.UCLAMBB is not taking their No. 2 seeding for granted. The Bruins are not about to take their foot off the gas, BillPlaschke writes. Their next stop on this treacherous Final Four journey is Saturday against resurgent Northwestern.
No. 2 seed UCLA cruised to a 86-53 rout of No. 15 seed North Carolina Asheville in the first round of the NCAA men’s tournament on Thursday.UCLA is not going to be Arizona or Virginia, two respected teams which fell in giant first-day upsets. UCLA is not taking their No.2 seeding for granted. UCLA is not about to take their foot off the gas.
They’ll surely miss Clark later. Bona is going to have to eventually play if they want to advance. But for now, the Bruins’ veteran savvy and unflinching mindset seems more powerful than any one player. UCLA’s Amari Bailey, left and Jaime Jaquez Jr. battle for a rebound with UNC Asheville’s Fletcher Abee in the first half of the first round of the NCAA tournament in Sacramento on Thursday.
It was so lopsided, popular walk-on Russell Stong actually played in the final two minutes of an NCAA tournament game and, even here, the crowd roared. The season before the Bruins won the national title in 1995, they lost in the first round to Tulsa. The season after they won the title, they lost in the first round to Princeton.
Mick Cronin has flirted with first-round losses in each of his two tournaments since becoming the Bruins coach, his team escaping Michigan State in overtime in 2021 and then winning by four against Akron last season.This should have been obvious earlier this week, when they sauntered into the tourney relaxed and comfortable like a core group that was playing in their third March together.
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