UCLA Motors South

Whatever mercy the members of the NCAA pairings committee showed Sunday by not giving UCLA a first-round matchup with Jim Harrick and Rhode Island, a very real possibility that had half of Westwood cringing in fear, ended there.

The Bruins were sent to Indianapolis to open the tournament.

As a highly publicized team to play an underdog with little recognition.

Against a team that will try to turn its offense into fullback-up-the-middle.

The road to the future the Bruins’ tournament babes were given became a detour to the past when they were sent back to the RCA Dome to face Detroit Mercy in the first round Thursday, not to mention inevitable comparisons to Princeton ’96 in the same building. Insert your own joke here about whether the Bruins will enter through the backdoor.

At best an irony, at worst a cruel coincidence, they nonetheless might be hearing more mentions of one of the darkest moments in the school’s glorious history than about a player named Michael Jordan. Which perhaps makes sense since Jordan, a sophomore forward, played in only seven games for Detroit.

The good news for the Bruins is that only one current player, Brandon Loyd, and one staff member, then-assistant coach Steve Lavin, were on that team.

The bad news for the Bruins is that it probably won’t matter.

Flashbacks anyone?

“Ah, a little bit,” Loyd said after watching the pairings show with teammates. “Yeah, probably. We are a five, they are a 12. There’s a lot of similarities.

“For me, it was probably different, though. To the rest of the guys, I don’t think it will make a difference. They were in high school. And we’ve got a new trainer and new assistants. But me and Lav may hear a lot about it.”

Said Lavin: “With this group, it’s irrelevant. Anything a year old is considered prehistoric history.”

Figure there’ll be plenty of people around bringing the kids up to speed, about how the Bruins were the fourth-seeded team in 1996 and facing the 13th-seeded team that everyone knew would try to turn the tempo methodical and use backdoor cuts . . . and which then held the defending national champions to 41 points and beat them by two points with a backdoor cut.

Detroit, the Midwestern Collegiate Conference champion with a 24-5 record, doesn’t go for that same style. The Titans are athletic and quick, which makes for a good matchup for UCLA (22-8), the third-place team in the Pacific 10 Conference.

But the Titans are also tournament tested, with four key players back from the team that reached the second round in 1998, and are regarded by the Bruins as a very tough defensive team. Which doesn’t make for a good matchup for UCLA.

The last thing the Bruins need to see in the first round is an opponent that has the speed to get back on defense and the tenacity to then force them to execute in the halfcourt.

“This is going to be an unbelievably competitive team,” Lavin said.

At the worst time, too.

A day after aggravating the painful toe injury on his right foot with two minutes remaining at Arizona, a problem that even before then had sapped much of his quickness and jumping ability, Bruin point guard Baron Davis was out of his walking boot and back in regular shoes Sunday, but also acknowledging the new concerns.

Detroit will try to take away the open-court game, something Davis wanted more than the other Bruins, the better to avoid a lot of quick stops and starts and cuts through crowded lanes. All of which Davis may now get.

“They’ve got some guards,” Davis said. “I know they’re going to be all over me.”

Two of them, Rashad Philips and Jermaine Jackson, were picked by coaches for the MCC all-defensive team. So was forward Bacari Alexander, marking the first time in conference history that three players from the same team were so honored.

“It will be a very physical game,” Alexander said. “UCLA is a West Coast team that likes to get out and run. We’ll see if we can slow them down.”

Rhode Island was made a 12th-seeded team, meaning it could have faced the Bruins, but in the Midwest against North Carolina Charlotte. Being sent to the South, meanwhile, puts the Bruins in the same region as four teams they already have played: Syracuse and Oklahoma State, who meet in the first round, and Louisville and Maryland, who could meet in the second.

UCLA, which lost to only Maryland in that group, would face Ohio State in the round of 32, barring any upsets. That game would take place Saturday.

The timing won’t do much to help the Bruins. Not only do they get one less day to prepare for a team that only a few players have so much as seen on TV, from the MCC championship game last Tuesday against Butler, it means one less day for Davis, JaRon Rush, Jerome Moiso, Ray Young and Loyd to heal.

Besides, a Friday-Sunday schedule would have given them the chance to watch the Thursday games and perhaps be reminded, at the expense of someone else, about the chances for a first-round upset. Just in case anyone hadn’t pointed that out to UCLA before it arrives at the RCA Dome.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

THURSDAY

UCLA vs. DETROIT MERCY; South Regional, Indianapolis, Time, TBA

UCLA BY NUMBERS

5-2: UCLA record in tournament under Steve Lavin

0-1: UCLA’s record when it is seeded fifth (lost to Tulsa in 1994)

2: Of the 80 teams seeded fifth since 1979, the number that have advanced to the Final Four.

0: Number of teams seeded fifth that have won tournament

6-3: UCLA’s record in first round in the ‘90s