Last year was supposed to be ancient history: the 14-18 record, the losses to Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton.
UCLA fans were supposed to repress those memories and move on.
This season -- with its top recruits and healthy roster -- was going to be different.
Except the Bruins have lost four in a row, including an ugly loss to Montana at Pauley Pavilion on Sunday. I mean UGLY. The Bruins put up just 28 points in the first half and shot just 31.3 percent of its shots (missing more layups than you can count). Montana had the quicker point guard and attacked with him. Montana pushed the pace and ran past UCLA.
Sure, it came after an impressive game for the team against No. 4 Kansas -- a game where they got robbed on a call at the end -- but the overall, inconsistent course of the Bruins play this season has to have you wondering…
What kind of team is UCLA?
Just a few years back, the team made three consecutive trips to the Final Four. They were defensive focused, would run when they could, could hit from the outside.
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The team's defense -- Russell Westbrook, Jordan Farmar, Darren Collison and others -- pressured everything. They forced you into mistakes and could score enough to beat everyone (save Florida).
These Bruins? They do not have point guards in Lazeric Jones and Jerime Anderson who can pressure the ball. Villanova and VCU's guards torched them. As for the other recruits, against Montana, highly recruited Josh Smith just floated through the game and looked like a freshman. Tyler Honeycutt -- who many had projected as a first-round pick -- has been hot and cold this season.
On offense, they are shooting just 33 percent from three on the season. Montana just packed the lane and dared UCLA to beat them from the outside. You can bet the Bruins are going to see that and a ton of zone from here on out.
UCLA is 3-4 and memories of last season are hard to block out. The good news is the Pac-10 is so down that getting to 20 wins and an invite to the NCAA Tournament still seems realistic. But the Bruins need to find an identity. The team needs Honeycutt and Smith to take over games. It needs the ball-hawking defense.
UCLA needs to figure out who it is and fast, before last season's identity takes hold again.
Kurt Helin lives in Long Beach and is the Blogger-in-Chief of NBC's NBA blog Pro Basketball Talk (which you can also follow in twitter).
