by Paul Teetor
After the first weekend of March madness, only one LA team was left standing: the UCLA women’s team made it to the Sweet 16.
At least the UCLA men’s basketball team beat the one team they were supposed to beat in the first round of the NCAA Tournament – even if they did it by the thinnest of margins.
That’s more than you can say for the USC men’s team, which didn’t face anyone they were supposed to beat because they didn’t make the cut for the 64-team tournament – for the third year in a row.
I don’t know what USC coach Eric Mussellman has been doing at the Galen Center for the last two years, but whatever it is isn’t working. He’s been so bad he makes his predecessor, Andy Enfield — who left town before a posse of disillusioned SC boosters could hang him by their purse strings — look good.
While the USC players were sitting on their couches Friday night watching UCLA play their first March Madness game, the Seventh seeded Bruins took down 10th seeded UCF – that’s the University of Central Florida, for those who aren’t paying close attention to the annual hoops extravaganza – in an ugly 75-71 East Regional victory.
The interminable game – which featured more turnovers than a vegan bakery, more steals than a self-checkout line and several sideline temper tantrums by UCLA Coach Mick Cronin – ended with UCLA hanging on by a thread after leading by double digits.
But the back and forth nature of the game was great for the real action in the NCAA tournament – the betting that goes on, legal and otherwise, on everything you can imagine: who will shoot the next shot, who will hit the next hoop, will it be a two-pointer or a three-pointer and on and on right down to who will draw the next charging call and who will commit the next foul.
These mini-bets within the game are called prop bets, and they are quickly destroying the beauty and the integrity of sports – amateur and professional alike. Conservative estimates are that more than three billion dollars will be wagered on March Madness before a women’s champion is crowned on April 5 and a men’s champion is crowned on April 6.
That’s a lot of bets – and a lot of opportunities for professional gamblers to use inside information to make a financial killing.
UCLA’s reward for their long slog to Philadelphia and their ugly win over UCF? A chance to play the second seeded University of Connecticut, who quickly ended Westwood’s hoop dreams with a 73-57 trouncing of the Bruins on Sunday night.
But that’s OK because this year’s tournament was never supposed to be about the UCLA men’s team.
No, this year it’s all about the top-seeded UCLA women’s team. And to a lesser extent it’s also about the USC women’s team, which has a new star in Jazzy Davidson – what a great hoops name that is. She scored 31 points in their first round, 71-67 win over Clemson in overtime.
Her back-to-back three pointers late in the overtime were the key baskets for USC.
“I told her, you don’t ever have to give me a gift ever again because those two shots in overtime were enough,” senior guard Kara Dunn said of Davidson. “I’m really, really proud of her. Her maturity, her confidence to step up and take those shots was huge for us.”
For her part, Davidson was full of youthful exuberance after her first NCAA tournament game.
“It felt great,” Davidson said of her first tournament experience. “My teammates and coaches put me in a great position with those shots. They called great play calls, and my teammates executed perfectly, and we got the shot.”
When you think about pairing her with the Trojan’s injured superstar JuJu Watkins – who missed the entire season after a devastating knee injury in last season’s tournament — next year, the future is limitless. Davidson, recently named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, led the ninth-seeded Trojans to the victory over eighth seeded Clemson. That earned them a rematch with top-seeded South Carolina Monday night. Unfortunately, USC fell to SC by a score of 101-61 and their season was over.
But don’t feel sorry for the women of Troy. Next season Watkins will be back – hopefully as good as ever — and will assume her rightful place as the best player in college basketball. Davidson projects as a co-star who will make Watkins and her teammates that much better.
But while USC has their sights set on next season, the UCLA women were all about the here and now. With the West Regional being held right here in Pauley Pavilion – their home court – everything is set up perfectly for them to advance all the way to the tournament final and a rematch with the top-seeded University of Connecticut on Sunday night, April 5.
Last season UCLA lost to UConn by double digits in a highly anticipated game that quickly turned into a blowout. To say that UCLA was not ready for the challenge is to put it kindly. To say that they choked big-time is more accurate.
But this season, according to the UCLA team and their many fans, will be very different.
This year they’re going all the way to the championship.
The burden of those great expectations falls mainly on the broad shoulders of 6-foot-7 Lauren Betts, UCLA’s All-American center and the likely top pick in the next WNBA draft. With her little sister Sienna Betts joining her on the Bruin’s roster this year, they have plenty of firepower to go all the way this year, with their first two games just a formality.
Trouble is, someone forgot to tell 16th seeded Cal Baptist before their first-round matchup Saturday night. Cal Baptist played the much taller Bruins so tough that they only trailed by 10 points at halftime.
UCLA Coach Cori Close gave her team a stern lecture at halftime, and it paid immediate dividends.
The Bruins went on a 17-2 run to start the second half, and soon the game was essentially over.
With a supporting cast that includes Kiki Rice and Gabriela Jaquez – both likely first round WNBA draft picks – Betts put the game away within 10 minutes of the start of the second half. Betts finished with 18 points and 12 rebounds, Rice with 18 points and Jaquez with 16 points. And yes, she is the sister of former UCLA star Jaime Jaquez, now a key player with the Miami Heat in the NBA.
The Bruins advanced to play Oklahoma State Monday night. They continued their winning ways with a 87-68 win over the Cowboys.
“It was spirited,” Close said of her halftime message. “It wasn’t the fact that we missed shots. Those aren’t the things that get me fired up. It’s when we don’t execute the scouting report, when we are lackadaisical, we don’t communicate and we’re not connected.”
Anything less than an appearance in the championship game will be considered a monumental failure for the Bruins.
Those are some great expectations in a single elimination tournament where one bad shot or one bad pass can be the difference between winning and losing.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com. ER
