UCLA Basketball: Breaking down the match-ups against Cal and Stanford
By Jason Reed
Match-up vs. Cal:
Starting with the lower seed, the UCLA Bruins, theoretically, would have a better time facing off against the California Golden Bears than the Stanford Cardinal. Cal is entering the tournament as the 12th seed with a 2-16 conference record.
Cal was so much worse than any other team in the Pac-12 that, yes, this is the perfect matchup for the UCLA Bruins to secure their spot in the semifinals. The Bruins should have no problem handling Cal. If they do upset Stanford, to move on to face either Arizona, Arizona State or Colorado State.
The Bruins and Golden Bears squared off twice this season, both games resulting in a UCLA victory. UCLA won the two games, 107-84 and 70-57, good enough for a total margin of victory of 36.
The Golden Bears only two PAC-12 wins this season came against Oregon State, a 74-70 victory, and against none other than Stanford, a 77-74 victory.
Thus, it is not completely out of the realm of possibility that Cal can shock Stanford and advance to face UCLA in the second-round of the tournament. The Golden Bears overcame a 17 point deficit in the contest against Stanford to pull away with the win. Even better, that win came on the road at Stanford.
The writing is potentially on the wall and it would be a crazy site for the Golden Bears to upset the Cardinal. However, with Cal riding a seven-game losing streak, it is hard to get behind that thought. For UCLA, though, we should all be California Golden Bears’ fans for one night.