Glimpses

by Nestor on Dec 5, 2008 3:00 AM PST in Basketball

Let me get this out of the way. I hate losing. Watching our guys come up short absolutely sucks. But honestly, I think this is the first time I got a real glimpse of what these team is capable of becoming. We have always talked about potential, but so far on the season we’ve only seen it in moments. Well now those moments are stringing together on both the offensive and defensive end. What I saw was our guys taking the next step in that second half.

Against a favored top 10 team on the road, I finally saw some of the scrappy play, hustle, and heart that I’ve taken for granted over the past three years. The moments were fleeting, but they were there. It’s more than technical details. It’s attitude.

We don’t do moral victories. This was a loss. But I feel a hell of a lot better after this game than after Michigan.

And swissbruin who got up at 3 am to watch our Ben Ball warriors from Switzerland (ofcourse):

Sure a loss always hurts but not so much like the one against Michigan. First half wasn’t that good. Starting with some early turnovers and having problems to create something down the stretch. It was all on DC’s shoulders till second half when finally JS stepped up and took some shots. What keeps me positive is that we got a lot of room to improve. JH wasn’t a factor tonight as none of the other freshman. As the season goes on I’m sure they will be. The team showed a lot of heart in the second half getting back in the game from down 9 and hanging in there with the chance to even win this thing. Looking forward to see this team getting better from game to game.

I think what is giving everyone hope is the run this young team made in the second half. As T noted above building a team is lot more than just correcting and improving on technical details. It is also about developing a ferocious, relentless Warrior ‘attitude’ which has been the hall mark of our basketball program in last three seasons. We finally saw the first glimpse of that last night this season. The trick is now going to be for this team to find a way to sustain that attitude for a longer period of time while also playing smart and fundamentally sound basketball, which are other crucial attributes in the make up of a prototype Ben Ball warrior.

Since most of us are taking last night’s setback in stride, I am going to harp on some specific issues that needs to be addressed heading into rest of this non conference season:

FT Shooting: We only shot 5-10 from the line last night. It pretty much cost us the game. What is really disconcerting about the misses are they are coming from kids like JS, JH, and ND who are supposed to be good shooters. For the season as a team we are making a pathetic 63 percent of our free throws. JS is shooting at a rate of 64%, ND at 50%, MR at 25%, and JK at 13% (!!!!). These guys need to find a way to improve those percentages. We lost to the Wolverines by 3 points, missing 6 out of 11 FTs. Simply inexcusable. With the break we have in next few days, I sure hope this is an area the team focuses on before heading into the conference season. Our FT shooting is killing us right now. Period.

Front Court: AA2 was inspiring in the second half. He stepped up and showed that “will” which I referred to above as “attitude” which is an essential ingredient in the genetic makeup of a Ben Ball warrior. However, we need someone to help out AA2 in the frontcourt. JK showed up early as he was aggressive around the boards (in addition to knocking down those 3ds). But he sort of went missing after the early burst. ND has improved a lot from last year but he is also playing spurts. I don’t like how he still chucks up long bombs. He is still having problem being selective in his shots and he certainly needs to show lot more hustle and grit when it comes to going after the lose ball.

The key is going to be is the development of JM and DG. But as we are noticing right now they those kids have ways to in terms of getting into Ben Ball game shape. It will take time for them and we have to be patient.

Taking Charge/Will To Emerge As The Undisputed Captain(s): DC made the following the comments during his post game remarks:

"The bottom line is we need an inside presence," Collison said. "We have to give them time to get set and throw it down there. We can't be guard-oriented all the time. It's too easy to guard, too predictable. It's really going to start taking its toll on me and Josh, and we can only take so much individually. We can't carry the team all by ourselves."

Honestly, that comment bugs me a bit. I think whether he likes it or not he needs to get in the mentality of wanting to carry the team. AA and JF never complained about having to carry the team in their first two years, especially starting their second year at UCLA. JF never was shy about carrying the load. AA WANTED the ball. They wanted to be in charge. They relished it. DC is an amazing shooter. He has the touch and the athleticism. I think he still needs to amp up a little more inside in terms of leadership. This is his team and he needs to show lot more decisiveness on exactly how he wants to lead the team on the court.

JS: Speaking of emerging as a leader, JS continues to drive me crazy. If you look at his line he had a decent game scoring 15 pts, 3 offensive rebounds and 3 steals. He had those two spectacular dunks that ignited the second half run. Yet prior to that his game was poor to mediocre. Lot of one on one moves that were going nowhere or he was getting bailed out by lucky shots. In some cases the out of control shots he was taking were effectively turnovers leading to Texas scores on the other end. I will always have a soft spot for JS, but honestly I think CBH might need to look at increasing the mins of MR and especially give ML more time to develop more options at 3 where he will able to get solid defense and more consistent play on offense.

JH: The kid had a bad night. He knows it. He was getting torched all night long by Abrams which also took a toll on his offense. From the Daily News:

"Maybe that extra scorer (is needed), and I think tonight it should have been me," Holiday said. "I need to be more aggressive, especially offensively. I think after I missed a couple of shots, I really put my head down. Maybe I got a little discouraged."

Howland said Holiday's offense may have been impacted by his defensive assignments, which included guarding Longhorns guard A.J. Abrams. The 5-foot-11 senior abused several of Howland's defensive schemes, which included switching off defenders in the first half, to match his career high with 31 points.

BlueReign, I thought had the best take on JH’s performance in last night:

Just going to touch on Jrue since expectations are sky high for him by Bruins. Jrue has a lot of talent which we can all see. Having said that, he is not at the level of a Rose/Beasley/Love/etc. from the prior class. This entire class is nowhere at their level. This isn’t to say he cannot achieve a lot this season. I just think that people need to show some patience and allow the kid to find himself on this team. Jrue is a humble kid and I’m pretty darn sure that he is deferring to DC/Shipp/Aboya because he is the freshman. His situation reminds me of Rudy Gay at UCONN. When Gay arrived as a FR, he had established players like Armstrong/Boone/Williams/Villanueva/Brown/Anderson/etc. and was focused more on fitting in as one of the guys. This used to drive Calhoun nuts because he was the most talented guy on that team. In 04-05, UCONN ended up going 23-8 getting beat in the 2nd round. The following season UCONN went 30-4, earned a #1 seed but lost to George Mason in the Regional Final in OT. This was achieved because Gay started to assert himself. I think Jrue is in the same situation. He is getting adjusted to major D1 ball and trying to figure out where he fits on this team. What is CBH expecting from him, what are his teammates expecting from him, when & how should he assert himself, how do I get open without the ball, etc. Besides DC, Jrue is the only other guy on our team that can get their shot off at will and/or create open/easy looks for others IMO. It may take some prodding from CBH and our leaders but I’m confident he’ll realize this sooner rather than later.

I mostly agree with him. I don’t think it’s a matter of being patient with him though. I have no doubt about his abilities. He clearly has game. My issue continues to be is whether CBH should consider him putting him at 1 and DC at 2, while we are on offense, and then switch it up on D. I really believe we could see better results but then again CBH might just be too stubborn to make that change.

As for CBH here were his post game comments in the LA Times:

"That's a very tough loss," UCLA Coach Ben Howland said.

Howland wasn't happy with the fact that his team had let the Longhorns shoot almost 44% from the field. Nor did he like the defensive miscues that had left Texas players open for key baskets throughout the game.

"We made a lot of mistakes tonight," he said. "A lot of things we'll go back and watch on film."

More film session for our Ben Ball warriors. That should be fun for those guys. lol

Seriously, it will be fun to see this team develop an identity during the courts of next few games. We saw the glimpses last night. It’s now a matter of putting it all together in a consistent basis. With Coach Howland in charge we will get there.

GO BRUINS.

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Comments

A lot of good comments here

I agree with just about all the takes. But here is one more.

Texas was a better team. I was very disappointed initially, but then I remembered Keefe making a couple threes, Aboya rebounding like crazy, and Roll hitting some big shots. After thinking about the game, I actually think we played about as well as could be expected under the circumstances.

Howland played 11 players last night in what was obviously going to be one of our most difficult games of the season. I think that says a lot. More specifically, I think it says that we are what we are until one or more freshman step up to make us better. And when I say better, I mean ELITE. We are a good team now, and 5 years ago we’d sell a child for a team like this. But we aren’t an ELITE team, at least in my opinion, and I think that is going to take some getting used to.

We lost three incredible starters from last year – 3 of our top 4 players. But unlike some previous years, they weren’t replaced this year (so far, at least) by young emerging stars (exception, Holdiday). Rather, they were largely replaced with known commodities: Aboya, Keefe, Roll, Drago. On the one hand that was great, because those players have some experience in the program. However, on the other hand, after 3 years with those guys, we basically know what we have—and it is quite a bit less than Westbrook, Love, Prince Luc, Afflalo, or Farmar. Even Shipp, our one other returning starter, is what he is after 4 years.

Sure guys like Drago, Roll, Keefe, and even Shipp can marginally improve—but there is a limit. Unfortunately, I think Drago, for one, is playing because Howland doesn’t have much of a choice, not because Drago is that much better. Not to take away any credit from Drago, who is certainly better overall after a lot of hard work. But Drago this year still wouldn’t get significant minutes last year. And he played 21 minutes last night!

This is going to be an up-and-down season, with much pain and exhileration along the way. We basically know what we have with the upperclassmen—for better or worse—and as a unit, they are good, but not great. Shipp is Shipp, Roll is Roll, Drago is Drago, Keefe is Keefe, and Aboya is Aboya. Maybe one REALLY emergers, but after 3 or 4 years under Howland, can that really be expected? I thought Keefe might be the guy after last year’s tourney—but rather than lampoon Keefe, maybe it was I who unfairly placed upon him ELITE expectations. Hope will do that.

The really good news is that we have great Freshman talent, which Howland is probing based on the box score from last night. I like them all, and the future is bright. If one or more rise up and steal minutes from our known commodities, we can get significantly better. With the exception of Love, however, Freshman have not made that kind of impact here except at the end of the year—and then, usually just one per year. So while I hope it happens, there is a chance it won’t or we’ll have to wait for it. But that’s ok, because we can still be a really good team—just maybe not ELITE, for better or worse.

Final Specific Comment About Last Night’s Game. Our offense at the end was ridiculously bad. We burned 40-50 seconds just dribbling around. How Howland can stand it I don’t know—I couldn’t.

Go Bruins.

by rfirpo on Dec 5, 2008 7:45 AM PST reply actions

the game really did point out

what an anomoly Kevin Love was as a freshman post player. I don’ t think we will ever see his likes again…

"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"

by silverlakebruin on Dec 5, 2008 8:12 AM PST reply actions

I think we're getting an insight into DC's mentality

I can see why he doesn’t shoot as much as we would all like despite his ridiculous accuracy. It seems like he really believes the entire team needs to be involved scoring-wise. While I agree with this to an extent and actually would like to see more of it in PGs around the country and in the NBA, I think DC has to become more of a scoring guard for this team. This might go against his wishes, but if teams are more afraid of DC’s shot than his playmaking ability, I think that this would actually help out Holiday who does appear to have some court vision himself. This all goes back to the idea of switching it up on some possessions and letting Jrue be the playmaker and having DC look for his own shot, and last night only reinforced the argument for this idea. I believe that this would ultimately help our bigs out as well, because while DC has more quickness, Holiday has more creativity to get inside and draw interior defenders to him. I believe we would be well served to split PG duties and keep teams guessing where our attack is going to be initiated from.

by Tydides on Dec 5, 2008 8:36 AM PST reply actions

Important That

our Bruins played much better basketball last night than they did against Michigan. Improvement is improvement, and that’s the point.

The second-half rally gave me that “glimpse,” to which N. is referring, of what this team will be, I think. And, even though he is an experienced, extraordinarily gifted senior who has been to three Final Fours in three years, DC is not yet the leader he will be. Everyone has already very accurately discussed last night’s shortfalls on an individual basis. What I looking forward to most is when this remarkable group starts to really “sync.”

I’m with TY, I hate losing…face it, we’re not used to it. Our Bruins played a winnable away game against a very good team, and then didn’t win. Aaarrruuugh. But, we’ve all seen Div I teams with loads of talent come out at the beginning of the season just slamming and jamming, and then somehow drift in the middle of the season and implode toward the end. I can’t help but think that this process of building a Big Dance-worthy, deep, winning team may require that no-shortcuts, methodical approach that, occasionally, drives us nuts.

But, I absolutely trust CBH, and I am determined to enjoy every moment of this ride.

Love My Bruins

by Bruingirl83 on Dec 5, 2008 9:14 AM PST reply actions

For the most part, liked what I saw

Given many of our players were playing their first real college road game. What I would like to see emphasized this week in practice:

1-Blocking out. When the ball is in the air, everyone should have a body on someone. Far too many times we don’t. Too many Texas players got boards untouched, especially on the offensive end.

2-Hit the floor/play it out. Just didn’t see the hustle I am used to seeing when trying to get the ball throughout the game. The key play of this is Drag waiting for the ball to go out, only to see it converted to a Texas layup. To be fair, this picked up at the end, but I hope this game served to show that the game must be played all out throughout the game.

3-FTs. When Knight was the commentator during one of our games he explained how he had them shoot FTs and different random times during practice. If this isn’t something we are already doing, we should be.

4-Too many 3’s—We settle for too many too early in the shot clock. We need to at least trying going in first before we launch from outside.

5-Half court set. We need to run something other than the high post screen once in awhile. The dribble it out was fine when we are playing games for low scores and counting on our clamdown defense to win for us. If this team is to be more up tempo, we need to be able to create on the offensive end by passing crisply, not dribbling out the shot clock.

In short though, this game could have turned into a Texas rout quite easily and we hung in there and had a real shot to win this one.

by Free the 16 on Dec 5, 2008 9:37 AM PST reply actions