By AJ Cadman
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Road to the Final Four only gets rockier from here.
The No. 4-seeded UCLA men's basketball team must tackle the No. 12 Utah State Aggies (28-5), in a 2001 NCAA East Regional second round contest Saturday at 12:30 p.m. PST, to reach their third Sweet Sixteen in four years.
For Head Coach Steve Lavin and his Bruins (22-8), the prime objective will be to avoid finding themselves between a huge performance from Aggie point guard Bernard Rock and a place too deep to dig themselves out of. The key to avoiding that lies in playing by the numbers.
"The strength of our team is our balance," Lavin said. "We have five guys who have averaged in double figures since Billy (Knight) has become a starter. On any given night, anyone can step up.
"We are like those old John Wooden teams. We have interchangeable parts. We don't overwhelm people, but the pieces fit."
The reigning Big West conference titleholders, Utah State snuck up on No. 5 seed Ohio State Thursday in a 77-68 overtime upset.
Much of the reason for the win came from Rock's 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting in 42 minutes against the Buckeyes. The stability provided Thursday by Rock, the Aggies’ senior leader, was foreshadowed by his receiving all-conference first team and Big West tournament most valuable player honors. He is the force that Utah State has come to rely upon, scoring 13 points in the second half and overtime against Ohio State. Rock's speed on both ends of the floor makes knowing his whereabouts on the hardwood a priority.
But the Bruins have the nation's "Mr. Dependable" in senior point guard Earl Watson, who will break the school record with his 127th consecutive start Saturday afternoon. His 15 points, seven assists and four steals against Hofstra on Thursday led a valiant second-half charge to avoid another UCLA NCAA Tournament first round disappointment.
An equally crucial matchup will be the one in the paint between UCLA's Dutch Boy, 6-foot-11 junior center Dan Gadzuric, and Utah State's 7-0 senior Dimitri Jorssen. In Thursday's game Jorssen demonstrated an efficient interior game with his back to the basket while getting little
help on defense against one of the country's top big men, Ohio State's Ken Johnson.
"I feel that we have to use our 'changing defense,'" said Utah State Head Coach Stew Morrill. "We are a man (defense) club, but we mix zone in here and there. When we go to our 'changing D,' we can get you out of sorts."
For UCLA, the goal is not to win huge just because the analysts and odds makers have forecasted it. Rather, the Bruins' philosophy is to get the win and not worry about anything else.
"We finished the season winning 18 of 21 games and that says enough," UCLA sophomore forward Jason Kapono said. "We may have had our ups and downs, but we have found a way to win. We might not be blowing people out, but we have found ways to win. That's they key to our team."
For the 2001 UCLA men's basketball team, it will matter not of how the journey to the championships dreams is made so long as the bubble to their magical season doesn't burst.