Grant could prove a lot with good game in Westwood...

UCLA is playing well...

Bama on the verge of collapse?

Bama hits the lights of LA ...

(Los Angeles, Cal) - The Alabama Crimson Tide may be playing the most important game of the Anthony Grant era on Friday night. After losing the last two games at home the Tide hopes to turn things around in Pauley Pavilion. The Crimson and White are now 5-6 and headed where? Alabama fans are losing faith as the SEC season looms around the corner. Hope springs eternal, but common sense tells me that Alabama is likely to be 5-7 pretty soon. Alabama and Anthony Grant can give fans hope with a win over the Bruins. Even another close game might even give the fans something resembling hope. That's not likely to happen though. UCLA might not be the Bruins of old but at Pauley they are still hard to beat. College basketball fans still put UCLA at the top of the hierarchy in the modern era. The Bruins are off to a good start at 10-2. The Westwood team are 2nd in the NCAA in shooting percentage at 53%. They are 7th at scoring with 86.5 ppg. Perhaps the most impressive stat is that the Bruins are averaging 18.2 assists per game. For the record that is 3rd best.

 

     

The only "weakness" the Bruins have is rebounding. The are only averaging 36.4 boards a game. That is only 145th in the NCAA. Of course, when you shoot 53% there are not that many boards to go around. Alabama's stats are horrible. The Tide is shooting only 46%. That ranks 119th. That is the highest ranking in stats for Alabama.  Seriously, 119th.  If you want to know why the Tide isn't winning just look at the numbers. Right now the numbers for season wins are looking pretty bleak. The best thing the Tide has going for themselves at this point is just how bad a lot SEC teams are. Bama isn't going to beat Florida, Missouri, and Kentucky twice. I'm sure most of you watched the UCLA / Missou game. The Tigers dismantled UCLA. Florida is a top notch team, and Kentucky is only going to get better. Even Auburn seems much improved. I don't see a winning SEC season

       Duke didn't beat Alabama as bad as they did UCLA. That gives me some hope that Bama can hang tough with the Bruins. If Bama can keep the score in the low 70's they might have a chance. I've seen the UCLA Bruins play a dozen games in Westwood, and they are hard to beat. It is one of the best home court advantages in the NCAA. All of the current Alabama players don't understand the sheer audacity of a team winning so many national champions in a row. They'll have a better idea when they tour Pauley today and see the trophy case. I personally wouldn't let our guys within a hundred yards of the place. UCLA isn't the powerhouse of old. But Alabama is nowhere near their peak years either.

      The questions about Grant are not going away regardless of a win tonight though. A win will give the fans something talk about. My real question is whether this team is on the verge of collapsing. UCLA by 12.