UCLA at USC

Who won the battle for Los Angeles? Defense won! That's right, basketball did not win, defense won. And UCLA ended up with a +1 in the win column. This game was supposed to be a premier game, with two of the top freshmen in OJ Mayo and Kevin "Beached Whale" Love. Instead it was an exercise in how to ruin a game with defense. The first one to 50 won.

OJ Mayo had double figures, but in turnovers! Tim "Pink" Floyd insisted on playing five players, and not even giving the rest of the players a sniff (until he got in foul trouble in the first half and needed fouls at the end of the second half). Even though USC played one game this week, the grinding nature of the game wore out the five USC players.

Meanwhile UCLA showed once again why their defense is so good. They foul multiple times per possession. And don't forget the way they screen on offense. Even UCLA great Marques Johnson confessed that the Bruins are "very aggressive" when setting screens and the zebras are not going to call most of them.

Arggg! What have all these slugfest coaches done with my Pac-10? :(


PS> Big props to Marques Johnson for calling the ACC game that preceded the Pac-10 game, the "JV game". Woohoo :-)

PS2> Our thanks to Wake Forest, their players, their fans, their alumni, and everyone associated with Wake Forest for their wonderful victory over the Dirty Dookies. Keep it coming Wake Forest! They win our Duke Slayer Award of 2008!