Beating Southern Cal in basketball is not a big deal. We have always owned them, still own them, and will own them for eternity.
It doesn't matter how much the Southern Cal program gets hyped by the local traditional media (including a FSN network which was intent on highlighting the Trojans all night, not to mention saddling us with sad and pathetic joke of commentary from Marques Johnson, who forgot where he went to college in his quest to become OJ2's agent), at the end of the day this game belongs to UCLA.
That said, I really don't know how to feel about this win. It was a great effort, which was highlighted by another super human effort by Kevin Love, the NPOY (in the eyes of BN), and spectacular resilience shown by all of his team-mates. Ben Ball warriors lost their glue - the MIP of their defense - early and fell behind by 8 pts with less than min to go in the first half. But they came roaring back supercharged by KL's effort on both ends of the court. They went on an 14-0 run giving them a lead early in the second half and held on to a 57-54 win relying on their classic clamp down D. Here is the box score.
Yet despite a thrilling finish this felt like a classic pyrrhic victory because of this:
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian (via ESPN)
Yes that's the same ankle he hurt against Zona. The latest on LRMAM - the glue of our defense - is that he has a sprained ankle. Apparently the x-ray was negative. That is great news. However, I think it is a good bet he is going to be out in the first round of the Big Dance and might not be available (or fully healthy) for all the brutal second round - the survival round - during which our guys have had to scrap and claw, eeking out wins last two seasons (and there was that 4.8 seconds against Missouri).
Coach Howland and his players make up a special elite team who will never throw a game away and never mail it in. So I know they are going to come out and give everything they have tomorrow just like they did today. I know it is unrealistic to ask Coach Howland to sit out all our starters. But we just can't afford another night like this tomorrow night when a victory costs us so dearly.
I just feel weird about this win. It's not going to mean much to me if this game ends up costing us LRMAM's availability and a deep run in the Big Dance. Yet I can't bring myself up to saying that a victory over Trojans is "meaningless."
I just don't know what to make of it. This tournament sucks.
Anyways, I will stop rambling. It's all up to you to rock it in this post game pyrrhic victory thread.
Be careful ladies and gents. Don't hurt yourself getting excited over playing in the Pac-10 tournament's final game. Yay.
GO BRUINS.
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