The Big Show Down at Puauley, Fri 7PM

[Bruins vs Eaters]

Well, the big showdown is tomorrow night, 7PM at Pauley Pavilion. UCI brings their 5-0 record, #2 ranking, and recent win of the UCSB Elephant Bar Tournament to UCLA in a showdown of student vs. teacher. Former UCLA asst. coach and player, and now UCI head coach, John Speraw goes up against his former coach and mentor Al Scates in a rematch of the Elephant Bar tournament last week when UCI pulled out the squeeze play to get by UCLA in the 5th game 17-15.

It's THE match of the early season.

[anon]

I was actually in attendance to see the first match up between these two very talented teams. UCI did look well coached. For an early season game, the team seemed to have gelled pretty well, however, whether they have reached their potential early on in the season is another story. (Not taking anything away from their performance at the E-Bar tourney). As for UCLA, it is the typical team who may have a slow start at the beginning of the season but come playoff time, Scates will have that team ready to compete for a national championship. Motivations will be high this year for UCLA considering their early exit from the tournament last year.

In regards to the UCI vs UCLA match coming up, I see UCLA taking UCI in four games. The Bruins will be well prepped to contend and will have the comfort of their home court. Nonetheless, the very solid UCI team will put up a strong contest.

[Bruins vs Eaters]

Well, it was a great match for the spectators. The fifth game was neck and neck to the very end. It ended in a 16-14 win for UCI. It wasn't without some controversy, as it looked like the Bruins had the match won 15-14 and were starting to celebrate when a late touch call kept the game alive for UCI. The Eaters then came on to take two points in a row to win the match. VERY entertaining play and exciting match. Lots of emotion. What a match.

Congrats to UCI and Coach Speraw who keeps his head coaching debut undefeated at now 6-0. They are the real deal. Now, how did this team get to be so good with what is essentially the same players from last year with a couple of new faces? Could JS be that good? So far so good. He has made them a winner and congrats to him.

[BRUINWALKER]

Congratulations UCI.

[Will Rogers Beach]

Congratulations to UCI and John Speraw! They were the better team tonight. They deserved to win.

UCLA needs to work on its team chemistry and passing. UCI seemed more cohesive. The Anteaters were playing with a lot of confidence. The UCLA players appeared tight and seemed to be playing not to lose. It seemed like several Bruins had an off night. At least, it's early in the season and there's lots of time to improve on its weaknesses --- unnecessary serving errors, bad passes, not connecting to their middles, blocking and a predictable offense.

I was impressed with UCI's defense. They were touching a lot of balls. They seemed to be also better coached tonight. They used more plays when needed --- X and pike than UCLA. I was impressed with their libero and their passing was a lot better than the Bruins'.

Tonight's game was exciting and had some weird rallies and scrappy plays. As the previous post mentioned, it was not without controversy. But, I think the Bruins blew several missed opportunities. I hope they learn from this loss. What really matters is they peak during the playoffs and the NCAA tournament.

[some guy]

That was a great game. Thought it was lost after the third game when UCI basically folded, but they came back.

There wasn't any controversy though, there is no way anyone could believe that call wasn't supposed to go UCI's way. I could maybe believe the ball was out(and that's a big maybe) but if you couldn't see that touch you're blind. The down ref called the touch as soon as it happened but everyone was just watching the up ref and started celebrating as soon as he called out.



Why is UCLA so damn whiny? I have never seen a team whine so much, and about such obvious calls. And they go on and on and on. They're such a pain in the ass to watch.

[Bruins vs Eaters]

Hey some guy, you are the whiner. I was there for UCI, had the angles and didn't see the touch, so it wasn't obvious at all. I also saw a bad call on an out call that hit a ucla player before it went out and the refs didn't see it. I'd say your comment is an over exageration. The very fact that there are dissagreements makes it controversial. I'm the one who made that comment too. The comments were slight, and congratulatory to UCI. Don't stir up something that doesn't exist. I'd say these two team are very close. Winning a close match like that, actually two matches, in 5 by 2 each doesn't say one is much better than the other. UCI played with heart and determination. Being early in the season they both have to play their best against each other.

[Charlie]

Bruins said:

Congrats to UCI and Coach Speraw who keeps his head coaching debut undefeated at now 6-0. They are the real deal. Now, how did this team get to be so good with what is essentially the same players from last year with a couple of new faces? Could JS be that good? So far so good. He has made them a winner and congrats to him.

Well, obviously much credit has to go to John Speraw. The way I hear it, Charlie Brande was very good at training the players in their individual skills, and he also did a good job of recruiting. But what was lacking was a system in the matches that would work for UCI.

Now, in comes Speraw, trained at UCLA both as a player and a coach, and he installs a UCLA-like system and discipline that holds up in matches. Voila, instant contender. Fascinating, as Mr. Spock would say.

But, never, ever forget that when Al Scates has seen a team multiple times, he is the undisputed master at coming up with a game plan against that opponent. Except this time, Speraw knows how Scates likes to prepare and how he thinks. Has Speraw been giving UCLA different looks, holding anything back? Probably not, which means when UCLA gets Morrow back and has had a little more time to gel, UCI will be hard-pressed to win yet again against UCLA (the two don't meet again until early March). That's the challenge for Speraw.

Scates doesn't get too crazy about early season results, he always focuses on the playoffs, although he knows that having the best winning record gets you home-court advantage in the MPSF playoffs and that this is meaningful.

Isn't it great that UCI has become a contender? The more strong programs there are, the better. It's going to be fun to see just how far UCI can go this year.

[VB fan]

Vince didn't play for UCLA in the last two games. He had an elbow problem, maybe it flaired up. He would have contributed at least a point or two advantage. Anyone know what was up with him? Is he healthy?

[Vball818]

I will have to agree that it is great that UCI is playing well this early in the season and a target for other teams to beat them, whereas they have always been the doormat of the MPSF even though they have defeated top-ranked teams on a rare occasion. Hopefully UCI will sustain their momentum all the way to May and in the future seasons too.

Charlie said:

Well, obviously much credit has to go to John Speraw. The way I hear it, Charlie Brande was very good at training the players in their individual skills, and he also did a good job of recruiting. But what was lacking was a system in the matches that would work for UCI.

Now, in comes Speraw, trained at UCLA both as a player and a coach, and he installs a UCLA-like system and discipline that holds up in matches. Voila, instant contender. Fascinating, as Mr. Spock would say.

But, never, ever forget that when Al Scates has seen a team multiple times, he is the undisputed master at coming up with a game plan against that opponent. Except this time, Speraw knows how Scates likes to prepare and how he thinks. Has Speraw been giving UCLA different looks, holding anything back? Probably not, which means when UCLA gets Morrow back and has had a little more time to gel, UCI will be hard-pressed to win yet again against UCLA (the two don't meet again until early March). That's the challenge for Speraw.

Scates doesn't get too crazy about early season results, he always focuses on the playoffs, although he knows that having the best winning record gets you home-court advantage in the MPSF playoffs and that this is meaningful.

Isn't it great that UCI has become a contender? The more strong programs there are, the better. It's going to be fun to see just how far UCI can go this year.