Seen and heard at Pauley Pavilion: UCLA's 'Den' fired up for Wildcats' visit; Bill Walton staying busy

UCLA has been holding classes online through the first few weeks of the winter quarter and at least in one way, that’s a good thing for its students who like basketball.

Olivia Kriegsman was one of three UCLA freshmen who lined up at 8 a.m. to get one of the first spots in line to sit in The Den exactly 12 hours later. The group took classes virtually while sitting in line and recharged their computers, when necessary, at a station across what is known as the Bruin Walk pathway.

Not only was it a big game, but interest had built because UCLA had not allowed fans for a men’s basketball game since Dec. 1.

“People are really excited,” Kriegsman said.

First-year students Carly Arends and Cara Holden even planned to camp overnight with two other students, lining up at 10 p.m. on Monday but leaving for a five-hour break when all the lights went out around 1:15 a.m. But they returned at 6 a.m., still able to claim their place at the front of the line, before roughly 400 students began lining up in the hours closer to gametime.

They also went to class, pandemic-style.

“On Zoom,” Holden said.

Wake-up call

UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond apparently couldn’t help but notice the students’ enthusiasm.

At 10:18 a.m. local time — nearly 10 hours before tipoff — Jarmond tweeted out video of 10 students who had already camped out spots in line.

“Good morning! Good morning!” Jarmond told them. “How we doing? What’s Bruin? Got the line going. We’re ready. Appreciate you being here. Tonight will be a good one. … Make sure you go to class online, too, now. Got the book? Got the iPad?”

RJ ‘welcomed’

Richard Jefferson was a standout player for the Wildcats before some UCLA students were even born but, well, he’s a pretty well-known figure who was wearing a navy sweatshirt with a Block A logo.

So, The Den booed Jefferson as he walked by.

‘Dirt’ aims at Miller

Once inside Pauley Pavilion, UCLA student fans were greeted with free T-shirts and a copy of “The Dirt from The Den,” a sheet with a little “background” for them to think about during the game.

“We at The Dirt are so unbelievably hyped for this game, both due to Bruin pride and so Arizona fans will finally shut up about UCLA ‘ducking’ “ the game, The Dirt said, referring to the controversy when the original Dec. 30 game was not made up on Jan. 6, when UCLA played Long Beach State instead.

“Let us be clear: The only part of Arizona’s team that has ever scared the Bruins is another world-class Sean Miller temper tantrum.”

UA player ‘transcript’

The Dirt then took a few final shots at the former UA coach, whose program drew FBI and NCAA investigations, and listed an “illustrious transcript” of a UA basketball player.

The “courses” included:

“Health Sciences 118: Carrying UArizona Athletics on your back.”

“Economics 130: Economics of Bribery.”

“Law 101: How to avoid a subpoena.”

“Computer Programming 5: Transfer Portal Sciences.”

Back to normal

Walking into Pauley Pavilion in Bruin sweats nearly two hours before the game, UCLA coach Mick Cronin made sure a few staffers nearby knew how different the game would be.

“We haven’t had fans since Dec. 1,” Cronin said.

The Bruins paused for nearly three weeks with COVID issues and UCLA decided not to allow fans at indoor sporting events from Jan. 6 to Jan. 21.

Over that stretch, the Bruins beat Long Beach State and Oregon State but lost in overtime to Oregon, and Cronin expressed his displeasure during a Zoom media conference on Jan. 18.

“I think it’s hugely demoralizing to our guys to play games in an empty arena and there’s 80,000 people at the Rams game,” Cronin said.

Walton lovin’ it

The Pac-12’s efforts to reschedule the rash of postponed games over the past month took away any breathing room ESPN’s Bill Walton and Dave Pasch had. They were assigned to work Monday’s USC-ASU game and Tuesday’s UA-UCLA game, while Walton is also sticking around in L.A. to call Thursday’s UCLA-Cal game for Pac-12 Networks.

Not that Walton needed, or wanted, a breather.

“I love it,” Walton said, pointing from his broadcaster’s table to a nearby courtside seat. “If I wasn’t sitting here, I’d be sitting there.”

Naturally, Walton also gushed about his “deep family ties” to UCLA and Arizona — Walton starred for the Bruins while his son, Luke, did so for Arizona — and expressed appreciation for just about everything involved with the game.

Of course.

“It’s what I dream about,” Walton said. “I love seeing other people have success and that’s what this is about.”

Walton and Pasch will have another shot at the dream next week, too: They’ll be working ESPN’s coverage of the rematch on Feb. 3, when UCLA is scheduled to visit McKale Center for a 6 p.m. game.

“They have a lot of the same players they had last year, they’re doing some of the same things and they’re really good players, with a really good coach,” Lloyd said. “They have bigs that can protect the rim, they’ve got a great, high level point guard and then they’ve got wings that are really talented guys that are probably going to be playing 82-game (NBA) schedules somewhere.”

While Cronin said Arizona pushes the ball in the same way Gonzaga does, he said the Wildcats are a better rebounding and shot-blocking team that is also more balanced offensively.

“They run some stuff that’s similar but their personnel is obviously totally different,” Cronin said. “With Arizona, you would say (Bennedict) Mathurin is probably their best offensive player but I would say that they’re much more of a balanced team. Gonzaga’s got guys who can score but you kind of know they’re going to try to go through Timme in the low post so that in that area, they’re different.”