Tuesday, February 24, 1998
Halftime horror, Duke debacle can¹t simply be swept under
rug
COLUMN: Bruins folded when national spotlight focused on their
talent
Let¹s get right to the point, there is no way Duke is 36
points better than UCLA. It¹s that simple.
There is no way any team in the country should beat a team as
talented as the Bruins by 36 points. Ever. That¹s just
absurd.
But it did happen, which says that something else was going on
yesterday, something much more insidious than one team simply
beating another.
Look, people could understand a loss to Duke, especially on the
road. But a team with as much talent, as much hype, and as high an
impression of itself as the Bruins should never put on a display
like it did yesterday.
No team worth its salt (or a top-25 ranking) should get pummeled
like UCLA did, even once.
And now it¹s happened twice in one season.
What went on in that locker room at halftime for goodness sakes?
Where was the spit and fire, the ³Eye of the Tiger?²
Where was one of Lavin¹s motivational speeches to get the team
fired up, to remind them that 22-point halftime deficits are
unacceptable?
Where was the spirit, pride, or self-esteem that would inspire
the Bruins, who we all know are capable of greatness, to at least
make some effort at making the game respectable?
This void raises the question, did our sturdy squad give up when
Duke had the game in its pocket?
How else do you explain the Bruins, after giving up 57 points at
halftime, rolling over and giving up 63 in the second half?
How else do you explain Duke¹s Ricky Price missing a shot,
stripping the ball away, falling down, and making a pass from his
knees, with the whole sequence ending in an uncontested
three-pointer for Trajan Langdon?
How do you explain the four UCLA defenders who stood glued to
the key the whole time, never moving to challenge the prostrate
Price or Langdon¹s shot?
Take your pick: el foldo, playing out the string, hanging
¹em up, waving the white flag.
Those towels the UCLA bench is notorious for? They didn¹t
wrap them around their heads, they threw them in.
Kris Johnson told the Los Angeles Times, ³We¹re not a
team of quitters. Anybody on this team should be shot if they think
like that.²
It looks like the Associated Press poll voters would agree with
the impression that Sunday¹s debacle was more than simply a
loss to a superior team.
Usually, when a lower-ranked team loses to a higher-ranked team,
especially on the road, they would slip maybe two or three spots in
the rankings.
We dropped six.
The UCLA Bruins are the movers and shakers of the week, friends,
falling from 12th to 18th in the latest AP polls.
These pollsters think that Cincinnati, Mississippi, and Texas
Christian (mascot: the Horned Frogs) are better than us.
Say what you will about the polls not meaning anything before
March, but they do reflect how the nation perceives your program
and where it¹s heading.
And our sturdy squad ranks somewhere with the U.S. Olympic
Hockey team right now.
People aren¹t going to remember the spanking the Bruins
gave to Cal State Fullerton or the win over Oregon St. on the road.
They¹re going to remember watching their team go on national
television with a chance to light a fire under its national
championship hopes, and wasting it.
The worst part in all of this, more depressing than the loss,
more upsetting than our team¹s lack of character coming into
specific relief, was that Dick Vitale actually sounded like he knew
what he was talking about.
Mark Shapiro is a Daily Bruin Staff Writer and columnist. E-mail
responses to [email protected].