UCLA v. USC Basketball Preview

UCLA V. USC BASKETBALL PREVIEWUCLA DAILY BRUIN WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2012

Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena

Harbor Freeway

110USC Coliseum

Graphics by Maxwell Henderson and Amy Sherrard, Bruin senior staff, and by Jessica Zerrudo, Jennifer Mallipudi, Justine Buckley and Daniel Graupensperger, Bruin contributors. Source: Google maps.

SMITH STRUGGLESSophomore center Joshua Smith has

been inconsistent for UCLA this season, struggling with his conditioning.

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CLOSE TEACHES CHARACTERFirst-year coach Cori Close wants her players to become well-rounded in all

aspects of life, not just basketball.

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USC PREVIEWUSC is walking distance from UCLA’s home court this year. Regardless, the

Trojans are struggling to win.

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DAILY BRUIN | Wednesday, February 15, 2012 | sports | dailybruin.com/sports 2

BY RYAN MENEZESBruin Sports senior [email protected]

During games he tugs at his jersey constantly, as if it’s hold-ing back the enormous amount of potential inside.

For better or worse, that uniform remains snug on Josh-ua Smith.

The UCL A sophomore’s greatest asset is his size, giving him the ability to overpower opponents. Teammates swear that there’s no player in the country that can guard him one-on-one, which is why the 6-foot-10-inch center frequent-ly sees double teams.

The numbers don’t suggest that he would be the focal point of a defensive game plan. Smith is UCLA’s third-leading scorer, barely averaging double figures in points, attempting the sixth-most shots on the team.

But on Saturday, Smith was once again harassed by Califor-nia’s extra defenders.

That’s where that tight-fit-ting jersey begins to tell a dif-ferent story.

His weight was once listed at 330 pounds before quickly being amended to 305, the number Smith has remained l isted at in two seasons at UCLA.

That figure – in both senses of the word – has been far from constant. Smith’s weight, and more importantly his fitness, remains a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside a UCLA jersey.

Consider these juxtaposing sound bites from early Decem-ber.

From UCLA coach Ben How-land: “I think his conditioning is way behind where he was last year at the end of the season.”

From Smith, on the same day: “Honestly, how I feel right now, I feel like I was in better shape now than I was last year.”

With UCLA’s inside-out style of play, Smith always has a chance to leave a major imprint on the Bruins’ games.

For someone touted as a superstar, Smith averages the minutes of a sixth man. His

time on the court is down, much like most of his stats from a year ago, to just 18.4 minutes per game – not even half a reg-ulation contest.

When he f irst arrived on UCLA’s campus in the sum-mer of 2010, Smith dedicated himself getting in shape, to the point when he wasn’t even focusing on basketball.

His conditioning remained a work in progress, though by the end of the year he was averag-ing almost 27 minutes over his last 10 games and wreaking havoc in the post during the Bruins’ two-game cameo in the NCAA Tournament.

The summer of 2011 was different. Smith worked out at UCLA and took classes during Summer Session A, then went back home to Washington for Session C, while most of the Bruins were going up against NBA competition in the Stu-dent Activities Center gym.

Howland set a goal for Smith to cut his frame down to 12 per-cent body fat by the start of his sophomore season. At the team’s media day, just before the first official practice, How-land declined to reveal Smith’s body fat percentage.

Howland’s “no comment” spoke volumes, but not l ike Smith’s play did. UCLA’s key cog was expected to have a sophomore surge, but instead regressed.

Meanwhile, Smith hung his head, with one sloppy play and a bad result begetting another.

“It’s just in my body lan-guage,” Smith said. “I’m just one of those guys, when the game’s not going that well, I get down on myself. I don’t like to lose.”

Along the way, Smith has shown only gl impses of the

An up-and-down season

BLAINE OHIGASHI/DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF

Sophomore center Joshua Smith has had an up-and-down season but will look to stay consistent with the postseason fast approaching.

Sophomore center Joshua Smith has had a season of fluctuating weight, performance

SMITH | Page 3

dailybruin.com/sports | sports | Wednesday, February 15, 2012 | DAILY BRUIN 3

player he was touted to be.A winter break devoted to

trimming his body resulted in what Howland said was his lowest weight of the season to date. And, not so coinciden-tally, a dunk-filled 18-point out-burst against Arizona State.

“For him, it’s a six-month process,” Howland sa id of Smith’s conditioning. “It’s not a two- or three-month thing.”

Then came a tr iumphant return to Smith’s home state: 43 points and 14 rebounds over two games, including a career-best 24-point performance in Seattle, a short distance away from his hometown of Kent, Wash.

“For me to be the player I know I can be, it’s just going to have to be a sustained effort,” Smith said after UCLA won its first road game at Washington State. “Last year was the same. I would have big games where I scored 19 against a team, then I scored six.”

His statement was almost prophetic.

Smith couldn’t sustain his effort and followed his home-

coming with a sloppy seven-point showing against Stanford during which he played just 13 minutes because of four fouls, all charges on offensive moves in the post.

UCLA won despite Smith, but couldn’t do the same two days later against Cal when Smith once again had four fouls and was frequently targeted by the Bears’ pick-and-roll offense.

“Our design was to get Josh Smith into foul trouble,” said Cal coach Mike Montgomery, echo-ing the sentiments of many an oppos-ing coach. Smith has averaged 3.2 fouls per game over his UCLA career.

A sked what the Br u i ns needed to do to get Smith to build on his play in Washing-ton, senior guard Lazeric Jones instead pointed to something Smith did, and will need to con-tinue to do: Stay on the court.

If he does that, there’s not much the Bruins have to do apar t f rom get t i n g Sm ith touches and clearing out to let

him operate.“He was on the court,” Jones

said of the Washington game. “He played good defense, and he wasn’t in that much foul trouble early. So we were able to keep him out there.”

Maybe the biggest positive that came out of UCLA’s loss to Cal was Smith playing a sea-son-high 29 minutes, though

Howland sa id h is center looked “tired and spent.”

T h r o u g h t h e bat ter y of ques-tions related to his wei g ht a nd con-ditioning and the constant nagging by Howland and the support staff, Smith has slowly slimmed down this season

while trying to keep his level of play up.

“Now he’s seen i f I ’m not doing that, I’m not playing to my potential,” Howland said.

“We all know what his poten-tial is, but what if?”

Howland stopped short of continuing his question, leav-ing it as limitless as the poten-tial his talented center has.

from page 2

SMITH | Goal is to sustain effort, stay on the court in order to play to his potential


Joshua Smith toys with Washington State fans as he pretends to sit down after fouling out of the game. Smith scored 19 points to lead the Bruins to their first road win of the season, a 63-60 victory over the Cougars.

Bruins host at Sports Arena

BY SAM STRONGBruin Sports senior [email protected]

UCLA sophomore center Joshua Smith didn’t feel wel-come the first time he laid eyes on the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, the Bruins’ tem-porary home this season while Pauley Pavilion is renovated.

A w e e k p r i o r to UCLA’s season opener, a game it would lose to Loyola Ma r y mou nt that many consider to be the beginning of the end for this year’s u n d e r a c h i e v i n g team, the Bruins made the 15-mile trek to the Sports Arena.

Sm ith saw a nu mber of things he didn’t like, compar-ing it to “the set for a ‘Hoosiers’ movie or something like in the 1980s” and complaining about dust and dirt coming off the chairs in the locker room.

What Smith really took issue with most had nothing to do with the antiquated interior of the Sports Arena.

He complained of a USC banner that hung on the side of the arena facing the Los Ange-les Memorial Coliseum where the Trojans play their football games.

“I knew it was close, but I didn’t know it was that close to their campus,” Smith said in November.

“We were pulling up and I was like, the Coliseum is right there, where are we going? And then it’s like the Los Angeles Sports Arena right there. I’m like, ‘OK, this is a nice loca-

tion.’”Smith has since softened

his stance on the cavernous, 53-year-old venue as historic Pauley Pavilion nears reopen-ing.

“The Sports Arena has been OK, but it’s on to bigger and bet-ter things,” he said.

Before the Bruins (14-11, 7-6 Pac-12) move back to campus,

t hey h ave t h ree games remain ing downtown, the first o f w h ic h come s tonight against a d ismal USC team (6-20, 1-12).

The Trojans have lost almost as many players to season-e n d i n g i n j u r i e s (five) as it has active scholarship players

on its roster (six). Although the Sports Arena

now boasts a “Welcome UCLA basketball” banner in place of the USC one, the actual “home team” is in question.

The Trojans cou ld eas-ily walk the 1.2-mile stretch of Figueroa Street between their campus and the Sports Arena while the Bruins will be bussed in after classes as they have all year.

Trojan fans are no strang-ers to the venue either as USC played its home games there for almost 50 years until the 2007 season when the Galen Center was opened.

“I do want to see if we’re going to have more fans than them,” senior guard Lazeric Jones said of the peculiar situ-ation.

Sophomore guard T yler Lamb was less interested.

“I’m not concerned at all,”

he said. “We’re not playing to see how many fans go to the game, we’re playing to win. We love when our fans come to the game and support us, but if they can’t make it to the game, that’s fine too.”

In the first meeting this sea-son between the rivals, UCLA prevailed easily in a 66-47 win at the Galen Center that left little question as to who ruled Los Angeles’ college basketball scene, but that was when the Trojans still had seven-footer Dewayne Dedmon.

A loss to the Trojans in their current state would surely be damaging for coach Ben How-land’s team in an already medi-ocre season.

The Bruins’ season goals have shi fted from winning the conference and securing an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament to finishing in the Pac-12’s top four in order to secure a first-round bye in the conference tournament, their only chance at making the big dance.

The ninth-year coach, true to form, isn’t taking the Trojans lightly.

“Bot tom l i ne i s i f USC beats us tomorrow, that will really be a feather in their cap with everything they’ve gone through,” he said.

“We have to go out and play really hard. Just like the first time we played them, it’s like you throw out all the records.”


UCLA men’s basketball team stands for the national anthem before a game at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. The arena was previously the USC Trojan’s home court for almost 50 years until moving to the Galen Center.

UCLA’s men’s basketball team to face USC in Trojan territory as Pauley Pavilion nears reopening

For me to be the player I know I can be, it’s ... a sustained effort.”

Joshua SmithSophomore center

USCToday, 7:30 p.m.Los Angeles Sports ArenaPrime TicketThe Bruins host the Trojans at the Sports Arena, looking to sweep the season series.

Men’s basketball

We’re not playing to see how many fans go to the game, we’re playing to win.”

Tyler LambSophomore guard

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Final stretch to determine fate in future tourneysBY MANSI SHETHBruin Sports senior [email protected]

After a rough road trip to the Bay Area last weekend that capped off a month of playing two games a week, the UCLA women’s basketball team returned home on Sunday to some much needed rest.

“The biggest thing is that we need to get them off their legs,” coach Cori Close said. “The reality is that at this point in the season where they have been logg ing so many minutes, we need to get them some rest. And not on ly physica l rest but mental rest.”

With thei r rematch aga i nst USC not u nt i l Sunday, the Bruins have a full week to catch their breath before tackling the last five games in their grueling conference schedule.

And UCLA’s final stretch will be crucial for the team.

Five wins would mean a third place conference finish along with a favorable seed in the Pac-12 tour-nament and a chance at playing in the NCAA tournament come March.

“We especia l ly want to w in against ’SC but these last f ive games are key if we want to make the tournament,” senior guard Rebekah Gardner said. “And wins

BY LEE WITBECKBruin Sports [email protected]

For coach Cori Close, success or fail-ure in the game of basketball comes down to a simple choice. Either you give everything needed to succeed, or you watch somebody else celebrate.

This is the message that Close is delivering to the UCLA women’s basket-ball team.

It’s why Close is on the road, recruit-ing, right now. It’s why she’s the last one at practice, cleaning up trash, putting equipment away.

“We want to cure the disease of ‘me,’ and we want to produce givers and not takers,” Close said.

It’s a message of unselfish play, of passing the ball, helping your team-mates, giving your all. But that’s not exactly the full story.

For Close, the story here isn’t one sim-ply of basketball – it’s a story of life and of character, of being a complete person.

“I just don’t believe excellence and giving and self-sacrificing is a trait that you turn on and off,” Close said.

“It’s a character thing that’s inside you, and the more we build that from the inside, it comes out. And thankfully, it comes out on the basketball court as well as other areas of their lives.”

In the world of college sports, a coach whose focus is wider than winning is a bit of a rarity. And that is exactly the way Close and her staff want it to be.

“Our theme is being uncommon,” Close said. “I want to build this pro-gram by making uncommon choices with uncommon women and yielding an uncommon result.”

So often, Division I athletics is a busi-

ness, an industry of wins, champion-ships and money. Modern college foot-ball and basketball are the standard bearers of this trend, and the Olympic sports follow suit.

By those standards, UCLA is the pic-ture of success, currently pacing the field with 108 NCAA championships.

But UCLA has another standard of success, one set by the great John Wood-en. Every coach who works at UCLA answers to his legacy, which is consider-able – Wooden won 10 championships at the helm of UCLA basketball.

Yet, when his players speak, it is not of the banners and wins; it’s about the man they are because of Coach.

“John Vallely comes into my office. He says, ‘I’m a better husband because of what coach Wooden taught me; I’ve started several successful businesses because of what coach Wooden taught me,’” Close said.

“Yes, he was a point guard on champi-onship teams, yes he played in the NBA. But he never mentioned that one time. He talked about the man he was. ... Real-ly, at my core, that’s what I want people to say about our program in 10 years.”

It’s the style of basketball, of coach-ing, that Close has learned all the way up the ladder, starting in her playing days. Her coaches, and then her bosses, and even Wooden himself, all believed in and taught her this brand of basketball.

It’s a philosophy that has been formed deep within the center of Close’s per-sonality.

But when programs start talking about building better people, about cre-ating student-athletes, about personal development and growth, the naysayers are quick to rush in.

It’s an excuse for lack of wins, they

Women’s basketball needs consistent play entering the end of conference schedule to reach a five-win mark

Women’s basketball coach Cori Close focuses her teachings on the growth of the team, both on the court and off of it

CHARLIE WANG/DAILY BRUIN

The UCLA women’s basketball team huddles up before its home match against USC on Jan. 14. The Bruins lost that game 47-43, struggling to grab rebounds during the second half of the game. USC had 13 offensive boards in the second half, allowing the Trojans to surge ahead in the final 20 minutes. UCLA looks to avenge its loss to USC this Sunday when the Bruins face the Trojans at the Galen Center.

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Final stretch to determine fate in future tourneysBY MANSI SHETHBruin Sports senior [email protected]

After a rough road trip to the Bay Area last weekend that capped off a month of playing two games a week, the UCLA women’s basketball team returned home on Sunday to some much needed rest.

“The biggest thing is that we need to get them off their legs,” coach Cori Close said. “The reality is that at this point in the season where they have been logg ing so many minutes, we need to get them some rest. And not on ly physica l rest but mental rest.”

With thei r rematch aga i nst USC not u nt i l Sunday, the Bruins have a full week to catch their breath before tackling the last five games in their grueling conference schedule.

And UCLA’s final stretch will be crucial for the team.

Five wins would mean a third place conference finish along with a favorable seed in the Pac-12 tour-nament and a chance at playing in the NCAA tournament come March.

“We especia l ly want to w in against ’SC but these last f ive games are key if we want to make the tournament,” senior guard Rebekah Gardner said. “And wins

would give us some momentum going into the Pac-12 tournament.”

Having already faced the two toughest Pac-12 teams on the road this past week in Cal and Stanford, the team believes it can come away with victories against the rest of its schedule if the Bruins play consis-tently for an entire game.

“We just need to be able to put together 40-minute games. That has been a struggle for us this entire season,” sopho-more guard Thea Lem-berger said.

“We showed some good spa rks (Su n-day) of how we should be pl ay i n g but we couldn’t put it togeth-er for the whole game a n d t h a t i s w h e n Sta n ford exploited us. Against these top teams, we can’t have

lapses.”The first obstacle toward reach-

ing that five-win mark comes in the form of rival USC, who UCLA will face Sunday.

The Women of Troy are coming off a thrilling 76-75 overtime win against Cal. After the Golden Bears hit a three-point buzzer beater to tie the game, USC freshman Ariya Crook took control of the game in extra minutes. Crook dug her team out of a seven-point hole, scoring all 11 points in overtime.

Short-term momentum may be on the side of USC, but the Women of Troy have struggled against con-ference team in the second half of their season. After starting 5-2 in the Pac-12, USC has lost four of its last six conference games.

The Bruins have taken a very different route to get the same overall results. UCLA started Pac-12 play shaky, standing at 3-4 at the halfway point of the conference season. The Bruins then went on a four-game winning streak and cur-rently sit one game above .500 at 7-6 like the Women of Troy.

“I think we are a different bas-ketball team now,” Close said of the team’s improvement this season.

“The final score may not always show that but I see it in the posses-sions and the way we were handling the ball and attacking the basket.”

USC got the upper hand on UCLA the first time the two teams met this year, winning 47-43 at the John Wooden Center. UCLA struggled to grab rebounds after halftime, giv-ing up 13 offensive boards to USC, a statistic Close believes was the difference in the game.

“The game was lost last time on offensive rebounds so it is impor-tant that we make sure to rebound for two halves and that we have a relentlessness about us,” she said. “That is going to be a key to getting the victory at the Galen Center.”

say. A diversion from the lack of on-court success, they cry.

With Close, though, it’s exceeding-ly clear that her talk of character and integrity is no false front. It’s simply who she is. The character of giving and self-sacrifice is not some curriculum she has devised to present to her team.

As the players are quick to acknowl-edge, Close puts these principles on display every day.

“I think any coach who expects something from their team has to demon-strate it themselves, and I think coach Cori has done a great job of that,” said senior guard Rebekah Gard-ner.

Freshman forward Kacy Swain had similar feelings.

“She always tells us, ‘Be thankful, clean up after you rsel f , be pos it ive,’ ” Swain said.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a day where she’s not in practice smiling and just being positive towards everyone, trying to make everyone better.”

Assistant coach Shannon Perry is quick to point out as well, that a focus on character growth does not preclude excellent basketball coaching. In fact, Perry said, the two go hand in hand.

“She wants the team to be about each other, that’s the biggest thing,” Perry said.

“The key message is work hard all the time and be there for each other. Every-thing she’s saying is all bound up in that. ... It’s a team sport, so her philosophy enters the court. It is about the court, at the end of the day.”

It hasn’t been an instant transforma-tion for this team. The team hasn’t sud-denly become a group of utterly selfless individuals who have no thoughts of self, only of team.

But they’re getting there, the coaches say, and the players are beginning to see how the off-court philosophy translates into on-court details.

“It has to do with us having each oth-ers’ back, she talks about that a lot,” said sophomore guard Thea Lemberger.

“Us playing as a team, doing stuff for each other and making the right choices. She thinks that making the

r ight choices off the court directly correlates to making the right choices on the court. That would be going the extra mile to help your teammate out when you’re exhausted, they’re exhausted, but doing it for them.”

This season has not gone as smoothly as a l l parties involved would l ike, by any stretch of the imagination. The season started with a pair of devastating injuries.

Senior forward Jasmine Dixon, done for the season before it even began; her replacement, redshirt junior forward Atonye Nyingifa, went out with an ACL tear in December, before conference play began.

The team is currently floating at .500 and has only the slimmest of hopes of making the NCAA tournament.

Adding to all that, this is a new staff. After former coach Nikki Caldwell

took the same position at LSU last April, UCLA had to rebuild its staff. And when-ever a new coach comes in, there is an adjustment period.

But that’s alright. This isn’t a dream season, no.

But Close is okay with that, as long as there is growth, both on the court and off the court.

If she can get her team to make the choice to give everything they possess to those around them, then it won’t just be a story of winning basketball.

CHARLIE WANG/DAILY BRUIN

Senior guard Rebekah Gardner shoots a free throw against USC earlier in the sea-son. Gardner and UCLA will travel to the Galen Center to play USC on Sunday.

TIM BRADBURY/DAILY BRUIN STAFF

Junior guard Markel Walker battles for the ball against an Oregon player as senior for-ward Rebekah Gardner looks on. Walker leads UCLA in rebounds, averaging 10.5 a game.

Women’s basketball needs consistent play entering the end of conference schedule to reach a five-win mark

She wants the team to be about each other, that’s the biggest thing.”

Shannon Perry Assistant coach

We ... want to win against ’SC but these last five games are key if we want to make the tournament.”

Rebekah GardnerSenior guard

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BY RYAN MENEZESBruin Sports senior [email protected]

After its rivalry game, the UCLA men’s basketball team will hop on a plane headed to New York City before taking on St. John’s on Saturday at one of the most historic arenas in organized basketball: Madison Square Garden.

Plenty of top-notch basket-ball is played in front of fans at the Garden, though one event remains overshadowed: the National Invitation Tourna-ment, whose semi-finals and final are held on the court decorated in orange and blue. The Bru-ins, national cham-pions 11 times over, are more famil iar w i t h t h e N C A A Tournament. But the NIT is a anoth-er postseason fate U C L A c o u l d b e reassociated with after a long absence.

The beauty of college basket-ball is that every team is given a chance to make the NCAA Tournament, courtesy of the automatic bid given to each conference tournament cham-pion.

The Bruins don’t play coy about their chances to make the NCAA Tournament. It’s a win in the Pac-12 Tournament or bust.

That fact has remained true since early in the season, when the Bruins came up empty at the Maui Invitational and sud-denly didn’t have a chance to notch a resume-boosting any-

more.“What we’re going to have

to do to make the (NCAA) tournament is win the Pac-12 tournament,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said in early January. “That’s very clear.”

The “bust” could very well be the NIT.

No one strives to make the NIT, no one talks about it, no one wants to shout “We’re No. 65!” for winning it. But it remains a consolation prize for those that miss out on the Big Dance.

UCLA currently sits at 14-11 on the year w ith at least six games more to go. N IT invites are usually extended to teams th at f i n i sh w it h w i n n i n g records that don’t make the NCAA Tournament.

The Bruins have never been to the N IT u nder How-land, either w in-ning enough games

to make the NCAA Tournament or finishing with a losing record in each of his eight seasons at the helm.

In fact, the Bruins have kept their distance from the second-tier tournament for much lon-ger than that, as many teams of UCLA’s multiple-championship pedigree have.

The Bruins last went to the NIT in the 1985-86 season, los-ing to UC Irvine in a first-round home game at Pauley Pavilion. The previous season, led by an adequate sharp-shooter named Reggie Miller, the Bruins rolled all the way to New York City and won the NIT in Madison Square

Garden. Miller was named MVP.That banner won’t be found

in Pauley Pavilion.(It once hung in the rafters,

before being removed for the NCAA championship banner UCLA won 10 years later.)

Not working in UCLA’s favor is the fact that the Pac-12 has been in such a slump, which left UCLA with few chances to make a case for an at-large selection to the NCAA Tourna-ment.

No conference team has beaten an AP Top 25 team (0-for-11). No conference team is ranked (California received votes). Only Cal is in the top 40 of the Ratings Percentage Index. And the standings have constantly been in flux.

The last point is one that UCLA can draw inspiration on.

“It still gives us some hope,” redshirt sophomore center Anthony Stover said of watch-ing the ever-changing confer-ence leaderboard. “Every day when I talk to my teammates we say we’re right here, we’re still in the middle of the pack, and we can still break out and hit first place.”

The Bruins currently sit in a tie for sixth place, two games out of fourth place. A top-four finish would help their already slim chances of get-ting to the tournament. If not, they wouldn’t get the benefit of a first-round bye in the Pac-12 Tournament and would have to win four games in four days to avoid a spot in the NIT.

“I guess it’s a little tough (to look ahead to the conference tournament),” senior guard Jer-ime Anderson said. “Like I said, we’ve just got to be focused and play the game that’s at hand. That’s something that’s in the future and that’s not what we’re worried about.”

Chances at NCAA dependent on Pac-12 play

DAILY BRUIN FILE PHOTO

Coach Ben Howland and the Bruins’ chances at making the NCAA Tournament are dependent on a first-place finish in the Pac-12 Tournament. If the Bruins aren’t invited to the Big Dance, the NIT Tournament remains a viable option.

National Invitation Tournament still a viable option for Bruins if they miss out on the Big Dance

We’re right here ... and we can still break out and hit first place.”

Anthony StoverRedshirt sophomore

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ESH PRINTSRYAN ESHOFF

Tis the season for couples, and you

either love or hate Valentine’s Day for it. Tuesday’s holiday exists almost exclusively to celebrate a particular relation-ship status, which is awesome for those who have someone special and not necessarily anything super special for those who don’t.

“Good things come in pairs” is a popular cliché, one you’d most likely find on a candy heart if the little only-good-one-day-a-year buggers were big enough to fit more text than “Fax Me.”

I’ll let you argue over whether or not being a part of a relational pair is really worth celebrating with a special day, but for some things there’s no denying that two is better than one.

Peanut butter and jelly. Penn and Teller. Pride and Prejudice. Lasagna and rice. Starsky and Hutch. An English degree and an unemploy-ment check. Some things just make perfect couples, and that idea certainly carries over into sports.

Rivalries between two teams or schools unquestionably change the dynamic of sports, for all parties. Coaches can find more ways to motivate, players can perform with more pride, fans can loathe and prank and wager and trash-talk, the media get ample story lines, everybody wins.

Basketball fans in Los Ange-les are pretty spoiled in this regard. The UCLA-USC hoops hostility, after all, dates back to the early-to-mid 20th century. In those days, John Wooden matched his considerable wits with renowned USC coach Forrest Twogood.

Although UCLA tends to be Big Brother when it comes to basketball, the rivalry has still had its moments. These days? Not so much. Not when UCLA is in rebuilding and retooling mode, and not when USC is fielding a team that on some nights would lose to the five members of my apartment.

Generally, the lack of any real buzz surrounding UCLA or USC basketball might be frustrating for a local basketball fan of either of the two schools. These days? Not so much.

Not when you’re playing the same sport in the same city as one of the most fascinating developing rivalries in all of sports, that of the Lakers and the Clippers.

The lull in the college basket-ball landscape in this city has been absolutely trumped by the burgeoning enmity between L.A.’s two NBA franchises, sentiments that began this offseason when star point guard Chris Paul appeared on his way to joining the Lakers before ending up with the Clippers. Partnering with the pogo-stick Blake Griffin, Paul has helped revitalize the much-maligned franchise.

“When you hear the Clip-pers, it’s not going to be a joke anymore,” Griffin said. “I guar-antee that.”

A sport thrives in times of rivalry, when opposing teams create a perfect pair of nemeses and foils. It’s why the mecca of college basketball is the 15-mile Tobacco Road that connects

Duke to North Carolina.

The two schools do more than just treat each other like the Montagues and Capulets; they’re also two of the most successful programs in the country, year after year.

Equally high success, equally

high contempt for one another. That’s the recipe for an ideal rivalry. UCLA and USC have had it in the past. The Lakers and Clippers have it now.

This season, the matchup between the two college programs feels a lot like a JV game and has taken a backseat to what’s going on between the two NBA teams in the Staples Center (they play in the same building! Take that, Tobacco Road).

“It’s there, you don’t want to say it’s not a rivalry,” Clippers forward Ryan Gomes said.

The Lakers and Clippers are Hollywood’s new power couple. Heck, they probably dislike each other as much as some real Hollywood couples.

But this is about the fans, and that’s who’s benefitting the most. Basketball in L.A. has become a viewer’s delight: dunks, jump shots, blocked shots, all other sorts of high-flying acrobatics. Love is in the air.

If you think his columns should be printed on candy hearts, email Eshoff at [email protected].

UCLA-USC opposition overshadowed by NBA rivalry

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UCLA

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MEN’S BASKETBALL WINNING PERCENTAGESThe chart below shows the win percentages over time for the UCLA, USC, Lakers and Clippers basketball teams.

’01-’02 ’03-’04 ’05-’06 ’07-’08 ’09-’10 ’11-’12SOURCES: Graphic reporting by Mansi Sheth, Bruin Senior Staff. Graphic by Justine Buckley, Bruin contributor.

The Bruin-Trojan animosity has deteriorated over the years, trumped by the Lakers and Clippers

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Rivalries between two teams or schools unquestionably change the dy-namic of sports, for all parties.


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UCLA v. USC Basketball Preview