Center Court: Ben Ball (Cal Baptist) Open Thread
by Nestor on Nov 3, 2008 6:00 PM PST
in Basketball
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PrintWe have a come a long way in the world of Ben Ball and Bruins Nation. Three years ago when we put up a post re season opening exhibition game at Pauley, there wasn't a lot of commotion. There wasn't a lot of demand for a countdown.
Three years and three Final-4s later, things have changed just a little bit around the world of UCLA basketball:
Photo Credit: dabruins07's photostream (flickr)
DC, JS, AA2 and a new batch of freshmen warriors will get started with Coach Ben Howland's sixth season in Westwood, which is also know as Howlandwood.
They tip off the season in an exhibition game against Cal Baptist. The good folks at Bruin Basketball Report (BBR) have written up their preview of the game here. Also, you can download the media guide displayed above via the official site.
There is no TV for tonight's game. However, you can catch it online. For more details go here.
So if you are watching the game on your computers tonight, share your first takes, impression on our Ben Ball warriors right here on BN. We would also love to hear your takes on the new kids if you are logging on after coming back from the game.
Fire away.
GO BRUINS.
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I'm about to head to the game
but I just wanted to mention that LMR mentioned on his Facebook that he’ll be at the game tonight.
it would be great
if you could post your thoughts on the team after the game, since it won’t be on TV. I’m very curious to know what this new team is like.
He's playing in Mexico
but broke his leg a week or 2 ago.
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Nov 3, 2008 10:22 PM PST up reply actions
Don't have the bandwidth
for live video streaming, but you can get Gametracker at the UCLA Athletics site.
Click “Gametracker” in the “Next Event” box (tonight’s game). Currently 17-6 UCLA at 11:57 of the first half.
watching the game online
holiday is very impressive.. i think he’ll be our best player by year end
malcolm lee played a little, but i think he’s very solid defensively
the big guys gordon and morgan are unpolished especially offensively
collison seems pretty much the same.. shipp looks way better physically.
dragovic and keefe look more ready
Have you noticed
how FAST they are playing? I am seriously having trouble anticipating where they are going next – for a team that is still working on gelling, they seem to understand each other very well.
Completely lost track of this game
This darn election stuff has gotten me all off track of the big stuff – like UCLA basketball:) – thank god its over tomorrow.
live stream won't work
anyone having problems with the live feed?
my computer meets all the requirements, yet the video and/or audio isn’t streaming at all.
kristen
i downloaded silverlight. tried it with both IE and firefox.
nothing is streaming for me at all. only the gametracker and those figures that represent the players work.
kristen
41-17 Bruins at the half
It’s a little sloppy, but its fun to watch these kids play together for the first time. Lots of athletes on the floor.
Jrue is just amazing. Malcom’s D reminds me alot of Westbrook. Shipp has really leaned out and looks to be moving very well.
Morgan has skills. On one play, he pinned a shot to the backboard, turned and fired a full court pass to Dragovic for the lay in.
It’s going to be a fun season.
agree with that analysis
seems like there is a serious effort to outlet and push the ball.
i think if we go for a big rotation.. and make an effort to push the ball, we’ll be better in the long run. though we might sacrifice in terms of TOs and mistakes.
they really
are running the floor VERY nicely.
I agree that Shipp is looking good. He’ll be a real impact player and leader on this team.
Don't get too carried away
I hate to rain on the parade, but let’s not forget we’re playing an NAIA team here (albeit a highly ranked NAIA team). Our Bruins should be way ahead of these guys. That’s to be expected.
The real measure of success in this game is our assist to turnover ratio, our FT shooting, and coming away injury-free.
But tune-up games sure are fun to watch, aren’t they? ;)
I was surprised by how often he was in the post for those boards
He held his own in there, albeit mostly against other guards.
Just from looking at the stats
I would have to see the 63.3% FT shooting and 17-19 assist-TO ratio as troubling signs. For people who were at the game or saw the live stream, were these issues obvious and could they become potential problems later on?
"I always wondered why somebody doesn't do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody." -Lily Tomlin
by uclaisthebest123 on Nov 3, 2008 9:26 PM PST reply actions
I would be more curious
about the stats at halftime, after that, I would assume that the subs and freshmen had a lot of minutes. Besides that, this Cal Baptist team has played a few games already, so they are a little ahead as far as gelling. I think it was a very successful first game, and I look forward to having these issues addressed as I am sure they will be by Howland and his staff!
Definitely not worried
Those two stats were the only negatives I could really find, and the overall shooting percentages, defense, and the great overall play from all of our players were obviously huge. Regarding the FT percentage, I remember it being in the 60’s for the whole game, but as for the assist-TO ratio, it wasn’t as bad in the first half (still not great however) and got to that relatively ugly number in the second half.
"I always wondered why somebody doesn't do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody." -Lily Tomlin
by uclaisthebest123 on Nov 3, 2008 9:37 PM PST up reply actions
1st half stats
As per the Gamecast noted above
Score: 17-41
FG: 29.2-44.1
3pt FG: 27.3-36.4
Reb: 17-23
Turnover: 18-10
pts off TO: 4-22
Interpret as you will!
It'll get better.
It really looked like some of the freshmen were suffering from growing pains, but I’m not too worried. Holiday, Anderson and Lee all missed freethrows (although I haven’t seen any stats), and both Anderson and Lee took a while to get going.
Overall, I was actually pleasantly surprised. Drew Gordon is better than I thought he would be. He had a monster block at the height of a shot (and it wasn’t close to the basket), and he created a few turnovers just by being quick on his feet. He needs to come down with more rebounds (again, haven’t seen any stats yet), but based on what I saw, I’m going to guess that those will start coming very soon. Shipp’s shot looked amazing, and Dragovich had a better shot than I’ve ever seen from him, and played better defense than I’ve ever seen him play. If tonight was any indication, he’ll be getting some minutes early while Morgan and Gordon improve. Oh, and when our guys did come down with rebounds, they made a few almost-Love-like outlet passes.
What 3 Kickers?
That’s right $C, three ass kickers on our media guild cover. All your talk is over now that basketball season is upon us.
Just got home
FUN game! Josh looked great! I am so impressed with Holiday. I have this feeling he could become one of my favorite Bruins of all time… if he stayed more than one year! A girl can hope, right? :)
Dragovic was also much improved.
GO BRUINS!!!
Has anyone seen a box score?
Would someone post a link to the box score? Thx!
I guess
espn and yahoo sports don’t do exhibition stats. Anyway, you can still get a player/game recap by launching the Gametracker as noted above, dismissing the ads, then clicking “TEAM/PLAYER STATS” in the menu bar across the middle.
Incidentally, you have to scroll down the stats window to see the entire team, which is why I was fooled into thinking that JH was the leading rebounder at 7. Not so, as JMM had 9. Still, …
that was fun
yes its exhibition, yes it’s an naia team, but you can tell this team is a lot faster. Jrue is the real deal, he was super smooth out there. Collison was his consistent self and Shipp looked like freshmen Shipp, and super lean. Aboya got into early foul trouble (big surprise), so we got to see a lot of Bobo and Drew, who need work but show that potential. Keefe was solid as well, but my favorite surprise was Dragovic. He hit went 3/5 or 4/6 from beyond the arc and was looked a lot more confident on the D. Play of the game was a Shipp Alley-Oop to Jrue, it was ridiculous. Cant wait till these guys begin to gel more. We had all 5 freshmen out on the court for a few, it was fun to see them all.
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