While there’s still hope for the NBA to crown a 2020 champion, the same cannot be said for college basketball. When professional sports organizations put their seasons on hold in response to the novel coronavirus outbreak, the NCAA canceled all winter tournaments — including the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments.
Since there won’t be any bracket busting or Cinderella stories this year, Nets Wire will try to help fans get their March Madness fix by looking back at performances and runs that featured current Brooklyn Nets players:
March 22, 2008
There was a reason UCLA was the one-seed in the West Region of the 2008 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The Bruins were powered by four eventual NBA players — Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Darren Collison and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute.
But No. 9 Texas A&M gave them the best fight of anyone — with the exception of the South’s No. 1 seed, Memphis, who defeated UCLA in their Final Four matchup.
The Aggies held a 29-26 lead at the half, but UCLA regrouped, outscored Texas A&M by five after halftime to win 51-49 (full box score).
DeAndre Jordan, one of two players on Texas A&M who would later play in the NBA — the other being Donald Sloan — logged 15 minutes in the loss. The big man scored six points and grabbed four rebounds.
Jordan would go on to declare for the 2008 NBA Draft in April, in which the Los Angeles Clippers took the now-Brooklyn Nets center with the fifth pick in the second round.