Bruins forced to endure ‘SC’s recent rivalry dominance

What’s happening to us?

He’s transferring? She’s transferring? He’s retiring?

Why?

We lost by how much? They beat us again?

How?

These are all questions that I’ve been asking myself religiously since the beginning of the school year aka the beginning of the 2009-2010 UCLA sports campaign.

And I have to tell you folks, that campaign hasn’t been going to well … at least not according to UCLA standards.

Now, don’t get me wrong, the Bruins are still atop the college sports universe. We still lead the nation in overall national championships with 104. And even though some universities may excel in specific sports, no school is better athletically all-around than UCLA.

The only meaningful sport that we struggle in is football, but I trust and believe Slick Rick is all over rectifying that.

But the term “rectifying” means that it hasn’t quite been accomplished yet. Despite the football program beginning to look up, having reached and won a bowl game, Neuheisel’s squad still went 7-6 overall and 3-6 in the Pac-10, including a 21-point defeat at the hands of the Trojans.

If it weren’t for that bowl win, the season would have been considered a complete failure rather than just a partial one.

So far, UCLA men’s water polo has come the closest to delivering national championship No. 105 to Westwood. They made it all the way to the NCAA championship final before they were defeated, 7-6 … by USC.

Am I the only one starting to notice a trend here?

Men’s and women’s soccer both made it deep into the NCAA tournament this year, but history has taught us not to get our hopes up when it come to UCLA soccer. Bruin fans and players alike have had their hearts broken too many times in recent years, especially on the women’s side.

And unfortunately, history repeated itself.

The Bruin women were ousted in overtime of the NCAA semifinal, not by the Women of Troy or by their long-time nemesis, the North Carolina Tar Heels, but by another Pac-10 rival, the Stanford Cardinal. And the men came up short in the quarterfinals, losing to Wake Forest on the Demon Deacons’ home field.

A week ago, the UCLA men’s volleyball team played host to the No. 1 Trojans, looking to pull off what would have been a monumental morale booster for the Bruins, but more so for the raucous Bruin crowd that was in Pauley Pavilion that night.

But the Bruin universe suffered yet another defeat to the Trojans, losing 3-1.

Hey, but on the bright side, the UCLA women’s volleyball team defeated their Women of Troy counterparts twice this season!

Oh wait, things haven’t been going right there either.

After their disappointing upset loss to Baylor in the second round of the NCAA tournament, in the past two weeks the Bruins have seen two of their best young players, Lauren Cook and Amanda Gil, transfer. To make matters worse, coach Andy Banachowski, after 43 years at the helm of the UCLA women’s volleyball program, announced his retirement.

Banachowski has the most wins in the history of Division I women’s volleyball. Cook was the 2009-2010 Pac-10, AVCA Pacific Region and AVCA National Freshman of the Year. Gil made the 2009-2010 All-Pac-10 first team, All-Pacific Region first team, and was a second team AVCA All-American. She was also the reigning Pac-10 Freshman of the Year.

OUCH. How is women’s volleyball going to recover from all that?

But no matter what happens in any other sport, no matter how rough times may be for UCLA sports, we can always count on men’s basketball.

Well, that may have been the case for the past few years, but not this time.

Don’t get me wrong, everyone has an off year. Ben Howland can’t take the Bruins to the Final Four every year. It’s not completely his fault that the Bruins are struggling this year.

But what is his fault is that he spoiled UCLA basketball fans.

Three straight Final Fours? At this point, the bar is set so high that anything less than the Final Four won’t sit well with the UCLA basketball enthusiast.

It sucks that this is the hole Howland has dug himself, but that’s what happens when you’re the UCLA men’s basketball coach: expectations are astronomical.

So when Drew Gordon transferred, everybody, including myself said, “Huh? He transferred? Why?”

What basketball player transfers FROM UCLA?

But is it possible that Gordon’s expectations were the same as the fans? He looked on as the Bruins made three straight Final Fours, just like every other UCLA fan did. That’s why he came here. That’s what he wanted. He didn’t get that last year and he saw that he wasn’t going to get that this year.

So he bounced.

Now, I’m not sure he’ll be making the Final Four at New Mexico but at least the pressure to win will be significantly less.

And one thing that may have just helped Gordon’s case for sanity was a 21-point defeat suffered by the Bruins at the hands of USC this past weekend.

It’s okay to lose by 21 on the gridiron … not on the hardwood.

I don’t enjoy cruising under the overpass by Parking Structure 6 and hearing the boisterous ‘SC fans sing, “Bruins suck.” And the worst part about it is that I know we don’t suck. But when we put on a performance like that, it’s quite possible that on that day, we sucked.

Yeah it’s hard out here for a pi ““ I mean, a Bruin.

Next up for the UCLA sports scene is tennis. The Bruin men and women enter the season ranked No. 4 and No. 12, respectively.

But ‘SC’s men and women enter the season ranked No. 1 and No. 9, respectively.

Our women’s gymnastics team is ranked No. 1 in the nation, though. There is no reason they shouldn’t beat the Trojans and win trophy No. 105.

Wait, USC doesn’t have gymnastics. Drag … we definitely would have taken them on the mats.

Anyway, keep your chin up Bruin fans, momentum shifts all the time. And right now ‘SC just has the momentum. And that’s fine.

But before the Bruins seek to grab the momentum back from the Trojans, let’s just pray for any momentum at all.

E-mail Watson at [email protected].