LOS ANGELES_The eight-clap might not be the only cheer heard around UCLA this week. Bruins fans might break out a hearty "Give 'em hell Devils!" on Saturday afternoon followed a few hours later by shouts of "OSU, our hats are off to you."
The fight songs of Arizona State and Oregon State could make their way onto UCLA students' reading lists because the Bruins need some help from their Pac-12 Conference rivals. The Sun Devils and Beavers are UCLA's only hope for winning a share of the conference title alongside Oregon and Arizona.
Third-ranked UCLA (26-3 overall, 13-3 Pac-12) will enter its game against Washington (9-19, 2-14) on Wednesday night at Pauley Pavilion facing a 1{-game deficit in the conference standings. Unlike Arizona (26-4, 15-2) and Oregon (26-4, 15-2), which each play only once this week, the Bruins will play twice, completing their regular-season schedule on Saturday against Washington State.
"As long as we take care of what we can," UCLA shooting guard Bryce Alford said Tuesday, "if the two teams ahead of us slip up, then we can get into that tie for first."
Should UCLA, Arizona and Oregon finish in a three-way tie atop the standings, Oregon would receive the No. 1 seeding for the Pac-12 tournament based on tiebreakers because the Ducks went 2-1 against the other teams in that collective group. The Bruins would receive the No. 2 seeding in that scenario by virtue of having gone 2-2, giving Arizona the No. 3 seeding because the Wildcats went 1-2 versus those teams.
The Pac-12's unbalanced schedule hurt the Bruins this season because Arizona and Oregon played each other only once.
"Those are two great teams and when they play each other," UCLA center Thomas Welsh said, "one of those two teams is going to get a loss."
UCLA has already clinched a bye into the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals and no worse than the No. 3 seeding. The Bruins could claim the No. 2 seeding with two victories this week and an Arizona loss to Arizona State in Tempe, where the Sun Devils have won three of the last five meetings between the teams.
An Oregon loss to Oregon State in Corvallis seems far less likely considering the Beavers have gone 1-16 in conference play. All Bruins fans together now: "Beavers, Beavers, fighters through and through. We'll cheer throughout the land."
