So far this year, UCLA had been able to accomplish their goals: get to the tourney, compete for the Pac-10 title, never get blown out, fought if not for 40 minutes in every game, play good defensive, improve, etc. It was pretty obvious that once they got the tournament bid locked up, they stopped playing, starting with the first half in the Washington State game. That game, UCLA came back, against a shorthanded group of Cougars, only after CBH told them they weren't in the tournament yet. Tonight they decided to take the night off (emphasis mine):
"They had the mentality that they didn't have anything to lose," UCLA forward Tyler Honeycutt said. "We came in here with a 'too cool' of an attitude."The nonchalance resulted in another sluggish start and possibly the most mortifying moment of Coach Ben Howland's UCLA tenure, when the Bruins received a technical foul in the first half for having six players on the court after a timeout. "That was embarrassing," Howland said. "That right there was like indicative of the night. That that could actually happen is unbelievable." . . . "Just started from warmups," said Honeycutt, who scored 19 points but was the only Bruin in double figures. "Guys weren't taking, like, game shots, weren't really being focused."These guys need to look at the "old guys." They need to learn that what they did Thursday night was uncool, embarrassing and shameful to the Bruin tradition and to themselves. And most of all there is no excuse. You want to be good, you don't take nights off, shoot AA does not take summers off.
Afflalo is a new kind of ambassador for the Nuggets, an edgy outfit that former general manager Mark Warkentien used to compare to a pack of "stray dogs." Chris "Birdman" Andersen once said of these Nuggets:Or how about Kevin Love. Does he take nights off when the game is "hopeless" or "meaningless"?"We may not lead the league in stats, but we do in tats." Afflalo has no ink, and more telling, he started watching game tape when he was 8, woke his father in the middle of the night to spot him on the bench press when he was a teenager, and left his beachfront apartment in Los Angeles last July because he wanted to go back to work in Denver. He is a straight shooter, in every sense, who embodies the intensity and concentration that the Nuggets often lacked.
He got his record 52nd consecutive double-double fast (in the middle of the second quarter with a free throw) as his Timberwolves were blowing out the Indiana Pacers. . . . He has been consistent and worked hard on a team that needed this kind of production. He has had chances because the Wolves are so bad — they are now 12-40 during the streak — but he took advantage of it.
KL never stops working when even when his team is 12-40, AA never stops working even when it is July. This team quit the second they were in the Big Dance because they were "too cool."
UCLA Basketball Roundup: Too Cool Bruins Get Frozen Out of Pac-10 Tournament - Bruins Nation
