but anyways, i continue haha =P

so this last Thursday, at the excellent concert of prayer (my favorite one so far, and a really good way to end the year in that sense of community prayer...)... i began to notice a few things

and one of those things, is how i've become one of "those people"... allow me to explain

so when i first got here to UCLA, and whenever we'd have like community prayer or big worship, stuff like that... i'd sneak peeks around the room, looking at all the people praying and worshipping with hands out and eyes closed completely immersed and i would just be like... "wow those people are really into that stuff, but that'll never be me..."

well... as many things from first year to now, oops... haha... in turning into one of "those people"... a few observations

1. we all connect to God in different ways, each equally beautiful and unique... for some of us, we need to stand and throw arms to the sky, some kneel, some sing, some don't, some clasp hands, some people wave arms wildly threatening to behead those next to them, frizz claps over his head, etc, etc, etc... all wonderful

2. do not mistake activity for closeness

3. i am discovering the value of praying not just by yourself, both hearing someone pray for you, and praying for someone else are incredible experiences of God, and it is cool that they can be had along with others (thanks Jess)

4. when you are connecting, there's nothing else around that matters... except for having to remember to keep putting up the right slide lyrics, the focus is totally out of the room even... great place to be

that's about it... one question though, how do you worship outside of worship on thursdays? that is something i'm trying to discover, it shouldn't be a twice a week experience at church and catalyst... hmmm

second half:
so much for second half being interesting...

xavier couldn't snap out of their shooting woes, especially from three (look at Duncan, 40% on the year couldn't get anything going from outside tonight, he even forced one up from like NBA range with predictable results)... the UCLA field goal percentage D has really picked up since the tournament started, it actually went up this year from last year, but since the pac-10 tourney it has been at a really good level (see WKU, and Xavier... the Mississippi state game doesn't really count... )

josh shipp still has none of his confidence back, he's passed up 2 or 3 open three's so far...

on the other hand, a great game from luc, when he doesn't take those outside jumpers and instead works inside and goes to the offensive glass he's so smooth, and at his most effective...

aboya only got realy limited run this game just like the last one, it seems that keefe who has more skills and is picking up the hustle is getting some more minutes... of course this game was luc's so neither of them really got any PT... as i type this luc gets an open dunk for another duece

another really solid game so far from love, double double and a couple threes, as well as more good interior D, that has been the aspect of his game that has improved the most over the course of the season

even chace is getting some run at the end here, good for him... and he just hit a three, haha he always manages to get something up, remembering back to the cal game, where he got 6 shots up in five minutes in garbage time

congrats on three straight final fours, first ucla team to do it since the wooden era....

really looking forward to watching davidson vs. kansas tomorrow


what won the game:
hard to point to one thing really when you win by 19... combination of love/luc getting back onto the offensive glass and keeping them off the boards especially in the second half... DC and Russ playing a very good under control game after Russ picked up those two offensive fouls in the first half, he toned it down well (see him on that fastbreak slow up and try to get contact, then just laying it in after he realized he wasn't gonna get the foul and the defender dove right by)

feel bad for xavier, see lavender crying at the end? always forget that when teams lose in the tourney for the seniors, it's always a rough moment

looking ahead to the final four... either memphis or texas? both are really good teams, kinda would like to get another crack at the longhorns

great howland quote in the postgame, after verne lundquist suggests that the bruins have been struggling of late.. "well we've won 14 in a row, i wouldn't really call that struggling"

luc is the mvp of this one, i would give it to love but it's getting so expectied his contribution in a way, i guess luc's resurgence made him stand out... you can tell though the ankle is still bothering him, his lateral movement isn't completely back to what it was but he really put in some excellent work today

TO SAN ANTONIO WE GO! love march =)

in terms of looking for a game to blog about for the first time... i could not have chosen any better than this one...

wow, where to begin... after having 10 minutes to re-adjust the heartrate back to normal, i was never panicking but seeing WKU on the war path definitely gave me a bit of unease... having my father next to me going "UH OH" everytime Mr. Brazelton decided to drop another three didn't help matters either for sure haha

warriors are up 17 in the fourth by the way woohoo

looking at the final stats... Kevin Love!!! 29 points (new career high, even if it is one year) and 14 boards, a huge game for him against the undersized, overmatched WKU front line... just as we thought he would, he played huge tonight and we needed every single point and rebound and putback against a very game hilltopper team... tyrone brazelton led WKU with 31 huge points, especially in the second half when he put up 25 and bascially willed them back into the game, can't say enough about his performance especially to come back after a horrendous first half where he coughed it up five times and only had six, to lay it on the best team in the land for a whole half AND perhaps more importantly for them foul out DC by attacking him all half...

Courtney Lee, NBA ready though he may be is the latest victim of the russell westbrook treatment... although he finished with 18 points, second on WKU he shot 7 for 29 from the floor, under 25%... wow, astounding defense by westbrook and the rest of the bruins, although he showed large flashes of brilliance throughout, he was never able to really get on track.. if he'd been able to get it going in the second at all, we could be writing and crying over a bruin loss right now...

James KEEFE... what a game for him, to come up so big in this huge stage... career highs in both points (18) on 7 of 9 shooting and 12 rebounds for his first double-double.. he also had 4 blocks along with k.love who also had 4, controlling the interior and bruising the WKU frontline... huge putbacks and transition points for James, who had unarguably the best game of his UCLA career, and he didn't even flash a view of that great set shot we know he has in his arsenal...

game notes... never seen such ucla foul trouble in the backcourt before, all three starters had four fouls by the time 10 minutes left rolled around in the second half... which raises a surefire talking point, who backs up these three guys off the bench? they all play major minutes and when they get in foul trouble... they play with four, one more quality guard would be really really helpful, but it's a bit late in the season for that... next year... haha too many quality guards almost if DC and/or westbrook stay, it'll be a crowded backcourt in 2009 for the bruins

james keefe is the player of the game hands down

i was reading an article earlier this week chronicling kevin love's development as a post defender, he still has his issues defending the pick and roll on the perimeter, but around the rim he has made HUGE strides as a shot blocker and general enforcer... and this was apparent both last game where he blocked i think it was 7 shots, and then 4 more tonight and forced WKU to alter several others as well... combine that with keefe's 4 blocks as well in his career game and UCLA's interior defense was stout the entire weekend...

also what we saw from WKU is what UCLA has been lacking ever since shipp caught his midseason cold... and that is the great ability to explosively get back into ball games... as we've seen, the bruins definitely have the ability to work from behind (see cal, stanford, texas a&m) but it always is a slow, steady climb up the mountain... WKU was down and out, then suddenly with the press and DC fouled out they were back within 4, and some great UCLA resilience and a James Keefe sighting saved the day

aboya vs. keefe for playing time just became a very interesting battle btw, i don't think that's an overstatement as we've seen james recover from that shoulder that could have forced a redshirt year, he's definitely been improving his game as the season has gone on... next year w/ drew gordon in the mix (who is a beast) it will be a rough battle finding pt at the 4

all in all... game was definitely entertaining, more so in the second half than the first... a little bit closer than i really anticipated or expected after a dominating first half performance by the bruins... but WKU's pressure D really picked up in the second half, forcing double digit turnovers by the bruins and giving them fits especially after collison fouled out... this game revealed some flaws to UCLA, mainly in its explosive offensive ability (or lack thereof) and it's lack of depth at the point and the 2... but again, the challenge was answered by the bruins and it's onto the elite 8 and a matchup with an excellent xavier ball club for a ticket to san antonio

winning aspects:
westbrook's d, love's career game, keefe's career game, shipp's ridiculous off balance three

things to work on:
backcourt foul trouble, russ needs to remain calm when collison isn't in to steady him... shipp needs to get that swagger all the way back, KEEP SHOOTING JOSH SHOOT IT KNOWING

hope you enjoyed, this was all really long i know haha, but it was definitely fun to do... i think next game i might just watch, and write something after maybe, but we'll see