Ben Ball News & Notes

by Nestor on Mar 1, 2008 10:08 AM PST in Basketball

Looks like I wasn't the only one thinking about our Sunday blues. Coach Howland altered his practice schedule a little bit for this weekend. From the LA Times:

The last time UCLA played a Thursday-Sunday Pacific 10 Conference road trip, the Bruins were outplayed, outhustled and upset by Washington, 71-61, in Seattle. This time Coach Ben Howland is changing the schedule.

Fourth-ranked UCLA (25-3, 13-2) will play Arizona (17-11, 7-8) at the McKale Center on Sunday after its 70-49 win over Arizona State on Thursday in Tempe.

Howland gave his players the day off Friday, allowing them to visit a Scottsdale mall before taking the bus trip to Tucson. Howland said the Bruins would practice today. "We won't go long," Howland said, "but we will go hard."

Last month after UCLA beat Washington State in Pullman, the Bruins had a charter flight to Seattle immediately after the Thursday night game, had a practice Friday and a less strenuous one on Saturday. Several players said they were flat in the Washington loss.

Howland said he doesn't know if he prefers the normal Thursday-Saturday game schedule to the occasional Thursday-Sunday schedule. "I'm torn," he said.

So the boys are practicing today. And after taking the day off yesterday, they are going to zero in today. Also we have heard some grumbling about our bench production in terms of scoring. Coach Howland is not all that worried about our bench scoring:

The Bruins got two points off their bench in Thursday's victory at Arizona State. They also had just eight against Oregon, four against USC and two against Washington. Howland isn't focusing on the point production from the bench, though. "We're playing who we're playing and I've been pleased with the guys coming off the bench with their efforts," he said. ...

Makes sense to me. I think what he looks out of his bench players is to give us solid mins. in terms of defense and doing what's necessary to help our scorers execute on offense. In that sense LMR, AA2, and JK have given some pretty solid mins in our last few games as the have been steady on D, playing our physical brand of basketball, helping us maintain our edge on the boards, while doing what they have to do to (such as setting screens, making that extra pass) to help their team-mates set up on offense.

As for Arizona it sounds like they may roll out Lute for a little extra motivation:

Olson may show up for senior day ceremonies after Sunday's UCLA game, despite having extended his leave of absence for the entire season in December.

UA senior associate athletic director Rocky LaRose said Friday she has spoken often with Olson but did not say whether he would definitely make an appearance.

"I can't say one way or another," LaRose said. "The status of Coach Olson is that he's still on an approved leave of absence, but we'd certainly welcome him for senior day, because he's played such a major role with the seniors' careers."

O'Neill said he has not spoken to Olson about whether he would show up.

Olson has not appeared at any UA games all season, although he has occasionally shown up at McKale Center.

No doubt if Lute makes an appearance, it will charge up their entire gym and inspire their guys come out breathing fire. The trick for us will be to stay steady, play defense, and be patient and smart on offense. Just have to play our game.

GO BRUINS.

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Roll his ol' bones out there..

While I appreciate that Lute is a magnificent coach and has done wonders during his tenure at Arizona, it is interesting to note the background behind his absence as head coach (from his Wikipedia entry):

On Sunday, November 4, 2007, Olson was absent from the Wildcats' pre-season opener. It was announced 10 minutes prior to the game that Coach Olson would be taking an indefinite leave of absence from the team. The school said that the leave was not health related. Olson's assistant head coach, Kevin O'Neill will take over head coaching duties during the leave of absence.

On December 6, 2007, it was announced that Olson would miss the entire 2007-08 season. The following day, it was announced that Olson had filed for divorce from his wife of four years, Christine. On December 18, Arizona announced that Olson planned to return for the 2008-09 season, and also named O'Neill as Olson's designated successor upon his retirement.

As someone whose cynicism is rampant and prone to occasional irreverent observations, this is less serious than O.J. showing up on the sidelines of the UCLA-Condoms game these days -- but similar.

I know, I know. I'll go stand in the corner now..

God, it's great to be a Bruin!

by whp68 on Mar 1, 2008 5:39 PM PST reply actions

Lute IS a legend

But I never figured out why he got it on with Monica Lewinsky a few years back during his gig in D.C. I mean, you think the head coach at U of A could do better than that...

Is there room in that corner, 68?

greg in denver

by gbruin on Mar 1, 2008 11:46 PM PST up reply actions