ASU’s James Harden locks down the trOJans, who go stir crazy and can’t escape the hole they dig, even with play so dirty they could have used the soap (but probably would have dropped it)
Finally: An Officiating Crew that isn’t intimidated by Tim Floyd and his band of thugs.
The whiny trojans did a lot of bitching about the 28 fouls that they got whistled for in Saturday’s 80-66 loss to Arizona State, but the truth is, if every Crew were on the ball like this one, sc would get that many fouls every game. 2 of the 20 Second Half trojan Fouls were Technicals, one on Floyd and one on Davon Jefferson, both for moaning about a Call. Well, you know what? All the trojans act out after every call that goes against them. It’s a direct reflection of their Coach, who constantly shows disrespect to the Refs.
In additon to the 2 T’s, they also picked up a Flagrant Foul, on ultra-thug Daniel Hackett — the same Daniel Hackett who sent two Bruins to the MRI Machine — for shoving a breakaway Devil in the back, right into the basket support. The trojan apologist Michael Cage, who was calling the game and making excuses for usc for two hours, missed the shove and thought the call was on someone else, who didn’t do anything. It was just one of many moments that exposed Cage as a trojan homer, who might be accused of watching the whole game through Cardinal & Gold glasses, that is, if he actually HAD any sight (let alone “insight”).
While Taj Gibson was in full-lament mode during postgame interviews, he complained that HALF of their Starting Line-up fouled out. So just how do you foul out “two and a half men?” Don’t you need Charlie Sheen for that? Is it Tim Floyd Math? The trojans actually lost 2 of their 5 Starters, along with 2 Reserves, showing a regional TV audience just how shallow the trojan team is, and how that lack of depth will doom them in the NCAA Tournament. Make sure to take that into consideration when filling out your brackets. And speaking of brackets, more people will have UCLA on TOP of their brackets than any other team. That is, if the Office Pool Bettors follow the Vegas Trend: Right now, the Bruins are the Sportsbook FAVORITE to win it all this year.
And usc hurt their March Madness SEEDING with Saturday’s pathetic loss, to a team that UCLA destroyed twice in a row. They allowed Freshman James Harden, whom UCLA completely shut down, to score 24 Points. In the first half, the Sun Devils went 9 minutes without scoring, but sc still couldn’t do better than a 25-25 tie af the Half. Then, in the Second half, Floyd got his T, and the trojans just melted down, with silly fouls and careless TURNOVERS.
O.J. Mayo admits that they lost their poise. Even HE isn’t stupid enough to think that the foul discrepancy was not caused by the trojans’ laziness and general lack of aggressiveness. But Mayo, who scored a career-high 37 points (4 short of Don MacLean’s Pac-10 Record for Frosh), failed to get his teammates involved. He was the only trojan in double-figures, compared to the Sun Devils, who had FOUR Players hit that mark. He is going to learn quickly that the more he scores — percentage-wise — the worse off the team is overall. But he doesn’t care about that. By now, he realizes that the trojans have no prayer at a Title, so the rest of the season is about impressing the Pro Scouts with his own individual abilities. That explains why he keeps launching up those unnecessarily-long three-pointers lately. And of course, Floyd is powerless to stop him, as everyone knows who wears the pants in that family.
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And our final, and by far most important thing to say today: To all you sorry excuses for Bruin fans who are more worried about UCLA’s potentially-reduced RPI due to an sc loss: You are all clueless. A miniscule RPI change is not NEARLY enough to have a Real Bruin fan thinking about rooting for usc. The NEGATIVES of the trojans winning that game (and almost ANY game) would have FAR outweighed the positives. For instance, if the trojans improve their overall Tournament Seeding, they will have a better chance to make a Tourney run, and possibly face UCLA again. Is that what you want? To face a team that has already beaten the Bruins, in Pauley? Even though the Bruins were injured that day, and have avenged that defeat since then, you HAVE to know that the Bruins do NOT want to face the trojans again. On the flip side, the Bruins wouldn’t mind facing ASU in the Sweet 16, and a Sun Devil loss to sc would have all but eliminated THAT possibility.
But regardless of the specific ramifications, you just have to STOP thinking about how an sc victory could possibly benefit UCLA, because in the Big Picture, every time sc triumphs, they gain a fan somewhere, and continue to take away potential recruits from Westwood. Not to mention that they will teach those recruits a life of above-the-law arrogance that can and often does lead to them being Hardened Criminals.
Comments
3 responses to “HARDEN-ED CRIMINALS”
Please explain this to me. If UCLA plays every other Pac-10 conference team twice, then why does it matter what sc does against a conference opponent with relation to our RPI? If ASU beats sc, isn’t that a wash as far as our RPI?
[Clueless Editors’ Note: We have no idea how it works. We don’t really pay much attention to it, since UCLA is not reliant on it to make the Dance. However, we READ that there could be a .003 RPI decrease. Could that be because of a home/away discrepancy, ala Floyd Math? We really have no clue about it, but if someone wants to chime in with the correct answer, then maybe we’ll find out.]
this is THE BEST website ever!!!!!
i like your take on who “wears the pants in that family” and why OJ is taking so many shots now.
bruins baseball team looked real good on espn 2 last night.
To clarify: the only reason to fear playing $C again is that they would again be able to play like a team with nothing to lose and everything to gain (and for us, there’s little benefit in merely doing what we’re expected to do–kick their ass). There is certainly no reason to fear them as a legitimate opponent. That’s why a part of me would like to face them again ( in the Pac 10 tourney–the downside of the highly unlikely yet always POSSIBLE FLUKE loss in the real tourney is just too great): to give them the thrashing they so richly deserve but have yet to receive from us this year,thereby reestablishing order in the universe, and leaving NO DOUBT.