Bruins lose their identity
The top seeding in the NCAA Tournament, so vital a week ago, now seems meaningless. Discussions of UCLA's hand-picked road to the Final Four, through Sacramento and San Jose, are tabled for talk about how to fix the broken Bruins.
No longer does it matter where the Bruins are sent in the NCAAs, because issues exist well beyond UCLA's standing in the eyes of the NCAA selection committee.
In the most shocking result of UCLA coach Ben Howland's four-year tenure, the Pac 10 Tournament was thrown into turmoil when eighth-seeded California stunned top seed and fourth-ranked UCLA, 76-69, in overtime of Thursday's quarterfinal game at Staples Center.
The loss comes after the Bruins lost their regular-season finale at Washington, and sweeps away aspirations of gaining a No. 1 seed in the NCAAs.
More pressing now is how UCLA corrects horrid free-throw shooting, how it solves a second straight substandard effort, and most glaringly, how Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year and All-American guard Arron Afflalo will be affected by playing the worst game of his career.
"At this point, after losing two games like this, seedings don't mean much to me anymore," said Afflalo, who fouled out with three points on 1-for-7 shooting. "It's all about how you approach the game, and if you can go out there and beat the other team in front of you. We were a No. 1 seed in this tournament and it didn't make a difference."
Howland said he still expected the Bruins (26-5) to be placed in Sacramento, but followed the path of his players in adding UCLA's seeding is now irrelevant.
"I'm not really worried about (a No. 1 seed) because bottom line, we have to play better than we played in the last two games," Howland said. "Anybody can beat us on a given day, and I still believe this team can beat anybody on a given day.
"It's how we prepare, and so it's going to get back to fundamentals in everything we do, beginning Saturday when we have our next practice."
Howland was quick to remind everyone this defeat came one week after the Bruins clinched the regular-season title, and if this was a one-game happenstance, the tenor of UCLA's plight would likely be different. However, this loss came on the heels of a poor effort at Washington.
UCLA's success the last two seasons was built on effort, defense and rebounding, and it faltered in each aspect for the second straight game. Cal shot 54.2 percent in the first half, building a 31-15 lead before taking a 37-25 halftime lead, and made all three of its shots in overtime.
The Bruins shot 15-for-29 from the free-throw line, something Howland attributed to fatigued legs in expending so much energy in rallying from a big deficit. Of course, the Bears made 20 of 25 foul shots, and they played Oregon State the night before.
"It's all mental," UCLA point guard Darren Collison said. "If you're mentally in the game and ready to play, those things shouldn't affect you. I thought, collectively, we weren't ready to play."
Cal (16-16) lost both regular-season games to the Bruins by a combined 26 points, but now is two wins away from an improbable NCAA berth. The Bears play fourth-seeded Oregon today at 6:20 p.m.
Bears guard Ayinde Ubaka, who was held scoreless by Afflalo during a January meeting, torched the Bruins for 29 points. He was 9-for-12 from the field, and scored Cal's last eight points of regulation, including a floater with 15.4 seconds left to tie it, 61-61.
"We didn't show up ready to play this one," UCLA backup center/power forward Alfred Aboya said. "We have to do a better job getting ready for a game, and not let ourselves get down 15, 16 points, before we come back.
"I don't really know what happened."
Collison, who scored all 20 points of his points after halftime, had a chance for the win at the buzzer, but his open 3-pointer missed badly.
Afflalo, who matched his career low in scoring, made his only basket of the second half on a baseline drive on UCLA's first possession of overtime, but it was a short-lived lead as Cal used an 11-1 run to take control.
"I still think we're one of the best teams in the country," Afflalo said. "We will have our opportunity to prove it once again."
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