Shipp happens: UCLA beats Cal

What a shot. What a comeback.

One thing I love about following UCLA basketball is you never get the feeling they’re out of a game. Sometimes though, they make the comebacks seem even more incredible and unbelievable than ever, like Saturday against Cal.

As the last few seconds ran off, it looked the Bruins’ might fall a bit short. Josh Shipp tried to drive to the basket, but was well-defended. So he improvised, and threw up a shot that went over the corner of the backboard and somehow went in. Amazing.

Bruins Nation’s Telemachus posted a video of Shipp’s epic shot here. The best I could do is post this highlight package of the game I found on YouTube (EDIT: blackjack from Gutty Little Bruins uploaded a YouTube clip of just the shot. Enjoy.)

I won’t get tired of seeing that shot for a long time. What happened right before it was pretty incredible too. Kevin Love hitting that three with under 20 seconds left. The turnover that followed it. UCLA was losing by double digits in the second half, just like they were against Stanford on Thursday. But they won both games.

I wouldn’t have liked it, but it would have been understandable if UCLA had lost to Cal. Just two days earlier, UCLA had clinched the Pac-10 title with a thrilling victory over Stanford. The game against Cal was the definition of a trap game, and it looked like it could be a repeat of 2007, when the Bruins clinched the Pac-10 with a win against Washington State and then lost to Washington.

That’s why it doesn’t bother me that the Bruins got down as far as they did and didn’t look sharp. I was just hoping for a win today, they can go back to playing well for a full 40 minutes at the Pac-10 Tournament next week and the NCAA Tournament after that.

(I got the photo from the AP/ESPN.)

Oregon State completes perfect season: 0-18

For the first time ever, a Pac-10 team has finished 0-18. Congrats to Oregon State for doing the unthinkable, falling to 0-18 after losing 77-64 to Arizona State on Saturday. And bless their hearts, Oregon State isn’t finished yet. As OSU guard Calvin Haynes told the Oregonian (emphasis and ellipsis mine):

“I don’t think any of us came into this thinking we would go 0-18. … Every time we lose, it hurts even more. But we’ve still got the tournament so it’s not over yet.”

So we’re not just looking at the first 0-18 team in Pac-10 history — we could be looking at the first 0-19 team since the Pac-10 tournament has expanded to include all 10 teams.

How bad did things get for Oregon State? Well, also in the Oregonian:

On Friday, (interim coach Kevin) Mouton said he would have called a timeout late in the game if Oregon State was ahead, just to let his players gaze at the scoreboard.

If only Oregon State had taken an early 2-0 lead. “Look guys, we’re ahead!”

Poor, poor Oregon State. While it won’t happen, the Beavers winning a game in the Pac-10 Tournament would be an amazing story. Hell, what if they won four games in a row to win the tournament? I’d say weirder things have happened. But they haven’t.

(I got the photo above at the Oregonian.)

22 days ’til Opening Day: Franklin Morales

There are 22 days left until that best day of the year, MLB’s Opening Day.

22 is also the age of Franklin Morales of the Colorado Rockies. Morales, considered a great young prospect, was rushed up to the majors last year at the end of the season because the Rockies needed him. Morales got to be a part of the Rockies’ amazing run at the end of the season, when they won 14 of their last 15 regular season games, then won seven straight playoff games. He started eight games during the season (39 1/3 innings) and had a solid 3.43 ERA (1.22 WHIP). He didn’t pitch well in the playoffs however (11 ER in 10 IP).

Reports out of spring training say Morales is competing for a spot in this year’s rotation, and an injury to Jason Hirsh would probably help his cause.