Final Four

The second round of the tournament was not very fun for me. I watched UCLA play Alabama with Ted at BJs, and just wasn't very fun. I was getting frustrated by the way we were playing (yes, I am going to use "we" because I am part of the team, at least in spirit), frustrated with the officiating, and worried that a great, overachieving season was going down the tubes. After the Bruins ended winning, as the partisan crowd at BJs breathed a collective sigh of relief, I thought about how I was feeling. Not really particularly happy, just relieved. And I thought, this really isn't the way to enjoy college basketball.

So I decided, for the rest of the tournament, I wasn't really going to care. It was all gravy. This year's team was supposed to take a step forward (which they did), but a Final 4 run wasn't in the cards until next year, and the year after. All these freshmen and sophomores we have playing would be juniors and seniors, and we'd have more depth as we continue to recruit fairly well.

Then, the Gonzaga game hit. Okay, I started caring mainly because we were playing SOOOOO bad! I mean, if we gave it our best effort and lost, I honestly would have been okay with that. Disappointed, yes. But satisfied with the season, happy for the team's improvement, and looking forward to the future. But to go out like that, without being able to hit the broadside of a barnyard, just giving the ball to Gonzaga (as we did in 2 back to back plays in the middle of the first half - are you telling me Gonzaga should be able to press us in to turnovers?!?) - that was just unacceptable. So as we started to claw back in the second half, only to have momentum swing the other way, it was starting to look grim. Okay, at least they were playing a little bit better, but we were still making boneheaded plays (if you're going to give Morrison a good look off the screen, why foul him, especially when it's our best player's 4th foul? Why? It's just a boneheaded play). Then came the fury of the last 3 minutes, UCLA scoring the final 11 points to pull out a 2 point victory, the once again partisan crowd (this time at Chili's) this time exuberantly celebrating as opposed to the sigh of relief. We knew we got lucky with this one. Gonzaga dominated about 36 minutes of this game, and we dominated 4. But it was the right 4. So what was I feeling? Happiness. I was glad. I was not relieved, I was happy. Happy for Cedric Bozeman, who came in 5 years ago as the biggest member of a highly touted recruiting class that ended up leading the 2 worst years in UCLA basketball history (basically). He's been through about 4 operations, including an ACL which caused him to redshirt last year, a torn labrum this year that he's still playing with, the burden of failed expectations, a coaching change, being supplanted at point guard, and now playing as a do everything small forward, relied to do all the dirty work, play good defense, make some good passes, while the sophomores like Afflalo and Farmar get all the credit. I love Ced, I feel really happy for him.

Anyway, this post is getting ridiculously long, and you probably know more about UCLA basketball than you care to. But my point is, we are going to the Final 4 on the heels of our bruising 50-45 victory over Memphis, and I am enjoying every second of the ride. Yeah, I was nervous about all of our missed free throws. Yeah, I would have been disappointed if Memphis had come back to win. But it's all gravy now, folks. I actually think that UCLA is the best team left in the Final 4, but even if it doesn't work out, I've really enjoyed the ride. You can't be a fan of a team, and feel like it's a relief when they win. You've gotta enjoy the victories. And when they achieve beyond your expectations, just enjoy the ride. I'll be enjoying the ride, all the way to Indianapolis, the RCA dome, 5:47 Pacific time, UCLA-LSU. Go Bruins!