Bruins trying to live up to expectations
Not used to role as Pac-10 title favorite, squad falls victim to upsets
Illustration by ERICA PINTO/Daily Bruin
By Dylan Hernandez
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
This isn’t how Billy Knight envisioned the season starting.
Opponents, seeing UCLA’s preseason ranking, were supposed to tremble in their sneakers. Their fear would make them involuntarily lie down on the court, allowing the Bruins run right over them, leaving adidas logos imprinted on their faces.
That hasn’t quite happened.
“It’s not all the fun and games I’d thought it’d be,” Knight said. “Now we know we have a job to do.”
Never having been the favorites in the Pac-10 and a Final Four contender in the past, UCLA’s current contingent has done a poor job this season of playing up to its predicted role. The Bruins don’t carry an aura of invincibility that the big dogs carry at the start of seasons. Pac-10 favorites don’t lose to Ball State or Pepperdine.
No, this team is clearly flawed.
But favorites are still favorites and their opponents, especially players at smaller schools, are treating them as such.
“They wanted to go to a big-time school, and for some reason they didn’t get that chance,” Kapono said. “They have a chance to come in and prove something. The bullseye grows even more. It’s their chance for fame right there.”
Ball State was the first to gain notoriety at Bruins’ expense.
The Cardinals said they weren’t the least bit intimidated.
“We just came to play Ball State basketball,” Ball State guard Patrick Jackson said. “We played these players in summer, in AAU.”
Pepperdine followed the example and Riverside did as well, even though the Highlanders could only do so for a half.
Prior to the start of the season, being a favorite was a novelty for the Bruins, not a burden. UCLA, according to center Dan Gadzuric, was “anxious to play on the court, to start the season.”
“We’re mature now, we’re ready now,” senior guard Rico Hines said. “We’re glad to be recognized among the elite programs.”
“We’re ranked high,” Kapono added. “We feel like we’ve made strides. We feel pretty good about ourselves. We hope to go to the Final Four and win the Pac-10. This year, there’s more pressure, but we don’t feel it.”
Now, a few weeks have passed and all has changed. The Xs and Os, which didn’t seem that important in the preseason, are all the Bruins are looking at. Forget about the rankings. Execution, not reputation, is what wins games.
A couple of losses will teach you that.
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