Alexander: First-round upset? Not on the Bruins' watch

SACRAMENTO-- Were UCLA's players paying attention to Thursday's early results? Or here's a better concern: Did they truly require other individuals's upsets to motivate them at this time of year?

Hours prior to the second-seeded Bruins stepped on the Golden 1 Center court to face No. 15 UNC Asheville in the first round of the NCAA competition, there was a vibrant illustration of the dangers of overlooking a low seed at the extremely exact same site. And when No. 15 Princeton knocked off Arizona, marking the 3rd straight year a 15 had eliminated a No. 2, and No. 13 Furman pulled off a 68-67 triumph over No. 4 Virginia in the final seconds earlier in the day in Orlando, the warning bells should have been clanging loudly.

No, UCLA coach Mick Cronin said, he didn't bring it up before the Bruins took the flooring. His gamers knew of the upsets, definitely, but there was a more essential motivation.

" It has no bearing on us," UCLA's coach said. "We do not believe in incorrect inspiration, so we do not think that you require your house crowd to win.

Evidently, the motivation did come from Arizona, but last weekend at the Pac-12 competition. When the Wildcats beat the Bruins in the national championship, the sting didn't disappear rapidly.

" I wasn't pleased, but I understood it was going to assist us," Cronin stated. "There's no concern it was going to assist us. Like, I know how upset this person (Jaime Jaquez Jr., sitting next to him at the dais) was that we didn't win that game Saturday.

Jaquez was asked how that turns from a negative into a favorable.

" I attempt not to harp on it 'cause if we lose now, my entire season's done," he stated. "I don't think it's extremely hard to get me going, or any of the rest of the people for that matter. … … We attempt to get the young guys to understand this, that this is a one-and-out tournament and we don't desire this to end."

It was to UCLA's advantage that for Thursday's competition opener it wasn't playing Princeton, or Princeton Lite, or actually any group with any sort of NCAA tournament resume. Rather, Asheville's gamers appeared like first-timers. They seemed absolutely petrified at the prospect of sharing the court with the Bruins, chucking airballs and throwing passes away.

" I provide (UCLA) a ton of credit," Asheville coach Mike Morrell stated. "They were the assailants early, and they took it to us. Due to the fact that they were not going to be captured sleeping, you got to provide them credit for that.

" I thought they were actually great defensively. They simply kind of truly pressed us around all over the floor."

And with the Bulldogs rattled, and the Bruins coolly doing what they do, the 86-53 result shouldn't have been a surprise at all.

Drew Pember, Asheville's best player and the person Cronin had lauded (hyped?) the day previously, was the only popular member of the Bulldogs who had even been on an NCAA tournament group, at Tennessee before he transferred to Asheville. However he 'd never played a competition video game, and Thursday's debut didn't go well. Pember had another field goal in the first half (two) than he had airballs, he had six of his team's 16 turnovers and he completed with 13 points, well below his average of 21.2.

The remainder of the Big South Conference champs were likewise inefficient. They gave up 56 points in the paint and 30 off turnovers, shot 37.3% and were 7 for 17 on layups. Clearly, they were not all set for prime time.

The Bruins, meanwhile, shot 54% and had 24 assists on their 34 basket.

There is a distinction in between low seeds that have been here prior to and comprehend how to utilize the unpredictability of March Madness in their favor, and those who have no concept what it's everything about till it strikes them. As Morrell explained it, the latter is what his team faced Thursday night, and he acknowledged he probably didn't do enough to help.

" You can talk about it, however you do not truly know, you can't actually comprehend it, till you experience it," he said. "You can't really experience it until you comprehend it. That's like a vicious cycle, right? But it's the fact.

We attempted to discuss what the experience was going to be like. I would state these people most likely would agree that it's a little bit various when you really get out there and those feelings are streaming.

On the other hand, Princeton has actually done this before. It was 27 years considering that the Tigers secured UCLA in a first-round upset-- a 45-43 surprise one year after the Bruins had actually won the school's 11th and latest NCAA championship-- in what turned out to be Jim Harrick's last video game as coach. That was a 13th seed knocking off a No. 4, but the message was, and stays, the very same: Overlook an NCAA competition challenger at your peril.

But Asheville's trouble probably ought to have been anticipated. The program hadn't reached the NCAA tournament because 2016, had actually won First Four video games twice but has yet to win a first-round video game in five shots.

" You've got to dominate those teams physically," Cronin said. If you do not get controlled physically, you can win. That's what you've got to do in video games like that.

The Bruins controlled, and they frightened, to the point where Asheville's players seemed blown away by those four historic letters on their challengers' jerseys and played frightened.

The results were to be anticipated, and on a day of massive upsets that's all the Bruins could ask.

jalexander@scng.com