Pac-12 Champs UCLA Look To Stay Hot As They Face No. 13 Tulsa
SAN DIEGO (CBSLA/AP) — Danny Manning won a national title as a player at Kansas in 1988, spent 15 seasons in the NBA and then won a national title as an assistant coach with the Jayhawks six years ago.
Although odds are a bit long he'll lead the Tulsa Golden Hurricane to the NCAA title, he's at least added another accomplishment to his resume.
Manning has led Tulsa (21-12) to the NCAA tournament in his second season as head coach. Seeded 13th in the South region, Tulsa will play the fourth-seeded UCLA Bruins (26-8) on Friday.
It'll be an all-star coaching matchup. Steve Alford, in his first year at UCLA and 23rd overall as a head coach, led Indiana to the national championship in 1987. Manning led Kansas to the title the following season.
Alford also knows what he's going against: Young and an athletic team.
"They are really loaded with sophomore's that are very athletics and hungry," said Alford. "They've won 11 straight, so anytime you do that with the parity to men's basketball, you're a very great team. We're going to get a good test. "
Norman Powell, who hit the biggest three-pointer of his career to seal UCLA's win over Arizona, said anyone could beat them because of the style of the tournament.
"We can play anyone in the country and beat anybody," said Powell. "But anybody could beat us. If we don't play hard, don't concentrate we are running the risk of getting beaten."
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