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It's tough to grin and bear itUCLA's recent mastery gives
Cats motivation
Arizona Daily Star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.02.2008
The expertise of an oddsmaker is not required to predict the winner of today's UCLA-Arizona basketball game:
"We won't be the favorite," UA interim head coach Kevin O'Neill said.
Uh, yeah. Never mind that it's Arizona's final home game of the season, after which five players will be honored. Nor that the game will be televised regionally on CBS. Nor that the Arizona Wildcats need the victory badly if they are to sew up a 24th straight NCAA tournament bid.
It's UCLA. Enough said.
The Bruins have won six straight in the once-hard-fought series, and they've taken the past four games by an average of over 13 points. They won the teams' last meeting essentially in the first 15 minutes, rolling to an 82-60 smacking that was Arizona's worst of the season.
That was when Nic Wise was in the lineup, too, playing on a torn meniscus that would require surgery four days later. Now O'Neill says Wise is still not ready, though Wise did practice Saturday and could return for the upcoming road trip to Oregon and Oregon State.
"They took us right out of what we wanted to do," O'Neill said of the first UCLA game. "They do that to a lot of people."
He has a point. UCLA has racked up a 13-2 record in a conference where teams are otherwise beating up on each other.
"They've got several guys who will play for money," O'Neill said. "They're deep. They've got great front-line depth."
Arizona has some guys who will play for money and, inside, they have, well, Jordan Hill while everybody else crosses their fingers and hopes he doesn't get in foul trouble against Kevin Love.
Is it all too much? Maybe, or maybe not.
For what it's worth, UCLA coach Ben Howland downplayed the streak's magnitude, even as the series has swung completely the opposite direction in recent seasons.
"Every year is different," Howland said. "Things go in cycles. I don't look at anything like that (in today's game). I know it's a very important game for both teams. They need to it to make sure they get at least a 9-9 record and we need it because we want to try to win the conference and ensure a high seed in the NCAA tournament."
Besides, Arizona has pulled out victories when not expected this season, when its sense of desperation was highest, as it did last weekend at Washington State.
"We just have got to try to figure out something," guard Jerryd Bayless said. "UCLA is a great team."
If nothing else, guard/forward Jawann McClellan said, there won't be an element of intimidation. No matter how much success the Bruins have had over the years.
"We're motivated," McClellan said. "We're not looking at it that we're not expected to win. Maybe the rest of the country is. No disrespect to UCLA but everybody can beat anybody.
"We can't come out scared."
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