In Reply to: Hard to imagine a universe where Ucla... posted by ClockBlocker on May 14, 2026 at 08:57:36
four. The way they were playing near the end of the season it wasn't hard to see the possibility. They were one of the hottest teams in the nation at that point. Once Bilodeau was out all that went out the window IMO. But with Bilodeau for the Bruins to have gotten to the final four a lot would have still had to fall into place for them to achieve that. And then if they had gotten that far I couldn't see them winning even one game in the final four. They just weren't good enough for that. I guess one could make the argument that at that point if Mara had still been a Bruin maybe they could have won the national championship, but even then I think I would still have a hard time seeing it.
Well, now that I'm thinking about it I think I can see the possibilities. If Mara had stayed a Bruin he wouldn't have been playing with Michigan. They would have been a weaker team but still formidable. UCLA beat Illinois and played Arizona tough without Bilodeau. So maybe there might have been a chance. It's all hypothetical so it doesn't really matter, but still it's fun to think about.