KEITH ENRIQUEZ/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Bruin guard Ryan Bailey consoles senior Earl Watson towards the end of UCLA's tough loss to Duke in the Sweet Sixteen.

By Chris Umpierre

Daily Bruin Staff



PHILADELPHIA — UCLA Head Coach Steve Lavin has always said that the day his senior guard Earl Watson takes off his Bruin jersey for the last time, it would be like Charlie Brown taking away Linus' security blanket.

No. 1 seed Duke stripped away that blanket away Thursday with its 76-63 triumph over the No. 4 seed Bruins in the Sweet Sixteen. The defeat ended UCLA's season and the collegiate career of Watson, a player who has been the heart and soul of the program the last four years.

Amazingly, he started every one of his 129 games during his college career. The gritty point guard played all of those games with a fire to win that often led him to dive head first for loose balls and do whatever else it took for his team to win.

He continued that intensity into his final game in which he finished with 17 points, six assists and five rebounds.

"I'm as proud of Earl Watson as any aspect of my entire coaching career," Lavin said. "He's really put a foundation in place for the future of this program in terms of the example he's set for the younger players.

"Somewhere down the line we will cut the nets after a national championship and Earl Watson will be a piece to that puzzle."

In the locker room after the game, Watson said it hadn't hit him that he will never play in a Bruin jersey again.

"I tend to separate myself emotionally from that," he said. "I have to move on past this moment. As soon as I leave here I'm going to get focused on my next challenges up ahead."

The next challenge for Watson, who will graduate from UCLA in June, will be finding a spot on a NBA team next season. He said he would begin working out on Monday in hopes of getting drafted or being picked up as a free agent.

  KEITH ENRIQUEZ/Daily Bruin Senior Staff After Earl Watson gets in a scrum with Duke guard Jason Williams, two referees try to hold him back. If the scouts have watched the point guard this season they'll know he certainly can help a number of teams. They would have been particularly impressed with Watson's performance on Thursday.

In addition to hitting some big time buckets, he more than held his own against the best player in college basketball, Duke point guard Jason Williams.

While it's true Williams scored a career-high 34 points, he scored most of those points in the second half when Watson had four fouls (he picked up his fourth foul at the 11:05 mark). The Blue Devil guard also didn't have to guard Watson.

Williams guarded shooting guard Billy Knight while Duke's Chris Duhon drew Watson.

"It wasn't a fair match up," Watson said about his battle with Williams. "He didn't guard me but I had to guard him. Jason (Williams) conserved a lot of energy that way."

At times the match up got quite heated. Watson and Williams exchanged harsh words with each other at several points in the game.

Then with 8:14 left in the game, the pair nearly came to blows. Both players dove for a loose ball and Watson had a problem with the way Williams went after the ball. After exchanging words with the Duke guard on the floor, Watson got up and shoved Williams.

Both players got to their feet, face to face, and began yelling obscenities at each other.

"We were both going for the ball and before you know it there's a scramble and basically it was like a scrap," Watson said. "It was an intense game. We are two intense competitors we both wanted to win. It was nothing personal."

Williams agreed the incident was product of an intense game.

"They are definitely a bunch of rough kids and I think we are too," he said. "Nobody wanted to step down, nobody wanted to lose the basketball game."

After the game, Watson made a point of going over and talking to Williams and Duke forward Shane Battier. Watson said that was the first time he had really met Williams.

The decision to speak with the Blue Devils players shows exactly how far Watson has come during his Bruin career. He entered Westwood a shy kid, who often gave two-word answers to the media. He left as one of the classiest competitors in UCLA history.

"That's probably the most rewarding part of coaching is watching these kids grow up right before your eyes," Lavin said.

Lavin and a number of critics who follow Bruin basketball feel Watson will be remembered as one of the top 10 UCLA point guards in the school's history.

Looking back over the last four years, Watson – nicknamed the Cal Ripken of college basketball – said he didn't regret one single thing in his Bruin career.

"I'm happy with what I've done here," he said. "I left it all on the court. I didn't save anything."