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The NCAA Tournament brackets were just revealed, and it's fair to say UCLA got screwed. While the Pac-10 was complimented with Washington getting a number-one seed, giving UCLA an 11th seed is downright insulting.How is the 4th place team in the Pac-10 seeded 11th? How is UCLA worse than Creighton, Iowa, or St. Mary's?
To make matters worse for the Bruins, they now have to play a Texas Tech team that probably should be seeded higher than 6th. The Red Raiders nearly pulled off a Big 12 conference title on Sunday before Oklahoma State outlasted them, and they've proven to be able to play with any team in the country. Bobby Knight teams are usually fundamentally sound, and his team boasts an excellent backcourt with Ronald Ross, Jarrius Jackson, and Martin Zeno.
If UCLA wants to have any prayer of winning this game, they need Dijon Thompson to have a huge game, and try to beat Tech inside. Easier said than done, but still possible.
The one saving grace the Bruins have going for them is that they get to play close to home in Tucson. But Tucson isn't all that far from Lubbock either. LAist will have its Final Four predictions out soon, but we'll tell you right now that UCLA won't be in St. Louis, or even Albuquerque.