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The Bruins Overtake Xavier

Perhaps Kevin Love calling the way his team played against Western Kentucky "unacceptable" was the equivalent of Dorothy clicking her heels three times and saying, "There's no place like home." UCLA finally got their act together tonight and became a contender in the Final Four for the 18th time after a 19 point win over Xavier.

And everyone breathes a sigh of relief as their brackets are still in one piece . . .

UCLA stayed in the lead through the entire game, once leading by as much as 22 points, meaning Xavier never managed to lead by anything. I must admit, I was starting to wonder about UCLA after the close calls they'd been having lately, but the pep talk in the locker room must've been a good one. Either that, or there was enough towel slapping going on that it smelled like team spirit, which means under/top/sideways/whatever dog Memphis will have its work cut out for them if they can even survive Texas tonight. But with all the returning fame for UCLA, there's also a lot of returning hatred, as it's once again become kosher to hate on the good guys, even though UCLA hasn't been a NCAA tournament champion since 1995, and only re-entered the consecutive Final Four slot 2 years ago. I guess that's reason enough for some people.

"A lot of people are starting to not like us," Love responded. "They're calling us the Duke of the West Coast. We feel like the Spartans out there in '300'."

I sure hope not, Kevin. If I remember my movie trivia correctly, didn't they all die? At least the fans aren't running after you dressed in Spartan armor and you have to play with arrows whistling past your ears. It could always be worse. But perhaps it's the blessing/curse syndrome of being number 1 . . . at the end of the day, some people still like to be pleasantly surprised and enjoy the underdogs beating the pants off people. They want to see them go all the way to the top and not stomped into the dirt by a number 1 as is the normal working tendency of things. But if it were different . . . if Davidson, or Western Kentucky, or Siena were number 1, no one would really like them, either. The last time Xavier was in the brackets was 2004, so perhaps that leaves them outside the circle of wrath. But it's something to comfort them as they go back home after tasting the tempting sweetness of the Final Four only to be beaten down. Don't worry, guys. Everyone loves to hate UCLA. That should bring you at least a little comfort at night.

- Heather Akena

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Created by: HeatherAkena Last edited by: Berlin