KEITH ENRIQUEZ/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Senior point
guard and team captain Earl Watson has been one of
the team’s fiercest competitors during his four years in Bruin blue
and gold.
By Chris Umpierre
Daily Bruin Staff
PHILADELPHIA “”mdash; UCLA Head Coach Steve Lavin has always said
that the day 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 that blanket away March 22 with the a
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, Watson started each 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, 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 to find a spot on a NBA team next season. He said he
would begin working out soon in hopes of getting drafted or being
picked up as a free agent.
If the scouts have watched Watson this season, they’ll
know he can help a number of teams. They would have been
particularly impressed with Watson’s performance against
Duke.
In addition to hitting some big buckets, he more than held his
own against arguably 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 his points in the second half when Watson had
four fouls (he picked up his fourth foul at the 11:05 mark).
Williams 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 matchup,” Watson said of his
battle with Williams. “He didn’t guard me but I had to
guard him. Jason conserved a lot of energy that way.”
At times the match up got quite heated. Watson and Williams
exchanged some harsh words several times in the game.
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 some 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 to yell
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 that 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 Devil 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, watching these kids grow up right before your
eyes,” Lavin said.
Lavin and a number of critics feel Watson will be remembered as
one of the top 10 point guards in UCLA 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.”