with the lakers in a funk and the clippers and trojans being, well, the clippers and trojans, i guess the L.A. media was looking for a local basketball team to grab our attention and become the next hottest thing. this is the only explanation i could think of regarding some of the "commentary" i saw in the local papers this morning. i know that ripping Bill Plaschke these days is hardly a novel concept, but i have no choice but to address the filth filling his column today. Let's just take a peek at the beginning of his column (including the headline):

Not Quite Ready for Prime Time
Lights, camera … fracture.

Those child stars known as the UCLA basketball team made their debut under the postseason hot lamps Thursday amid giddy reviews and great expectations.

You know how there's a first time for everything?

That apparently includes embarrassment.

It was Oregon State 79, Bruins melted.

It was the beginning of the magic becoming the end of the illusion.

Now don't get me wrong. Yesterday's game was a bad loss. We were playing close to home, we were favored, and we fell behind by 22 at one point. but this bruin team had "giddy reviews and great expectations"? this loss was the "end of the illusion"? what illusion? this was a 4-seed losing to a 5-seed in the Pac-10 tournament. this wasn't a final four caliber team losing in the first round of the real tournament.

Gregg Patton of the Press-Enterprise is not much better:

Well, that was quick.

Whatever buzz UCLA had generated for itself with its little four-game winning streak to end the regular season went swirling down the drain in the first game of the Pacific-10 Tournament Thursday.

I guess I just didn't realize that UCLA basketball had such a "buzz". I thought this was a team playing good ball recently but with shortcomings obvious to anyone who spends even the smallest amount of time following the team: three freshman starters with prominent roles, limited inside presence, and questionable bench strength. The flaws we showed yesterday were not new; heck, we saw most of them in the win against OSU last week. The loss was disappointing, but Plaschke's implication that this was the team's first embarassment demonstrates an astounding lack of ability to learn about the subject he purports to cover.

I suppose this is just part of being in the second largest media center in the country; every misstep is magnified, especially in a "tournament" setting. I also must point out that neither Plaschke nor Patton follow the bruins regularly (what a surprise), as those reporters that do follow the team - Pucin (2), Dohn (2), Kuwada, Weber, Thomas - recognized the loss for what it was: not some great shock, but something that will make us sweat out selection sunday more than we would like. Steve Dilbeck has a more informed column as well. Also available is coverage from the Daily Bruin and a second story from the Daily Breeze.