Center Court: Ben Ball (UC Davis) & Welcome Coach Neuheisel Open Thread

by Nestor on Dec 29, 2007 3:15 PM PST in Basketball

Well what do you know? As I am hanging out (and traveling around) Southern California, I get the awesome news:

WELCOME HOME COACH NEUHEISEL.

Obviously we will have lot more in the coming hours/days. I won't be around much from here on out till Sunday night. I am sure Menelaus, Odysseus, Meriones, Tydides et all will keep this place hopping. I will make one thing clear. We are more than excited. And we will give Coach Neuheisel the same kind of breathing room we gave to our coach from our other major program.

Speaking of whom let's catch our breath and enjoy a little hoops. Ben Ball warriors get to warm up one more time before heading into the conference season:

Photo Credit: Polvitos' photostream (flickr)

UC Davis is tonight's opponent. For more on those guys go here.

The tip off is set for 4:30 am PST (FSN Prime Ticket). You can follow the game via links provided in the official site.

If you are watching, listening, following or tracking the game online, post your comments here.

This is our Ben Ball Warrior open thread.

And you can of course use this thread to:

WELCOME HOME COACH NEUHEISEL.

Fire Away.

GO BRUINS.

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One quick note before I leave ...

A huge thank you to everyone here who have kept the pressure on for last few weeks. Thank you.

I can' wait to move on and enjoy both Bruin sports all over again.

GO BRUINS.

by Nestor on Dec 29, 2007 3:21 PM PST reply actions

Whirlwind

It's really been quite a ride. I have felt as if I've been riding on my Santa Cruz uncle's famous Giant Dipper roller coaster.

Coach Neuheisel, welcome home! We're overjoyed to have you as part of our Bruin family, once again. Now, go after Cheaty Petey and win! I'd love to see more of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqmmxOsJW1Y#wInUWa-S9LA

Alumnus/Parent '08/ Chancellor's Associate

by BruinMum on Dec 29, 2007 3:49 PM PST reply actions

UC Davis head coach

I live in Davis and had the chance to meet and talk with UC Davis basketball head coach Gary Stewart yesterday morning before he left for Westwood. He talked about how he got into coaching, knowing that he wanted to be a coach from an early age due to a serious injury during his childhood that made it difficult for him to play sports. Stewart went on the say that attending 10 of Coach Wooden's basketball camps in his youth cemented his desire to become a head basketball coach and obviously taught him a great deal that he still uses today. A good guy, Gary Stewart, but he's going to have his hands full today with only 6 scholarship players going up against the Bruins.

by EphsandBruins on Dec 29, 2007 3:56 PM PST reply actions

Yay!

In some ways, I'd have preferred to have new blood, but still, this somehow feels right. RN was responsible for some of our best moments but I also think he'll use his intelligence to keep UCLA football evolving.

by Chandler on Dec 29, 2007 4:00 PM PST reply actions

Coach Neuheisel.

Congratulations to all UCLA Fans.
This is a great hire.
Coach RN has it all, experience, charisma, x's & o's, he has the confidence to compete against anyone in the country for those recruits UCLA can go after.
Remember this so called baggage is a bunch of garbage:
To wit: Unauthorized contacts with recruits while at UC. Geez, boy, what a terrible crime. USC, and the rest of the big boys wouldn't do something as perfidious as that. Or would they?
Betting in a football pool. Geez, join the other X millions who participate in that. How guilty was he, ooohhh about $4.5 million that UW & the NCAA had to fork over to him.
Congrats again UCLA, now let's get DG to work on a home and home with ND in football.

by jim masterson on Dec 29, 2007 4:19 PM PST reply actions

I just finished watching the 1992 Barnes game...

and I had a feeelllinnnn' .........

by TomSK84 on Dec 29, 2007 4:24 PM PST reply actions

My brother was on that team

and he talks about Neu as though he is the most charismatic person on earth. Some people criticize Rick for being too much of a player's coach, but it's a fact that players love him like very, very, very few other coaches out there.

by bornagainbruin on Dec 29, 2007 4:46 PM PST up reply actions

7 minutes left in the half

Bruins forcing a ton of turnovers. (11 so far I think)

Shipp had a disgusting dunk over a UCD player who was showboating earlier in the game. That'll teach him.

by Tydides on Dec 29, 2007 5:01 PM PST reply actions

the UCD player should call his family

and tell them to look for him on sportscenter tonight. yowzaaaaa

by freesia39 on Dec 29, 2007 5:30 PM PST up reply actions

UCLA's defense..

...is depending way too much on steals in this game. UC Davis is shooting 67% from the field, that's not acceptable. I'm surprised they don't have more then 24 points.

Prediction: UCLA wins conference 14-4.

by Howland on Dec 29, 2007 5:17 PM PST reply actions

UCLA's Defense

Well, Bill and Don say that the Bruins are focused
on holding the opposition to X% shooting and out rebounding them. I don't think that's happening
right now.

by TomSK84 on Dec 29, 2007 5:22 PM PST up reply actions

Depending on steals?

Steals and turnovers are better than missed shot attempts. I didn't like the backdoor cut that they got or the floater in the lane. I didn't like our inability to finish our putbacks in the beginning. I can live with the 2 3's 5+ feet behind the line because those are bad shots.

They might be shooting 67%, but they have 15 shot attempts total. We have 36.

by Tydides on Dec 29, 2007 5:23 PM PST up reply actions