UCLA Locks Up #1 Seed with Pac-10 Final Win

UCLA and Stanford are two of the most physical teams in the country, and on Saturday they played a Pac-10 Tournament final that lived up to that reputation. The Bruins defeated the Cardinal 67-64 in an ugly game in which both teams looked flat-out tired. UCLA will almost certainly pick up the #1 seed in the West after winning the Pac-10 regular season and tournament titles.

Darren Collison was really the only player who looked to be his normal self in this game. He ran circles around Stanford defenders all day and scored 28 points on 12/22 shooting. The Bruins needed every point, too, because Kevin Love was rendered mostly ineffective after suffering a back injury in the game's opening moments. Love toughed it out, but he had trouble bending the entire game and went just 4/13 from the field. His health will obviously be of huge importance for the Bruins moving forward, although his back seemed to loosen up considerably in the second half.

Stanford doesn't have much to be upset about in this game. Their players were slow to the ball the entire game and gave up 18 offensive rebounds, but that's an anomaly for a team with this kind of strength inside. The Cardinal scrambled defensively the whole game and never really seemed to have their defensive rotations set. After playing two consecutive night games (including one that ended at 11pm in Los Angeles last night), it's not surprising that they lacked their usual energy. Frankly, it's a bit shocking that they had a chance to tie this game at the end before an Anthony Goods desperation three at the buzzer hit front iron.