Nobody was saying this when we were 8-0 in conference. It's one game and we lost our first conference game to a really good Stanford team on the road. Everyone knew this was going to be a tough game. We showed a lot of fight coming back from multiple deficits. Yes the last 0.8 second is inexcusable, but this team is on the right track.
On the record, I was saying this in the Buzzer Beater once Chris Smith went down. Specifically, I pointed out that the loss of Smith meant the Bruins didn't have a go-to player and would instead be relying on guys who fit more into the role-player model. Then in this most recent Buzzer Beater, I stated that UCLA was going to top out as a team with little margin for error because it had a roster of flawed players.
Which is not necessarily a bad thing. I do think it limits the ceiling on this team considerably but not in a way that can limit growth in future seasons.
This sort of game was inevitable. Even though we have become more confident that this team and this coach will find ways to pull out games much more often than not, we have all still been sort of cringing at the end of games lately. It sucks it finally happened, but you can't keep cutting things that close without it finally going wrong at some point.
So hopefully, this was a needed wakeup for these guys, and I'm hoping that the reaction by Bernard after the layup (where he slammed the ball into the floor) speaks for the sudden awareness and frustration that comes from their overall sloppiness and inconsistency. If that brain lock with 0.8 seconds is what it takes to get these guys to come out with a drive to kill from the initial jump ball going forward, then, good.
UCLA is really lacking in star power. I hope some of the new recruits change that
They will
Nobody was saying this when we were 8-0 in conference. It's one game and we lost our first conference game to a really good Stanford team on the road. Everyone knew this was going to be a tough game. We showed a lot of fight coming back from multiple deficits. Yes the last 0.8 second is inexcusable, but this team is on the right track.
On the record, I was saying this in the Buzzer Beater once Chris Smith went down. Specifically, I pointed out that the loss of Smith meant the Bruins didn't have a go-to player and would instead be relying on guys who fit more into the role-player model. Then in this most recent Buzzer Beater, I stated that UCLA was going to top out as a team with little margin for error because it had a roster of flawed players.
Which is not necessarily a bad thing. I do think it limits the ceiling on this team considerably but not in a way that can limit growth in future seasons.
This sort of game was inevitable. Even though we have become more confident that this team and this coach will find ways to pull out games much more often than not, we have all still been sort of cringing at the end of games lately. It sucks it finally happened, but you can't keep cutting things that close without it finally going wrong at some point.
So hopefully, this was a needed wakeup for these guys, and I'm hoping that the reaction by Bernard after the layup (where he slammed the ball into the floor) speaks for the sudden awareness and frustration that comes from their overall sloppiness and inconsistency. If that brain lock with 0.8 seconds is what it takes to get these guys to come out with a drive to kill from the initial jump ball going forward, then, good.