STAIRWAY TO KEVIN, HIGHWAY TO ‘SELL

UCLA’s 71-59 victory over Maryland is Kevin-Sent, as Kevin Love ascends to new heights, and Russell Westbrook burns up the Terra(pins)

Believe the hype.

Before yesterday, Freshman phenom Kevin Love still had his doubters.  Some people thought that his early-season stats were grossly inflated due to inferior competition.  But after Monday’s showing against the ACC’s Maryland Terrapins, everyone in the Country is firmly seated on the bandwagon.

The kid just proves it every game.  He KNOWS the Sport better than anyone on the court —  He knows the clock, as demonstrated by his nimble putback at the Halftime buzzer;  He knows how to position himself for Rebounds ala Rodman; and he knows how to avoid fouls, unlike the hard-working Alfred Aboya, who fouled out in 20 minutes.

Kevin is one Freshman who does not play like a Freshman.  He is so solid underneath, that he is overshadowing the continuing improvement of Lorenzo Mata-Real, who pulled down NINE rebounds, and led the team in aggressive hustle plays.  But Love tallied 18 Points and SIXTEEN Rebounds.  He also added two Assists, and one Steal.  He missed 5 Free Throws, but that’s because he broke a finger in practice on Thursday, and had them taped together during the game.  It’s his non-shooting hand, so the injury was only a factor on his Free Throws.

Love’s trademarked outlet passes have become infectious, as all the big men are looking down the Court when they grab a board, and all the other players are racing down the floor, seeking easy fast break points.  It paid off a couple of times yesterday, including one that resulted in a wide-open Three for Josh Shipp, who also checked in with 18 Points.  Shipp had an early dunk that was FIERCE, but he picked up a T while rubbing it in.  Hopefully Coach Ben Howland made sure that Josh never does that again, or at least not until he posterizes O.J. Mayo.

Love controlled the boards and UCLA controlled the game.  The Bruins were up by 10 at the Half, despite sloppy play on Offense and poor shooting.  They used a spurt to increase the lead to 20, then pretty much coasted to the 12-point win.  Not bad for a game when you commit 18 Turnovers (12 before Intermission) and shoot 37% from the floor.  But with the Bruin Defense, which showed very impressive glimpes of that smothering Double Team down low, they can get away with it, even away from Pauley, against a well-respected ACC foe — Especially when they win the Battle of the Boards 44-29. 

The Bruins were able to break the Press for MOST of the game, even without the injured Guards Darren Collison and Michael Roll, thus showing the World (on ESPN2) that the Bruins are worthy of their new “Co-#1” Ranking that they now share with North Carolina.  Handling the Point was once again Russell “Flaming Mohawk” Westbrook, who committed only 3 of the Bruins’ 18 Turnovers, while dishing out 7 Assists and adding 13 Points.  His most impressive number was 38:  That’s the number of minutes he played, out of a possible 40.  With three players missing (including James Keefe), the healthy Bruins are building up stamina, playing more minutes than they will need to later in the year.   They are also gaining  valuable experience in case of another injury.

Speaking of valuable experience, Jordan Famar gained a lot of that last year, enough so that he is now becoming the Lakers’ Spark Plug.  For the second win in a row, this one an easy one against the Chicago Bulls, Farmar led a bench surge that CARRIED the Lakers.  Farmar had 14 of the Subs’ 73 Points, and the Lakers are now 6-3.  Not only that, but the Lakers have now crushed ANOTHER team that Kobe was interested in playing for, thus virtually cementing his place in the Purple and Gold this year.  If Phil Jackson continues to trust Farmar, Kobe will get to do a lot more flying chest bumps with the Bruin, like the one he did after Farmar hit a quick-release Three-pointer to crush a potential Chicago uprising. 

Another Bruin-Laker deserves some congratulations today, as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.  Another Bruin (whose son is a Laker), Bill Walton, introduced Kareem at the festivities.  What a great setting for Kevin Love to break onto the National Collegiate scene, as the Bruins’ Tourney and the Hall of Fame are all in the same place in Kansas City.

And it isn’t just Good Times for UCLA in Basketball — It’s also BAD TIMES for usc in Football… in the NFL.  Last night, ex-trojans Jeff Fisher, Norm Chow, and LenDale White got whipped on National TV, by a team that was down to their Third String Tailback.  Denver’s Rookie Andre Hall gained more yards in his one TD carry than LenDale amassed in all of his 13 carries, 62-42, as the Broncos knocked off the Titans, 34-20.  Looks like White is settling back down into mediocrity, after a three-game aberration.  His own Quarterback, and the guy who stole a BCS Title from him, Vince Young, also gained more yards rushing, 74, than White did, as did Young’s fellow Longhorn (and now Bronco) Selvin Young, who gained 54 before getting injured and giving way to Hall.

But LenDale, Norm, and Jeff weren’t alone.  LenDale’s old teammate and nemesis Reggie Bush was also useless in his Saints’ inexplicable blowout loss to the Houston Texans, 23-10.  This victory should help the Texan fans who haven’t seen past the hype and think that the Texans made a mistake by PASSING on Bush in the Draft.  The Saints have now dropped two straight and find themselves at 4-6 and in danger of missing the Playoffs, despite being one of the Preseason Favorites.  Sounds just like Reggie’s “alma mater” (as if he RESPECTED it as his alma mater!).

And in a very similar sinking ship is Cornhole Carson Palmer.  He threw FOUR Interceptions against Arizona, THREE of them to Antrel Rolle, who returned TWO of them for Touchdowns!  [We believe that he returned ALL THREE for TD’s, but one TD was nullified due to a penalty on the runback]  The Bengals lost 35-27, falling to 3-7, and furthering their efforts to win the Title of “Most Disappointing Team of the Year.”  You could say that “Cornhole is not on a Rolle.”  And a wannabe Actor who does ads where he is voraciously gobbling a Weiner would be lost without a Roll (or Role, but not Rolle).

Another horrible team is the Raiders, but at least they were SUPPOSED to be bad.  Of course, they weren’t supposed to be THIS bad.  Just when you thought that ex-trojan and current Oakland Head Coach Lane Kiffin had a brain – for cutting ex-trojan Mike Williams – he turns over the running game to ex-trojan Justin Fargas.  Fargas has one good game, but has not proven to be worthy of the trust that Kiffin is showing.  Fargas carried 22 times on Sunday against the 4-6 Vikings, for a total of 60 yards.  That’s less than 3 yards a carry, in case Math is not your strong subject.  Minnesota was missing their Star Player Adrian Peterson, but the Raiders made Chester Taylor look like A.P. — Taylor scored three times and gained 164 yards, leading the Vikes to a 29-22 win, knocking the Raiders to 2-8.  Will the young and inexperienced Kiffin have trouble controlling the RAIDERS now that they are playing for Draft position?  And how long will ex-trojan Al Davis give him to turn things around?

FINALLY, there WAS a little good news for TWO NFL trojans… but it took TWO BRUINS to deliver it.

The Jacksonville Jaguars, despite being coached by ex-trojan Jack Del Rio, drafted Bruins Maurice Jones-Drew and Marcedes Lewis.  Del Rio admitted this weekend that he LUCKED into Jones-Drew.  He said that he thought that MJ-D would be a 3rd Down Back only.   WRONG.  At least now he admits it, now that Maurice has scored 23 Touchdowns in the last 24 games, including a crucial one in the 24-17 victory over the Chargers on Sunday.  But it wasn’t his Toucdown Run that got him on all the Highlight Reels today, it was his DEVASTATING BLOCK on San Diego stud Shawne Merriman, that allowed David Gerrard the time he needed to find — you guessed it — Tight End (and Bruin) Marcedes Lewis, WIDE open in the End Zone.  It was Lewis’ 1st TD of the Season.  Now THERE is a FLAW in Del Rio’s Coaching — You KNOW that if Lewis got a chance, he would deliver.  Del Rio is a little slow in utilizing his Bruins, but sooner or later, he’ll realize that he can’t win without them.

But Del Rio has one of his own to thank for sealing the win.  Ex-trojan Sammy Knight got a Pick off of Philip Rivers – that survived a close Replay decision – to kill off the Bolts, and take the Jags to 7-3.   Without Jones-Drew, they’d probably be more like 4-6, but Del Rio’s not the first Coach who Maurice has bailed out.