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LAWRENCE, Kan. -- With the holiday season – and another embarrassing loss – thrust upon them, the Bruins’ Christmas wishes are starting to look unrealistic, even for never-say-never UCLA.

A 87-70 loss to No. 19 Kansas leaves UCLA a disheveled 2-4, and the Bruins’ complete lack of execution in the first half is of profound concern. The Bruins made just one field goal in the game’s first seven minutes and appeared rattled from the outset by a packed-to-the-rusting-rafters Allen Fieldhouse crowd.

“We were fighting uphill the entire game,” UCLA head coach Steve Lavin said.

And if not for a four-minute stretch of spirit that withered the Kansas lead from 21 to 11, the margin wouldn’t have been nearly as close as an already disheartening 17 points.

So the question – which is becoming as much a December tradition as eggnog and mistletoe – is: which UCLA team will show up for the rest of the season?

Or, better yet, does Hyde even have a Jekyll side this year?

“We’ll be all right,” guard Ryan Walcott says.

“It’s not time to panic yet,” guard Ray Young says.

During Steve Lavin’s six turbulent years as the headman in Westwood,

comments like Walcott’s and Young’s actually haven’t sounded too

preposterous. Indeed, it was a loss not unlike Saturday’s in Lawrence – Dec. 23, 2000 to North Carolina – that spurred one of UCLA’s best Pac-10 runs in recent memory.

On that Saturday afternoon in Pauley Pavilion, Lavin instituted a full- court press that nearly brought the Bruins back from down 20. UCLA rode its high-tempo madness to a 14-4 conference mark and yet another Sweet 16 berth.

“Partly because of my six years of experience as coach here, I know that we always play our best basketball late in the year,” Lavin said.

But in this season of Northern Arizona and San Diego upsets, UCLA might need its best basketball just to earn a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Nonconference games against Michigan, St. John’s and Georgetown remain, along with 18 Pac-10 games. Even if one gives all three nonconference tilts to the Bruins, they’d still need at least 12 wins in Pac-10 play (including the Pac-10 Tournament) to leave them with a very shaky 17 victories.

“We should be disappointed. We should be discouraged,” Lavin said.

He followed up the comment in classic Lavin fashion, with words of

encouragement. Apparently, he wasn’t alone.

“Congratulations to them because it was a game they could have just mailed in,” Kansas head coach Roy Williams said. “Steve’s club didn’t and they competed. When you give up 20 offensive rebounds you usually don’t win the game.”

Indeed, the Bruins’ effort on the glass was impressive, especially

considering how badly they had been overmatched down low in their three losses. And if their press stays as effective as it was against a well- disciplined, talented team like Kansas’, they might be dangerous.

“We’re gonna come back, start practicing and figure this thing out,” Young said.

If history is any guide, it will happen. Whether it happens Christmas Day, New Year’s Day or April Fool’s Day might be what matters, though.

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