LOVESTRUCK ZONA ‘CATS

RUSS NEVER SLEEPS:  Westy (21 pts) smokes Budinger and U of A with Love (26, 11), sparking an 82-60 stoning on a night of highs and highs including the introduction of Norm Chow (and of NEW SPIRIT UNI’S that made for at least ONE Lovestruck Puppy Dog)

What is this, “The 70’s Show?”  UCLA beating two straight Pac-10 contenders by a combined FIFTY-FIVE Points?  It’s great that John Wooden was in attendance (as well as ESPN for a National Primetime Telecast) to see the Bruins put on a performance worthy of the Wooden Dynasty teams that used to win by 30 as a rule.

The 22-point final margin in this game isn’t close to being representative of how the game went down.  The Bruins dominated from the second minute on, stifling the Cats with tight Defense, and working for good shots on Offense to build a quick 19-6 lead.  They were up by 17 soon after, and went to Halftime up by 20.

The Bruins had more energy than Arizona, and got to all the loose balls and stray rebounds.  Kevin Love was able to receive the ball in good position, and he cashed in more often than not.  Darren Collison and Russell Westbrook (who started instead of Aboya) continued to shine, with Darren starting to penetrate as he re-harnesses his legendary quickness, and Russell really getting a feel for the Stop n’ Pop, and for the Stop n’ Dish.  It was Westbrook who kept breaking down the Cats’ not-so-cohesive D.

The Second Half saw the Bruins continue to pull away, building the lead to over 30, almost effortlessly.  They cruised to the finish line, but they did suffer one disappointment:  Luc Richard Mbah a Moute sprained his ankle.  Luckily for UCLA, who really NEEDS Luc for THEIR Defensive cohesiveness, the early reports are calling the sprain “mild,” so his downtime shouldn’t be too long.  Hopefully, he’ll be back for the big Rematch.

Speaking of the Darkside, if any trOJans were watching the game on ESPN, they must have really been depressed when Rick Neuheisel and his new Staff of Norm Chow and DeWayne Walker were being lauded.   The three of them garnered HUGE APPLAUSE when they took the stage at Pauley on Saturday Night.  Rick was rousing, and Walker and Chow both echoed that same enthusiasm and, believe it or not, Bruin Pride.  You could literally feel how many Bruin Basketball fans were now excited about UCLA Football, LIKE NEVER BEFORE.

And speaking of exciting, the UCLA Spirit Squad unveiled new uniforms on Saturday.  You can see them for yourselves below, but we’ll just say that we think they are excellent.  Gorgeous, classy, elegant, but not un-sexy, with pure-as-the-driven-snow White as the main color, with a light blue thick-stripe trim that has a sort of wholesome feel.  There is a small Script Ucla logo on the front, but not too big as to have the costume detract from the natural beauty that is contained within.  And, it’s as if each outfit was tailor-made for the specific body which it  now adorns, by a little old bearded Jewish tailor with a piece of chalk behind his ear, marking every seam to make them look so smooth that sometimes they look painted on.  Okay, maybe that goes too far — Let’s just say the girls look like they were “poured” into the dresses.  Remember our photos of that Vegas Chocolate Fountain?  Yeah, like that.

Well, that wasn’t “a thousand words,” but we’re sure that you’d rather that we “just get to the photos,” so with no further ado…  Wait — Make that “with just a little further ado” because we have to remind you to MOUSE OVER the photos for captions, and click on them to enlarge them.  The closer you get, the better they look.  And there will be many, many more posted next week, so if you don’t see anyone you like, wait a day.