SO MUCH FOR INTRIGUE IN THE RACE FOR PAC-10 SUPREMACY THIS SEASON.Byline: RAMONA SHELBURNE Ramona Shelburne is an American sports journalist currently writing for the Los Angeles Daily News. Shelburne was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She attended El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California where she was a class valedictorian. Oregon's record was big and glossy. Every time you saw it in print, it was followed by a loud proclamation that this was their best start since 1926. Its best player, Aaron Brooks Aaron Brooks can refer to:
Full members Player of the Year. All five starters were averaging double figures. And just last month, the Ducks ended UCLA's dreams of an unbeaten season. So you figured this was the team UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX had to worry about this year. The team they'd always be looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. on the out-of-town scoreboard and privately hoping some other team could steal a game off of to make things easier. Riiight. That would've made for an exciting second half of the Pac-10 season. But after the 69-57 thrashing UCLA put on the Ducks on Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion Edwin W. Pauley Pavilion, informally and commonly known as Pauley Pavilion, is an indoor arena located on the campus of UCLA in Los Angeles, California. It is home to the UCLA Bruins men's and women's basketball teams. The men's and women's volleyball teams also play here. , don't expect much intrigue in Westwood for a while. UCLA is the class of the Pac-10. Again. As usual. The conference title race begins here every year and UCLA looked good enough Thursday night to just about end it. They could still screw this up, of course. Lose to Stanford again. But barring any more setbacks, the Bruins should be able to cruise into the NCAA Tournament NCAA Tournament can mean: Men's Sports
The Bruins didn't just beat the Ducks here Thursday, they embarrassed them. Paid them back for that loss in Eugene and then some. ``They gave us our first loss of the season so we had that feeling in our guts,'' UCLA forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (born 9 September 1986 in Yaounde, Cameroon) is a 6' 8" Cameroonian basketball player who plays for the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Bruins in the Pacific Ten Conference of the NCAA. said. The numbers for Oregon on Thursday night were ugly. The Ducks shot just 37percent from the field. Had just seven assists. Trailed by 19points at one point. Put up a season-low 57 points. If it wasn't for their proficiency behind the 3-point line in the first half (6 for 10), it could've been really ugly. UCLA, meanwhile, shot 57percent from the field, had four starters in double figures and held Brooks to his lowest scoring output in more than a month. Sometimes it's fun to think about what would've happened if the game had gone the other way. The Ducks would have been vindicated as a heavyweight, maybe even jumped into the top five in the polls. Brooks' name would've begun appearing on national player of the year lists while the Bruins would've been assailed by the local media, crucified on talk radio and looking at a cross-country flight for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Instead, order has been restored. UCLA on top of the Pac-10 and everyone else is looking up and throwing stones again. The Bruins are used to this role. They like it. Some teams play better as the underdogs, with a chip on their shoulder. UCLA figures having a big target on its back every year serves the same purpose. Wins are expected here. Pac-10 titles are put in the back of the trophy case. Only Final Four runs and brushes with history get the blood pumping. ``We were definitely going to do whatever it took to win tonight,'' said UCLA guard Arron Afflalo Arron Agustin Afflalo (born October 15, 1985) is an American professional basketball player, currently with the Detroit Pistons. He recently completed a three-year career at University of California, Los Angeles in the Pacific Ten Conference of the NCAA as the starting shooting , who led the Bruins with 17 points. ``We expect to win every game. We don't get the same amount of joy when we win as we do anguish when we lose. So when you have a chance to make history and another team takes it away from you, it hurts. Especially if you take the game seriously like I do.'' In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke" put differently , Afflalo wasn't really thinking about UCLA's win Thursday night anymore. He wasn't celebrating like the Bruins had just taken a huge step towards sewing up another Pac-10 title. UCLA won, took control of the Pac-10, avenged a·venge tr.v. a·venged, a·veng·ing, a·veng·es 1. To inflict a punishment or penalty in return for; revenge: avenge a murder. 2. its earlier loss and shoved the Ducks back toward ``upstart'' status. Everyone else can go back to throwing stones at the Bruins and trying to break their stride. ramona.shelburne@dailynews.com (818) 713-3617 |
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