INDIANAPOLIS —
The magic stretched deep into the night, accompanying UCLA from a comeback win completed on John R. Wooden Drive after midnight through a 75-minute journey into the heart of Hoosier basketball country.
At the end of a trip taken on three buses so that players could space out to ensure their safety amid a pandemic, the Bruins gathered in their hotel lobby around a giant NCAA tournament bracket.
Senior guard Chris Smith, accompanying his teammates despite having been lost for the season with a knee injury, was given the honor of affixing a white sticker reading “UCLA” onto the line opposite Brigham Young in the first round of the East Region.