#ncaa-tournament-bubble

#ncaa-tournament-bubble

For the last few days, smack dab in the middle of his long-awaited breakthrough at USC, Arenas had gotten sick. He'd spent the last few days worn down, leaving his status for Wednesday night's marquee matchup with No. 10 Illinois uncertain. But the Trojans star freshman had refused to sit out, resolving instead to tough it out against a true Big Ten contender, even if he wasn't at 100%.

This already looks nothing like what UCLA basketball is supposed to be. The defense is lagging, the roster is lacking and nobody seems to know what to do about it. A second consecutive loss has dropped the Bruins squarely into bubble territory for the NCAA tournament, somewhere a team that wears these four letters across its chest should never be. They are a middling 10-5 with no compelling victories and a .500 record early in Big Ten play.