As staunch supporters of Bruins’ athletics programs, members of the Sacramento Area UCLA Alumni Club should be prepared for an excellent basketball season as the Bruins kicked off the year on Friday. Even though they dropped two opening games to Loyola Marymount and Middle Tennessee State, the team should be primed for Pac 12 play due to a tough out of conference slate this year.

The Bruins entered the year ranked in the top 25 and looked to build on last season’s trip to the third round of the NCAA tournament. The schedule will be packed with great games throughout the year, and has already included a trip to play in the EA Sports Maui Invitational from November 21-23 with a wide range of other traditional basketball powerhouses. They opened the tournament with a win against host squad Chaminade, but dropped two games to impressive squads in Michigan and Kansas. The tournament also included major basketball programs like Duke, Tennessee, and Memphis.

The games in Maui will be followed by an excellent out of conference matchup with Texas at the Los Angeles Sports Arena on December 3. Towards the end of December, in conference play with other Pac 12 teams will begin as the Bruins will look to try and follow up last season’s 2^nd place finish in regular season play. A 19 game conference schedule will be on the horizon for the Bruins basketball team will take on conference newcomers Utah and Colorado for the first time in league play.

For Sacramento-area Bruin alumni, there will be two great opportunities to catch the team play conference games this year within a two hour drive. They will open up conference play this year with the two closest games to the Sacramento area, playing at Stanford on December 29 and at California (Berkeley) on December 31.  The Game at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley will be on a Saturday at 1pm, proving to be an excellent opportunity for a weekend trip to get out of your Sacramento apartments and homes to see the Bruins live in action.

Because there have been meet-ups for games in the past, stay tuned for possible self organized events that the alumni club may prepare for men’s basketball games this winter. Hopefully the Bruins can follow up a great 2010-2011 campaign with an impressive year in 2011-2012. 

I'm sure we all have a lot to be thankful for this year. Woudn't a victory over USC be one more great thing to add to the list?!

Come on down to Barwest at 2724 J Street to cheer on the UCLA Bruins football team as they take on the USC Trojans for the last game of the year.  

We will be upstairs in the private room with the USC Alumni Club of Sacramento.  Wear your blue and gold, bring your 8-clapping hands, and join us on Saturday.

Kick-off is at 7 p.m.

Go Bruins!