With the calendar set to flip to April, the Los Angeles Dodgers are ready to get their 2021 season underway as they look to defend their championship.
While there is a ton of anticipation brewing for the upcoming Major League Baseball season, a lot of the excitement in the sports world right now is currently surrounding college basketball’s annual NCAA tournament, affectionately referred to as March Madness.
The tournament is soon coming to an end with teams punching their tickets to the Final Four over the last couple of days. One of those was the UCLA Bruins, who are the Alma Mater of Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.
Roberts was not able to watch UCLA’s upset victory over the No. 1 seeded Michigan Wolverines on Tuesday night because the Dodgers were finishing up their annual exhibition Freeway Series against the L.A. Angels.
After UCLA pulled off the one-point victory, Dodgers organist Dieter Rhule played the school’s fight song for all of Dodger Stadium to hear, signaling to Roberts especially that they would be going to their first Final Four since 2008.
“I just heard that,” Roberts said postgame of the Bruins advancing. “Dieter Ruehle played that in the eighth or ninth inning, the UCLA fight song, so I assumed that’s what it meant.
“Couldn’t be happier for UCLA, Coach Cronin, the players. Getting back to the Final Four, where they belong, what a special year. They played their tails off and he did a great job coaching.”
UCLA is one of college basketball’s most historic programs, although they have not had much success in recent years. The 2020-21 season was expected to be a special one for them, but things quickly went south when top recruit Daishen Nix decommitted in order to pursue an opportunity in the NBA’s G League.
They then lost their best player in Chris Smith to a season-ending knee injury, and big man Jalen Hill was ruled out for the second half of the season due to personal reasons.
UCLA barely squeaked into the tournament despite losing their last four games of the regular season, including their first game in the Pac-12 Tournament. That required them to play a First Four game against another historic program in Michigan State, which they came back from down 15 to win before going on a run in the NCAA tournament.
What’s next for UCLA
Things only get harder from UCLA moving forward as they now take on the No. 1 team in the country in Gonzaga, who is the favorite to win it all. If the Bruins are able to pull off that upset, they will have a chance to win their first national championship since 1995.
On the other side of the bracket, a pair of Texas schools in Baylor and Houston will be squaring off. Dodgers first baseman Max Muncy has some rooting motivation in that one as a Baylor alum.
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