1 week ago
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The UCLA Bruins bounded into Golden 1 Center this week as a grumpy lot, irked that they had lost a Pac-12 tournament championship game they thought was theirs.
That setback to Arizona cost the most storied program in college basketball a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, which UCLA coaches and players now say was a good thing. Good teams tend to play differently with the bruise of a painful defeat.
Seeded second in the West Region, UCLA left Sacramento as the most impressive team in this eight-team sub-regional, upping its defensive pressure to beat No. 7 Northwestern 68-63 on Saturday night in front of a 16,806 to return to the Sweet 16 for the third straight time.
The Bruins (31-5) now stand two victories shy of their 20th Final Four. This is their 52nd NCAA Tournament, and their 11 championships are the most of any NCAA member. They joke in Los Angeles that UCLA has long since run out of...
