Men’s basketball needed that special wake-up call from the Sports Illustrated expose
Senior guard Lazeric Jones makes an uncontested slam dunk past Cougar junior guard Reggie Moore during a fast break in the Bruins’ victory over Washington State last Thursday.
By Ryan Eshoff
March 5, 2012 11:55 p.m.
Redshirt junior guard Kenny Jones dances in the center of the huddle before the start of the Bruins’ game against the Cal Bears on Feb. 11, 2012. UCLA will face USC on Wendesday in the team’s first game of the Pac-12 Tournament.
Who wants to write the expose this week?
A day after an article in Sports Illustrated harshly criticized the character of the program, the UCLA men’s basketball team executed its finest weekend of the season, a three-day stretch that featured a 30-point trouncing of Washington State and an impressive victory over Washington, the Pac-12’s best team.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to suggest that this squad rallied around each other in light of the adversity; it’s a pretty cliche thing to say in sports, but if you watched the games last week I’m sure you’d agree that the Bruins just had a different feel and a different look about them.
There was pride, there was energy, there was a greater will to win. Lo and behold, a 2-0 weekend.
I’ve been hard on this team most of the year, and I still think there are some changes that could be made in light of the allegations presented in Sports Illustrated. But the Bruins channeled SOMETHING last weekend, and whatever it was, it paid off big-time.
You want to guard against rash predictions based on one weekend, but why can’t this team, as it’s currently going, make a run to the Pac-12 Championship Game?
The one team UCLA doesn’t want to face is Cal, which beat the Bruins twice in the regular season, both by double digits. But the Bears are on the opposite side of the bracket, meaning the only time the two UC schools could meet would be in the conference title game.
Plus, Cal’s lost two in a row heading into the tournament, so who’s to say it’ll be playing its best basketball and won’t be ripe for an upset?
Outside of the Cal games, UCLA’s six other conference losses have come by a combined 14 points. The Bruins have shown that they can beat Washington State, Arizona and Washington, the three teams that form the likeliest path to the championship game.
Sometimes it just takes a special wake-up call. To me, this is the beauty of Groupon, which I have a weird fascination with. We all have these desires, these attitudes stored deep within us.
Sometimes all it takes is reading a Sports Illustrated article, or receiving an offer for 50 percent off of a jet-pack adventure, to get things to click. Lightbulb: Yeah, that’s what we need to do!
I’m sure it wasn’t the motivational tactic that coach Ben Howland had in mind. I’ve had coaching aspirations myself, and “have a damning article printed about your program” is below “play “˜Hoosiers’ on repeat in the locker room” and “threaten them with post-loss Arby’s” on my list of inspirational techniques.
Players will surely deny that the article has been a distraction, that it’s been on their minds. That’s a lie. These are teammates ““ these are comrades who are being discussed under such an intense microscope. It’s impossible to mentally shove those things aside.
If those thoughts led to the performances over the weekend, then you want them to be on your mind anyway. One of my biggest criticisms of this current batch of players has been an apparent lack of pride in sporting the UCLA jersey. That issue was gone this weekend.
Once in a while you need the proper wake-up call, no matter how drastic. Maybe sports articles are the most impactful things ever. Then again, probably not.
If you find his articles to be positively inspirational, email Eshoff at [email protected].
