UCLA Moves Up To No.4 In Rankings
By Bruin Basketball Report
See weekly changes in UCLA rankings
With victories over both Washington and Washington State at Pauley Pavilion, the Bruins (16-1, 4-0) took a step up to No.4 in both the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls this week.
The Cougars dropped from their perch at No.4 down to No.8 in the polls.
The top three teams above UCLA are all undefeated at this time; North Carolina, Memphis, and Kansas, respectively.
Arizona State (13-2, 3-0) moved into the top 25 for the first time since the 1994-95 season. Coach Herb Sendek's young team is one-half game behind UCLA in the Pac-10 race. The Sun Devils beat intrastate rival Arizona last week, 64-59.
Freshman James Harden has sparked Arizona State in the early going. The former Artesia high school phenom is averaging 18.2 points on 54.9% field goal shooting.
No other Pac-10 teams are ranked, both Arizona and Stanford fall out of the polls after suffering setbacks last week.
UCLA has been steadily climbing the RPI ladder since beginning Pac-10 play. The Bruins are No.6 in the RPI ranking and currently possess the No.25 top strength of schedule (SOS) in the nation.
BBR Notes: Center Kevin Love was named the U.S. Bank Pacific-10 Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week for Jan. 7 - 13.
For the week, Love shot 12-18 (.667) from the field, 3-of-5 (.600) from three-point range, 11-of-14 (.786) from the free throw line and averaged 19.0 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 4.0 assists. This is the second weekly honor for Love and UCLA's 47th Player of the Week all-time.
Labels: Polls and Rankings
BBR :: Article Link :: 4:00 PM ::
8 comments
8 Comments:
BBr, the Bruin commits section on the right has a sweet look.
Congrats K Love! Keep it up!! Feed the animal....
SUC is the next victim!!
For all those who were worried about our RPI ranking...don't fret any longer. Now #6 and still climbing (if we keep winning of course!)
Anybody hear Ben Howland on the Jim Rome radio show this morning? I didn't get a chance, but Rome eluded to Ben being very candid about Love and Rome stating "Bruin fans, don't get too comfortable with Kevin Love being around". That leads me to assume that Howland believes KLove will bolt for the NBA next year. Can anybody confirm what Howland actually said? As we know, Howland is definitely behind a player making the next step early if he feels there is a solid chance of the player making it in the first round of the draft!
If true, we really need to bring back the NCAA title to Westwood THIS year while KLove is here bestowing his talent on us!
Howland said something similar about Love possibly going to the NBA after this season in an ESPN interview with Rome yesterday. See the video link on the sidebar of this site to the Rome show.
- BBR
so, if Love departs this year, who plays post next year? Aboya? There's no true centers on the team except Love and Mata Real and that's considering Love is probably best suited as a PF.
Thanks BBR for all the great news.
Howland said before the season he felt lucky to have Love and that a player with his talent would have gone straight to the NBA in years past. I think Howland is just making it clear that he won't stand in a players way if he decides to bolt for the NBA, i.e. he's on the player's side. I do not think his comments reveal anything about Love's plans. I think the chance of him leaving is 100% if we win a champoinship, 50% if we don't.
I think you are exactly right Rob. Also thanks BBR for putting the Rome-Howland interview on this site. I think that may answer most of anyone's concerns here!
Is there anyone still available in the Class of 2008 that could help us out in the post at center (and has interest in coming to UCLA)?
Hey Mike, I believe we are hoping Drew Gordon can also step into that role, but I had heard he is having some injury problems this year.
Brew In had asked if there are any big men available and I think there is really only one named Ater Majok. He is from Sudan but lives in Australia. The Bruins made him an offer, but he has low interest in coming to UCLA.
Another possibility is Krys Faber a local L.A. product. Heard he is a project though and if UCLA would not be willing to make him an offer, he'll probably bolt to Univ. of Minnesota that has offered him a scholarship.
Looks like every UCLA student needs to talk (beg) KLove to stay another year!
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