LOS ANGELES — The old heads have a text thread. They call it “Bruin Brothers.” Fifteen or so former UCLA basketball players, including Bill Walton, Jamaal Wilkes and Larry Farmer — who was the one telling me about it the other day.
Telling me that all of those men, many of them champions many times over, are still very much tied up in the fate of the UCLA program. They’re all in on Bruins basketball, with its rich legacy, its 11 national championships and the dogged pursuit of an elusive 12th — which you can trust these proud alumni will be trying to text into existence.
“If UCLA is playing a big game, USC, or when they get to the tournament, one guy will make a text message, ‘Oh, man, I’m nervous,’ ” Farmer said. “And before you know it, guys are just chiming in.”
Some of them didn’t need to type out their thoughts on Saturday. Farmer and other members of the 1973 national championship team were honored at halftime at Pauley Pavilion, where No. 4 UCLA (27-4) rested its case for claiming a top seed in the NCAA tournament.
Their gavel: a regular-season-punctuating 82-73 victory over No. 8 Arizona.
Their 10th consecutive victory gave these Bruins a program-record 18 in conference play and extended their home winning streak to a best-in-the-nation 25 games. And Jaime Jaquez Jr., with his 22 points on 9-for-18 shooting and 10 rebounds, bolstered his case to become UCLA’s first Pac-12 Player of the Year since Kevin Love in 2008.
That it feels like a possibility that in another 50 years, these Bruins could be honored like Farmer’s were? That’s a testament to how Farmer-like Mick Cronin’s crew is.
Yes, Jaquez heard “M-V-P!” chants from the sellout crowd of 13,659 on Saturday. And, obviously, there’s Tyger Campbell, the one with the flair and the awesome hair, running point. Also, there’s senior David Singleton, who is the team’s big-shot taker and go-to speaker off the bench.
But what can’t be overlooked about those…
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