The ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll was released today with UCLA at #2, barely edged out by North Carolina, and barely edging out Memphis.  UCLA received the most first-place votes (12).  There are 6 Pac-10 teams ranked in the top 25 (#2 UCLA, #10 WSU, #13 Oregon, #17 Arizona, #18 USC, and #21 Stanford), and there are 2 other opponents of UCLA in the top 25 (#16 Texas on Dec. 2, and #8 Michigan St in the CBE Classic, assuming both UCLA and Michigan St advance):

1. North Carolina (10) 0-0 739
   
2. UCLA (12) 0-0 734
   
3. Memphis (8) 0-0 731
   
4. Kansas (1) 0-0 669
   
5. Georgetown 0-0 625
   
6. Louisville 0-0 620
   
7. Tennessee 0-0 598
   
8. Michigan State 0-0 503
   
9. Indiana 0-0 479
   
10. Washington State 0-0 464
    
11. Duke 0-0 390
    
12. Marquette 0-0 381
    
13. Oregon 0-0 360
    
14. Gonzaga 0-0 252
    
14. Texas A&M 0-0 252
    
16. Texas 0-0 216
    
17. Arizona 0-0 205
    
18. USC 0-0 189
    
19. Arkansas 0-0 173
    
20. Pittsburgh 0-0 160
    
21. Stanford 0-0 158
    
22. Kentucky 0-0 155
    
23. Southern Illinois 0-0 137
    
24. North Carolina State 0-0 119
    
25. Villanova 0-0 111

Others Recieving Votes:
Kansas State 94, Syracuse 69, Ohio State 65, Clemson 56, Connecticut 55, Butler 42, Davidson 39, Xavier 38, Alabama 31, Mississippi State 30, Florida 26, Wisconsin 21, Illinois 16, Washington 12, Brigham Young 12, Nevada 8, Bradley 7, Virginia 7, Virginia Commonwealth 5, Utah 4, Baylor 3, Old Dominion 3, Saint Joseph's 3, Fresno State 2, George Mason 2, Utah State 2, Notre Dame 1, California 1, Maryland 1.

Apologies if this has been posted before.

According to the Oddsmakers' Top 30, UCLA is ranked #6.  This comes even after last week's win over BYU (which is still in their top 30, so maybe they are a decent team?).  Apparently, they think we are underrated (as well as ASU).  Interesting that UCLA is ranked above teams like Florida and Cal.  It also seems that Vegas doesn't have a high opinion of the Big T(elev)en, with Wisconsin and Ohio St considered overrated and no team in that conference above #12.  It also shows Nebraska as underrated, which if the oddsmakers are correct (and they probably wouldn't be oddsmakers if they weren't), means it will be a very good game against U$C.

(AP rank in parentheses)

1. Southern Cal (1)
   
2. LSU (2)
   
3. Oklahoma (3)
   
4. Texas (6)
   
5. West Virginia (4)
   
6. UCLA (11)
   
7. Nebraska (14)
   
8. Louisville (9)
   
8. Florida (5)
   
10. California (8)
    
11. Georgia Tech (15)
    
12. Penn State (12)
    
13. Ohio State (10)
    
14. Wisconsin (7)
    
15. South Carolina (17)
    
16. Oregon (19)
    
17. Arizona State (31)
    
18. Arkansas (16)
    
19. Rutgers (13)
    
20. Missouri (27)
    
21. Boston College (21)
    
22. Virginia Tech (18)
    
23. Florida State (35)
    
24. Tennessee (22)
    
24. Texas Christian (30)
    
26. Miami (zero votes)
    
27. BYU (zero votes)
    
27. Hawaii (24)
    
27. Georgia (23)
    
30. Alabama (28)

I figure that there are a fair number of people on this site who are golf enthusiasts, so they may know more about this than I do.  Why is the passing of Tiger Woods' father such a big deal?  I don't mean any offense to the Woods family, but it is more a question of why media outlets don't make bigger stories of the passing of other star athletes' parents.  Anyone know why this story is so much more important than, say, Pat Riley's mother dying recently, or Bobby Bonds, or any of the other athletes/coaches who lost siblings/parents?  Is it just because of Tiger Woods' stature in the sports world, or is it something more specific about Earl Woods?  

But what the hell do I know?  I should just put a sock in it, or I'll be outta here like shit through a goose.

As of the time I am posting this, SI has awarded LSU with the victory over UCLA.  If you look at the records of each before and after the LSU game, you will see that LSU is actually credited with the win.  I'm sure they are all celebrating in Baton Rouge tonight!

From the diaries. Just one more add. Coach Wooden coached at an athletic chapel shrined with NCAA championships, the Chevy Salesman coaches at an athletic institution that has turned into USC of the East (a thug school). GO BRUINS -Nestor

I know many people have seen the asinine story comparing Coach Krackheadski's run of Sweet 16s to that of Coach Wooden's championships, and today in the LA Times, Chris Dufresne writes about how people (east of the Rockies, that is) tend to forget and understate Coach Wooden's achievements.  

Among other things, he talks about people comparing Duke to Wooden's UCLA teams:

Last year, before Michigan State played Duke in the Austin Regional, Spartan Coach Tom Izzo was asked to compare Wooden's 12-year run to Krzyzewski's success.

"UCLA was awfully good," Izzo said at the time. "When you look at this modern-day era with the parity being so much better, it is more incredible what Mike has done there."

More incredible.

Wooden's record in the Final Four was 21-3.

Krzyzewski is 10-7.

Dean Smith was 8-11.

Wooden was 10-0 in title games; Krzyzewski is 3-4.

Let's get a grip.

It's a pretty good read, and still leaves me awestruck to read about all of this, even though I have heard it all so many times before.

ESPN is reporting that sources say Kelvin Sampson is leaving OU to coach at Indiana.  

Thoughts?

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From the diaries. -N

Sure, it's an exhibition game, but if you want to catch a glimpse of future Bruin James Keefe, he will be playing in the McDonald's All-American High School Game.  You'll also get to see the poor fools who chose other schools instead (like Arizona's Chase Budinger, who will probably see a non-senile coach for the last time during this game).

The game is on Wednesday, March 29, at 10pm Eastern on ESPN.

for the Hate-o-rade?

I LOVE UCLA.  And I know everyone else here on this site does too.  But I feel like a lot of posting up here is all about how this sportswriter is dumb, and that coach is dumb, and this TV network, or newspaper columnist, or whoever else says bad things about us deserves to be strung up by their giggleberries.  

There are so many great stories going on in college basketball (not just at UCLA, but at other schools like GMU), but it seems like the negative sentiments outweigh the positive ones by about 20-to-1.  

I think it is awesome that everyone here is so passionate about UCLA sports (and damn well they should be!), but I feel like we should take an example from classy coaches like John Wooden and Ben Howland, who would have challenged all these dumbass media types by WINNING, and not by saying how stupid they are, or how biased they are.  I think we are well aware of the world we live in and the way that many sportswriters and people in the MSM look at West Coast basketball, but if we truly are the classy students, alumni, and friends of the UCLA program that we are supposed to be, shouldn't we be above the jealousy or stupidity that they exude, instead of stooping to their levels and complaining about it?  I fear that non-Bruins visiting this site may think we are just a bunch of whiners, when in fact we are just people who love UCLA and want people to be aware that we not only have a great sports program but an amazing University with the world's best students and alumni.

I'll admit that there have been times that reading what these sportswriters have said and listening to some of the talking heads has annoyed me.  I may have even posted a comment or 2 about it.  But it seems like there are some people who just like to post about all the bad things other people say about us.

Don't ever lose the passion that you guys have for UCLA sports.  I would rather hear a bunch of bitching than a bunch of apathy.  I'm not saying that every post should be some happy lovefest.  I just think it can be done without so much complaining.

As if we needed MORE reason to believe that Afflalo is a badass:

Before the season began, I remember watching an interview with Arron Afflalo on TV where he said that this team was "talented enough to make the Final Four," even though he conceded that most people wouldn't believe it.  Watching that at home, I thought to myself, "I'm glad he thinks that way, but I'll be happy with a Sweet 16 this year."  Well, here he is, one of the few who KNEW from the beginning that they would get this far.  I may have to consult him for stock advice later on...

Just in case people want to post here about that game...

By the way, since when did Florida allow WNBA players to play center for them?

Today will be a great chance to see some of the country's best freshmen.

In the first game, Texas plays LSU, and people will be able to see Tyrus Thomas of LSU, the leading freshman rebounder in the country.  He has been a defensive force all year, and they may put him on either PJ Tucker or Brad Buckman.  That should be a great matchup.

In the second game, UCLA plays Memphis, and each side has a number of great freshmen, especially Luc Richard Mbah a Moute of UCLA and Shawne otWilliams of Memphis.  Last time was Luc's first away game, so he finished with 4 points and 7 rebs, while Shawne Williams had 26 points, 7 rebs, and 4 assists.  Luc has grown by leaps and bounds this year, so he should be ready to make an even bigger impact than last time, as he has all year.  It is pretty amazing to see that both of these players had 7 rebounds in their first games at MSG.  

These 3 freshmen are definitely all first-team All American Freshmen.

Surprisingly, Rece Davis, Digger Phelps, Doug Gottlieb, and Rick Majerus all pick UCLA against Memphis.  The UCLA bandwagon is getting heavier and heavier over at ESPN....

I saw this on, um, another site that is supposedly not allowed to be mentioned here...

Looks like Bob Huggins is coming to the Big 12, but not to Mizzou...he's coming to Kansas State.  I guess their  basketball team was getting tired of graduating so many players.  I'm not sure how Kansas State fans will adjust to getting to the NCAA Tournament and losing in the 2nd round every year.

One-line diaries are prohibited on McCovey Chronicles. Give your diary a bit more thought, then give it another shot. If you have nothing to add to your proposed diary, then it probably belongs as a comment under another appropriate thread.

The minumum is 300 characters.

Word on the street is that one of our players has not been available for some games this year because he is ineligible to play, as he has had contact with an agent (but has not hired one yet).  Many Bruin fans feared the day this might come, but we all knew it was too good to be true to hold onto Kelvin Kim.

It turns out that there wasn't a roster limit for the Pac-10 and NCAA Tournaments.  Kim propagated that story in order to hide the fact that he is going to be the next big thing in the NBA.

In an individual secret workout at the Men's Gym, Kim dunked 76 consecutive times from a standstill, made 172 three-pointers in a row, picked quarters off the top of the backboard (and left 25 pennies, all heads up), and scored a 97 on the Wonderlic test, which is astounding because 1) the Wonderlic test is for football, and 2) it is out of 50 points.

Kim said that he feels comfortable with all aspects of his game except for "consistently dunking from the 3-point line," which he was only able to do 6 times in the workout.  Scouts, however, did not seem as high on him.  An anonymous NBA scout said, "His talent far surpasses that of anyone in the league.  I'm not sure it would be fair to him or to anyone else if he were in the NBA."  Because of this, it seems unlikely that Kim will get drafted.

Kim said that if he does not think he has a chance to be drafted, he will have to sit out a few games next year, in accordance with the NCAA's policy.

I don't know if this was done to protect him and punish him, but Oregon decided to suspend Aaron Brooks for 2 more games.  For those who may not remember, in the Pac-10 tournament game between Oregon and Washington, Brooks gave a little forearm shiver to Washington's Appleby, except that he nailed him in the forehead instead, opening up a gash that required 6 stitches.  He was ejected from the game, and then suspended for the next one, against Cal.  Oregon has since decided that he should not be able to play in the season opener, nor when Oregon faces Washington in January of 2007.  

I am both surprised and kind of pleased that they would suspend him 2 more games to teach him a lesson.  It almost seems a little much, 3 games for that, because most players only sit out one game when they hit someone.

I don't know if the NCAA is trying to be funny, but in the 1st round, the Bruins played the Bruins, in the 2nd round, the Wildcats are playing the Wildcats, and in the Sweet 16, the Huskies are playing the Huskies.  Just think if only Baylor had gotten the 10 seed in Atlanta...

Go vote for the Mr. and Ms. Bracket from UCLA.  It's in Jim Caple's story on his visit to UCLA. He essentially says what we all know: that UCLA is the greatest university in the world, with the greatest sports tradition.

Yahoo, Digger Phelps, Steve Lavin, Dick Vitale, Foxsports, Stewart Mandel, Tony Kornheiser, CBS's Dennis Dodd (as a darkhorse) are all picking us to go to the Final 4...

Hopefully, Ben Howland will be able to convince the players not to put any stock in any of this stuff, even though I'm sure they are all hearing it everywhere as well.

IN Oakland!

Shame on you, Coach!

Sure, we won by over 30 points.  But where was Kelvin Kim?  Given that he is the center of the future, he needed to come in and play those last 2 minutes so that he could show off his dominant post moves.

By the way, if announcer Barry Tompkins was not allowed to use the phrases "How do you like [insert player's name here]" or "How about..." would he have anything to say at all?

From the diaries. -N

ESPN's Page 2 is going to be at UCLA this week (or it could be next...it doesn't specify whether they will be in Gonzaga today or next Thursday) in its quest to find the most passionate college basketball fans in the country.  As we all know, the Pac-10 gets very little respect, and even moreso the people in the Los Angeles area (you know, like the ones who leave Laker games early), so try to get out there and show ESPN the best damn college basketball program in the US of A.  It might not hurt with any of the recruits who read Page 2, either...

By the way, this involves writing a 75-word essay about why you are such a big basketball fan. The stuff I wrote above was over 100 words, so I think it shouldn't be too much to write 75 words. Get out there and show your school spirit!

The US Basketball Writers Association announced its 2005-06 All-America teams.  Although there were no UCLA players on the All-America teams, there were two Pac-10 players chosen.  Brandon Roy of Washington made the first team, and Leon Powe of California made the second team.

The US Basketball Writers Association also announced its All-District Teams, where groups of states constitute each of the 9 districts.  In District IX, UCLA had both Arron Afflalo and Jordan Farmar on its All-District Team, as well as Ben Howland as Coach of the Year.

Congrats guys!

For the first time this season, a UCLA player was named Pac-10 Player of the Week.  It's always better to have a Player of the Week at the end of the season than at the beginning! Congrats to Arron Afflalo on this honor.

Just for fun, I'm going to try to pick what I think the top 16 seeds should be:

1s: Connecticut, Villanova, Duke, Memphis
2s: Ohio St, Gonzaga, Illinois, Texas
3s: Pittsburgh, UCLA, North Carolina, George Washington
4s: Washington, Tennessee, Georgetown, LSU

Just missing: Boston College, Kansas, West Virginia, Oklahoma.

I tried to rank them within each seed, but it was proving a little difficult.  Plus, I think Texas's and Oklahoma's seeds may depend on their matchup today.  

At the mid-season point, I made my picks for all of the "awards," so here I present to you my own awards for the end of the regular season:

Surprise Team: California and Washington (tie)
I think most people had penciled in California as a longshot to make the tournament, and they ended up finishing third in the conference, and had a chance to win the conference until their second-to-last game.  Washington lost their star players, until Brandon Roy stepped up and pretty much carried his team.  UCLA was also a surprise, but I think either of these teams challenging for the Pac-10 regular season title this late in the season was more surprising than UCLA challenging for it.

Disappointing Team: Stanford
Arizona also contended for this "honor," but it turns out that Arizona will at least make the tournament (though I'm not totally convinced that their record is good enough, despite their RPI).  Stanford had a solid group of seniors returning, as well as some new faces that were supposed to challenge for the Pac-10.  Instead, they had embarrassing losses to Montana, UC-Davis, and UC-Irvine.

Surprise Player: Luc-Richard Mbah a Moute, UCLA
Even more surprising than his impact as a freshman is that he never seemed to hit that "freshman wall," as many players do.  His numbers have been consistent the whole year, and he gave his all in every game.

Disappointing Player:Chris Hernandez, Stanford
Many thought Hernandez would challenge for Pac-10 Player of the Year, and instead, his team won't even make the NCAA Tournament unless they win the Pac-10 Tournament, he finished the season ranked 12th in assists and 12th in scoring.  If you think about it, for the starting point guard to finish 12th in assists for a conference with only 10 teams, that is pretty sad.

Tournament Outlook:
It looks like there will be 4 teams in the NCAA Tournament: UCLA and Washington are locks, Arizona's high RPI probably has it in, and California is firmly on the bubble.  I think with a win in the Pac-10 Tournament, California is in, and without a win still has a chance.

All Pac-10 Team:
(This time I will try to pick a 10-man team, like the Pac-10 does, but it will be difficult)

G/F, Hassan Adams, Arizona
G, Arron Afflalo, UCLA
G, Josh Akognon, Washington St
G, Jordan Farmar, UCLA
G, Dan Grunfeld, Stanford
F, Matt Haryasz, Stanford
F, Luc-Richard Mbah a Moute, UCLA
F, Leon Powe, California
G, Brandon Roy, Washington
G, Nick Young, USC

Like I said, it was very tough to pick some of these.  Some of them I just threw in from non-represented teams.  I'm sure there are some more deserving than who I picked.  You know, like Kelvin Kim.

Pac-10 Player of the Year: Brandon Roy, Washington
I'm surprised that some columnists are noticing Roy, saying that he is right up there with Redick and Morrison.  I'm not surprised that they said that, just that they actually noticed him.

Pac-10 All-Rookie Team:

Luc-Richard Mbah a Moute, UCLA
Jon Brockman, Washington
Justin Dentmon, Washington State
Marcus Williams, Arizona
Ryan Francis, USC or Darren Collison, UCLA

(Again a tough call between Francis and UCLA's Collison.  Francis has better numbers, but he has played more minutes.  However, he is also more depended upon at the point guard position, which is probably the hardest position to play as a college freshman.  Even with my hatred for USC, I tried to look at this objectively.)

Pac-10 Rookie of the Year: Luc-Richard Mbah a Moute, UCLA
He leads all freshmen in the Pac-10 in rebounding (and all players in offensive rebounding) and FG% (7th overall), and is 3rd among freshmen in scoring.  His defense against much bigger players has also been very good.  And remember, he has only been playing organized basketball for 5 years.

Pac-10 Coach of the Year: Ben Howland, UCLA
I would put Lorenzo Romar as the 2nd place Coach of the Year, but what Howland has done with the injuries and young players has been nothing short of phenomenal. Without Josh Shipp and with all of the injuries suffered during the season, I pretty much figured on waiting until next year for a Pac-10 regular season title, but it was great to see them do so well with their defensive discipline. While UCLA could have been a little better on offense in a few games, overall Howland did the best job of any coach in the Pac-10, and is probably on a short list for National Coach of the Year with Tennessee's Bruce Pearl and North Carolina's Roy Williams, who lost his 7 top scorers from last year.

Again, feel free to disagree with any of these picks (as I'm sure many people will).

I am glad to see that "Oomah a Boute" is playing well.  You would think that at this point in the season they would know how to pronounce his name.

Okay, so this is not real, but it is pretty funny and goes along with what most people on this site have been saying.  An excerpt:

The Wonderlic, a 12-minute, 50-question exam that evaluates a player's ability to learn on the job and solve complex problems, has become the centerpiece of the NFL scouting combine's player-evaluation process, especially at the quarterback position. Many teams, such as the New York Jets and San Francisco 49ers, all but ignore arm strength, field vision, attitude, and leadership ability, electing to use a player's Wonderlic score as the sole basis for choosing a quarterback on Draft Day.

"We originally thought quite highly of Young, who ran a seemingly complicated offense at Texas," said Houston Texans general manager Charley Casserly. "He had all the tools needed to score well on a standardized test in this league. Vince's completion percentage got higher every year, he was good at picking up the blitzes, and his ability to organize an audible at the line of scrimmage was unequaled in college ball. But his inability to answer story problems, diagram sentences, and solve simple geometric equations makes us wonder if he's really as smart on the field as he's been playing."