[Basketball preview] Bruins need to shut ‘SC

Ah, logic.

I took a class in it once. And only once, if you know what I
mean.

Aside from remembering little more than “if P, then
Q,” I think I left that class with a sense of just how
gratifying it can be to make fun of people who think they know what
they’re talking about yet, well, don’t.

I guess there’s no more natural segue than that to talk
about USC.

Thanks to two Trojan men’s basketball players who chose to
share their arrogant or naive words of wisdom, I think more than
anything, UCLA men’s basketball needs to win tonight to do
one thing: Put the Trojans in their place.

To see what I mean, just take the case of USC senior Jeff
McMillan, a power forward for the basketball squad. The Los Angeles
Times quoted him Tuesday as saying that since his team was ahead by
18 at the half against UCLA on Jan. 29, all his team will have to
do tonight is play the whole game like it did that half.

Meaning not blow the huge lead to lose like before.

Now I grant you that I’m no basketball strategist. But if
the Trojans think they’ll win by entering Pauley Pavilion
with this idea, just what’s going to happen when the Bruins
show up to play the way they did in the second half of that January
game?

I’d say overcoming an 18-point halftime deficit is nothing
for Tommy Trojan to shake his sword at.

However, when given the chance to diminish Thursday’s
opponent, UCLA coach Ben Howland took an alternate approach.
Howland was quick to credit the Trojans, remembering the fight they
put up against his Bruins last time around.

“Gabe Pruitt is playing incredibly. McMillan is a load to
handle,” Howland said, showering praise on a team whose
record doesn’t warrant it.

“This is a very talented team we face on
Thursday.”

In general, it appears the Bruin team has its head on its
shoulders.

Maybe last-place USC can learn a lesson from the Bruins about
finesse and refinement.

Or let me put it this way: Until the Trojans can put their money
where their mouth is, that collective mouth needs to be as shut as
the door to any hope of postseason action already is for them.

Thankfully the Bruins already have shown they have the skill to
put behind the quiet confidence. They beat No. 13 Washington and
almost topped No. 11 Arizona the first time around. Those teams are
the respective second- and first-place teams in the Pac-10, not to
mention those national rankings next to their names.

What matters, though, is the here and now, especially when a win
against USC would help to confirm the turnaround from previous
seasons we’ve hoped to see for so long. A win would show that
the Jan. 29 end to UCLA’s four-game losing streak against USC
wasn’t a fluke.

Especially when so much of the postseason is riding on the
Bruins’ ability to win the last few games of conference
play.

So what threat, then, could the 10th-place team of the
conference’s 10 teams pose to the seemingly superior
Bruins?

Well, despite McMillan’s cheap talk, his point remains
that the Trojans looked as if they were going to take their streak
to five against UCLA during the first half of their meeting back in
January.

Unless the Bruins come out strong and stay strong, unless they
show up pairing their skill with merited confidence ““ which
is something the Trojans can only talk about ““ they
won’t have a chance at any play beyond the March 5 bout with
Oregon.

I guess I’m overlooking a postseason possibility for the
Bruins. Probably because I hate even thinking of it as a
possibility.

Let’s just say UCLA has no choice but to perform in
gloating-worthy ways from here on out. A loss to any of the three
teams would be devastating come Selection Sunday.

Tonight’s game is crucial for the Bruins. Not only for
bragging rights, but for the possibility that remains in that a
loss tonight to that three-letter school we consider our crosstown
rival might mean a spot in that three-letter bane of reputable NCAA
programs: NIT.

E-mail Looper at [email protected].