Bruins Won’t Lose Any Sleep Over This

The Bruins can count their blessings this week. Not only have they put together consecutive victories for the first time this season, but they’re done with 5:30 a.m. practices. The schedule was adjusted last week because of final exams.

Because the players were groggy and sometimes lackadaisical, they did quite a bit of running during those predawn sessions.

Said forward Matt Barnes: “It was kind of like track practice.”

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North Carolina, which plays at UCLA on Saturday, might soon be getting a boost in the low post. Julius Peppers, a big-bodied junior who doubles as a defensive end on the football team, is expected to join the Tar Heels after he finishes exams on Tuesday. An All-Atlantic Coast Conference football player, Peppers might leave school early to enter the NFL draft. He reportedly was upset North Carolina fired football coach Carl Torbush in November.

Peppers would give the Tar Heels a much-needed lift in the frontcourt.

“Right now, we are a little thin at the four and five spot,” Coach Matt Doherty told reporters who cover the team. “I’d like to have his strength, toughness and athleticism. . . . Julius is still trying to work through things. It is kind of a tough time for him. Sometimes, you can have great choices but it can be tough.”