Ready or Not, USC-UCLA Is the Pac-10 Opener

No matter when the Bruins and Trojans get together for a little basketball, the competitive tension can be as thick as the morning marine layer at the beach.

But today’s women’s game has the added spice of being the Pacific 10 Conference opener for both teams. That hasn’t happened for 13 years, and neither USC’s Chris Gobrecht nor UCLA’s Kathy Olivier was the head coach then.

Neither coach is that thrilled about having to start Pac-10 play against her team’s chief rival. There is also the worry of how sharp the players will be after the Christmas break.

“You hope [the layoff] doesn’t take any edge off because we’re all trying to get lead out,” Gobrecht said. “You worry about the quality of play being what it should be. But it is so intense when we play each other. This might save both sides from being too aggressive.”

Said Olivier: “This is a little different arrangement. But we’re just going to treat it as the first conference game and hopefully bring a very good team into the Sports Arena.”

An emotional atmosphere might be just what both young teams need after missing chance after chance of pulling off a major upset in nonconference play.

The Trojans (3-5), who have only four seniors, came within three points of top-ranked Connecticut and two points of No. 13 Colorado, but also had bad losses to Minnesota and Notre Dame.

UCLA (4-4), with only three seniors, has a one-point loss to sixth-ranked Purdue and fell by four points to No. 22 Michigan State. The Bruins’ only awful performance was a 31-point pounding by No. 5 Texas.

“Both teams have been right on the brink of playing good basketball,” Olivier said.