There is no team that doesn’t like having a good role player come off the bench for some quality minutes. It seems like it has been forever since he has seen the court. As a little aside, people seem down on the Pac 10 for this upcoming basketball season, but I think it will definitely be an exciting battle at the top.

With Roll out there our team will have be a legitimate three point threat. Along with Darren and Josh on the wing, it will create more opportunity’s inside and in the fast break, that is very exciting! Thank you Nestor for putting up the Ben Ball countdown! It’s always great to be a Bruin :0)

Roll was on track to start ahead of Westbrook last year. So I think he is more than a kid with “great basketball IQ and who plays within his role in the team”.

I hope he makes a full recovery and he definitely has time to be a very productive UCLA Bruin over the next 2 years.

I had dinner with one of my clients on Monday night. He went to Illinois, so we started chatting a bit about hoops. He told me how he used to play with Ben Braun when they were in high school (they called him Benji…), talked about Illinois’s run a few years back, etc.

Then he dropped a whopper on me.

He told me his mother had gone on a couple of dates with Coach Wooden at Purdue!!! I almost choked! That was great.

Everything we can do to make the job easier for our bigs is a plus. Ever since his freshman year, Roll has been one of our best post entry passers, which compliments his highly touted shooting ability and makes life difficult for his defender. If he can make those shots more consistently, our offense gains a whole new dimension after screen-drive-kick and double/triple screen-pass-shoot. Hopefully we catch them overplaying the perimeter with the strength of our backcourt and we can really put that passing to use for high percentage shots.

(IMHO), as much for his passing as for his deadly shooting—I’ve seen him completely disrupt the opposing team’s defensive rhythm—they switch their defense, and he just fires from his “other gun.” His “role” is huge for us. He’s also a tremendous “can do” team player, who ups the attitude ante every time he takes the floor.

I am very excited for his return, and I am also hoping with all my heart that he will be fully healed, (and not just for my own selfish Bruin-fan reasons, I promise.) His particular injury is so miserable and debilitating, I just want him to suffer no lingering pain.

LET’S GO!!

Love My Bruins