Clearly Dodd doesn't watch Pac-10 in season games

Sometimes I wonder what it takes to be a sports writer.  Dodd has shown me one thing, When stating an opinion out of your A$$, sell it and hopefully the majority of the readers might believe the bull crap.

Mr Dodd,  how about you buy some tickets to some Pac-10 games and watch them next year.  Or at least maybe turn on the TV when the games are on. You might actually see that some teams in the PAC-10 play a very good full court press and UCLA has seen it. You would think that a talented conference that sent 60% of its teams into the NCAA tournament and another 20% into the NIT might be competitive or innovative enough to use the press during the year against UCLA.  Not according to Mr. Dodd, who clearly seems to think he is an authority on the Pac-10, and his magical writing will give Xavier the key to the pearly phuckin gates of the phinal phour.

Perhaps if Mr. Dodd was paying attention, he could have seen Arizonia State crush Xavier by 20 points earlier this year.

How about this Dodd. One of UCLA's guards had a bad game and fouled out. I know it is not as great story, but at least it is closer to the truth.

guess ur a raider fan as well and u have nothing to do but hate ... hate all u want but bruins are on to the elite8 then back to the final4 for the 3rd time... hate on that loser!!

and dodd.... get ur head out of ur asssss and start writing some real stories....

What is Dodd's problem didn't he pick UCLA to win the whole thing if I remember right? UCLA has not blown out any good competition this year really. They have a tendancy to play up or down to the competition wich is kind of disapointing for a team with this talent.

gracious calls and luck aside, the bruins are in trouble saturday against Xavier.  UCLA is going to need more than a double-double from Keefe to stay in the game on saturday.  Underachieving can only get you so far bruin fans!

Dodd might say that plane tickets to the West Coast cost too much and that his salary is too low or CBS wouldn't pay the cost - kidding, but seriously:

The one sore spot for UCLA was not adhering to press breaking fundamentals (I just put up a thread about it). I don't care if you're a starter, small guy, big guy, end of the bench guy, or whatever - you sure as hell better know basics about breaking a press - especially if you're on a team like UCLA.

And Ben Howland - pound those fundamentals into your team as much as possible before squaring off with the Nusketeers.

And yes, very few NCAA teams are good at breaking presses on a regular basis the right way. The coaches are partly to blame for not going over it enough in practice - it's quite obvious that they don't from what we fans see on the court. It doesn't matter what skills your players have - press breaking is something that has to be constantly pounded into a players mind (until the NBA where very few teams press, and not for very long). Forgetting how to break a press loses games no matter how many other positive things your team does.

But I do find Mr. Dodd's column hilarious, misinformed and curious. UCLA is now 34-3. They won the Pac-10 which is definitely not one of the weaker major conferences. Their guard tandem of Westbrook and Collison has been called one of the best in the country. Just last Saturday, Jay Bilas praised Collison calling him the best point guard in the nation. Now Mr. Dodd say's the way to beat the Bruins is to press them? Yes, of course. It makes perfect sense. As Mr. Spock would say, "fascinating".

For the first time all season Collison fouled out. But it wasn't just him. Shipp and Westbrook both had 4 fouls. This has never happened. But as a Bruin fan I have to ask why. First and foremost it wasn't the pressure. Was it the officiating? Possibly. The refs certainly weren't making calls that dramatically favored the Bruins like the Texas A&M game. But I'm still wondering how Collison got that 5th foul. Did he graze the shooters elbow? I honestly didn't see it. Whatever. Anyhow, the Bruins have played teams far better than Western Kentucky. They've had more difficult back court matchups like Weaver and Low from Washington State, or Hackett and Mayo from USC. Hell, even Johnson and Goods from Stanford are better. The difference tonight, was letting up in the second half, playing carelessly and not focusing on the job at hand.

The team as a whole, blew it, and they blew it mentally. They came into the 2nd half with a 21 point lead, and no intensity whatsoever. The steals off of them were because they weren't protecting the ball and just not exhibiting the fundamentals that they all know how to do. Give Western Kentucky the credit for playing an excellent 2nd half and really taking it to the Bruins.

But keep in mind, that the lack of intensity wasn't just the guards. Even Kevin Love was part of it. Collison had 4 turnovers, Westbrook 5, and Love had 3, - in his case, he had the ball stripped from him twice. There was careless passing and ball handling by everybody. They LET Western Kentucky back into the game, and they knew it. The momentum belonged to the Hilltoppers, and UCLA knew that they had blown the opportunity to seal up the game. So they scrambled and panicked.

It wasn't until Shipp's off balance 3 pointer with just seconds left on the shot clock did the momentum finally turn around for them. From that point on, UCLA built back a decent lead until the end of the game.

I'm not worried about Xavier. I'm concerned that UCLA not play to their potential. Letting a weaker opponent come back the way they did last night is completely unacceptable. They need to regroup and listen to Howland. Review the game films today, have a light practice, run their offensive sets and focus on the matchups tomorrow. If UCLA plays the way they're supposed to, they'll be in the Final Four.

By the way, this is to Mr. Senior Sports Writer Dennis Dodd.

Mr. Dodd, those timeouts that Howland was calling was to get the Bruins to settle down, focus and play ball. That's all. Howland is very generous with his timeouts. For whatever reason, he doesn't save them until the end of the game. He uses them at the moment he feels he needs them. It's something that's been noted by many.

But you know, if you're really curious as to why he calls those timeouts when he does, ask him. You've got a press pass. Use it, go to the post game press conference and ask him.

Instead of writing columns with the sole intent of getting a rise out of Bruins fans, (and therefore more website hits, etc.), do your job and report on the events at hand. Otherwise give me your press pass, airfare to the games, hotel and lodging, and I'll do it.

Just a small quibble...Mr. Dodd is not writing anything to get a rise out of any Bruin fans. I am willing to bet he doesn't care about you.

He's merely making an observation, which is what sports writers do. UCLA didn't handle the press well.  That is all. And if they handle the press like that against Xavier, of course assuming Xavier would put that pressure on at all, the Bruins will likely not have a 21-point cushion to fall back on.

Like it or not...UCLA has been very fortunate to get this far in this tournament without playing it's best game. You could look at that two ways: either they haven't played their best, so perhaps they're "saving the best for when it counts most," or they're slumping at the wrong part of the season. THe fact also remains that UCLA has had a number of, call them squeakers, in the past several weeks. You can say a win is a wi