interviewed one of the Bruin’s assistant- Coach Garston. He mentioned that they always want DC pressuring the ball, even if it is way near the half-court line, since he can disrupt the other team’s timing. Cal runs multiple screens for their shooters, but DC’s defense on Randle did not allow him to run their plays they normally do.

The coaches don’t mind that DC gets beat off the dribble once in awhile. This will happen since he is in the grill of his opponent most of the time. It is the responsibility of the other Bruins to cover for him by rotating. DC’s been playing this defense for 4 years. He’s looked bad this year by guys like Wise, Thomas, Rochestie, and Glasser not because of his defense, but the overall Bruin defense. I was critical of DC’s defense lately, but the coaching staff is happy with his ball pressure. I guess I have to trust CBH and his staff. We showed spurts of good defense this weekend, it is time to amp the defense to tourney level.

I would like for the Bruins to work on inbounding the ball more effectively. We’ve turned the ball over several times this year, and it almost cost us tonight.

Go Bruins!