Totals 4 U
UCLA at USC
UCLA (21-3, 9-2 PAC 10) had their 5-game win streak summarily stuffed by the Washington Huskies Sunday by the score of 61-71. It was a game in which the Bruins were ice cold all day, missing 40 of 61 shots from the field, including 15 of 16 from behind the arc, and came up short for the first time away from Pauley Pavilion (9-1) this season. For a squad with team shooting marks of .488 from the field, .388 from deep, and .751 from the stripe, this performance was completely out of character and we certainly don't see this as the beginning of a trend.
The Bruins' success is largely due to the aggressive man-to-man defensive approach of Head Coach Ben Howland (106-43 in 5th season at Los Angeles, 50-26 PAC 10). Coach Howland built programs at Northern Arizona and Pittsburgh by urging his charges to get up in opponents' grills, but some have questioned whether or not he could get Blue Chip athletes at a glamour program to grind like their overachieving counterparts. Back to back Final Four appearances, as well as Pacific 10 Conference Championships in 2005-2006 and 2006-2007 have put that question to bed.
New to the program this season is National High School Player of the Year, 6'10" 260 freshman C Kevin Love (17.5p, 11.0r, 1.8a, 21 blocks), who brings a polished shooting stroke (.608 from the field, 13 of 34 from 3-point, .762 from the line) along with his size - although not always the greatest attitude. Love can legitimately be criticized for flashes of immaturity, but the kid is just 19 years old and nobody in the country works harder than assistants Danny Daniels, Scott Duncan, and Scott Garson at building men from boys, so expect Love's learning curve on this front to be steep.
Last season's perimeter core of 6'5" 220 junior F/G Josh Shipp (14.3p, 3.0r, 2.4a), 6'1" junior G Darren Collison (13.9p, 2.6r, 4.3a), and 6'3" sophomore G Russell Westbrook (12.3p, 3.5r, 4.8a) has returned to combine for 87 makes from 3-point range in 235 attempts, while piling up 106 thefts to key an offensive attack that averages 74.8 points per game. Love has had to make due with role players 6'8" 235 junior F Alfred Aboya (3.7p, 2.7r) and 6'9" 240 sophomore C Lorenzo Mata-Real (3.4p, 4.4r, 24 blocks) to help him on the blocks while starter 6'8" 230 junior F Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (9.2p, 5.1r) heals from an ankle injury suffered against Arizona on February 2nd. Mbah a Moute has a 7'2" wingspan, is able to play both small and power forward at this level, and possibly the next, and is expected back on the court come Sunday. For those tempted to make fun of his name, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is actually a prince in his native Cameroon... and you are not! If you were wondering why the "C" in the "UCLA" on the Bruins' jerseys is highlighted this year, it is to represent the 100 (C is the Roman numeral for the century mark) National Championships their school has racked up over the years... and yours has not!
USC (15-8, 6-5 PAC 10) was spanked 50-74 by #17 Washington State at the Friel Center in Pullman while allowing the Cougars a ridiculous 59.6% shooting from the field. Head Coach Tim Floyd (57-33 in 3rd season at University Park) wasn't around for the finish after getting ejected for arguing calls, but that's not the worst news for Trojan fans this week.
It has been announced that the squad's starting point guard and best free throw shooter, 6'5" sophomore Daniel Hackett (9.4p, 3.9r, 3.4a, 27 steals), is done at least for now with a diagnosed stress fracture in his lower back. The injury was actually sustained on January 31st while diving for a loose ball against Arizona. This kid has tried to battle through it (a broken vertebrae?), but has been ordered by team doctors to rest and rehab his core strength before returning to the court.
Sharing the load at the point position will be starters 6'5" sophomore G Dwight Lewis (10.7p, 2.2r, 1.5a) and freshman phenomenon 6'5" G O.J. Mayo (20.2p, 4.4r, 3.0a, 33 steals), plus 5'11" freshman G Angelo Johnson (4.4p, 2.0r, 2.0a), who moves into a starting role from the bench.
Beating Arkansas and Texas on their way to the Sweet 16 in 2007, plus the arrival of Mayo, had created some pretty high expectation from the faithful at the Galen Center; but the reality of losing their top three scorers in Nick Young (17.8p), Loderick Stewart (13.8p), and Gabe Pruitt (12.5p) from the team that finished at 25-10 last season came crashing down in a hurry with a 81-96 home loss to Mercer in the season opener. Since then, Southern California's season has produced some pretty spectacular highlights, including wins over South Carolina, San Diego, Miami, Southern Illinois, Oklahoma, Oregon, Washington twice, and UCLA 72-63 back on January 19th when the Trojans held the Bruins to just 22 of 66 shooting from the field, while nailing 28 of 46 of their own shots.
There may be no coach in college basketball today that gets more out of his players than Tim Floyd - who groomed 12 players in 14 college coaching seasons for careers in the NBA, where he also coached both the Bulls and the Hornets. Three of those players never even played ball in High School! On that note, a big part of USC's success this season has been the rapid improvement of 6'8" 215 freshman F Davon Jefferson (13.1p, 6.2, 21 blocks) and 6'9" 225 sophomore F Taj Gibson (10.0p, 7.8r, 53 blocks), who contribute greatly to the strong defensive set that allows just 62.4 points per game on .388 shooting from the field. In contrast, the Trojans' offensive unit have been deadly shooting at a brisk .488 clip from the floor, including .370 from downtown.
Free winner from Totals 4 U: As much as we like this Trojan crew, the loss of Hackett is just too much to overcome against a unit as defensively stiff on the perimeter as the Bruins, and it looks from our vantage point like this season each squad will bag a road win toward The Lexus Gauntlet (the annual competition between these rival schools in the 18 varsity sports in which they go head to head). Take UCLA and lay the points on Sunday at the Galen Center.
Platinum Plays
Duke at Wake Forest
Coach Mike Krzyzewski's #2 ranked Blue Devils (9-0/21-1) make the short trip down "Tobacco Road" to take on Dino Gaudio's Demon Deacons (4-5/14-Cool in a Sunday ACC tilt. Suprisingly, the ACC is not the premier conference in college basketball, but not suprisingly, Duke has rebounded from a subpar 2006 season to once again be one, if not, the best team in college baskeball. Preseason predictions had Duke near the top of the conference and Wake near the bottom. Wake Forest has exceeded expectations, and they have fought through tragic circumstances to do so.
Let's start with Wake Forest and the unexpected death of head coach, Skip Prosser, on July 26th, 2007. Prosser was well respected and well liked. Prosser was also the only coach to take three seperate teams (Loyola-MD, Xavier and Wake Forest) to the NCAA Tournament in his first year as head coach of each program. In 21 seasons, Prosser's teams either qualified or were selected to participate in the "Dance" in 18 of 21 seasons. Gaudio was Prosser's protege, and it wasn't a major surprise that he was selected to succeed as Wake Forest's head coach. He had coached along with Prosser for 13 years at the collegiate level, and 17 overall. Continuity has played a big part in the Deacons' success this year.
The leading scorer on this year's squad is Fr. James Johnson (14.7 ppg). Johnson is also the Deacons' leading rebounder with (8.1 rpg), so there is hope for the future. Fr G Jeff Teague contributes (12.0 ppg), and Soph G L.D. Williams adds another (10.1 ppg) for double digit scoring. Gaudio has good depth, as he has ten players who've seen significant playing time.
The weakness of this year's ACC would mean Wake Forest will either have to go very deep or win the ACC Tournament; or at the very least, go on one heckuva run to finish the season in order to make the NCAA Tournament. A win over Duke would make a huge statement, but is also very unlikely.
Coach K has Duke back at the top of their game, and he credits Phoenix Suns head coach Mike D'Antoni for offensive tips which have Duke averaging 86.0 points/game, which ranks third in the nation. Great head coaches stay great because they are not afraid to deviate from their normal beliefs if they can find options which better suit their team.
The Blue Devils boast five players who average double-digit scoring, led by Sr G DeMarcus Nelson at (15.5 ppg). Fr. F Kyle Singler and Soph G Gerald Henderson each average over 13 points in Duke's high scoring offense. Winning the regular season ACC title is definitely a possibility after the Blue Devils defeated North Carolina in Chapel Hill earlier this month. However, the Tar Heels were playing without lightning quick PG Manny Lawson, so a possible rematch in the postseason tournament bears watching. The only blemish on Duke's record was a December 20th one point loss at Pittsburgh.
Free winner from Platinum Plays: The advanced line on this game favors Duke by 10 points. The Blue Devils are only (5-5) ATS on the road, and every game has someone trying to pull off the upset. However, I'm not sure this young Wake squad is up to the task. Platinum's prediction for this game is to take DUKE minus the 10 OVER the Demon Deacons.
