Prelude to 2014 March Madness: Where Will UCLA Play?

DC Bruins has the roundup of last night's thrilling, nail-biting, heart-stopping win in Vegas. That felt good to watch. Let's make one thing clear today and until the Bruins are in the Dance. While the feelings about the current head coach is crystal clear (and it hasn't changed at all despite what happened in the conference tournament), we are going to rally around the players - the talented bunch recruited by Ben Howland, who always had the ability to special things.

If anything the last 3 days have shown how the team under-achieved in a weak and mediocre Pac-12 conference during the regular season. Hopefully last three nights will allow Kyle Anderson and co wipe away all the bad vibes from the disastrous losses, and go on a big run into the Big Dance. Those of us who have been around long enough have seen talented Bruin teams advance into the second week of the tournament numerous times despite having a terrible head coach. This team is certainly capable of going to the Elite-8 - just like Lavin's team from his first season in Westwood.

For those watching the conference tournaments today we also have an open thread. In terms of UCLA, as of right now here is how the major networks (including ours) are predicting Bruin's seed in the tournament.

• SBN has the Bruins as a no. 5 seed in the East taking on Stephen F. Austin in the San Diego pod.
• CBS is projecting the Bruins as a no. 5 seed in the South taking on Harvard (LOLz) in the San Diego pod.
• ESPN is projecting the Bruins as a 4 seed in the East taking on New Mexico State in the San Diego pod.

So looks like Bruins will most likely by in Norman Powell's hometown for the first two games. And if that's the case we should cruise to Steve-16 without much of a problem.

What do you all think? Any other interesting projections, considerations we should take into account?

GO BRUINS.