If I remember correctly, when this question was asked previously, it morphed via the responses into something like “is this as much fun as the final four teams”. That is not the question which was asked then and it is not the question you posed above.

So, yes, I’m enjoying this season. Primarily, I enjoy seeing this group of student-athletes coming together to represent our university with class. They may not win every game (obviously) but they seem to be a great group of kids with the right priorities (DC and AA2 could have easily left with no hard feelings from true fans). And they don’t pull crap like elbow shots to the groin, a la the posers across town.

We have lost 4 games by a combined 21 points. A lot of fans from other teams should be so lucky.

Go Bruins !!

Personally, I’ve found that I’m enjoying this season in part because I see such great potential for the team over the next few years. Plus, who doesn’t like being an underdog once in a while? One concern I do have though is that too many people still hold high expectations. The people on here seem to understand that we need to take the team for what it is, but I do know some people still expect another trip to the Final Four. Anything short, and it’s Howland’s fault. It’s this kind of thinking coupled with the articles after last year’s Final Four questioning Howland’s abilities which have me a bit concerned. One year out of four without a guaranteed Final Four is not sufficient reason to question our coach’s abilities.

CBH is a god, however imperfect. Compare this team to the teams from Bartow to Lavin, and immediately you say, omg, how can I get down on the team. CBN is Harrick, with consistency, and more class.

The good news. Josh Shipp scored 25. This is a crucial stat. Shipp looks like he has broken out of his funk. With him hitting we have a chance to beat anyone.

Why we lost on Saturday. We are always going to have trouble with a big front line, and Brockman caused problems. However, we should be able to compensate for that based on our guard play.

Dentman, Thomas and Overton outscored our guards, Collison, Holiday and Roll 50-24. Read that again. Dentman, Thomas and Overton outscored our guards, Collison, Holiday and Roll 50-24.

That’s the entire story of the loss. [Our frontline outscored theirs.] Thomas was not well guarded, able to penetrate or shoot from the outside. This is not whining and ragging on our players, its simply basketball analysis. I love Collison and Holiday. Collison’s strength is that he is deadly from 3 and he has a great intermediate jumpshot. What he either can’t , won’t or isn’t being asked to do is – breakdown the other team’s point guards and either get to the basket or dish. Collison for all the hype about his speed, doesn’t seem to have that burst of quickness that Thomas, for example, was able to use to get by his man. He also is too nonchalant with his dribble, shown when they guy came from behind to steal it at a crucial juncture.

When announcers say we have the best guard tandem in the country, I wonder. Are these two players as good as we think, is CBH getting the most out of them, or am I just biased cuz they’re my guys.

Finally, any team in the Pac-10 can beat the other on a given night. Its an exciting season, will be a great Pac-10 tournament, and I can’t wait to see how this team develops.

I’d rather have a dynasty, but a roller coaster ride with a team that plays hard and smart with great talent is a joy to watch. There is nothing I look forward to more than a UCLA baskeball game. Go Bruins.

the fun with following a team or program is the journey, not the destination. I really enjoyed this years football season, not because we played well (we didn’t), but I liked seeing the foundation change, watch the players develop, and see what CRN will be able to do over the next few years.

This year, i am very much enjoying the progress of the fab 5, watching CBH have to adjust the team to compensate for the lack of post presense, and trying to develop a defense up to his standards.

Enjoy the journey bruins. When these freshmen are tearing it up next year, you will look back fondly on their development this year.

I am a season ticket holder and have been to every home game. Watch all the away games on TV. Now find it frustrating to watch other teams because they never seem to play intense defense which I have come to “expect” with the Bruins.

I believe CBH to be among the elite coaches in the country and will “forgive” him if we dont make it to the Final Four again this year. It is an impossible task with a new squad.

I enjoy this set of players. They seem to be having fun even while nudging each other for more playing time. When starts and minutes are up for grabs teamwork often breaks down. Not with these guys.

The team is imperfect but could be get on a real roll by the end the year.

I just wish we could get more consistent on the offensive end of the court. For a number of years now we have been susceptible to droughts. Long droughts. Maybe related to increased intensity from the other team. But it happens. You just dont see it with the other leading teams in the country as often. For us, as a program, to move up one more notch to level we all want to be CBH will have to find a cure. It is more than individual players because has reoccured over the years. It is our only weakness as a program, and something I look forward to CBH addressing over time.

It’s never fun and almost always excruciating to see UCLA lose. That being said, I do enjoy watching the team play and thinking about its potential, not only in future years but this year. I don’t think we’re done with the frustrating losses, but I do believe that the team we see in one month will be much different from and much better than the one we’ve seen in the past two losses. We have 11 guys who do certain things well and other things not so well. I think that each will improve on at least one thing that he doesn’t do well. I also think that Howland will find better combinations of players that will help the team improve. Areas I think we’ll improve:

Post defense. We gave Brockman the baseline too many times. The freshmen will learn from that. I actually think we will be better at post defense as early as this week because there will be so much film to show us how weak we were at guarding the baseline and turning the post into our double team.

Perimeter defense. Our guards have not been consistently keeping their man in front of them. I think that now—or maybe after one or two more losses—Howland will take a step that he has taken in the past—if you don’t stay in front of your man, you sit on the bench. In addition, our hedging, with the occasional exceptions of Alfred and James, has been weak. This is a combination of effort and fundamentals, and I expect us to improve at it.

Our defense has not been great, but it also hasn’t been terrible. If we improve on fundamentals of guarding these areas where we are getting burned, we will quickly become a good defense again (though perhaps the loss of Luc and Westbrook and Love will precent us from becoming great).

Another thing to watch is that the freshmen are much more likely to make vast improvements. If Drew Gordon’s post defense fundamentals improve (as I expect them to—he’s shown he is a quick learner and has vastly improved from last November in a lot of areas already), he will get more playing time, and if the stats mean anything, we will be a better rebounding team with him playing more. Malcolm Lee has barely played in our 7 conference games, but his attitude seems good, and he has obvious skills. I think he could improve enough down the stretch to provide us with a complete player off the bench (defense, passing, rebounding, scoring).

So, I am enjoying it. The losses hurt, but I can see the big picture. If greatness doesn’t happen for us this year, we have a lot to look forward to.

and something I look forward to every week. Sure I am bummed out by the losses the past two Saturdays but I am not about to abandon the season. The Bruins are a good team, arguably the best in the Pac 10, with a great chance to win a fourth straight title and a lock to make the tournament (despite what SI thinks).

The Bruins are not a great team; at least not right now. They are less athletic than a year ago and smaller. The rebounding issue is troublesome as is the lack of scoring in the paint. But the same things could be said about the 06-07 team and look how that turned out.

It wasn’t that long ago Bruins fans would have killed to have a team this good, so I think we all need to keep things in perspective. The Bruins still have a chance to do great things this season and with five more bluechippers on board for next year, the nucleus is there for a long run of success under CBH.

It was not too fun when Lavin was coaching, except when the players showed off their natural talents (I’m thinking of B-diddy in particular). But under CBH, it’s fun because you can see the team building. With CBH, I know each loss makes us stronger and I know that adjustments will be made, just like we saw a change after the ASU loss. We saw JH get more minutes down the stretch; we saw DC get more rest; we saw DC take it to the rack when things started to lull. Sure, we got into a scoring lull toward the end of the game, but it was limited and corrected.

I expect the same after this loss against UW. Adjustments will be made and we will get better. There is a whole lot of bball left to play and our young team will get stronger. That’s why I enjoy UCLA bball under CBH.

Now, I’m not going to pretend that I wasn’t frustrated after these losses. I also won’t pretend that I didn’t criticize CBH and DC as I saw the games slipping away. They are not perfect and criticism is normal when you are vested in a team… in fact, I bet they criticize themselves more than anybody. But that’s just part of riding the coller coaster. UCLA is my team through the successes as well as the trials. Despite their flaws, I like the way they look right now.

I totally agree. Every team is unique and this team is no exception. I am very happy to be a Bruin with such a strong basketball tradition. Thanks to Coach Wooden, we are now enjoying good team after good team, year after year. Winning a NCAA is very very difficult, considering how many good teams in the country, and LUCK is also play an important role too. We should enjoy the growth of these young men, our future is something I think every Bruin fan will enjoy tremendously. I would rather has our team than any other PAC-10 teams now .

… and yet there are mysteries and myths and maxims we held before the season which are all being tested, both in good and in bad ways.

For instance:

Drago is far from a prototypical power forward… and yet he is showing significant improvement on both ends of the floor.

DC is heralded as one of the fastest point guards in the game… and yet has gone into the paint less over the past few weeks.

Josh’ s rebounding, heralded by CBH as a reason to start him over Roll, has fallen by the wayside this month… and his outside-inside offense is finally returning.

Jrue has outstanding athleticism… but his flights into the airspace over the rim have diminished, especially against our zone-wielding opponents

Aboya was the major question mark at the 5 spot — and he is giving us arguably even — if not better — production as our starting center than Mata-Real did 2 years ago:

2008-09 AA2:
26.3 min.
8.7 ppg.
5.3 rpg.
0.2 bpg.
.577 FG%
.667 FT%

2006-07 LMR
23.1 min.
6.6 ppg.
5.4 rpg.
2.7 bpg.
.642 FG.
.372 FT.

Our team is growing, learning, facing adversity — and the season is NOT done yet.

CBH tinkered with his lineups some alst year, to address both injuries and opponents.

I am now idly wondering if another lineup change is in order, so that we can maximize and reward those players who have stepped up, and to honestly help bolster our players who are hitting rough patches this season by refocusing their strengths.

Here’s what’s just randomly running through my head:

PG — Keep DC where he is.
Yeah, he’s had a rough month. His end-of-clock decision-making and his forays into the lane are not the sure things they have been before. It happens. I still wouldn’t bench a pre-season All-American, 4-year senior and 2-time F4 starter at PG for anything. That being said, if the creases for drives are not as wide as they used to be, then we need someone who can both slash in traffic and hit from outside. So…

SG — Josh for Jrue.
I’m half-serious about this. Josh is slowly but surely realizing if the outside shot isn’t falling, then drive and get a rhythm. He’s getting FTs more, and if his shot is falling a little better than Jrue’s right now, then let’s get a bigger, 6’5" guard out there, one who can shoot a little better over the arms of extended-zone defenders. Who gets the SF spot, then? Not who you might think…

SF – Drago for Josh.
Yep, I’m more than half-serious here. AA2 is doing yeoman work at the 5 spot, and is to be commended. However, one of the maxims in hoops (IMO) is that if you have a less-than-traditional-sized center, you need strong, active rebounders bookending him in your frontcourt. The Pistons had Rasheed Wallace pulling down 8 a game next to ben Wallace. The Suns long had jumping jack Shawn Marion next to Amare. Drago has improved his shot, and his aggressiveness on perimeter D, but he may never be a tough rebounder. If we want him to stretch Ds, let’s bring him out to the perimeter. And with his newfound conditioning, he may not get burned by opposing SFs as you might think – his length alone may help compensate.

PF — Keefe for Drago.
Gordon’s emergence as a long, energetic backup at the 5 makes me feel more comfortable about bringing Keefe back up front, and makes me excited about teaming 2 live Jrues/ Drews off the bench for spark and aggresiveness. For now, I like having Keefe standing next to Aboya and throwing his 6’8", 235 lb. frame at the boards. I figure if CBH’s first inclination is to use his veterans to play smart-shot O and grueling D, then let’s put our biggest, thickest, and toughest out there on the front lines.

C — AA2 stays.
What can you say about AA2? He’s done everything we hoped for, and added a nifty baseline jumper good for 2-4 points a game. He still doesn’t have a go-to post move, but his rebounds are still keeping us close down the stretch. now all he needs is a little help. If zone defenses are keeping our backcourt and wings from getting to the glass, then let’s get JK riding shotgun for him.

I’m not down on Jrue, gosh no. I think it’s always understandably harder for a guard to adjust to starter’s minutes on the next level than for a big. However, I like the idea of having Jrue and Drew coming in to help speed up the D AND the O. Perhaps the change of pace generated by Drew’s blocks and hustle can free up Jrue with more open-court opportunities and help bring him rhythm.

If this works, note the difference in size…

Now:
DC — 6-0, 160
JH — 6-3, 180
JS — 6-5, 220
ND — 6-9, 216
AA2 — 6-9, 245

Possible:

DC — 6-0, 160
JS — 6-5, 220
ND — 6-9, 216
JK — 6-8, 236
AA2 — 6-9, 245

Again, added strength, added length, and added opportunities for our younger players to use their strengths. Taller players to shoot over zones, stronger bangers to give DC more dump-off oppportunities (as it’s hard to do dump offs in the paint if only one person, e.g. AA2, can operate inside), more length to get 2nd-chance points on putbacks.

Again, just some random thoughts. Feedback is welcome.

M