Maybe They’ll Learn Something This Time

And so for a second consecutive year, UCLA begins its trip to the NCAA basketball tournament as if the Bruins just heard about it an hour ago.

Socks dangling from their luggage. Ticket crumpled in their shirt pocket. No apparent directions.

Last season, his first full one as UCLA’s head coach, Steve Lavin quieted criticism of late-season chaos by leading the Bruins to the Sweet 16.

After Saturday’s Sour 40, his sweaty palms are full again.

The Bruins’ exasperating 87-70 loss to Arizona in the regular-season finale at hostility clouded McKale Center made several things clear.

The young Wildcats have come a long way since losing to UCLA by seven in the conference opener on Jan. 2.

The young Bruins have not.

The young Wildcats have settled into a sensible offense and smart defense that works well in the hands of their one great player.

The young Bruins have not.

Arizona can win a couple of rounds in the upcoming tournament on fundamentals alone.

UCLA might not.

Depending on the seriousness of Baron Davis’ toe injury, for which he was helped from the floor late in Saturday’s game, the Bruins might be very fortunate to still be playing this time next week.

Of course, we were all saying these things last year, just before Lavin rallied his team to defeat Miami and upset Michigan in the first two NCAA rounds before losing to eventual champion Kentucky.

He is the sort of emotional coach who navigates the tournament madness well. He can inspire his players to do almost anything in short bursts. He is a master at underdog motivation.

Take Saturday’s loss. Afterward he reminded his players that a couple of years ago, Arizona lost its last two regular-season games before winning the national championship.

Take this column. As you’re reading it, he’s clipping it.

His guys had not even finished their postgame pizza Saturday when they had already figured out how to turn the awkward afternoon into a positive.

“We played terrible . . . but it’s good in that this game should make us realize how hard we have to work next week,” Rico Hines said between bites. “If we had somehow gotten out of here with a ‘W,’ somebody like Alcorn [State] would have surely beaten us in the first round.”

But emotion is not this team’s problem.

“We played hard--we always play hard,” Hines said. “It’s just that we didn’t play that . . . smart.”

They played young, an explanation that works well in November, but grows old in March.

It’s an explanation that doesn’t work at all against Arizona, which started more freshmen than UCLA (3-2) and had more scoring freshmen (5-3).

Arizona’s youngsters, who bounced around Pauley Pavilion in January in a daze, now have a good grasp of Lute Olson’s offense.

When the Wildcats went on a 23-7 run at the end of the first half to essentially clinch the game, they did it with good passing and huge picks that led to open layups and three-point attempts.

During that same time, the Bruins countered with an offense that was often one-on-one.

That is, when it wasn’t one-on-four.

There is youth, and then there is youth.

Arizona’s five scoring freshmen shot 50% (14 for 28) with 14 assists and 14 turnovers.

UCLA’s three scoring freshmen shot 37% (seven for 19) with no assists and six turnovers.

This is certainly not about blaming kids. For most of us, our freshman college spring was considered a triumph if we found the library on the first try.

This is simply about wondering, are they being taught enough?

Are any of the Bruins being taught enough?

Of course, it hurts when your dominating defensive presence will be out of the classroom for the rest of the year with a knee injury.

It says something about the Bruins’ plight that Saturday, watching in black street clothes while holding shiny silver crutches, Dan Gadzuric was still their most intimidating physical presence.

“It’s really, really hard without him,” said JaRon Rush, a small forward forced to play power forward. “People playing out of position, doing things they are not used to doing . . . “

Gadzuric was truly missed. The Bruins were outrebounded by 15. They allowed Arizona to make 49% of its shots.

But Gadzuric is still only their fifth-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder.

He is not the 24-point difference between this Arizona game and the last one.

The jeering crowd at McKale, which earlier this week drove USC Coach Henry Bibby to distraction, was also not the difference.

Perhaps nowhere was UCLA a bigger target this season than at Stanford, and rarely did the Bruins play more inspired.

The difference Saturday is the same difference found in several of their losses.

While UCLA may grab every loose ball, it also commits every silly foul.

And while UCLA may make every spectacular steal, it also gives up many uncontested layups.

And while the other guys often eat up 30 seconds for each basket, UCLA is seemingly shooting after one pass.

At 22-8, Steve Lavin should be congratulated for another fine regular season.

And urged to spend the next several days figuring out a way to rewrite that ending.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: bill.plaschke@latimes.com.