I repeat, we deserved to be in this tournament.
Before naysayers like Gottlieb & Lunardi complain about the Bruins getting a seed, there are 6 teams in the tournament with records having 13 losses, and none of them have a Strength-of-Schedule more difficult than UCLA. (Except arguably Indiana, depending on who you reference as a source)
Sure, we could have played a complete cupcake schedule early on in the season, like certain highly touted teams did (*ahem*) but instead we chose to play #2-seed Gonzaga, #4-seed North Carolina, #1-seed Kentucky, & #3-seed Oklahoma – all in the Top 15. And yeah, we got whooped by Kentucky, but it’s not like ANYONE ELSE can say they beat the Wildcats, either.
Then we beat Utah & played Arizona close: Do you think any of the other bubble teams would have fared as well against Zona? And while we’re at it, does anyone really believe that any of these other bubble teams could have beaten UCLA at the end of the year? Murray State? Old Dominion? Colorado State?
So to sum it up: Had we gotten 4 wins playing cupcakes on a crap schedule, no one would be debating whether or not UCLA belonged in the dance with a record of 24-9. #gobruins
kurtsh
Kurt's Thoughts 