UCLA Basketball Fans, Back Away From The Edge!

Jan 12, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; A general view of Pauley Pavilion prior to a game between the UCLA Bruins and Arizona State Sun Devils. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Fielding-USA TODAY Sports

The sky is not falling. The castle is not collapsing. The end is NOT nigh. UCLA losing 74-69 to a good Utah team is not the end of the world. In fact, it is a reminder to go forward and that is all you can do because this is only Year 1 of 10 in the Steve Alford era. Strap your seat belts on, it is going to be a long, bumpy ride. Or not.

The Game Sucked

Sure it did. Who does not know that? Do you think Alford went away from this game smiling and thinking, “That almost worked, who wants pizza”? This was the worst game Alford coached this year and he needs to address that. This will not stand.

One Bruin in particular who will not let this stand, and that is the man with the plan… Kyle Anderson.

Anderson went off for 28 points despite having a subpar game, himself. He was the only Bruin that got things going and he did that because he wants to win. No one else was able to contribute, so he took it upon himself to get his team to where they need to be. It will be a sad day when he is no longer a Bruin.

I’ll tell you what though, Jordan Adams, Norman Powell and Bryce Alford, who were all pretty much non-existent against Utah, are going to have a lot to think about before the next contest, which is Thursday at Pauley against Stanford. Expect them to bounce back in a big way.

Move On

So the Utah game was bad. It is the first bad loss for the Bruins this season (not that there are good losses). Defeat by the hands of Missouri, Duke and Arizona were predictable, if not expected. A loss against Utah is just atrocious. But what does anyone do when something goes wrong? They figure out how to make it right.

So, instead of writing piece after piece about how this could be upsetting, let us focus on the obvious, this is a good team. If you do not follow UCLA basketball because of Steve “Awkward In Iowa” Alford, fine, but there are kids busting their butts out there, playing for the team they set out to play for.

If you think that the team has imploded after the last game, well, then you might not be happy with any coach that does not immediately succeed. The world of giving coaches three-years to develop a program has now become one. It is a rough and tumble world out there.

Now if you are the type of fan that can look at the positives, first off give yourself a hand. Second, you can see these Bruins for what they are, and that is a team in good position to do some damage sooner than later. Fans in the last paragraph, that should make you happy.

…To The Future

Any how, about this team… they are good, too good to repeat the kind of game they had in Salt Lake City. Does anybody even remember that they beat a good Colorado team just two days before? They will rebound, literally and figuratively. There are still 13 games left in the conference schedule and some of them are going to be pretty good. Then there is The Pac-12 Tournament and then The Big Dance! It is nowhere near over.

So relax, Bruin fans. Remember, we have nine seasons left with that silly contract Athletic Director Dan Guerrero wrote up. Who cares really? As a Bruin fan, I just want to see some Bruin basketball.

Mike W.R.

Twitter: TheBigDisco