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For the first time since the Wooden Era, the Bruins are going to Back-to-Back Final Fours. With a surprisingly easy 68-55 victory over the #1 Seeded Kansas Jayhawks, the Bruins are on their way to Atlanta for their World-best 17th Final Four appearance (and all this just hours after the upstart trojans got eliminated in a stroke-inducing fashion).
The first half was a see-saw affair, with the split crowd taking turns quaking San Jose's HP Pavilion. But the Bruins closed out on a 12-3 run, culminating with a Josh Shipp buzzer-beating three. That made the score 35-31 at the Intermission.
As usual, the Bruins proved to be a second half team, clamping down on Defense, and separating themselves from the Jayhawks. Arron Afflalo's outside shot returned just in time to lead the charge. He went 6-for-6 from the field in the second half, and 10-for-15 for the game. He scored 15 of his game-high 24 after the break, many on tough jumpers. One thing about Afflalo: His slump did not ever make him lose his confidence.
With Afflalo back to his All-American form, and Darren Collison showing why he too is an All-American, the Bruins were able to maintain a good 6-8 point lead through most of the second half, getting it up to 11 a couple of times (by shooting 68.8% in the half).
The Jayhawks made a couple of mini-runs, but, just like Indiana and Pitt, they missed a TON of uncontested lay-ups! It must be a disease going around, and the Bruins are carriers. Actually, after seeing it close up and in person, we now know what the hell is going on: Kansas was SPOOKED by UCLA's amazingly quick-moving Defense, and WAS RUSHING all thier easy looks. They blew several 2-footers that went flying past the basket, because a Bruin like Lorenzo Mata was flying at them.
Special mention today goes to Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who came up with loose ball after loose ball on the Defensive end. He was like an Oreck vaccuum, sucking up possessions away from Kansas. But, you know how you can reverse some old vaccuums and make them BLOW? Well, on the Offensive end, Luc really blew, turning the ball over repeatedly, taking low-percentage shots (with plenty of time on the clock), and trying to do to much with the ball. But it seemed like every time he turned it over, he got it back. He DID score 8 points, including two sweet free throws in crunchtime.
This victory gives the Bruins back-to-back 30-win seasons for the first time since Bill Walton was there. It also made the Bruins 11-1 against ranked teams this season (and they avenged that one loss, vs. Oregon).
The victory also made the Bruins the first team since Kansas '02 to make consecutive Final Fours. Of course, Florida may equal that feat when they face Oregon today. The winner of that game will be the Bruins' first opponent in Atlanta, on Saturday. You might fear Florida, but throughout this Tourney, they have continuously shown their vulnerability, so maybe the Ducks can make 50% of the Final Four Pac-10 schools. We don't usually root for other Pac-10 teams, but we'd prefer to play them than the Gators, so, Go Ducks.
Below are 20 photos -- Net-cutting, gameplay, and then, lots of Cheerleaders (mostly Kansas today, but stay tuned for the Bruin dance team to be featured all week).
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