with 20 or so seconds left, i think holiday and dragovic were doing most of the ball-handling while collison was off on the right wing, waiting for a pass. DC is our senior, he is our veteran, he is our leader. In those situations, he needs to have the ball in control and he needs to be the leader on the floor. I was expecting a quick drive to the hoop and a quick 2. Instead, we dribbled around for 10 seconds and threw the ball away. That’s the essence of our performance in one crucial play: indecision, poor ball-handling skills, not enough leadership from our veterans.

I got home and tuned in just before half with us up by 7 or something.

Not sure why our senior PG, who has seen this defense before, seemed so lost as to how to attack it. And did CBH give him enough help is figuring it out? Weird how that UM coach really ties us up.

It sucks, but it won’t kill us.

This team just needs time to find its identity – to figure out who’s playing when and where the shots are coming. It’ll happen. It’s a long season, and we’re just at the beginning of it.

And let’s not bitch about the refs. Close calls go both ways, as we saw last year, and for what it’s worth, to me that looked like a clean block at the end.

Don’t let this get you too down tonight, friends. There is a lot of talent on our team, and they’ll give us plenty of fun moments this season.

We out rebounded them. In the first half we shot over 50% and they were around 40. Our shooting dropped so at the end of the game we were around 42%.

We left 6 points at the line.

I’m prepared to lose a few while our young guys learn.

Surprising, in this game JH was probably the most mature and consistent player. But, we still played deep, as we should. More important to get young guys time and develop chemistry than to win all these games.

We were rated for where we will end up, not where we were. I don’t mind losing the rating, now. It’s a burden to carry. I want it back at the end of the year.

I don’t think there’s a whole lot to say. There wasn’t a lot to say after Memphis in 05-06. I knew there would be problems early in the year.

PS. Was a foul at the end of the game. Anyone saying otherwise didn’t watch the replay. No, we still didn’t deserve to win.

But man, does it suck to watch. In all honesty, we haven’t had a team like this at UCLA since the early days of Farmar/Afflalo/Shipp/LMR’s first year. As much as I hate Dickie V, he was right when he said we are not, right now, a top 4 team. In 3 months, I very much think we will be. But in the meantime, we have a LOT of growing up to do. The problem is, I thought it was just our freshmen who had to develop. Turns out, even DC is playing like a freshman (or at the very least not like an AA).

extra frustration especially since I saw exactly how this loss would happen, as did everyone else. Poor ball handling, too many turnovers, missed layups, … the list continues. Bottom line, i think many overlooked this game toward Duke and never gave Michigan a chance. Agreed that we were overrated this early especially with a big freshman still very raw offensively, and with the way Duke played tonight (and they way we have played the last 2 games) I am unsure of how we could have beat them.

is that Drago stepped up his game tonight. He missed a lot of shots (4/10, 2/6 from 3) but just the fact that he was looking to take those big shots, and making one huge one, was a good sign. At least SOMEONE was looking to take control.

i’m not upset by the no call at the end, in my opinion we didn’t deserve the game, and we’ve has calls like that (T A&M) go in our favor as well. I think we were all prepared for some early growing pains, but that first loss hurts no matter what.

I think these freshman aren’t playing true ben ball yet, but they will, and when they do, we’ll be on the other side of games like this because we’ll scrap, fight, play tougher D, and be mentally strong.

well on to catch the kings and lakers results

With the questions about the inside game, where was J’Mison Morgan? Is he not ready for varsity yet?

I’m sorry, but for all of Howland’s defensive genious, there is some real offensive stupidity. Why are we always holding the ball for thirty seconds before settling for a terrible shot? We have some real athletes that refuse to push the tempo. We are always slowing it down, which is why all of the games are close. Can we start to let these guys open it up a little bit? Holliday is clearly an amazing offensive player, yet we continue to fail to give him the ball in places where he can score. And also, it seems like all of our baskets are hard earned. We need to generate some easy points. These freshmen need to grow up, becuase Shipp, Aboya and Keefe are clearly not as talented as they need to be.

And also, lets get a few things straight. One, we are clearly not deserving of a top 5 ranking. We have talent, but it just hasn’t shown up yet. Two, don’t blame the refs. The only reason that they became a factor is because the game was close. If we play better, they aren’t a factor.

Lastly, I am not blaming Howland for this loss, but I have a few questions. He seems extremely stubborn in his offensive style. It worked last year when we had Love, but this year we have some real athletes who can open up the floor. I think he needs to adapt to the athletes that HE has recruited. Let ’em run a little bit.

Anyways, that’s all I got to say.

Once you get used to the prototype Ben Ball player, you notice how thin guys like Lee are.

They will be great second year players ala Westbrook.

They will be good this year and great next year.

This game was no different then the last. Southern Illinois will be similar as well. We can’t look past anyone at this point. We will grind out game after game hoping for an interior player to get better. And that is unlikely to happen. Does anyone think we have an interior player that is even close to Hollins at this point? Apparently Howland doesn’t think Morgan is ready. I hope after a few more weeks of slo down, passive offense Howland will finally realize he may need to take the offensive reigns off our guards and let them go. We may actually have to become a pressing team to get easy baskets. I think everyone is too tight on offense and there is no sense of urgency. I think we need some up tempo ball. We have quick guards and some shooters or are afraid to shoot except for Dragovic. Our saving grace is a crappy Pac-10 this season since we are likely a borderline tournament team if we continue to do what we have been doing. That being said I can’t sit through two 40-38 wash st games.

  I agree our offense is terrible and to be honest has never been that good. We have had some playmakers that have made buckets and our defense has won games up to this point. But every time even with our better teams we ran into a team like Florida and Memphis that we could not on our best defensive day hold under 70 then our weak offense has been exposed. Defense puts you in a position to win, but great offense is needed to get us over the hump.

I’d like to see more screen and roll with Keefe. He can make the mid-range shot. Their bigs were double teaming DC all game. If teams know we don’t have an inside game, our guards will get plenty of pressure.

By tourney time, it will be our defense will be our calling card again.

before i left for some untimely tutoring, he was seeming very comfortable out there…any thoughts on his overall game tonight?

The past few years, it has been John Beilein’s 1-3-1 defense, suc junk defense, and Florida’s big men that have given us trouble. Fortunately, we don’t see them all the time.

I think we got the high ranking because of the returning seniors, #1 recruiting class, and lack of elite teams (except UNC)

We’ll be fine as the year progresses.

When you look at the numbers, we played a strong defensive game.

JH played a great game on Harris.

Aboya played well — but this was not a game where his ability to screen really mattered.

This is the kind of game that KL would have pulled us through — BUT not in his first 3 games.

And, that’s what we have to remember. Most of our minutes were played by people who did not start last year and some who were in high school.

We miss all of the guys who left last year — and I think we really miss LMR. We need someone to step up and play as hard as he did — for the entire game. Everyone talks about missing KL, RW, and Luc, but LMR was a role model for all and we need someone like him. It should be JS or DC. Aboya is close. He really is solid just not multidimensional.

I’m not worried about this team. We will be where we need to be when the time comes.

And, all you whiners and critics will not be allowed to jump on the end of the year band wagon.

From reading some of these comments, one would think the sky is falling in Westwood. Folks, it’s November. It’s one loss. Have any of our Final Four teams been undefeated going into March? Nope. Not a single one.

I see a lot of criticism toward a team that is still working toward finding its identity. Of our starting five, only two were starters last year. One is a freshman and the other two were coming off the bench with limited minutes as role players. We lost the Flaming Mohawk, the Prince, and the Big Man. It’s going to take time for this group of guys to come together.

Yes, I’d like DC to take more outside shots given his high percentage. Yes, he and Josh disappeared down the stretch. Let the rust shake off before going into a panic. We’re still waiting for this year’s “Let’s Go!” moment. It’ll come and everything will be fine in Westwood.

I’ll trade this loss, and even a loss to Southern Illinois, if at the end of the season, our Ben Ball warriors are in the Final Four and looking at bringing another banner home to Westwood.

Calm down everyone. Yes, we were sloppy. Yes, our offense didn’t look great. Trust in CBH to get things right. He’s a master of fine tuning and fixing problems.

…MAKE YOUR DAMN FREE THROWS

Nestor did a good job of explaining to you why drive-by-posts are so offensive here. It’s like someone you don’t know walking into your house and crapping on your kitchen floor because he felt like he had to go.

This is a great place. But, no one who’s here a lot wants to see a stranger drop in to blow off steam or relieve himself.

That’’s not what we do here. This is not an “it’s all about me place” — “I just dropped in to make myself feel better”.

It is a place to feel better — better because if you can make contributions backed up by facts and analysis you will become a part of the community and that, in itself, brings comfort after tough losses and joy with big wins.

As Nestor said, stick around and join in, in a constructive way. It’ll make you feel good.

Josh Shipp scored the first basket of the game by slashing to the basket. He is much more effective when he utilizes his athleticism to penetrate, slash, and finish at the rim. The second half reminded me a lot of the second half of the season last year, where he camped out at the 3 point line and missed 3 point shots. He is a good 3 point shot when he shoots in rhythm, NOT when he is standing still. He needs to focus on getting to the basket and leave the 3 point shooting to DC, JH, etc.

I always forget about how frustrating the beginning of the season is for CBH teams, because the last 3 years have ended with such great success. CBH knows exactly what he is doing. We are playing 10 players, getting everyone experience, so come Pac-10 play and beyond, this team will gel and we will finally look like the Final Four caliber team that our pre-season ranking may have prematurely denoted.

Mike Roll played a decent game. He played some pretty good defense, had a nice putback, and I’ll give him a pass on the free-throws THIS time.

DC did NOT look like himself in the second half. This team is going to have to lean on his senior leadership, especially in the beginning of the season when playing away from home. I’m sure this is nothing to worry about and he will be back to himself tomorrow.

Here’s to a split in New York! GO BRUINS! BEAT THE SALUKIS!!!!

There is a reason why CBH felt that this tournament was too early for this team. He sees them in practice every day. The freshmen are learning not to jump pass, learning the pace of college ball, and the team is getting familiar with each other.

We have another game tomorrow. Hopefully, the Bruins will respond and show improvement.

robin lopez….by the way

Howland at Pitt, Beilein at West Virginia: 2-0 Howland (82-46 at Pitt and 80-61 at WVU). They were only at these places at the same time for one season (2002-2003) – Howland’s last at Pitt, with a top 10 team, and Beilein’s first at WVU. Not surprising he was able to get both wins, and both blowouts at that.

Howland at UCLA, Beilein at West Virginia: 2-0 Beilein (60-56 at Pauley in ‘05-’06 and 70-65 at WVU in ‘06-’07). The first featured a still-young UCLA, against an experienced WVU in Beilein’s 4th season. In the second we missed Collison as Westbrook struggled in his first start (4 pts on 1-11, 4 assts, 3 TO in 32 mins), in Beilein’s 5th year at WVU.

Howland at UCLA, Beilein at Michigan: 1-1 (69-54 UCLA at Mich, and this game). Last year’s game was our 12th of the season and Beilein’s 12th at Michigan. Tonight’s game was the third in their career for much of our team, playing for the first time against a very uncommon attack.

What I take from this: Howland’s wins come against teams very inexperienced in Beilein’s unorthodox system, not built to play his way. Beilein’s team wins when they’re the more experienced. I would say tonight’s game fits this pattern. It may only be his second year at Michigan, but his team is much less reliant on freshmen (4 combined for 48 mins for us, 2 combined for 30 for them) adjusting to the college game. Our seniors didn’t play well either, true, but as mentioned above, the mixing and molding of the entire team around those new players hasn’t happened quite yet, and needs to happen.

I’ve said it before and it came true again: if we don’t force turnovers we will have a tough time winning. Tonight we lost the turnover battle 17 to 9. While I am not too worried about our turnovers since most of that can be attributed to Bielien’s stupid 1-3-1, our defense needs to force more turnovers or games like tonight and Miami will be common place this year. CBH’s defense isn’t based on gambling, but we didn’t do a very good job tonight or against Miami in trapping the ball and forcing opposing players into throwing tough passes that we can pick off and take to a fast break. Tomorrow is another step on the road to the NCAA tournament and I am looking forward to seeing the adjustments that CBH makes and hopefully our guys will come out playing with a chip on their shoulder.

Just finished on the Tivo and was not really surprised by the result. First let me say that in two years reading of BN every day, I have never posted before. But today, I was kind of shocked to hear people panic and trash talk about this game, and I have to say something. Has everyone gone mad? These kids were playing in high school last year and now they’re playing in Madison Square Garden. Honestly, after seeing the last two games I would have been more surprised if we won by more than ten points against a good Michigan team. Tonight I saw a Bruin team that generally played good defense but was just a little too tentative on offense, and they lost a close game. The freshmen looked to tighten up a little after being involved in turnovers and other mistakes. Is that surprising? What kid would play super aggressively after making mistakes in their first "big"game, in an NBA arena, and just two weeks into their first season? Everyone on every team makes mistakes, but you never feel like that when you’re the new guy. They will gain confidence. The rest of the team will have some difficulties until they do, but until then we can’t expect the older guys to be able to carry the team completely. The magic of our team is not god given ability, it’s the ability of CBH to create a team of champions from a group of talented kids over the course of a year. That’s the difference between us and the rest of the country, and that’s why I watch each and every game. If you really thought there were only three teams in the country better than us before this game, it was only a matter of time before you freaked out anyways.

I’m headed up from DC to NYC to see the consolation game. I had really been looking forward to a matchup with Duke. In many ways I would have rather lost to Duke than to Michigan.

What I see as lacking, beside poor decision making from our senior “leadership,” is offense. UCLA run the court ,get points in transition and wear down the other team, but that seems to have dissappeared in CBH’s methodical offense. While I like the tenacious D, I would like to see a more open, aggressive offense that doesn’t require us to depend on 3 pointers at the end of the game, especially with the bigger arc.