So yesterday I made the trip from Vegas to L.A. to catch the game, hoping beyond hope that my experience this time around would be better than my last couple trips (the opening debacle against CSUF this year and the Pac-10 tourney loss to SUC last year).  Thanks to the two Tylers, it was.

The first Tyler is, of course, TH without whom I may have cemented my jinx status in the eyes of my Vegas friends (every time I make the trip for a Bruins game, we seem to lose, even in '07-08 I managed to attend two UCLA losses).  I knew throughout the game that TH was putting together a ridiculous stat line so when I finally got to a computer I decided to check his numbers against recent history. Here are the ten best statistical performances by a freshman (not named Kevin Love) in the Ben Howland era:

So thanks TH for an impressive taste of things to come.

The other Tyler I'd like to thank for making my trip even better than I'd hoped is everybody's favorite little Bruin, Insomniac's son Tyler.  About midway through the second half (IIRC) the scoreboard opperator switched to a shot of an energetic little guy in a white headband at which point I half-shouted to my girlfriend, "hey, that's Tyler."  I then explained to her who Tyler was and how Insomniac's accounts and pics never fail to put a lump in my throat.  It was at that point that I thought to myself, "Tyler is a Bruins Nation celebrity, add that to a list of pimp accomplishments." 

Later as we were getting ready to head to the car, the band started playing "Rover," and sure enough as I scanned the courtside area from a distance I spotted that same little ball of energetic climbing up to the second row of bleachers, jumping down to the floor, doing a little dance then repeating the process.  Both my girlfiend and I left Pauley smiling from ear to ear.

So thanks to both Tyler's for making it a great trip to L.A.

*Update*

For Bruin Dad and Grad - a complete list of the top single game performances by Howland-era freshmen.  Once the KLove ban was lifted the statistics study predictably became a Love-fest: