Bruin Nation breaks down their opponent.

[Water Pony]

"Can UCLA's superior talent be enough to beat an efficient SMU team? SMU is led by AAC player of the year Nic Moore, and coached by Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown, the only coach to win a NCAA championship and a NBA championship. SMU won both their regular season conference title and the conference tournament"

http://www.bruinsnation.com/ucla_basket ... tro-to-smu

[ojaipony]

Well supposedly 1 or 2 of their guys are lottery picks. We haven't played any lottery picks in the LB era.

[AustinPerson]

The bigger story in that Bruins Nation thing may have been that Adrian Klemm has been suspended for possible recruiting violations:
http://www.bruinsnation.com/ucla_bruin_ ... violations

[PonyTime]

SMU has had a very good year and their metrics look great but they never came up with a really big win.

I love how this ^^^ is the assessment. Winning the conference championship on the home floor of the defending National Champs in a must win game is not a "Big Win" because said team did not make the tournament...same with completely manhandling same team on our home floor.

[EastStang]

I want our guys thinking UCLA are as good as Kentucky. I want them coming in ready, steely eyed and working their butts off to beat the Bruins. if that happens, UCLA will have to play their best game of the year to beat us. If we don't come ready and work our butts off, UCLA can win this game. They'll have a mighty big chip to show that they belong in the tourney. And beating a 6 seed will give them that cred. We also have a chip, that our conference got dissed. Beating UCLA will go a long way toward proving that.

[PonyTime]

I want our guys thinking UCLA are as good as Kentucky. I want them coming in ready, steely eyed and working their butts off to beat the Bruins. if that happens, UCLA will have to play their best game of the year to beat us. If we don't come ready and work our butts off, UCLA can win this game. They'll have a mighty big chip to show that they belong in the tourney. And beating a 6 seed will give them that cred. We also have a chip, that our conference got dissed. Beating UCLA will go a long way toward proving that.

^^^Agreed. I also hope that UCLA looks at us as a cupcake from a no-name conference.

[well travelled pony]

I want our guys thinking UCLA are as good as Kentucky. I want them coming in ready, steely eyed and working their butts off to beat the Bruins. if that happens, UCLA will have to play their best game of the year to beat us. If we don't come ready and work our butts off, UCLA can win this game. They'll have a mighty big chip to show that they belong in the tourney. And beating a 6 seed will give them that cred. We also have a chip, that our conference got dissed. Beating UCLA will go a long way toward proving that.

^^^Agreed. I also hope that UCLA looks at us as a cupcake from a no-name conference.

That is the general assessment of ucla fans out here in LA. Beat the bruins!!

Go Ponies!

[ponyte]

I'm confused, is UCLA ranked 18th in the nation playing 11th seed SMU?

[ojaipony]

I want our guys thinking UCLA are as good as Kentucky. I want them coming in ready, steely eyed and working their butts off to beat the Bruins. if that happens, UCLA will have to play their best game of the year to beat us. If we don't come ready and work our butts off, UCLA can win this game. They'll have a mighty big chip to show that they belong in the tourney. And beating a 6 seed will give them that cred. We also have a chip, that our conference got dissed. Beating UCLA will go a long way toward proving that.

^^^Agreed. I also hope that UCLA looks at us as a cupcake from a no-name conference.

Well, we are until we can prove otherwise. Get to the sweet 16 (which means beating the big bad b12) and that all goes away. As usual, let's prove it on the court. Last year, we proved to our general fanbase that we are good. This year, we proved to our conference we are. Now, we have to prove it to the nation and that only happens ON THE COURT and in the BIG DANCE.

Pony up!

[texasmustang10]

I want our guys thinking UCLA are as good as Kentucky. I want them coming in ready, steely eyed and working their butts off to beat the Bruins. if that happens, UCLA will have to play their best game of the year to beat us. If we don't come ready and work our butts off, UCLA can win this game. They'll have a mighty big chip to show that they belong in the tourney. And beating a 6 seed will give them that cred. We also have a chip, that our conference got dissed. Beating UCLA will go a long way toward proving that.

^^^Agreed. I also hope that UCLA looks at us as a cupcake from a no-name conference.

1. Maybe their fans look at us as a ripe upset but I guarantee their team and coach are not looking past us to the second round.
2. We really don't have a single marquee win from this season. My criteria for that is a team that finished the season ranked, and we're 0-3 on that front. That said, UCLA's biggest wins are Utah and Oregon, not any better than our biggest wins.

[Mustangs35SMU]

I'm confused, is UCLA ranked 18th in the nation playing 11th seed SMU?

Yes.

[Rebel10]

If UCLA were in the AAC where does everyone think they would rank? Maybe somewhere between Temple and Cincinnati?

[mrydel]

Alphabetically I believe they would be near the bottom.

[PonyTime]

If UCLA were in the AAC where does everyone think they would rank? Maybe somewhere between Temple and Cincinnati?

UCLA would be 23-10 if they were in our conference and they would be playing in the NIT with Tulsa, UCONN and Temple.

[mustangxc]

I want our guys thinking UCLA are as good as Kentucky. I want them coming in ready, steely eyed and working their butts off to beat the Bruins. if that happens, UCLA will have to play their best game of the year to beat us. If we don't come ready and work our butts off, UCLA can win this game. They'll have a mighty big chip to show that they belong in the tourney. And beating a 6 seed will give them that cred. We also have a chip, that our conference got dissed. Beating UCLA will go a long way toward proving that.

^^^Agreed. I also hope that UCLA looks at us as a cupcake from a no-name conference.

1. Maybe their fans look at us as a ripe upset but I guarantee their team and coach are not looking past us to the second round.
2. We really don't have a single marquee win from this season. My criteria for that is a team that finished the season ranked, and we're 0-3 on that front. That said, UCLA's biggest wins are Utah and Oregon, not any better than our biggest wins.

I count two, Gonzaga and Arkansas. Who else did we play that finished ranked?