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Following their win over Texas A&M, NCAA officials ruled Russell Westbrook’s dunk at the buzzer was actually after it, turning a 53-49 win into a 51-49 win. And while some of us were simply to lazy to go back and make the correction in our postgame analysis, the more narrow score was appropriate indeed, because the Bruins were lucky to get out of that game ahead. Had they narrowed the gap to 49.5-49 just to prove a point, I wouldn’t have argued.

After Thursday’s 88-78 win over 12th seeded, super-plucky Western Kentucky- it’s always sad to make a loser out of this, um, guy- it might be a good idea for the overlords of collegiate athletics to shave a few points off the margin of victory once again, so nobody thinks the win was a cakewalk.

Granted, for 20 minutes or so it looked like it was going to be, and probably should have. But after UCLA built up a 21 point lead, the only things separating them from a shocking second half collapse was a monster performance from Kevin Love (29/14/4) and a shocking one from James Keefe, whose 18 points were one off a season high… assuming you add together all the games he’s played since February 10th at Washington.

Some thoughts, in neatly organized bulletpoint form, below.

First, the good stuff:

• I’ve spoken to a few people about Kevin Love’s prospects as a pro, and there are certainly questions about what position he’ll play, along with concerns about his strength and fitness (code for replace pudge with muscle). Watching him over the course of the season, there have been moments I wondered, too, when he struggled at times finding space against big, strong, physical defenders like USC’s Taj Gibson. But judging on skills alone, at this level at least Love is talented enough to totally dominate a game, as he did tonight against the Hilltoppers. Repeatedly he burned Western Kentucky with floor length outlet passes- from under the basket, along the baseline, off the backboard, or to break the Hilltoppers’ press- leading to easy points for UCLA. His ability to gain body position from anywhere around the lane on Thursday was incredible. Granted, WKU is a small (calling them undersized is like calling Andy Dick eccentric- a bit of an understatement), but Love established himself wherever he wanted to be, whether to utilize a nasty drop step on the low block or slide inside for a putback on the offensive boards. For long stretches, Love was the Bruins offense. He scored 11 of their first 20, 29 of their 88 overall.
• I gave up trying to handicap college players as pros after declaring Marcus Fizer a can’t miss, sure-to-be-solid-in-the-Association player back in 2000, but for what it’s worth while he may not be able to consistently dictate play on the block and I wonder how he’ll defend at the next level, any big who can shoot like him and move the ball as well as he does has a sizeable role to play in the NBA. He may not be “ready,” but by way of comparison, had you replaced Love with the other good-as-gone freshman sensation in town, would the Bruins have been in the game? Love’s skills and floor game are more advanced.

• Moving past the Love love, Keefe was the X Factor. UCLA counted on Love’s production, but had Keefe not come through, blocking shots, finishing around the rim, and rebounding like a madman in his 26 minutes of burn, the Bruins very well might have lost.
• It appears Josh Shipp is back, and none too soon. After missing his first triple of the day, Shipp hit one at the 6:28 mark of the first half, and was a different player afterwards. At that point, he had missed 11 straight free throws, and 15 of 17. Including the USC game on the 14th, Shipp had been 7-27 (26%) from the floor generally. 5-9, including 2-3 from beyond the arc, was a huge step for him, one the Bruins will need him to continue on Saturday against Xavier.

Now, the less good, and the stuff the Muskateers (and Longhorns, and Tar Heels) will study:

• 88 points notwithstanding, UCLA still had long stretches when they had trouble putting the ball in the basket. In the first half, Western Kentucky applied pressure to the ball deep in the halfcourt, causing an already deliberate UCLA attack to move with the fluidity of Mark Madsen on a dance floor. The Hilltoppers worked hard to push the pace, taking chances and as a result, gave the Bruins a lot of easy points. A better team that didn’t need to take those sorts of risks would have put a serious crimp in UCLA’s O.
• When the Hilltoppers managed to take Love away, either by cutting off entry passes or swarming to him like a pack of Lilliputians every time he touched the ball, UCLA had trouble finding an alternative. Worse, when they applied serious ball pressure in the second half, trapping aggressively and hawking the ball, UCLA crumbled. The Bruins turned the ball over 19 times on the night, including nine combined from Russell Westbrook and Darren Collison. Western Kentucky used them to slash a 21 point second half UCLA lead down to four with barely five minutes left. With 1:38 to go, it was a six point game. A more talented team with better balance on the roster could have made them pay. But by pressuring UCLA’s offense and forcing mistakes, the Hilltoppers helped neutralize the defense that held them to seven points over the last 12 minutes of the first half.
• Foul Trouble: Shipp, and Westbrook finished with four personals, and Collison fouled out. Beyond exposing UCLA’s general lack of depth, when they get into foul trouble, it damages their best asset- defense. It’s impossible to lock down when the next foul might send you to the bench, whether for a long break or for the rest of the game. Western Kentucky was able to take advantage. Again, it neutralizes UCLA’s greatest strength. Any tactic teams can exploit to slow them down on that end, they will

I still think UCLA will get past Xavier, who are better than the Hilltoppers but have size problems of their own, but if they’re going to beat whatever team comes out of the South (I think it’ll be Texas), the Bruins will need to play a better all around game. Twice they’ve faced teams that exposed weaknesses, but weren’t quite strong enough to take full advantage of them.

Then again, if UCLA started winning pretty, they wouldn’t be UCLA anymore, would they?

Brian Kamenetzky hosts the Lakers Blog and Blue Notes: A Dodgers Blog for the LA Times.com. He’s a contributing writer to ESPN The Magazine and ESPN.com, and can be heard regularly on the Steve Mason Show, on 710 ESPN radio in LA. Write him at bk@sportshubla.com.

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