TEXAS ELECTRIFIES, FENCES LOPEZES OUT, 82-62

No Amnesty for the Cardinal:  Texas Chainsaws the Trees with 20-3 Second-Half Stand-Off, as their Twisters topple the Twin Towers, 82-62 

Just when it looked like Stanford had figured out the Longhorns, all Hell broke loose.  After trailing by about 6-10 points the whole game, Stanford made a 2nd Half run, by aggressively utilizing their star, Brook Lopez.  They cut it to 52-51, but then the HOUSTON crowd woke up.  

The partisan mob spurred a 20-3 charge where the Horns just kicked everything up a notch — like a spicy Texas Chili recipe — and the Trees went down in the Land of Bush, 82-62. Now, regardless of what happens today in Phoenix, UCLA gets the distinction of being the Last Team Standing from the Pac-10 in 2008.  Of course, it might be a hollow distinction, if the difference is only one day and one Round.

Texas Guard D.J. Augustin led the Cavalry Charge and controlled the tempo, scoring a team-high 23 Points, as the Horns pulled away cleanly, like the meat off a Dr. Hogly-Wogly Tyler, Texas BBQ Spare Rib.

But don’t rib Brook Lopez, who scored 26 with 10 Rebounds, in his last game as a Sophomore.  He is ready for the Pro’s right now, so it might have been his last game PERIOD, in a Cardinal uniform.  His brother Robin, however, might not be ready, and might deserve a little blame.  He scored only 6 Points on 3-of-9 shooting, and picked up twice as many Personal Fouls as he did Defensive Rebounds (4-to-2).

But there is plenty of blame to go around, especially in the Shooting Department:  Former Bruin-Killer Anthony Goods went 0-for-7 from the Field and got Shut Out, and Mitch Johnson went 2-for-10.  Maybe Head Coach Trent Johnson should have gotten himself ejected from this game, too. 

Are you going to miss all the TV close-ups of the Lopez Twins’ Mother in the crowd?  Neither are we. 

Last week, someone asked us how Texas was possibly going to stop Stanford’s Big Men.  We told him that the better question was how would Stanford stop the Texas Guards?  We said that they will “give” Brook his Points, not worry about Robin, and still win going away.  We said, after watching UCLA beat Stanford three times in a row, and watching the Bruins lose to Texas, we felt that Texas was in another CLASS than Stanford.  Halfway through the 2nd Half, we were having 2nd Thoughts, but Texas finally stepped on the Gas, “ran the Yellow,” and Rose to the top.  [We know that talking about predictions AFTER THE FACT is worthless bullsh!t, but the person in question knows who he is.] 

So instead of a team that the Bruins have beaten three times staying alive, a team that beat UCLA in Pauley Pavilion does.  But as any die-hard Bruin or Billy Packer will tell you, Darren Collison was not 100% in that game, so if Texas makes it past Memphis and the Bruins “survive” Xavier, UCLA will not be intimidated.  However, they will not be complacent either, and that is a good thing. 

Now, back, by popular demand (one guy), is one of those pictorials you guys used to like so much.  We start with a little “FAREWELL Tribute” (hopefully) to the Twins, and follow that up with some never-before-shared (mouse-over captioned) photos that required a little Photoshopping for red-eye reduction, bogey-removal and bad spacing, but still just might win UCLA a Texas Hold-‘Em jackpot.

All in!