Unlike Him, UCLA Never Had Answer for Princeton

Princeton 43, UCLA 41. One of the worst Indianapolis crashes ever.

And now, the inquest:

Question: Did UCLA do anything right?

Answer: Every player stood for the national anthem.

Q: And after that?

A: They scored 11 more points than Ed O’Bannon did by himself in the NCAA championship game.

Q: That’s not many.

A: Against Arkansas, they had 40 by halftime.

Q: How could UCLA score only 41?

A: Beats me. And six of those came from Brandon Loyd.

Q: Is Loyd much of a scorer?

A: You tell me. In 30 games, he poured in a total of 17.

Q: Do you mean Charles O’Bannon, Toby Bailey, J.R. Henderson, Kris Johnson, Jelani McCoy and Cameron Dollar combined--against an Ivy League team--for 34 points?

A: O’Bannon, Bailey, Henderson and Johnson did. Dollar had none.

Q: Did Coach Jim Harrick do anything about it?

A: He benched a couple of them.

Q: Could he have done anything else?

A: Bench all of them.

Q: Well, they’re young, they need experience.

A: Experience? Like, say, from playing in an NCAA title game?

Q: Someone asked bluntly if Harrick got outcoached. Did he?

A: I’m not qualified to answer that.

Q: Try.

A: Oh, probably. UCLA played Princeton’s game; Princeton didn’t play UCLA’s game.

Q: From the opening tipoff?

A: No. UCLA came out in a zone defense, and Princeton got stuffed. Nearly 15 minutes into the game, Princeton had no two-point baskets and had not made one free throw.

Q: And then?

A: As soon as Princeton made its fourth three-point shot, UCLA switched to a man-to-man, pressuring the perimeter. That’s when the back-door plays and layups began.

Q: And UCLA’s offense?

A: Dollar began the game with two spectacular passes. After that, he forced everything, as did Bailey. Seemed like every pass they threw, a Princeton hand touched.

Q: What happened to McCoy?

A: Freshman got taken to school. Two points in 29 minutes.

Q: I gather Princeton plays serious defense.

A: In the Ivy League title game’s first half, Pennsylvania scored a total of two baskets.

Q: This Gabe Lewullis, whose shot beat UCLA, how’s his defense?

A: The guy from Penn he guarded went 0 for 14.

Q: What killed UCLA in the end?

A: Ballhandling. Very reckless passing. Kentucky’s press would have had this team for lunch.

Q: Contributing factors?

A: Overconfidence. Being NCAA champs. Winning all those last-second games this season. Toby Bailey said, “Last year’s team had a hunger. We wouldn’t leave that court unless we won. This year’s team didn’t have it.”

Q: Leadership?

A: Not much. No go-to guy. O’Bannon got All-American honorable mention, mainly on reputation. Might have been fourth-best player on his own team.

Q: Harrick?

A: He knows where the buck stops. Deserves praise for winning conference title; won’t get much. Dodged a bullet with six-men-on-court gaffe against Arizona. Got worst possible draw in NCAA: a smart adversary whose chessboard style causes impatient, video-game generation players (like UCLA’s) to panic.

Q: Northwestern in football, Princeton in basketball. What’s with that?

A: Revenge of the nerds.

Q: Can UCLA snap back?

A: This team has enough talent to go from the Tulsa mess to the NCAA’s best to the Princeton mess to NCAA’s best. But talent isn’t sufficient. Skill minus will equals 43-41.

Q: Whose formula is that? Einstein’s?

A: Hey, another Princeton man.