It was a weird game, but I've sort of become accustomed to the Bruins doing this. They had a couple minutes of decency in an otherwise unenergetic and forgettable first half. They turned it up coming out of the locker room before taking another nap midway through the second, then decided it was winning time and got their act together for the last 7-8 minutes to put things away. I'm a bit worried that they think they can just flip the intensity switch when they decide and change the tenor of the game, but we saw how that came too little and too late in the first AZ game, and that isn't gonna cut it in the tournament against other talented and highly motivated teams. It's time to start playing 40 good minutes, and that starts with the mental side.
And hopefully Tyger gets things figured out of his slump, as we can't/shouldn't rely on JJJr to bail us out every game. But I absolutely loved seeing him being the first one off the bench to congratulate and chest bump his teammates at timeouts. Can't say I saw the same out of Bailey who had a similarly awful night. Big ups to Dylan Andrews for his energy and defensive game tonight when Tyger was struggling.
You said it well. Indeed it was weird in the sense that UCLA's potent offense only worked in spurts and allowed Stanford to claw its way back repeatedly. The winning score itself does not tell the whole story. Cronin was not a happy camper at all.
This is past midnight and tomorrow I will tell you folks more about the game in Pauley. It was rocking the whole time. The long drive to and from Westwood was even worse than anticipated. a torture in fact. Perhaps the President's Day long weekend is the reason. People cannot wait to get out of town. Nevertheless, all your comments were right on the dot. Too bad mother superior mandated no cell phone activities, none, zilch at the game. I could have fought it like a naughty kid but seriously, when I looked around, nobody was on their cell phone either. So begrudgingly, " she " was right, LOL !!! And so to all my friends on MB, we will talk and we will !!!
I do hope Tyger figures things out. As Greg pointed out, Tyger embodies the Bruin team spirit in so many ways which is why he is and always will be one of my all time favorites.
Definitely a strange game. Bailey was pretty awful but I’d hope it’s because he injured his ankle and his first step of power clearly wasn’t there.
Let’s just hope that nwuba and Bailey heal up nicely over the next three weeks as this is the biggest long term problem in my opinion.
The bruins played much better defense to close out the game. Still a few lapses in judgement, but ucla played the last 6-7 minutes with a lineup we never expected to see. They also played large chunks of time with a new lineup. One that I particularly like most was the Clark, jaquez, Andrews, singleton, bona lineup. That appeared to be the lineup that completely baffled stanford. They couldn’t figure out how to score with those five players on the court which is what triggered the first big run in the second half for the bruins
Totally agree with your assessment especially the shaky interior. Does anyone know what is going on with the missed free throws? In prior seasons when the the majority of the Bruins stepped to the line, I had no anxiety. Now I find myself holding my breath. Once reliable free throw shooters have become uh... unreliable. This could be a huge factor down the stretch and in the tournament IMO.
One other thing to add that baffles me… there are several talks about should ucla win out this week, could they become the new number 1 ranked team… the part that’s baffling though is that all the pundits still have ucla as a number 2 or number three seed in the tournament. I am still of the impression that ucla is fine and can win a natty this year regardless of seeding. It’s just so obnoxious that all of these experts are spouting about number one rankings for teams as follows
Alabama - a 24 point loss to a 13 loss team Oklahoma
Houston - a 1 point home loss to 13 loss temple
Purdue - 1-3 in the last 4 games with a 14 pt loss to Maryland
At least Kansas has only lost to ranked opponents. But three of those losses were by more than 13 points.
UCLA doesn’t have as many q1 wins for sure. They need to win against Arizona to close out the season to solidify my opinion they can win a natty. They also need to win a natty to shut up all the dumb ass experts out there. It’s been too long ucla… make me eat crow for my comments earlier and shut them all up
We spotted Troy Aikman at courtside. After the game, some went up to talk with him. Many followed him out the Pauley and wanted a cell phone picture with him . I can tell he remains immensely popular with Bruin fans, young and old. I told my neighbor's kid whom we brought along for the game who Aikman is and said he should do the same but you know, kids are kids. He merely said if it was Patrick Mahomes, he definitely would, to which an elderly bruin fan chimed in and joked that Aikman is good enough to even be Mahomes' teacher. Everyone laughed.
Now the game itself. Holy Moly is the word. I wish I could be in the locker room and hear what Cronin had to say. He looked upset, uneasy, barely able to control his emotion each time he walked by. When he got the technical, I was talking with two other guys and missed the play. I only saw another player approached him and told him to cool it. But I understand. Last night, the team was simply not itself, period.
Something must be bothering Campbell. Was it the long, long, perpetual hangover from Valentine's Day ? I said it jokingly to others when he was benched. But he did make a key three pointer that sent the entire bruin bench into a frenzy. Consider the camaraderie among these players, it was as if they were rejoicing that a bad kid who always made the teacher made finally did something good for a change.
Many of you pointed out well the problems. To me, I had the impression that we did not take Stanford seriously. And Stanford did play so much better - tenaciously - than we thought. They deserved plenty of credits. This is a dangerous game we are playing. This is also how upsets occur in the tournament. favorites.
This team is very good and capable of competing for a title, but they seem to play well for only 1 half or put up a great performance only during a brief stretch to avoid being upset. I think that's been one of the "weird" things about the Bruins this season. I still like their chances in the NCAA tournament, as there is no clear favorite, and the polls haven't had a consistent #1-ranked team all year long. Stanford is definitely better than its current record indicates, so they could pull off an upset in the Pac-12 tourney. But the only way that Cal can upset UCLA tomorrow and keep Russell Stong on the bench is if UCLA decides to play awful and beat itself. Tyger and Amari have to play better. Their remaining 4 games are no cakewalk because Utah and Colorado have winning home records, and ASU and AZ have winning road records. Go Bruins!
It was a weird game, but I've sort of become accustomed to the Bruins doing this. They had a couple minutes of decency in an otherwise unenergetic and forgettable first half. They turned it up coming out of the locker room before taking another nap midway through the second, then decided it was winning time and got their act together for the last 7-8 minutes to put things away. I'm a bit worried that they think they can just flip the intensity switch when they decide and change the tenor of the game, but we saw how that came too little and too late in the first AZ game, and that isn't gonna cut it in the tournament against other talented and highly motivated teams. It's time to start playing 40 good minutes, and that starts with the mental side.
And hopefully Tyger gets things figured out of his slump, as we can't/shouldn't rely on JJJr to bail us out every game. But I absolutely loved seeing him being the first one off the bench to congratulate and chest bump his teammates at timeouts. Can't say I saw the same out of Bailey who had a similarly awful night. Big ups to Dylan Andrews for his energy and defensive game tonight when Tyger was struggling.
You said it well. Indeed it was weird in the sense that UCLA's potent offense only worked in spurts and allowed Stanford to claw its way back repeatedly. The winning score itself does not tell the whole story. Cronin was not a happy camper at all.
This is past midnight and tomorrow I will tell you folks more about the game in Pauley. It was rocking the whole time. The long drive to and from Westwood was even worse than anticipated. a torture in fact. Perhaps the President's Day long weekend is the reason. People cannot wait to get out of town. Nevertheless, all your comments were right on the dot. Too bad mother superior mandated no cell phone activities, none, zilch at the game. I could have fought it like a naughty kid but seriously, when I looked around, nobody was on their cell phone either. So begrudgingly, " she " was right, LOL !!! And so to all my friends on MB, we will talk and we will !!!
I do hope Tyger figures things out. As Greg pointed out, Tyger embodies the Bruin team spirit in so many ways which is why he is and always will be one of my all time favorites.
Couldn’t agree more Greg.
Definitely a strange game. Bailey was pretty awful but I’d hope it’s because he injured his ankle and his first step of power clearly wasn’t there.
Let’s just hope that nwuba and Bailey heal up nicely over the next three weeks as this is the biggest long term problem in my opinion.
The bruins played much better defense to close out the game. Still a few lapses in judgement, but ucla played the last 6-7 minutes with a lineup we never expected to see. They also played large chunks of time with a new lineup. One that I particularly like most was the Clark, jaquez, Andrews, singleton, bona lineup. That appeared to be the lineup that completely baffled stanford. They couldn’t figure out how to score with those five players on the court which is what triggered the first big run in the second half for the bruins
Totally agree with your assessment especially the shaky interior. Does anyone know what is going on with the missed free throws? In prior seasons when the the majority of the Bruins stepped to the line, I had no anxiety. Now I find myself holding my breath. Once reliable free throw shooters have become uh... unreliable. This could be a huge factor down the stretch and in the tournament IMO.
One other thing to add that baffles me… there are several talks about should ucla win out this week, could they become the new number 1 ranked team… the part that’s baffling though is that all the pundits still have ucla as a number 2 or number three seed in the tournament. I am still of the impression that ucla is fine and can win a natty this year regardless of seeding. It’s just so obnoxious that all of these experts are spouting about number one rankings for teams as follows
Alabama - a 24 point loss to a 13 loss team Oklahoma
Houston - a 1 point home loss to 13 loss temple
Purdue - 1-3 in the last 4 games with a 14 pt loss to Maryland
At least Kansas has only lost to ranked opponents. But three of those losses were by more than 13 points.
UCLA doesn’t have as many q1 wins for sure. They need to win against Arizona to close out the season to solidify my opinion they can win a natty. They also need to win a natty to shut up all the dumb ass experts out there. It’s been too long ucla… make me eat crow for my comments earlier and shut them all up
Good morning to all my fellow bruin fans.
We spotted Troy Aikman at courtside. After the game, some went up to talk with him. Many followed him out the Pauley and wanted a cell phone picture with him . I can tell he remains immensely popular with Bruin fans, young and old. I told my neighbor's kid whom we brought along for the game who Aikman is and said he should do the same but you know, kids are kids. He merely said if it was Patrick Mahomes, he definitely would, to which an elderly bruin fan chimed in and joked that Aikman is good enough to even be Mahomes' teacher. Everyone laughed.
Now the game itself. Holy Moly is the word. I wish I could be in the locker room and hear what Cronin had to say. He looked upset, uneasy, barely able to control his emotion each time he walked by. When he got the technical, I was talking with two other guys and missed the play. I only saw another player approached him and told him to cool it. But I understand. Last night, the team was simply not itself, period.
Something must be bothering Campbell. Was it the long, long, perpetual hangover from Valentine's Day ? I said it jokingly to others when he was benched. But he did make a key three pointer that sent the entire bruin bench into a frenzy. Consider the camaraderie among these players, it was as if they were rejoicing that a bad kid who always made the teacher made finally did something good for a change.
Many of you pointed out well the problems. To me, I had the impression that we did not take Stanford seriously. And Stanford did play so much better - tenaciously - than we thought. They deserved plenty of credits. This is a dangerous game we are playing. This is also how upsets occur in the tournament. favorites.
Oops, it should be " ............ made the teacher mad " ! Sorry for the typo, I should know better.
This team is very good and capable of competing for a title, but they seem to play well for only 1 half or put up a great performance only during a brief stretch to avoid being upset. I think that's been one of the "weird" things about the Bruins this season. I still like their chances in the NCAA tournament, as there is no clear favorite, and the polls haven't had a consistent #1-ranked team all year long. Stanford is definitely better than its current record indicates, so they could pull off an upset in the Pac-12 tourney. But the only way that Cal can upset UCLA tomorrow and keep Russell Stong on the bench is if UCLA decides to play awful and beat itself. Tyger and Amari have to play better. Their remaining 4 games are no cakewalk because Utah and Colorado have winning home records, and ASU and AZ have winning road records. Go Bruins!