PHILADELPHIA - No tears were shed. The Bruins fell well short of the goal of finally winning a national championship after bowing out at the previous three Final Fours.
This UCLA team was exposed as flawed long ago. No one was able to expose those flaws more magnificently than Villanova.
When it was done, the reality was grim. The third-seeded Wildcats thrashed No. 6 seed UCLA 89-69 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday at the Wachovia Center.
Forget the Bruins had a chance to win the national title. They didn't have a chance to win this game, whether it was played on Villanova's pseudo-home court or on Krypton, since the Wildcats played like Supermen.
"We were out-coached and out-played," UCLA coach Ben Howland said.
"Villanova is fantastic. You look at them and you look at the size and strength of their players, their ability to put the ball on the floor ... they really beat us on the boards."
UCLA trailed by double digits for the final 32 minutes. The last time the Bruins (26-9) were beaten this soundly in an NCAA game, Steve Lavin was running things. It was an 80-56 setback to Iowa State in 2000.
"You have no idea how embarrassing and how frustrating it was to lose by that much," Bruins freshman center Drew Gordon said. "As long as we didn't give up, that was the main thing."
It was a disheartening way for UCLA's senior class - Josh Shipp, Darren Collison and Alfred Aboya -
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to finish their careers. All three were members of the Bruins' three straight Final Four teams, but each exited for the final time during a television timeout with 3:58 remaining and the Bruins trailing by 24 points.
"It's really tough going out this way," Aboya said. "You look at the score, and you feel like we didn't compete. You feel like they were way better than we were. But I don't think that's the case. The better team won, but I don't think they're way better than us."
Six Wildcats scored in double figures, led by center Dante Cunningham's 18 points. Reggie Reading and Scottie Reynolds each added 13.
"We played great," Villanova guard Corey Stokes said. "Our defense was great. Our defense opened up our offense. We got a lot of points off the fast break."
Shipp led the Bruins with 18 points. Collison chipped in 15 and Nikola Dragovic scored 11.
"They were the more aggressive team, and the more aggressive team is always going to win," Collison said. "Even though they did play at an arena they always play at, they still played better basketball than us. Period. They just flat-out beat us."
The arena, which is 18 miles from Villanova's campus, was a few sections shy of being filled with all Wildcats fans.
Much of the sellout crowd of 19,894 were delighted for 35 minutes, which is how long Villanova was steadfastly in control.
The Bruins couldn't stop the Wildcats guards from getting into the lane.
"They beat us time after time after time off the dribble," Aboya said.
The Bruins had even less success doubling Cunningham and left Villanova's sharp- shooting guard open for jumper after jumper because of slow defensive rotations.
What could UCLA have done differently?
"We don't zone, so we're not going to zone," Howland said. "We just didn't play to our capabilities."
The Bruins also settled for 3-point shots in the first half, couldn't mount a serious comeback in the second half, and were pushed around as the Wildcats held a 41-29 rebound advantage.
Villanova had 16 offensive rebounds.
"They took us out of our offense," UCLA power forward James Keefe said. "We couldn't do anything offensively we wanted to do, and then defensively they broke us down. We walked through their stuff. We knew what was happening, but we couldn't stop it."
Villanova used a 19-2 run - keyed by drives to the baskets, UCLA turnovers and a trio of 3-point shots - to take a 28-11 lead midway through the first half and were not challenged again. The Bruins never got closer than 12 points in the final 30 minutes, and trailed by as many as 25 points in the second half.
"It's just a different type of ball," Gordon said. "UCLA basketball is half-court set. Villanova is full-court press. We don't have a press. We really didn't work on breaking the press all year. It's a different look at basketball."
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