Josh Shipp Makes It Official

by Achilles on Jun 10, 2008 4:17 PM PDT in Basketball

UCLA forward Josh Shipp has signed paperwork to withdraw his name from the NBA Draft and will play his senior season for the Bruins, UCLA head basketball coach Ben Howland announced today.

"Josh has been an integral part of our three Final Four runs and I am really excited that he is coming back for his senior year," said Howland. "I expect him to have his best year as a Bruin, and not just because of his talent, but because this is the first summer in the last three that he can focus on his game as opposed to having to rehab from hip surgery.

"I think that with Josh, Darren (Collison) and Alfred (Aboya) we have a great core group of seniors. This will be the first time in the last three seasons that we have had more than one senior and I think that senior leadership is very important."

As a junior, Shipp held the Bruins compile a record of 35-4 en route to their third straight Pac-10 title and third consecutive trip to the Final Four. He was the only player to start all 39 games - a school record - and averaged 12.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.1 assists. He also ranked second on the squad with his .770 free throw percentage.

"I am glad I went through this process. It gave me the opportunity to get input and prepare my body and my game for the next level," said Shipp.

"But at the end of the day, I wanted to come back and make another run for the championship. We've been close a three times and a goal of mine is to win the NCAA championship. I think with our core of seniors, we have the leadership necessary to make another run for the title and I'm looking forward to next season."

Welcome back Josh.

GO BRUINS.

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Glad to hear it! Welcome back, Josh!

I think that with Josh, Darren (Collison) and Alfred (Aboya) we have a great core group of seniors.

The way Coach Howland speaks about Aboya seems to hint that he is definitely coming back. Is this something I missed? The last I heard was that he is probably, but not certainly, coming back. Anyone have info?

by Tetelestai on Jun 10, 2008 4:26 PM PDT reply actions

This is probably where I remember that from...

Just searched the Dohn archives and found this from June 5th:

Howland added “I feel very confident that it looks good that Alfred’’ Aboya would return for his senior season. Aboya will graduate this summer, but will be working on a master’s program.

by Tetelestai on Jun 10, 2008 4:31 PM PDT up reply actions

All those seniors

will be key. Yes our freshmen are amazingly talented, but they’re still freshmen. Teams bring in good freshmen all the time, but freshmen will rarely, if ever, lead a team to greatness. Being able to mesh our 5 great freshmen with this senior class will allow the freshmen to work their way in slowly and have an example to follow. Welcome back Josh.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on Jun 10, 2008 4:37 PM PDT reply actions

yep

The new warriors can only benefit from the leadership. It will be great to have a senior SG/SF to lead the new guys at those positions. And, if it works out with Aboya, it will be great to have a senior at the PF/C position to condition the new guys during practice (like Mata did with KL).

Howland made a very good point about Shipp’s return being significant because this is the first summer in several years that he’ll be able to focus on improving his play rather than recovering from surgery. I hope he can make some serious strides in the off-season.

I can’t help but start to think about our depth next year… but I won’t put anything down in writing until after the big deadlines coming this month.

Go bruins!

by UCLAbruin920 on Jun 10, 2008 4:59 PM PDT up reply actions

Welcome back Josh!

The greatest impact of all of this is the impact that it will have on the freshman, and future generations of freshman, who come into UCLA. If we lost Darren, Josh, and Alfred, it would of set up the freshman to learn the mental part of the game, and what it takes to be a true Bruin, on their own. By having all three back, the “young guns” will be able to learn how to practice the “Ben Ball” way, but almost as important, the “young guns” will have big and experienced shoulders to lean on when they enter hostile environments in Tuscon, Seattle, and Berkeley. (PPSSSTT….....no, I didn’t leave it out, the Failen Center is not a hostile environment). Anyways, this is great because the 5 super frosh are going to learn the ropes from these awesome student/athletes, much the same way that they did from Jordan, Aaron, and Lorenzo. This is great news.

by muircoach on Jun 10, 2008 9:36 PM PDT reply actions