Five Good Questions with Diane Pucin about UCLA Basketball

Today's "Five Good Questions" is with Diane Pucin of The Los Angeles Times....Diane covers UCLA basketball and was kind enough to take a few minutes to respond to these five questions....

Q1. What is your assessment of UCLA so far this season?
A. The season has gone a bit better than I expected because of the injury problems UCLA has suffered. Of its top nine guys six have missed significant numbers of games or practices. Point guard Darren Collison still hasn't reached the physical condition of last year that drew NBA scout attention his way. But he's getting there.

Q2. What area(s) must the team improve upon?
A. UCLA needs to get better operating its offense against zone defenses. The Bruins could struggle against a really good zone defensive team in the NCAA tournament.

Q3. How much of an impact has Kevin Love (photo) been this season?
A. Kevin Love has made a huge impact. He was criticized, rightly, for being a bit out of shape and Ben Howland was criticized for not figuring out how to get Love the ball more in the paint. But when Pac-10 season started, Love has just turned his talent up. People who don't see the Pac-10 much don't know how impressive his 26 points and 18 rebounds were at Oregon Thursday or how he dominated Brook and Robin Lopez at Stanford and DeVon Hardin and Ryan Anderson at California.

Q4. Overall, how would you rate the PAC-10 this season?
A. It may sound homerish but I grew up in Big 10 Country and worked in Philadelphia for 11 years and from what I've seen this year, the Pac-10 is the toughest conference in the country. It has more good players. Oregon State, which hasn't won a conference game yet, has talent. Teams that win at McArthur Court at Oregon or at Maples Pavilion at Stanford or go to Pullman and beat Washington State must play very good basketball.

Q5. Last question, why does the team have a different color in the letter "C" on their uniform?
A. The different-colored "C" is to honor UCLA's having won 100 NCAA sports championships. The "C" stands for 100 in roman numerals.

I want to thank Diane for her time....