Bill Walton might find himself viewed as an enemy among UCLA fans after turning on his alma mater by delivering a pregame pep talk to one of the Bruins’ opponents this week.
Walton called the UCLA-Cal basketball game for ESPN2 on Thursday, a game which Cal won 75-63. It turns out the Golden Bears had some motivation from Big Red.
From the game recap:
California raced out to a 13-1 start behind a pair of 3-pointers from Brown following a pregame pep talk from ESPN analyst Bill Walton and strong defense that forced UCLA to miss its first five shots and commit three turnovers before Hamilton made a floater to end the drought.
“He gives the best motivational speeches I’ve ever heard,” Brown said. “He just got me so pumped up for the game I think I came out and scored eight in a row. It was all Bill Walton right there.”
That’s Cal’s Jayden Brown, who had 16 points in the game, talking about Walton.
Walton is one of UCLA’s most famous basketball alumni along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He was a three-time College Player of the Year for the Bruins and led the program to two national championships. And here he is, one of the most prominent athletes in the school’s history, giving pep talks firing up opponents to beat his school.
Is this Walton’s way of expressing displeasure with Bruins head coach Steve Alford? We know Walton was hypercritical of Ben Howland during the coach’s final few seasons coaching the Bruins, helping to put the nail in Howland’s coffin. Between this and what Kareem said about Alford, UCLA seems to have made enemies out of what should be its greatest allies.
