Time to Dance: UCLA

Who? The Bruins of UCLA.

What? You may have noticed that the UC schools have blue and yellow in some form as their colors; you may also have noticed that a lot of them play with the bear motif. Those are emblematic of the state of California. As for why Joe and Josephine are bruins, it hails back to the days when UCLA and Montana shared a conference- UCLA teams were originally Grizzlies, but Montana had the name first, so UCLA went with a different form of ursine.

Where? Los Angeles, California.

When? Saturday the 19th, versus Montana in Spokane. (The history geek in me- see above- rejoices.)

Why? Strength of schedule probably did in the Bruins, but they can't be faulted for the debacles of the Pac-10. If they could have put together a closer game against Stanford before the conference final, they might have squeaked up to a 2.

How? They were an at-large selection from the Pac-10.

Who's driving this thing, anyway?  Nikki Caldwell, since 2008. One of the most stylish coaches in the game today.

RPI: 9

SOS: 32

Record: 27-4 (16-2 Pac-10)

Best win: Notre Dame (A, OT)

Worst loss: LSU (H)

Notable results: Stanford (L, A, 64-38)

The revelation for the Bruins this year has been junior forward Jasmine Dixon, who leads the team in rebounds with 7.2 per game and is second in scoring (11.8). Senior guard Darxia Morris puts in 12.3 points per game to lead UCLA. I find it interesting how little UCLA relies on the three, compared to most of the teams I've looked at (and as you've seen, they have been legion).