The Daily Gus: February 20th

UCLA was happy to get home on Thursday night after their Arizona swing last weekend went terribly wrong. The Bruins dropped back to back games to Arizona State and Arizona, tumbling in the polls from six to 20. They returned to Pauley Pavilion welcoming a tough Washington team who had won three in a row going into the showdown with UCLA. UCLA placed five guys in double figures and won the game in a way they are not accustomed to, scoring 85 points, 51 in the second half. Josh Shipp had 20 and Darren Collison had 17 for UCLA who avenged their loss to UW on Jan. 24. UCLA is not nearly as bad as they played on their Arizona swing, but I think them being ranked in the top ten is slightly overrating the Bruins. They struggled on big stages in the non conference and have really showed no signs of brilliance on the road in the Pac-10. The UCLA issue will be finding guys to score to take pressure off Collison in the clutch. Collison may very well be the best point guard in the land, but he cannot make the Bruins better by scoring 25 and trying to get 10 assists, it just won't work. Shipp and Aboya both better start to bring their games every night, and if they do, UCLA is still the best team in the Pac-10. If not, they can get crushed just as they did in Tucson last Saturday.

Shoot-Around- Gonzaga got very lucky that Patty Mills from St. Mary's got injured...the Zags clinched their ninth consecutive WCC regular season title, a feat that is truly remarkable. The longest active streak in the NCAA, Mark Few has continually done an outstanding job, overcoming different programs every year that seem to be on the cusp of getting the Zags at the right time. Steven Gray had a career-high 23 points and Gonzaga continues its balance within the conference. The task will be if that holds up in March...Gonzaga beat Loyola Marymount last night to clinch; Loyola is now (gasp!) 2-25! Loyola has been a 20-plus point underdog at Gonzaga for the last six seasons!!!

- Xavier goes on the road to 9-15 Charlotte, where the 49ers had not had a home win over a ranked team in over four seasons to Cincinnati. Bobby Lutz's Charlotte team has had a miserable time since joining the A-10, and Lutz has been on the hotseat as of late. Charlotte gets a huge win to beautify their schedule a bit and increase fan interest, beating the Muskies 65-60. Xavier is still ranked in the top 20, and is currently at 21-5. The issue is Xavier is by no means the same team that was down in Puerto Rico in November, an interesting turn to see where their seed will be.