Curses!  I swear I’ve never seen so many f-ing second-chance points in one game — St. John’s capitalizes on UCLA’s sloppy play and lack of boxing out, scoring 28 second-chance points on their way to a 66-63 victory in New York City

The Bruins just can’t seem to get it together on the Road.  Is it a curse?  On Saturday, they played erratically, allowing a bad St. John’s team to escape with a 66-63 win, when UCLA’s desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer fell short.  The game was close throughout, never being more than a two-possession game, with St. John’s holding a 35-30 lead at Halftime.  But the Bruins came back, behind 18 Points from Tyler Lamb and a Double-Double by Travis Wear who turned it up late in the game, to get on top after the Intermission.

The Bruins’ lead didn’t last long though, as they were constantly bothered by St. John’s Zone and PRESSURE Defense.  The Bruins shot a high percentage for most of the game (until a major dry spell in the last 6 minutes), but didn’t get nearly as many shots as St. John’s, or make as many Free Throws.  The main difference though was St. John’s controlling their their Offensive glass and cashing in, by scoring 28 second-chance Points.

It came down to the final minute, with St. John’s up by 2 with the ball.  They missed their shot, but one last Offensive Rebound/Put-back put them up by 4 with seconds left. Continue Reading »

A Buffet To Die For — UCLA Dance Team and Cheer Squad take Bruin fans sailing on a pleasure cruise, as the Basketball team tries to not capsize

It may be “sink or swim” time for the Bruin Basketball team, but when it comes to the UCLA Spirit Squad, the term “capsize” comes up only during tiara fittings.  These Royal Princesses of Westwood continue to defy logic — and gravity — by staying disciplined and well-grounded, even while seemingly floating above the court in Dance, and acrobatically flying through the air in Cheer.

No Captain who had this precious cargo on his vessel’s manifest would even consider abandoning ship.  Maybe Ben Howland is just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic before his one-wave-short-of-a-shipwreck team hits the proverbial iceberg during the Pac-12 Tournament, but the Spirit Squad remains a National Championship -caliber unit throughout, with nothing but clear sailing ahead.

If you wake up early enough on Saturday, you may see Continue Reading »

Each SC Dude Looks Like a Lady — Bruin fans not Lovin’ the Elevator ups and downs, but UCLA treats U$C like a Ragdoll, and gets Back in the Saddle with a Crazy 64-54 beatdown, completing an Amazing season sweep of the Cryin’ trojans

Dream On, trojans.  The Train Kept a Rollin’, and it’s the Same Old Song and Dance, as you just lost your 21st game of the year, in a 64-54 loss to your arch rival.

You gotta hand it to the trojans… because they can’t rebound.  No seriously, you gotta hand it to the trojans, for NOT QUITTING despite being totally out-manned and falling down by 23 points to UCLA early in the 2nd Half.  The trojans tried valiantly to stay in the game, cutting the lead all the way down to 10 with about a minute and a half left in the game.  But instead of using a full court press at that juncture — a strategy which has killed the Bruins in past games — and instead of fouling and sending the horrible UCLA Free Throw shooters to the Line, the trojans just played passively, as if they never had any hope of winning the game.  Head Coach Kevin O’Neill used his allotment of time outs, and the team didn’t quit, but when they had a chance for a miracle comeback, they just went completely zombie, and let UCLA run out the clock.  It was the stupidest game management I have ever seen.  UCLA is vulnerable to late-game comebacks, but the trojan brain trust just threw in the towel.  The 12 usc fans in the Sports Arena should have been ashamed.

To get their first sweep of sc in over a half-dozen years, UCLA dominated the game from the outset, by controlling the Paint over the vertically-challenged trojans.  As usual with short, weak teams, the Wear Twins excelled.  Both Travis and David recorded Double-Doubles, Continue Reading »

[Amended: 2/12/12, 11:15pm]

Bruins don’t “mail it in,” but a stream of cold shooting envelops their efforts to stop 1st Place Cal from recording a Blockbuster 73-63 victory

UCLA has no one to blame but themselves.  The Bruins shot under 40% from the field, despite TONS of wide open, high-percentage opportunities.  Cal’s Defense double-teamed Josh Smith inside, taking away one source of Offense from the Bruins, but that strategy allowed all of Smith’s teammates continuous wide-open looks, especially on mid-range jumpers.  But the Wears combined to go 5-for-19, and usual leading scorer Lazeric Jones went 6-for-15, allowing the Bears to slowly and methodically pull away.

Cal built a 17-point lead before the Bruins valiantly fought back. Continue Reading »

This strike is his third — Ex-trojan Rey Maualuga gets arrested for a 3rd time, after allegedly stunning a bar employee by striking him in the face

It’s a THIRD Degree Burn.  Former U$C Linebacker Rey Maualuga was busted this week — bringing his personal total up to three arrests — for allegedly bloodying the nose of a worker in a bar who –with unmitigated gall — DARED to ask Maualuga to leave because the bar was closing.

The NERVE of some of these bartenders!  Actually requesting for patrons to exit, when the bar was closed.  Did he invoke the classic “You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here?”  Whatever he said, it must have offended the oft-troubled Maualuga, who apparently felt the compulsion to deck the guy.  Could alcohol have been involved?  At a bar?  Maualuga is a veteran of Alcoholics Anonymous, and has received counseling for substance-abuse-type issues.  Did he ever quit, and then fall off the wagon, or did he just never take the problem seriously?

Apparently, getting busted for DRUNK DRIVING in 2010 didn’t convince him to change his habits.  He got in big trouble with the NFL for that incident, in which he crashed his Pontiac, while reportedly getting tested at TWICE the legal limit for blood alcohol. Continue Reading »

Enjoy Your Lunch, Ladies — UCLA serves up a sloppy, 19-Turnover effort, blowing most of a 16-point lead, but Stanford is even sloppier, with 22 Turnovers, as Lazeric Jones schools the Cardinal with 6 Steals, 1 Block, 6 Assists, 2 Caroms, and 21 Points to lead the Bruins to a 72-61 victory

The Celebration of The Return of Josh the Great may have been a little premature.  After being dominant in the last two games, Bruin Center Josh Smith once again found himself in severe foul trouble all night on Thursday, forcing some of his teammates to STEP UP.  But with Travis Wear returning from injury on the Inside, and Lazeric Jones controlling the game from the Outside, the Bruins were just fine without Smith.

UCLA rode an early 19-2 run — mostly performed with Smith already on the bench — to take an early 16-point lead.  But due to a rash of ballhandling mistakes and horrible passes, the Bruins let the Cardinal back in the game.  Stanford cut the lead all the way down to just 3 Points in the Second Half, but UCLA found their poise, and made the plays to stay in control.

With about 3 minutes left in the game, up by only 3, 56-53, Jones hit a three-pointer to start a 7-0 run Continue Reading »

New York Falls Into a Championship — Patriots drop 3 passes in crunchtime, allowing the Giants to back into a Title, as Bradshaw scores the game-winning Touchdown with a minute left, by falling into the end zone while trying NOT to score

The biggest GIFT to New York since the Statue of Liberty.

With a chance to put the game away, wide-open Wes Welker dropped a deep pass.  When the sure-handed Welker choked, it allowed the Giants a chance to come back.  Eli Manning took them into the red zone, and with time running out and the Giants down by only 2, 17-15, the Patriots decided to LET the Giants score.  Ahmad Bradshaw took the ball up the middle as the Pats stood there and watched.  When Bradshaw got to the one yard line, he tried to stop and down the ball before he crossed the goal line.  That way, the Giants could have run out the clock before kicking a game-winning, chip-shot Field Goal.

But Bradshaw, who had already fumbled the ball on an earlier play, pulled another boner:  He fell untouched into the end zone for the TD, allowing Tom Brady 57 seconds to potentially drive the Patriots to a game-winning Touchdown.  So New England took over at their twenty, but Deion Branch and Aaron Hernandez promptly dropped consecutive passes to make a comeback nearly impossible.  Brady still converted on a 4th and 16, but with 5 seconds left he was forced to heave up a Hail Mary from midfield, and it was knocked down to end the game, 21-17.

The Patriots blew an 8-point second half lead by Continue Reading »

Bruins finally win one away from the Southland, outlasting Washington State 63-60 in Pullman, where they have now won 19 straight games

Maybe instead of playing their home games at the Sports Arena this year, UCLA should have played them in Pullman, Washington.  The Bruins have now won a stunning NINETEEN consecutive contests on the Cougars’ home court, after holding on to a 63-60 victory on Saturday afternoon.

Playing without Travis Wear, who missed the game with a high ankle sprain, the Bruins had to overcome a Halftime deficit.  The first half was close, with a ton of lead-changes, but with UCLA’s Josh Smith in foul trouble, a late WSU surge put the Cougars up by 5 at the break.  In the second half, the Bruins fought back.  With Anthony Stover and Brendan Lane filling in admirably on the Defensive end for the missing Wear, UCLA was able to slow down the Coug attack, and Continue Reading »

Just because I usually shoot UCLA Cheerleaders doesn’t mean that I can’t shoot other iconic subjects, and New York is full of “Canon” Fodder

This week, I went on a three-day business trip to New York City, where I hadn’t been for a few decades, so before I left, I enlisted the help of a few fellow Bruins as to where to go, what to see, and where to eat.  This article and pictorial recounts the results of that advice.  Some of the photos aren’t picturesque, but are just meant to document the fact that I heeded their guidance.

Everything they told me was accurate and extremely valuable.  Every bite of food that I ate because of them was delicious, and every site I experienced because of them was thoroughly worthwhile.  I had an amazing time, and the Screening that I went to New York for in the first place was an unqualified success, so the trip was entirely satisfying, and completely unforgettable.

So THANK YOU to my Bruin Zone friends, for Continue Reading »

Rattled in Seattle — The Bruins blow a 10-point lead in the last 6 minutes, as a 13-0 ref-aided run by Washington overshadows Josh Smith’s best-game-ever Homecoming in a 71-69 heartbreaker

Despite one of their best Road efforts of the year, and despite Josh Smith’s career-high 24 Points, UCLA lost another away game, 71-69 to the Huskies.  The Bruins, behind Smith’s inside game and a late surge from the outside by Lazeric Jones, turned what was a very close game throughout into a 10-point contest with under 6 minutes to go.  But then they got sloppy and tentative, and let the Huskies go on a rampage.

Washington used a Full Court Press to create Turnovers and speed up the pace to “frenetic.”  They also used a Zone Defense to take Smith out of the game.   Then they capitalized on some low-percentage shots MADE by Terrence Ross to come all the way back and take the lead in the final minutes.  The Bruins still had a chance, but the Refs blew a Charge/Block call that fouled out Tyler Lamb (even Dick Vitale thought it was a horrible call influenced by the crowd’s urging), and Continue Reading »

Die With Your ‘Cruits On – Jim Mora, his energetic staff, and the UCLA Spirit Squad fire up the Bruin faithful as the new Bruin Recruits are announced

“National Letters of Intent,” or “National Letters of INTENSE?”

The new regime of UCLA Football ceremoniously “took over” the Program on Wednesday night, when all the new Assistant Coaches were introduced at a private function on campus for UCLA Season Ticket holders.  Those Coaches represent a new breed in Westwood, that seems to thrive on intensity, swagger, and emotion.  The new Coordinators were a little more reserved and serious/stoic, but the postion coaches were animated, excited, passionately devoted to UCLA, and did an unprecedented job of firing up the crowd of mostly older Bruin benefactors.  These wild-eyed Coaches had the old fogeys chanting, whooping, and hollering in support of the new administration, and of the incoming class of recruits.

The various assistants showed video of the high school players who signed with UCLA yesterday, and talked about why each one will be an excellent representative of the University.  The class has been ranked Nationally as high as #11, and is led by Continue Reading »

Good dimes, bad dimes, you know we’ve had our share – UCLA’s Season-high 26 Assists give Dazed and Confused Buffaloes No Quarter, as hot-shooting Bruins Ramble On to 77-60 win

After two straight Heartbreaker losses, it looked like The Levee Was Going To Break, but now the Bruins have turned the Page, and Planted a seed of confidence in all their minds, and in the minds of their fans as well.  Colorado came to L.A. tied for first place in the Pac-12, leading the Conference in Field Goal Percentage Defense, but UCLA ran their Offense so efficiently, that they shredded the Buffs’ vaunted D.

UCLA shot 60% from the floor — their best percentage in 2 years – and 9 for 13 from Three Point Land, on their way to an easy victory.  It didn’t start out easy, as the Buffs went up 5-0, and then 12-4, but the Bruins soon found their stride, with good Defense feeding the Offense, and great passing opening up wide-open shots to fuel a 22-4 run that put the Bruins up by 10.

The Buffaloes responded with heart and poise though, going on a run of their own to regain the lead before Halftime.  But the Bruins came on again, Continue Reading »