UCLA Roasts Ducks On Senior Day
by Nestor on Mar 7, 2009 3:02 PM PST
in Basketball
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PrintLike many others I didn't get to watch the pre-game festivities. I did see clips of it during the broadcast over the nauseating voice of a certain head coach in name only. But it didn't really matter.
Judging by the display of emotion we saw from DC out of the gate, we knew it was going to be a fun day at Pauley. Bruins were sloppy at times perhaps battling their own adrenaline and emotions on one of the most special seniors days in recent UCLA basketball history but they got it done.
JS, DC and PAA celebrate their last home game in the House Coach Wooden built in style by crushing a hapless bunch of Ducks. The final score was 94-68. Here is the box score.
JS once again had a phenomenal game finishing with a team high 28 points (and 6 boards). He probably could have had more as he blew couple gimmes but didn't matter. DC finished the day with 19 points. He did go down in a hard foul late in the second half which had the entire Bruin Nation holding its collective breath but I think he is going to be allright (keeping my fingers crossed). Per rye "after the game in a radio interview he said it was bruised and a little sore, but he’d be ready to go on Thursday."
PAA had another classic game with 10 points and 7 boards making his parents beeming with pride from the Pauley stands.
The whole team shot a scorching hot 57 percent and also making 13 of its 14 FTs. Oregon was limited to 39 percent shooting. Still the scary thing is, I think our boys could have played even better. I think ND really needs to work on his defensive effort and the team over all can possibily find instances while watching the game tape during which they could have focused harder. But hey I am not going to nit pick in a day like today.
I know many are watching the game up in Seattle as I type this but I really don't care. I think if our Ben Ball warriors play their game - defend with relentness, fight for every rebound and stay patient on offense - they will have nothing to fear no matter who they take on,
Let's just take it one game at a time.
Fire away in our senior day post game victory thread..
GO BRUINS.
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Good write up
JS getting hot is exciting to think about!
Oh, and go Cougs!
What are the shooting percentages up in the apple state?
Those baskets must be broken. No one has scored in many minutes.
I'll post my update on DC here again
DC didn’t re-enter the game and go right back out because he had a huge ice wrap on his tail bone. After the game in a radio interview he said it was bruised and a little sore, but he’d be ready to go on Thursday.
Nestor, I agree...
about ND increasing his defensive effort overall. But I was pleased (understatement) with him on four occasions that come to mind: Three STRONG blocks, and one HARD foul. Now if he can only learn how to rotate to prevent teams from having wide-open threes on every other possession.
On an unrelated note, it’s pretty exciting to see JS playing some of the best ball of his four years.
I would love
to see him sneak into the 2nd round.
If he's going to make it in the NBA
he’s going to have to become a dead-eye shooter. He doesn’t have great size for a 2 or amazing athleticism. If he can knock down perimeter shots consistently though, someone will find a spot for him. This weekend was a good one for him in that category so hopefully he can parlay this weekend’s success into postseason success and NBA success from behind the arc.
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Mar 7, 2009 3:12 PM PST up reply actions
He has to get better defensively too
or at least become more consistent. He has been playing much better in that department of late. Hope he keeps it up.
I was at the game with my nephew
and one of the biggest disappointments is we had only one foul in the first half. It was indicative of our lack of defensive intensity.
ND did have one good hard foul, but he had two breakaway layups that he didn’t challenge but could have. and Nestor is right. His overall defense was very poor. He was lost throughout the game, trying to stay in the paint, but not rebounding. So even if his defensive assignment didn’t light him up for one of 5 three pointers (one of which was contested, four of which were wide open) or the three open looks he missed, ND still was not rebounding, even though his man was out of the play. It was a very poor game mentally for ND and I was surprised with how confused he looked out there. He took three steps back defensively. I hope it was an anomaly, and he will bounce back. Its not a trend, but its certainly something to be concerned about.
"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"
by silverlakebruin on Mar 8, 2009 10:22 AM PDT up reply actions
Watched the game at Mr. BB's work
We can access ESPN 360 there. There was no way we couldn’t go without thanking our seniors via the internet.
I echo Nestor’s statement. Let’s take it one game at a time.
last game as a senior
today was my last basketball game as a ucla student, and i couldn’t ask for a more fun game. from seeing kareem, shackleton, and wicks, to killing the ducks – absolutely incredible.
for those of you that weren’t at the game, let me tell you that diefenbach got in the game because of us students. we kept chanting to coach to put jamie in the game and he finally did. when he made his layup, we went insane!! it actually turned out to be one of my favorite student section memories.
by inhowlandwetrust on Mar 7, 2009 3:14 PM PST reply actions
That was an awesome moment
and the shots of his family going crazy when he made that shot was … pure joy. Beautiful stuff.
Clueless Announcers, and not just about basketball
I was thinking it was odd early in the game when Gannon and the Lizard talked about PAA’s parents making the journey from their “village” in Cameroon. Yaounde is the capital of the country !! What an insult, and a stereotypical comment which shows a complete lack of knowledge. I don’t expect announcers to be experts in foreign affairs, but I was waiting for them to wonder why his parents didn’t bring their spears to the game. Pathetic.
By the way, does anybody know how he wound up playing basketball at an early age, and enrolling in a high school in New Hampshire to further his game and his education?
Here is a young man whose parents don’t speak English, who have not seen him play basketball before, and he graduates early with a poli sci degree while being the hardest worker on and off the court. What a great story.
I would love to know more about his background.
He is not only clueles, my friend
He is STUPID, period !!!!!!!!!!!!
Are you sure they havent seen him play BBall before?
I mean, yes, this is their first trip to the US. But, he did play in the pan-african games last summer, right? Did his folks see him play in any of those games?
P.S. WSU has closed the gap with UW
This was the first time
PAA said so in a few interviews.
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Mar 7, 2009 4:07 PM PST up reply actions
Why didn't WSU play this poorly against us?
Ok, so we bring out the best in everyone — I guess that’s a compliment. But, WSU playing poorly and still close.
Lesson learned: you have to win championships on your own — you can’t count on anyone else to do it for you.
sjh
That was one of the lessons my old man taught me early on
When I was 12, the Dallas Cowboys needed the Rams to beat the Saints on the last game of the season. Long story short, the Saints win on a last-second field goal, and go into the playoffs instead of the Cowboys. I will never forget what my old man said to me, “Well, you learned an important lesson tonight. Never depend on the Rams to do your winning for you.”
Leave it to my old man to use sports to teach me about life.
by bruinbabe2000 on Mar 7, 2009 4:28 PM PST up reply actions
That WSU loss at home
came back to haunt us. Can’t dwell on the past…there is a new season ahead of us.
Forget UW
Congrats to them, but let’s focus on the amazing send off for our seniors today. These guys are the quintessential BenBall (TM? It should be…) Warriors. Let’s savor the moment today, and then start gearing up for tourney time tomorrow!
I want avoid too much of the end of season speak
Because I’m sure the guys agree that it’s just getting started. That being said, it’s quite sad knowing that we’ll never see those three guys in uniform in Pauley again. They’ve been such constant and familiar faces that it’s just not going to be the same.
Aboya really stands out for me
I’m not going to talk about hopes versus expectations. We all had a guess about who would do what when the season started. Shipp and Collisson performed at or above the level of the guesses of most of us. But I certainly had no expectation that Aboya would perform at this level when the season started. Frankly, I thought one of our freshman phenoms would turn into the second coming of Michael Jordan and average 30 points a game. I had no idea which one would be the one, I just thought one of them would. Instead, the guy with the break-out year is Aboya.
I’m glad his parents got to see him in action.
Agreed
PAA had a great season. I never expected him to break out like he did. Who knows, maybe we get a similar break out season next year out of someone, like say, Keefe? Maybe one of the freshman?
by godblesstyus95 on Mar 7, 2009 7:54 PM PST up reply actions
DC Predicted PAA Would Have A Break Out Year
Look back to before the season and you’ll find statements by DC that PAA was going to have a monster year.
And, he did.
sjh
Yes.
That statement by DC to the student reporter has been in my mind all season. DC’s not just one of the finest point guards in the nation, he’s pretty good with a crystal ball, too.
Somewhat OT, and I think I may have brought this up before, but…reading and hearing DC discuss the game and his team has always led me to believe that he would be an absolutely phenomenal coach someday.
Love My Bruins
I think we'll actually play the winner of the 8-9 match-up (OSU-Stanford)
I know, it’s still weird not being the top seed. It’s been a while.
I'm almost positive
that the 1 seed gets the 8-9 winner, and thus the 2 seed gets the 7-10. At least that’s the way its been for the last few years.
by godblesstyus95 on Mar 7, 2009 9:48 PM PST up reply actions
We do play the 7-10 winner
The brackets are set up under the assumption that the higher seed wins so the #1 seed gets the #8 seed and the #2 seed gets the #7 seed.
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Mar 8, 2009 1:30 AM PST up reply actions
You're right
I’m not exactly sure what I was thinking.
anyone else think?
that holiday is trying to do too much right now?
Video of Senior Day
I have some video snippets of the pregame ceremonies I took from my digital camera. Can someone at BN give me some directions on how I can upload them to this site?
Classy seniors, classy coach, classy program!
by UCLA Championships Made Here on Mar 7, 2009 11:47 PM PST reply actions
Upload your videos to YouTube
or other video service (like vimeo)
The sites will provide “embed” code for you to copy and paste into a Fanpost.
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