The world according to Jim:
• As of Thursday afternoon, ESPN’s “Bracketology” projection of the NCAA men’s basketball bracket had UCLA as a No. 6 seed, and opening the tournament in Providence, R.I., against Georgia. Friday morning, Joe Lunardi’s forecast had UCLA still a No. 6, but opening in Milwaukee instead and facing – are you ready for this? – UC San Diego, which is such a surprise in the Big West that it’s talked of as a possible at-large selection if it doesn’t win next week’s conference tournament. (More on that below.) …
• Bracketology changes with each day’s results and the Bruins (21-9, 12-7) still have opportunities to improve their status, Saturday night at home against USC and again in next week’s Big Ten tournament in Indianapolis.
And while it may be too soon to project where they’ll go and what they’ll do when they get there, what we can say is that they can be a maddening team to watch. There are times, when shots are falling and they look efficient, that the Bruins appear capable of a deep run through March and maybe even into April. Then there are times that they just can’t seem to get out of their own way. Too often, those conflicting spells occur in the same game. …
• One thing that is apparent: Aday Mara, the 7-foot-3 freshman from Spain, has the potential to be a force. But it’ll take time and some patience – this is an issue with this team and this coach – and he’ll need to get stronger. And if Mick Cronin and his staff haven’t already had the opportunity to do so, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to arrange for Mara to have an extended conversation with the best big man ever to wear a UCLA uniform, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. …
• Yes, I know the late Bill Walton is in the conversation, and deservedly so. But they changed the rules for Kareem, outlawing the dunk (for nine seasons) in 1967 before his junior year. …
• As for Saturday night’s opponent in Pauley Pavilion? The Muss Bus, as featured in USC’s pre-game hype video at Galen Center, has sputtered. Right now USC (15-15, 7-12) is in a five-way tie for 11th place, and only 15 of the conference’s 18 teams go to Indianapolis for next week’s men’s Big Ten tournament. …
• This was a worse-than-anticipated result in Eric Musselman’s first season, but consider: He had to scour the portal after being hired in early April to build an almost totally new roster, and his team – like UCLA – was affected adversely by the often ridiculous Big Ten schedule, necessitated by (a) multiple trips to the Eastern and Central time zones and (b) the demand$ of the conference’s TV partner$.
USC was 5-5 in conference after knocking off (eventual regular season champ) Michigan State on Feb. 1, then lost seven of eight before beating Washington Wednesday night at home. That rough patch included trips to Northwestern and Purdue (lost both) and to Maryland and Rutgers (lost both), plus home losses to Minnesota and Ohio State and a defeat at Oregon last Saturday. …
• This is the time of year we look for Cinderella candidates, and UC San Diego – in its first year of tournament eligibility after entering Division I in 2020 – may already qualify for that glass slipper. Tritons coach Eric Olen has obviously built his program with this season in mind; UCSD is 27-4 overall, and 17-2 in the Big West and a game ahead of UC Irvine going into Saturday’s final regular season games. The Tritons were an astounding 36th in the NCAA’s NET rankings as of Friday morning, though their Quad 1 record is a skinny 2-1. …
• Quiz No. 1: Which teams have beaten UCSD this season? And Quiz No. 2: When was the last time the Big West sent a second team to the NCAA Tournament? Answers below.
• Item: Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is contemplating lifting the late Pete Rose’s permanent suspension from the game, which would restore his eligibility to be considered for the Hall of Fame.
Comment: No.
I realize baseball, like our other sports, has embraced legal gambling as a business decision, as annoying as all those betting ads are. But it remains the third rail of sports for those who actually are involved in the games: You don’t bet on your own sport, period. Rose acknowledged, well after the fact, that he did. Thus, his status should not change posthumously. …
• And if it does, I’d think the descendants of Shoeless Joe Jackson would like a word. …
• ABC’s telecast of Saturday’s Lakers-Celtics game in Boston should be appointment viewing. The rivalry is back, and it very well could be a preview of another chapter of this long-running passion play in June. …
• HBO, which aired the treatment of Jeff Pearlman’s book, “Winning Time,” in 2022, is back with a documentary series called “Celtic City,” and the co-creator and executive producer is The Ringer’s Bill Simmons, noted Boston honk. The Lakers’ mini-series was way, way over the top (and was canceled before they even got to the groundbreaking victory in the 1985 Finals in Boston Garden). This one sounds more like a love letter to New England. If you’re a Lakers fan, our advice is to skip this one. …
• Let’s see: The Dallas Mavericks trade Luka Doncic to the Lakers and spark an uproar among their fans, new Mav Anthony Davis immediately gets hurt, the team announces it’s raising ticket prices for 2025-26, and then Kyrie Irving wrecks his knee. Maybe they should, y’know, rescind that price hike. …
• Quiz answer No. 1: UCSD lost at San Diego State and to Seattle within 10 days at the very start of the season and to conference foes UC Irvine and UC Riverside in January, and has won 12 straight since. Quiz answer No. 2: The Big West last sent multiple teams to March Madness in 2005 – Pacific and Utah State, neither of which is still in the conference. Before that you have to go back to 1993: Long Beach State and New Mexico State.
jalexander@scng.com