From Press Row

Well, that game was anything but an instant classic, but hey ... this is where cliches are completely appropriate: "A win is a win."

UCLA's defense tonight against Indiana brought back memories from last season's Tourney run as they completely clamped down on the Hoosiers, holding them to only 13 first-half points and only 33% shooting for the game.

Now the Bruins advance to play No. 3 Pitt, who had to hold on in overtime after almost choking away a huge lead against No. 11 VCU and bricking two potential game-winning free throws with just seconds in regulation. We'll get to that game in a bit, but back to tonight's win.

Arron Afflalo once again struggled big-time from the field, shooting 2-11, but unlike in the Cal loss a week ago, he stayed mentally in the game on the defensive end and helped pitch one of Ben Howland's vintage defensive performances.

From the tip, it was clear to me that UCLA was the better team. D.J. White couldn't handle the double teams from Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Lorenzo Mata and Alfred Aboya. No Indiana player could find the bottom of the basket as UCLA went up by 16 with less than 14 minutes to go in the second half. The game appeared essentially over.

That's when IU finally found some semblance of an offense and started hitting some shots and crawled back in the game, coming all the way back to tie it at 49-all with just 1:01 to play.

However, with both teams without any timeouts, it appeared that UCLA had actually learned something from the Cal loss a week before. Both Afflalo and Darren Collison, instead of settling for jump shots or simply running the clock, penetrated into the lane and got themselves to the line.

Against Cal, I was completely shocked as to why Collison didn't drive the lane at the end of regulation. It was clear today that that loss left an impression in our players' minds, as Collison learned from that mistake and Afflalo shook off his poor shooting night and made the correct decision to try to get to the line. Those two both made a pair, and Josh Shipp added one of two to ice the game.

The lack of offense concerns me, and the fine game Afflalo had against Weber St. had me thinking he was done with his mini-slump. Still, as poorly as he played, Afflalo still managed to get to the line enough to score 10 points tonight, and really who would you rather have the ball in a late-game situation than him?

Some other thoughts from the game:

- It appeared the refs had two sets of rules for fouls on rebounds, as Indiana appeared to continually go over the backs of the Bruins' bigs without any worry of reprisal. On occasion late in the game, Lance Stemler again shoved Mata under the basket for an offensive board and putback. The worst offender was D.J. White, who clearly went over Mata's back to tip out a ball that eventually led to Earl Calloway's tying layup. Luckily, this (hopefully one-time) quirk of officiating did not cost the Bruins the win.

- On that vein of officiating, Alfred Aboya incredibly fouled out of the game after logging only nine minutes of play. Although most of his value is rooted in his aggressive nature, Aboya needs to figure out how to avoid stupid fouls and stay in the game. He’s too valuable as a defender and rebounder to not be available because of constant foul trouble.

- The offensive highlight of the night was clearly this dunk by freshman Russell Westbrook over Indiana’s Roderick Wilmont in the first half. That dunk showed the country the talent that I believe will make Westbrook an All-Pac-10 player by the time he’s a junior. He’s already the best pure athlete on the roster with ultra-long arms and quickness to match. Westbrook is an aggressive scorer (as evidenced by the dunk) and is great at penetrating gaps against zones and against man-pressure. What I also love about the freshman is that he’s not afraid at all out there. Today was obviously the biggest game he’s ever played in, and instead of laying that ball up like most players might have, he took it right to the rim against Wilmont (who is a senior and is regarded as one of the better defenders in the Big 10). Westbrook is fearless, and he’s only 18. Like Jordan Farmar before him, Westbrook is almost a year younger for his class standing, unlike many collegiate athletes who are much older than their classmates. By comparison, O.J. Mayo, USC’s prized recruit for next season, is more than a full year older than Russell. Hard to believe, but it’s true.

- Much has been made in the press about what an advantage UCLA has had by not having to play outside of California until they reach a potential Final Four spot. However, they somehow forget that California is the third largest state in the union. Westwood to Sacramento is almost 400 miles. North Carolina had the good fortune of playing their first two rounds on the campus of Wake Forest, which lies roughly 80 miles from Chapel Hill. Which school had the easier travel schedule for the first two rounds?

WIN AND ADVANCE

With the win, UCLA will now advance in the Ben Howland bracket to face Pittsburgh. Pitt, of course, was formerly coached by Howland, and is now coached by longtime Howland assistant Jamie Dixon, so both teams will know each other very well.

For those of you who don’t actually know me, I was in Washington, D.C., for the past 10 weeks, but thankfully I’ve escaped the weather and returned to Southern California just in time for the Tournament. Having spent most of the basketball season on the East Coast, though, has taught me several things:

1. Nothing exists past the Mississippi River.

2. If something to the West of the East time zone was worth noticing, most of those on the East Coast were probably already asleep and never saw it.

Keeping in mind those two things, I was force-fed lots of Big East and ACC basketball and told repeatedly how great those conferences are. Somehow, these schools are the only teams with grit and toughness. Of course, these people have never seen UCLA play.

Not only will UCLA match Pitt’s intensity, but they have superior athletes and players at multiple positions which I ultimately think will lead to a relatively easy Sweet 16 victory on Thursday.

The Bruins’ main advantage lies clearly in the backcourt. Ronald Ramon and Levance Fields are tough, heady players who play with a lot of heart. That won’t be enough against Afflalo and Collison. Both Panthers have a penchant for making big plays, but not for consistently producing on the offensive end. Fields (who was saved from eternal ignominy when Pitt prevailed over VCU after he missed two game-winning free throw opportunities with two seconds left in regulation) bears much of the ball-handling duties. But how he holds up against the pressure that Collison will exert will be crucial to the outcome of the game.

Many in the media will talk about how Panther senior Aaron Gray will pose a problem for UCLA inside. I actually think the reverse is true, as Gray is the definition of big and lumbering. He is skilled enough and works hard enough to be able to be a good college player, where he is almost always the biggest man on the court. Gray’s biggest weakness is his penchant for getting into foul trouble. Because of his lack of athleticism, Gray often is not able to move his feet against players who slash and penetrate, and as a result is forced to often reach and slap at the ball.

As has often been the case, I expect the Bruins to start with a couple post-up opportunities for Lorenzo Mata early in the game, to go right at Gray and try to take away Pitt’s biggest trump card. Pitt’s only chance of staying in this game will be if Gray can stay on the court and have a big impact in the middle. The Panthers and Jamie Dixon do not have a clear-cut go-to player who can take over a game should they get down big to UCLA. Expect the Bruins to advance Thursday to the Elite Eight.

IN OTHER SATURDAY ACTION

Ohio St. 78, Xavier 71 (OT): The Musketeers almost pulled off the shocker of the tournament but threw away a golden opportunity to knock off the South region’s top seed. Greg Oden fouled out of the game with the clock running down and the Buckeyes down. Lucky for him, Xavier’s Justin Cage missed one of two free throws, which allowed Ron Lewis to tie the game with a deep 3.

On the play however, I thought Oden should have been called for an intentional foul which would have made the missed free throw a moot point because Xavier would have maintained possession. After David Lighty had missed a layup attempt, Cage grabbed the defensive rebound and was shoved in the chest by Oden and thrown out of bounds. Of course no mention of this was ever made on the television broadcast. The several replays shown only furthered my belief that the foul was clearly intentional.

The play, if called, would have likely been Oden’s last play as a collegian, as he is the likely the No. 1 overall pick in this summer’s NBA Draft. Instead, Oden was saved by Lewis and his freshman teammate Mike Conley Jr. Oden was very unimpressive in today’s game, missing several short attempts and looking completely out of sync on both ends. This more appeared to be Xavier imploding under the pressure rather than Ohio St. playing a great game to come back. The Musketeers were clearly rattled after they saw their huge lead slip away so quickly toward the end of regulation.

Texas A&M 72, Louisville 69: The Aggies were at a severe disadvantage despite being the higher seed as the Cardinals got to play in-state at Lexington. The most impressive thing about Texas A&M, however, is clearly their poise under pressure. Unlike Xavier, this team did not fold even though they faced an imposing task playing virtually on the road.

Acie Law IV has been called the best clutch player in college basketball, and he and the rest of his teammates lived up to that billing as they calmly erased a late deficit and hit free throw after free throw to seal the victory.

Louisville’s freshman point guard Edgar Sosa played magnificently almost the entire game before the final minute, which proved that experience and savvy still count for something in this, the year of the freshmen. Even though Sosa’s 31 points carried the Cardinals to their late lead, the freshman missed two crucial free throws with 29 seconds left that could have given Louisville the lead. He then missed a long 3-pointer with 10 seconds left after he made the mistake of picking up his dribble beyond the arc after not being able to get the ball to teammate Terrance Williams. Sosa will likely have a great career under Coach Rick Pitino, but he must not let his late-game shortcomings overshadow his great performance in his first NCAA Tournament.

Other results:

Pittsburgh 84, VCU 79 (OT)

Vanderbilt 78, Washington St. 74 (2OT)

North Carolina 81, Michigan St. 67

Georgetwon 62, Boston College 55

Butler 62, Maryland 59

-After the opening weekend, where the only real upsets were VCU over Duke and Winthrop over Notre Dame (both, to be fair, weren’t really all that surprising) fans were treated today to three overtime games and several others that went down to the wire. The upshot to most of the higher seeds winning games is that the later rounds will have huge “name” schools facing off in pressure situations and which, let’s be honest, have a higher caliber of talent filling out their rosters. The overall level of play in the later rounds will benefit from the big names advancing.

- Interesting note: no double-digit at-large seed won a game in this year’s tournament.

- Also, put to rest any notion that wining 20 games in a season means anything in today’s college environment. A record 104 Division I schools broke the 20-win threshold, breaking the old record by almost 30. When Jim Boeheim of Syracuse or any other coach says their team won 20 games and should have made the Tournament, remember this little bit of trivia (for the record, I thought the Orange did deserve to get in, but this rationale really had nothing to do with it).