Bruins Wake Up in Time for Victory

The boss asked, the first weekend of the NCAA basketball tournament, where do you want to be?

I said, I want to be with UCLA.

So there I sat Saturday at mostly empty Pauley Pavilion, watching smirk-free players sinking rainbow jumpers and throwing perfect bounce passes while being cheered by parents and friends.

A different sort of madness.

OK, so I never told the boss which UCLA, but the 15th-ranked Bruin women are all we have left.

Maylana and Erica instead of Baron and JaRon.

A coach who diagrams killer defenses while wearing a killer blue knee-length coat instead of, uh, well, Steve Lavin.

This is cool. The two first-round tournament games they hosted Saturday night were fun.

There will be another round at Pauley on Monday. The women’s West Regionals will be next weekend at the Sports Arena.

UCLA could go to the Final Four without ever leaving town. This could grow on us.

“I was driving in here today and it kind of hit me,” said Kathy Olivier, UCLA’s energetic coach. “I thought, this is a such a great opportunity for our program.”

She said this a couple of hours before UCLA’s 76-69 victory over Wisconsin-Green Bay, sitting in an end zone seat with a friend of her 10-year-old daughter Alexis, eating chocolate chip cookies.

Olivier had just rushed away from Alexis’ softball game, but her daughter would be joining mom and friend soon for the game.

“She likes hanging out with the team,” Olivier said of Alexis. “It’s good for me. It’s good for us.”

An opportunity indeed.

This next week will give this town a chance to celebrate how women’s college basketball is different.

And how much of it is not.

There were regular cheerleaders Friday, from all four teams, all of them in the standard issue sizes, 4-foot-6 or 6-foot-4.

There were pep bands, from all four teams, all of them playing the same 17 versions of the standard issue “My Sharona.”

There were mascots, including a grotesque giant blowup man from Nebraska that twitched and wobbled and frightened the children.

And heck, there were even tattoos on the players. And not just cute little flowers on ankles, either, but big mean animals on biceps.

The difference here is, it’s just basketball.

Nobody yells at the referees. Nobody preens or poses. They use the backboard, and ignore the cameras.

The arena is empty enough that you can still hear their shoes squeak when they help on defense.

John Wooden visited a UCLA women’s practice the other week. And why not? He likes going places where people appreciate and practice the basics.

“He said he likes the way women’s basketball is played,” Olivier said. “He said there’s more fundamentals in our game.”

Bob Toledo visited the UCLA women before a game a couple of months ago. And why not? He likes going places where there is an emphasis on team.

“He came in the locker room and reminded us that we have to be like a fist,” Olivier said. “It was very neat.”

The Bruins then defeated legendary Stanford, 80-72, while compiling their best regular-season record in 18 years.

One of their centers, quick and smooth Maylana Martin, averaged 18 points and nine rebounds despite suffering from a bad back and migraines.

Their other center, 220-pound Janae Hubbard, drops defenders like she once dropped 80 pounds.

Three of their guards--LaCresha Flannigan, Erica Gomez and Michelle Greco--are a blurring mix of aggression and control.

Time and again Saturday, they would push the ball up the court, past the foul line, down to the baseline . . . then pass it to a larger teammate at the last second.

Maybe it would be a bounce pass. Maybe a simple chest pass. Usually it was a smart pass.

The receiving teammate, often Martin, would simply bank the ball in the basket and smile.

Considering they start five juniors, it is difficult to predict how the Bruins will manage in the deep waters of next week’s regional, if they make it that far.

But for now, they’re happy just to be able to spend the next week showing off at home, showing us something different.

When a Kentucky player fell to the floor after suffering a cut in the first game here--a 98-92 win by the Wildcats over the Cornhuskers--the relative calm was broken by a shouting Nebraska fan.

“Get her off the court, let her bleed somewhere else,” he cried.

Another Nebraska fan turned to him and shouted back.

“Fine, let her bleed on you,” she yelled.

The man quieted and the evening continued, just like that, madness, but a nice madness.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: [email protected].