Expert Opinions

I have not been this excited about college basketball in a long time. With all the big pieces but AA returning, the addition of K. Love, and no Florida to dominate us in the tourney - this year could really be the year for UCLA basketball. So, in anticipation of the season I have enjoyed checking espn.com several times a day to boost my confidence further. But lo, the last few days have yielded several disappointments in this regard. Below are my top 5 picks for biggest disses of UCLA on espn.com in the last few days.

5. Jay Bilas lists his top ten pre-conference games that he'd pay to see. Conspicuously missing from the list - UCLA. It wouldn't be that big of insult as we don't really have any great pre-conference games, except for Texas. And #2 on his list...Texas vs Michigan State. Maybe this could be seen as a compliment to us in some way (he expects us to handle Texas and thus it will not be a great game to watch), but I still don't like it.

4. Fran Fraschilla has a similar list, but it even includes conference games. And you guessed it...UCLA not on the list. If I were to tell you that he picked a PAC-10 game that featured two of the nations top freshman recruits who would not be guarding each other in the match up...you would no doubt assume it was our game against our crosstown rivals and the matchup would be Love vs Mayo. Well, you would be wrong as Fraschila for some reason thinks that Mayo vs Budinger of Arizona is a better match up.

3. Not surprisingly, Fraschilla showed us little support in his chat from earlier today. He was asked point blank if this could be our year with Florida out of the way...he doesn't think so, we are among the top six teams, but it is not necessarily our year. In fact he doesn't see us in the final four...instead selecting Memphis, Louisville, Tennessee and North Carolina. And do we have a candidate for player of the year...nope. That my friends is what you call a triple dis.

2. Checking out another NCAA basketball chat, this time from the usually Bruin supporting Doug Gottleib, we find not a mention of our beloved Bruins. He is picking Kansas to win the tourney (widely believed to be a poor man's UCLA). When a WSU fan asks if UCLA will take the PAC-10, Gottlieb fails to make the pick. He even slurps on USC every chance he gets - praising Mayo and saying the Trojans have 3 NBA palyers on their squad.

And the biggest dis of the Bruins in the last few days on espn.com...

1. Doug Gottlieb had some seriously backhanded compliments for the two most beloved Bruins. In referring to Love's diminutive stature Gottlieb says, "His stats may be hurt, however, due to the depth of quality big men in the Pac-10. Remember that Brook Lopez, Jon Brockman, DeVon Hardin and C.J. Giles all will get up for Love." Of Darren Collison he says, "He is not a spectacular athlete" and "His shot is awkward-looking" and even goes as far to say, "He is not in the same class as Augustin, Rose or Chalmers". Ouch. Bite your tongue, sir. Ain't nobody talk that way about my chillun'.

So...in honor of the writers above, here's hoping espn.com decides to go for a week straight of Bill Walton authored pieces titled, "UCLA: the greatest thing in the history of everything". My confidence needs it.