Defense puts Bruins in perfect spot to win

SAN ANTONIO -- Funny how quickly perception changes. Less than two weeks ago, many viewed UCLA's basketball team as lucky to clinch a Pac-10 title and survive the first week of NCAA Tournament play while benefiting from referees swallowing whistles late in games.

Now, the Bruins have reached a Final Four without fouling. Or so says Xavier coach Sean Miller.

"The things they are able to do without fouling amaze me," said Miller, whose team lost to UCLA in a West Regional final. "I'm telling you, if you play as hard as they do and have the size that they do and the strategy, and you as an offense can't put fouls on them, it is really, really hard to score. They don't foul."

So which is it? Fortune or fundamentals?

Far more of the latter.

When taken individually, the skills that allow UCLA to defend as no other team nationally aren't overly spectacular. The Bruins are long and athletic and quicker than Tiger Woods' temper at the sound of a camera's ill-timed click. A lot of teams boast such strengths.

But that changes when ability simultaneously begins to smother an opponent desperately searching for an open lane to drive or pass or to simply escape the deluge.

You can't run a pick-and-roll because the Bruins jump every one. You can't get open looks in the post because the Bruins trap it. You can't be free to throw inside because the Bruins pressure the ball so aggressively. You can't set many successful ball screens because the Bruins have a 6-foot-9-inch, 270-pound moose of a center named Kevin Love who is agile enough to run near half court, blitz the screen, and turn and sprint back to the basket to cover his area.

You can't discover any appearance of early flow, because UCLA coach Ben Howland is apt to use all his timeouts within the game's first five minutes and then attempt to borrow a few from the opposing coach.

"We got one foul on Love in the first four minutes, and I got excited," Miller said. "We could have played 200 more minutes and he would not have picked up his second. He doesn't foul.

"It will be interesting in San Antonio as the best of the best goes there. The team that can crack UCLA's defense is probably going to be hitting on all cylinders, and I would be curious to see if they can put more fouls on UCLA. To me, that's the key, because playing their defense and the things they're able to do are against all odds."

Memphis is the first to test that assumption in one national semifinal Saturday at the Alamodome. It's an ironic matchup, considering it was against the Tigers that UCLA first established itself as a superior defensive team under Howland. That came in an Elite Eight game two years ago.

Final score: UCLA 50, Memphis 45.

Message sent: The Bruins could win big games at one end of the court, given UCLA that day shot just 35 percent and didn't make a basket over the final three minutes.

It's true while Memphis was extremely athletic back then, it didn't have a special player like freshman guard Derrick Rose. It's also true UCLA's center was Ryan Hollins, who while a serviceable player now on an NBA bench in Charlotte couldn't hold Love's hightops in any fashion.

Which means this: Saturday's game presents the same debates as 2006.

Which one wins: The high-scoring offense of fast-break dunks and second-chance scores or the guys trying to stop it?

Does the team that has allowed an average of just 53 points per game this tournament prevail or the one averaging 77?

Does the game ultimately become explosive or tedious?

"We know the challenge," Tigers coach John Calipari said. "They're great defensively. It's body-to-body, manoamano. You're going to have some hands on your body. You're going to drive and there are going to be two hands around your waist. You better be ready to go and play a man's game, because that's how they play."

It's popular to fall in love with the hot team, the one that puts Michigan State away by halftime and isn't pushed all that much while eliminating Texas. Betting lines are influenced. People live in the moment.

But in UCLA you have the nation's best defensive program and a terrific coach who will have spent all of six days devising ways to slow the Memphis Express. He did it before without Love. Don't fall over if he does it again.

Defense doesn't sell tickets or spike ratings. It just wins games like this.

Ed Graney's column is published Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. He can be reached at 383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com.