Sunday syllabus: the week that was and the week ahead

Amid the celebration of another Bruin Pac-10 men’s basketball championship were some outstanding performances in some other sports:

Baseball:

>> Last week: The third-ranked Bruins had a busy week, starting with the final game of the Urban Invitational last Sunday. UCLA defeated USC, 4-3, on second baseman Alden Carrithers’ two-run double in the eighth inning; lefty Brendan Lafferty (1-0) earned the win with five innings of shutout relief. On Tuesday and Wednesday, UCLA was pummeled twice by traditional power Cal State Fullerton, 7-1 in Fullerton and 13-2 at Jackie Robinson Stadium. On Friday and Saturday, the Bruins managed home victories against St. Mary’s, 14-0 (Tim Murphy, 2-0, allowed one hit in seven innings) and 7-6 on Ryan Babineau’s pinch-hit, two-run double in the seventh inning as freshman Dan Klein (2-2) got the win.

>> This week: The 7-3 Bruins played St. Mary’s this afternoon at Jackie Robinson Stadium, then will play Pepperdine Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Jackie Robinson and finish the week with a three-game series at Cal State San Luis Obispo from Thursday through Saturday.

>> Of note: Bruin ace Murphy was named Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week last Tuesday for his 11 shutout innings the previous week, including a complete game shutout of Bethune-Cookman in the Urban Invitational. Also, Jackie Robinson, whose worst of four sports at UCLA was baseball, was voted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame last week.

Football:

>> Last week: With the coaching staff in place, the Bruins welcomed about 20 high school seniors-to-be on the first of two "Junior Days" on campus. Recruits took a tour and attended the UCLA-California basketball game. A second Junior Day will be held in April when spring practice is underway.

Rowing:

>> Last week: UCLA swept all four races from Loyola Marymount on Saturday at Ballona Creek.

>> This week: San Diego State will row against the Bruins at Ballona Creek on Saturday morning.

Softball:

>> Last week: The Bruins are now ranked second in the nation and are mowing down opponents in bunches. On Wednesday, Angelica Selden struck out 13 and soph Julie Burney hit a run-scoring single in the fifth that led to a 1-0 UCLA win. Then the Bruins ran off five straight wins in the Long Beach Invitational, starting with victories against Virginia Tech, 1-0 (Selden a one-hitter), and Notre Dame, 3-2 (second baseman GiOnna DiSalvatore drove in all three runs), on Friday. Yesterday, UCLA hammered Rutgers, 9-0 (Megan Langenfeld now 3-0), and shut down No. 8 Northwestern, 2-0 as Donna Kerr struck out 15 to go to 9-1 on the season; Langenfeld hit a two-run homer in the fourth. Today, Selden (12-1) struck out 11 and ran her scoreless streak to 26 innings in a 1-0 win over Long Beach State as right fielder Samantha Camuso doubled in pinch-runner Grace Murray in the bottom of the eighth.

>> This week: The Bruins are now a dazzling 25-2 on the season and have won 19 straight. UCLA has games with Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Northridge at home on Wednesday (2 p.m.) and Thursday (1 p.m.) before taking a 12-day break for final exams.

>> Of note: Freshman Kerr was named Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week for three wins and a perfect game against St. Peter’s last Sunday.

Men’s Basketball:

>> Last week: The Bruins (28-3), ranked No. 2 in one poll and No. 3 in another, made miraculous comebacks to defeat Stanford and California and finish the season as Pac-10 champions. Against Stanford, UCLA trailed by 14 points moments into the second half, but came back to tie the game at 63-63 in regulation and won, 77-67, in overtime to clinch the conference title. On Saturday, the Bruins were down, 37-30, at halftime, but stormed back with 51 points to win, 81-80, on a circus shot by Josh Shipp that appeared to loop over the backboard and through the basket with 1.5 seconds left.

>> This week: UCLA is the No. 1 seed in the Pac-10 Tournament starting Wednesday. The Bruins will play the winner of the California-Washington game Thursday about 2:30 p.m. The semifinals will be held Friday and the championship game Saturday. The NCAA Tournament brackets will be announced next Sunday.

>> Of note: Freshman center Kevin Love was selected as one of 10 candidates for the Oscar Robertson Award, the player of the year trophy handed out by the U.S. Basketball Writers Assn. The winner will be announced during the Final Four weekend in San Antonio.

Men’s Golf:

>> Last week: The UCLA "Blue Team" (second squad) finished 13th in the USC Collegiate Invitational on Monday and Tuesday. The full team participated in the Southern Highlands Collegiate Tournament in Las Vegas on Friday, Saturday andSunday and was in sixth place through two rounds, 11 behind Georgia.

>> This week: Third-ranked UCLA finishes up in Las Vegas today, then is off for a couple of weeks. The Blue Team will return to Bakersfield for the second Cal State Bakersfield Spring Invitational on March 17-18.

>> Of note: Senior Kevin Chappell, who won the PING Intercollegiates in Arizona early in the year, was named Pac-10 Golfer of the Month for the January/February period.

Men’s Tennis:

>> Last week: The sixth-ranked Bruins (10-1) had a good week, starting with a 7-0 shutout of Rice at home Wednesday, then defeating No. 10 USC, 5-2, at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on campus Thursday. The match was tied, 2-2, but the Bruins won the last three individual matches as Jeremy Drean and Nick Meister won in straight sets in the No. 5 and No. 6 singles slots and Michael Look won in three sets in the No. 4 spot.

>> This week: The Bruins will make up a rained-out match with Baylor on Monday at 1:30 p.m. and then take on Duke on Wednesday, also at 1:30 p.m. with both matches at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.

Men’s Track & Field:

>> Last week: Shotputter Darius Savage improved his lifetime best to 60-10 to win the Last Chance Indoor qualifying meet in Seattle on Saturday. At Drake Stadium, most of the UCLA team competed in the UCLA Invitational on Saturday afternoon. Bruin athletes scored eight event wins, including Brandon Smith in the 200 m (21.30), Elijah Wells in the 400m (48.01), Laef Barnes in the 800m (1:51.62, a lifetime best), Spencer Knight in the 1500m (3:55.98), Taylor Hobson in the high jump (6-8) and long jump (23-9 1/2, a lifetime best) plus John Caulfield in the discus (189-4).

>> This week: UCLA will send up to seven entries to the NCAA Indoor Championships this week in Fayetteville, Ark. Other athletes will compete in the CSUN Invitational in Northridge.

Men’s Volleyball:

>> Last week: UCLA stopped its four-match losing streak with a four-set win over Lewis at Pauley Pavilion last Tuesday and then defeated the second-ranked Division III team, UC Santa Cruz in four games at home on Wednesday. Much more impressive, however, was a five-set win over No. 6 UC Irvine at the Bren Center in Irvine on Friday night. Attackers Garrett Muagututia and Sean O’Malley each had 20 kills.

>> This week: The 10th-ranked Bruins are now 13-9 overall and 8-6 in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Second-ranked BYU (16-1), the MPSF leader at 11-1, comes to Pauley Pavilion for matches Thursday and Friday, both starting at 7 p.m., in a test of just how good the Bruins really are.

Women’s Basketball:

>> Last week: Mirroring their inconsistent play this season, the Bruins stunned USC, 73-52, in the first round of the Pac-10 Tournament in San Jose. Freshman Darxia Morris led UCLA with 19 points as the Bruins defeated USC for the only time in their three meetings this season. In the semifinals today against Stanford, however, the Bruins were throttled, 78-45, in a game that was not as close as the final score indicated.

>> This week: UCLA finished the season at 16-15 and does not appear to be in line to be invited to the NCAA Tournament. UCLA essentially played freshmen and sophomores and senior forward Lindsay Pluimer this season and could be a promising team next season. Let’s emphasize the "could be."

>> Of note: Pluimer finished her Bruin regular season career today by scoring eight points and grabbing eight rebounds. She is ranked 12th on the all-time UCLA scoring list (1,558), 10th on the rebound list (737), sixth on the blocked shot list, seventh in three-point shots made and tied for third in most double figure points game in a career. Pluimer started her 123rd consecutive game today, which is the most in the UCLA women's NCAA era and third on the all-time school list. She was named the Toyo Tires Pac-10 Women's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

Women’s Golf:

>> This week: UCLA is ranked second nationally and is in Sorrento, Fla., for the UCF Invitational that runs today through Tuesday. It will be the Bruins’ last tournament until April 4.

Women’s Gymnastics:

>> Last week: The Bruins zipped past Oregon State at home Sunday, March 1, 196.775-195.950 at Pauley Pavilion, even without all-around star Anna Li to improve to 13-1 overall and finished Pac-10 competition with a 6-0 mark.

>> This week: The Bruins are competing today in Pauley Pavilion in a quadrangular meet with Alabama, Arkansas and Cal State Fullerton, but will face a stiff test next Saturday on the road against NCAA favorite Georgia in Athens beginning at 4:30 p.m. Pacific time.

Women’s Swimming:

>> Last week: UCLA Coach Cyndi Gallgher indicated that although 16 Bruin swimmers posted marks that would qualify them for the NCAA Championships in Columbus, Ohio, from March 20-22, only three or four of the qualifiers will go. The others simply have no realistic chance to score points in a fast year thanks to the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Junior Anna Poteete (sprint free), senior Nicolette Teo (breast) and freshman Lauren Hall (400 medley) all have automatic qualifying marks in their respective events and freshman Dani Milligan could be invited since her 400 medley mark is just 0.01 seconds shy of the automatic mark.

>> This week: The NCAA Zone E qualifying meet for divers will be held in Oklahoma City from March 13 through 15 and the Bruins could add additional qualifiers.

Women’s Tennis:

>> Last week: Ninth-ranked UCLA showed why this week with wins over Washington State on Friday and Washington on Saturday, both by 7-0 scores. The Bruins are 11-4 overall and 2-0 in Pac-10 play.

>> This week: UCLA will face No. 9 USC across town Thursday at 1:30 p.m. before taking a 12-day break for final exams.

Women’s Track & Field:

>> Last week: Freshman Tori Anthony won the pole vault in the Last Chance Qualifier meet in Seattle with a jump of 13 feet 7 inches and will compete in the NCAA Indoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark., next week. At Drake Stadium, Bruin women won seven events and two relays at the UCLA Invitational on Saturday. UCLA teams won the 4x100m (46.16) and 4x400 m (3:44.58) events and individual winners included Nicole Leach in the 800m (2:09.61), Clare Rethmeier in the two mile (10:41.59), Lindsay Rowe in the 100m hurdles (14.06), Chanelle Curry in the 400m hurdles (1:03.56), jump star Rhonda Watkins at 20-11 3/4 in the long jump and 41-9 3/4 in the triple jump and Tara Ross in the javelin (a lifetime best of 162-9).

>> This week: Anthony will be at the NCAA Indoor Championships and other Bruins will compete at the CSUN Invitational.

Women’s Water Polo:

>> Last week: No. 1 UCLA maintained its perfect record with a 9-7 win over No. 2 Stanford at the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center on Saturday. Senior Brittany Rowe had three goals to lead the Bruins in scoring. Today, the Bruins eased past No. 8 San Jose State, 15-5, also at the Sunset Canyon Rec Center.

>> This week: UCLA (20-0) will face another challenge from a top-five team, playing USC across town on Friday, March 14, at 5 p.m. The Bruins will take a break after that for final exams.

Comments

[GregB]

Perhaps the reference to the weekend baseball series could be changed to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo so we don't get into the whole Cal-Irvine, Cal-Santa Barbara, Cal-Los Angeles discussion. Healy would call it a "freebie."