History Made!

History was made Tuesday, November 4th...no Barack Obama's election didn't have anything to do with it. No Tuesday ESPN Radio 1230 listeners learned first, that Cal State Bakersfield has inked a deal to play UCLA in men's basketball next season at Pauley Pavillion. The date for the matchup has been set for Friday November 2oth, a game that is expected to be televised regionally and with the Bruins, who knows, nationally?
It will mark the first meeting between the two schools in men's basketball, CSUB will be into their third and final season of NCAA Division I transition while UCLA by then may very well be coming off their 4th NCAA Final Four appearance and maybe even a National Title.
While the UCLA game is big for CSUB in terms of status, by then Pac 10 foes will be nothing new to the Runner. Remember CSUB faced Oregon State last season and will see the Beavers again this season in Corvallis, they will also face Stanford in February in Palo Alto. UCLA is no doubt one of the premiere programs in college basketball, but I don't think the Bruins will have much of an intimidation advantage over CSUB, by then the Bruins will be just another opponent on a tougher schedule in their quest towards Division I status. Remember a good chunk of CSUB's team will be juniors then, with two seasons of experience playing together. This may be the first measuring stick of a program who develops their players all four years against the program that loses a good chunk of their players to the NBA early.
While I can't wait for that date at Pauley next season, I'm just as much looking forward to next week, seeing the Runners in action against Wyoming and Air Force. Should be a productive trip and a great start to 2008-2009.