Everyone needs to calm down about Ben Ball
by bruinponcho on Nov 17, 2009 8:46 AM PST
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PrintWe played as bad as can be—We played one of the worst games of basketball a team can play. When you shoot 31, 17, and 41% on field goals, 3s, and free throws, you should be blown out regardless of who you are playing. Instead, we had two shots at the buzzer, JA at 2nd half and ML at 1st OT, they just didn’t go in. Kentucky struggled to beat Miami (OH) yesterday, the only difference is their shot went in and now everyone talks about how much character they showed and found a way to win while the narrative on UCLA is that we are young and rebuilding.
ND is in a slump—ND was not forcing shots last night. In fact, almost every single one was within the flow of the offense and shots that he has to shoot to keep the offense working and the defense honest. He simply is in a shooting slump like JS was last year. He is too good of a shooter to stay this bad for long, but it might be a week or two until he regains his old form. He did play well grabbing the 14 rebounds (something DG sure didn’t do well last night) and had a couple hassle plays that led to baskets.
RN is fools gold—I really like RN and think he will be a solid contributor, but all of the people thinking that he should be our star player is mistaken. At this point, RN is lost on defense and is a black hole on offense. If you throw the ball to him in the post, he is going up for a shot. Now this is a good thing to a point, but he forced some ugly shots in there. He was in the right place at the right time on the putback of the airball going into halftime, but its not like he was dominate. If he was quicker, I would love to see him develop into a LRMAM combo forward, but I dont’ think he has the lateral quickness to do that.
ML needs to be our point, not JA—This is the biggest thing, JA is not a starting point guard. I said it before and I’ll keep saying it all year, our best lineup is ML, MR, ND, JK, and DG. JA doesn’t play the same level of defense as previous Bruin guards as he is just not as quick as DC, RW, JH, or ML. Compounding matters, he does not have very good court vision (the inbound pass that he threw away was atrocious) compared to ML’s (such as when he found JA under the basket). Finally, JA has NO OUTSIDE SHOT. This was killing us when Fullerton went to the zone because JA wouldn’t even look for his shot, and when he finally did shoot because he was so wide open, he wasn’t shooting with confidence and his shots had no chance of going in. He can be a suitable backup, but he should not be our starting point guard.
I’m viewing this season like a locomotive, slow start but should get going pretty well—If you were expecting us to dominate from the start of the season, you need to get in touch with reality. We are playing players who have hardly any game experience. In fact, yesterday was probably the most minutes that any of our players have played since maybe a random AAU game. CBH’s defense looked good, but not yet great. ND’s shot will come back. DG will hopefully learn to boxout instead of just jumping. ML will get more comfortable and slow down. MR will continue to be solid. RN will be a sparkplug off the bench. As for the others, they are the wildcard. I have already stated my opinion of JA. MM looked very timid and lost in his minute of play. TH didnt show me much in the exhibition game to think he is going to have a major impact. JMM’s lack of aggression is going to keep him off the court. If one of these guys can put it together, then who knows. Otherwise, I think we will still be about the number 3 team in the Pac 10 at the end of the season.
This was the first of approximately 35 games, its a looooooooong season--It was also the first meaningful playing time for literally our entire team. Further, injuries all preaseason have severly limited practices and CBH's ability to implement his system fully. Things will get better. But, if you would rather make snap judgments about how bad CBH is and how bad our recruiting is and make a fool of yourself, go right ahead. Otherwise, enjoy the ride of watching CBH develop the next generation of Ben Ball Warriors.
Go Bruins!
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.
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The Kids are alright
Not worried. Give this team some time to get healthy and some practice time under Coach Howland and we’ll be OK. We need to remember that we weren’t even ranked in the preseason top 25 and that we lost 80% of our offense from last season.
Excellent analysis, B-ponch…
agree on all points...
…except your comments re: JA. He needs time to develop the kind of skills that we are used to seeing from JF and DC. I wouldn’t bet against the kid…I think he will be a solid, if unspectacular (read: distributor) point guard. We can get our scoring from other places.
I'm not giving up on JA, just think ML is a better point
JA should still play 20-25 minutes a game off the bench where he can serve as a distributor point guard. CBH went with the ML at point lineup multiple times during overtime (JA for JK was the only substitution during both overtimes) and I think that is the way to go. The added benefit of moving JA to the bench is it gives us a little more backcourt depth instead of having all three of our guards start. I could see this happening if TH comes back and is serviceable at small forward allowing MR to move to shooting guard and ML to point.
Now that is interesting
Didn’t know that CBH went with ML at point multiple times during OT. How did those possessions work out?
Not so good
They all resulted in long 3-pointers after everyone just passed it around the perimeter. Absolutely no desire by anyone to be aggressive and attack the basket. Lee has a hitch in his shot that caused his shots to look like complete bricks leaving his hands. He needs to learn to shoot in one fluid motion with no pauses.
About the same as the others...
…missed shots. I think this was more of a offense-defense situation because when there was a deadball and we were going on offense, he would be JA back in. If we were on defense, he put JK back in. If he had to stick with one, he stuck with the JK longer. However, this points to a bigger problem in that JA was unable to apply the defensive on-ball pressure that is critical for CBH’s defense to work.
by bruinponcho on Nov 17, 2009 10:22 AM PST up reply actions
Actually MR took the point on several possessions but remember
it didn’t really matter who was starting on the point against the zone. CBH was just positioning players where he thought they would be most effective with their shot. The best play against that zone, IMO, was when MR and ND were up top and JA was on the left side. MR threw a skip pass to JA who quickly penetrated as far as he could then flipped back to ND, who in turn quickly passed to MR for a wide open look that he drained. The zone couldn’t react fast enough to cover all those options. Even ND had a look on that one that he wisely passed up.
poncho I know what you mean by RN and Fools Gold
I know you are not slamming his potential. I think you are just saying to everyone, don’t think that just because RN scored 11 doesn’t mean he is the best guy for the moment during the OT’s. With his inexperience he is just more likely to play poor D, miss an assignment, or turn it over compared to another player with more experience ie..ND, JK. Good post.
ML is NOT a point guard
Which was painfully evident during both exhibition games, and even last night. There’s no question that JA had a horrible game and an unbelievably awful shooting night, but if we have any hope as a team, it’s with ML improving and reaching his potential at the 2/3. He has zero court vision and simply can’t play point. Did you see the two exhibition games?
If this teams shoots as horribly as it did last night — and I haven’t seen a worse shooting performance since I can remember, not just in percentage but in airballs and clanks, and not one of ND’s 12 misses were in the same area code — there is no way we can win a game.
ML will be playing point in the NBA two years from now
In fact, not only have I seen the games, I’ve been to all of them as well and get there early to watch warmups where you can learn a lot about a player. ML has much much much better court vision than JA. JA’s loan basket was off of a great pass from ML from the top of the key through two defenders. Conversely, JA struggled to even throw the ball in bounds. With more game time, ML will settle down and not be in such of a hurry to get shots off and make moves, which will only improve his abilities.
I agree with you though that if ANY TEAM shot as bad as we did last night, they are going to struggle to win. Thats why I’m not as concerned about ND missing shots, its just unfathomable for him to continue shooting that bad (same for the rest of the team). If they do though, well, it is going to be rough. However, I think it is more likely that this will be one of the worse shooting performances of the year.
From all reports I've read
Lee projects as a 2 in the NBA. We’ll see, but he just doesn’t look comfortable handling the ball down the court, and doesn’t seem to have any vision from that position (which is what i meant to say). It’s different to be a good passer from your natural position, holding the ball at the key or wherever, than from the point position when you’re also handling the ball.
Agreed
As bad as you think ML’s court vision is, JA’s is worse.
Oh UCLA you sweet bitch, you've BRUINed me for anything else.
by bruin8uclap on Nov 17, 2009 11:20 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
+1
Good post bruinponcho. I do, however, agree with hicalliber on JA. I think he has the potential to manage the game, but he is not our go-to guy when the game is on the line or the clock is winding down. I attend all home games and, from early observations, he seems to lack the confidence or willingness to take those shots after early misses. That said, ML was out of his element in the Concordia game and not at the best of his ability when playing the point. We need them both and I’m confident both will grow as the year progresses.
This is the year of teaching for CBH
I hope with practice that the players will work on a lot of their glaring weaknesses. I am kinda surprised to see that none of the freshmen looked like they improved in any aspect of their game compared to last season. CBH once said that players improve the most when they turn from freshmen to sophomores.
Based on last year’s results I kinda expected these guys to struggle this season. I’m hoping that this performance was more a reflection of all the injuries the team sustained prior to the season and that is why no one was in sync with the others. I just wish there was someone on the squad who would take the bull by the horns and will this team to victories regardless of how they’re playing.
Why not foul at the end of regulation?
Can anyone explain why we waited so long to foul at the end of regulation? We had 5 fouls to give and they had under 20 seconds to shoot but we finally fouled someone when they were driving to the hoop.
I was at Pauley till the bitter end. I absolutely agree that JA has a LONG, LONG way to go and agree our best lineup is with LEE at the 1 and MR at the 2. JA really showed absolutely no ability to generate any kind of offense either from the outside (he apparently worked all summer improving his shot by keeping his elbow from spraying out-didn’t look like it helped much last night) or creating on his own by breaking guys down. Not sure if he was tentative, but even on the chances he took, he just looked much slower than the CSF backcourt.
A few more thoughts:
Offensive rebounds: Not sure how many we had but I thought I saw it was zero. Whatever the number, it was horrible. Very few second chance opportunities.
Fast Break Points: NOT A SINGLE EASY BASKET IN TRANSITION!! NOT ONE!!! We had one opportunity when ND missed an easy pass that went out of bounds.
Not sure we can shoot much worse than we did last night. Both at the line and from the field. I know its a long season, and we should all be patient with this team, but not sure I can live through any more performances like last night. It was really painful to watch.
18 offensive rebounds
We had 18 offensive rebounds last night. Of course, there were so many missed shots there were a lot of rebounds to be had. We only had the one fast break from MR to RN for his dunk and that is the bigger issue. With a young team who doesn’t yet have playmakers, you have to get easy baskets from turning turnovers into fastbreaks.
by bruinponcho on Nov 17, 2009 12:26 PM PST up reply actions
Agree with just about everything except Nelson
I think there’s something to be said about the fact that he always seemed to be “in the right place at the right time”. Sure, it’s only 1 game, but he always seemed to be in the middle of the action – either grabbing rebounds or fighting for loose balls. Yeah, he’s a bit of a black hole offensively (that’s a good way to describe him), but that should improve after he goes through a few games in the flow of the offense. I also think you were too harsh on him about his D. It was his first career game, and he did a solid job most of the night imo.
Now, you’re right that he won’t be our star player, but I think he’s going to see a lot of minutes going forward. He’s clearly the most physical rotation player we have. And toughness and strength down low is one of the things we need to improve on
Has there ever been a player better than Detlef Schrempf?
No reason to be too down, but no reason to think anything really positive either
I agree there is no need to freak out about one loss. But, we are still UCLA, and we shouldn’t be losing to CSF any year. That is different from expecting us to be # 1 all the time, as someone correctly pointed out. This was a embarassing los in and of itself. If we go on to have success, great. But it will still be a black mark.
I think there are no excuses for this.
Yes, we are young. But even an all freshman and sophomore starting five at UCLA should beat the CSF team that showed up last night. I put some blame on the Sophomore class who simply failed to rise to the ocassion of beating a game CSF at our place, and I put some blame on Howland who should have got these kids more experience last year when we were a good team with no real aspirations. Maybe we don’t advance to the second round last year if the freshman had gotten more experience, but as I said last year, I was in favor of looking to the future a little more than we did. To the extent the sophomores lack experience, we have the coaches to blame.
Speaking of the future, Keefe and Drago should be phased out so that we can let the kids get better. This is harsh, but there isn’t an upside to their playing (assuming we have bodies). They should get some minutes, and they can still help the young guys in practice. They can be great teamates. But, let’s start all freshman and sophomores as soon as possible (with maybe Roll in there, depending). Drago has always been feast or famine, and why ride him to a NIT berth? It’s just not worth it. Same with Keefe. He’s had his time, and he’s had some great memories and games. But it’s the kids time now. If we need bodies, fine keep them in heavy rotation. But as soon as we are healthy, let’s move forward. If you’re not moving forward, the truth is you are moving backward.
We looked small and not particularly athletic as a team (some exceptions, of course). About all we can say about the young kids is that some are four and five star recruits. No one has played up to that yet, and if anything last night did not indicate some kind of light at the end of the tunnel. If you watched the game last night, would you start any of the UCLA players over CSF’s starting five? SCARY.
I still like Lee and Gordon. They can be a good nucleus. They should be a good nucleus. But I was shocked that they couldn’t do more last night. SHOCKED. This is UCLA. Earn your scholarship fellas. I believe in you, but you got to step up to the plate. There is plenty of time . . . but that was not a good first impression.
I’m just really bugged by the “we’re young” argument. So what. No one should expect # 1 rankings every year. But I think these kind of games shouldn’t happen. There is a difference. CSF didn’t even play well.
agreed
strong post. I don’t understand why some criticism is answered with the number 1 argument. My expectations for a UCLA basketball program in general are pretty simple. Be in contention for a final 4s and titles more often than not. Transition years should be tournament teams for elite programs (Even Arizona has done this). Now being in contention for a title doesn’t mean you can’t get beat and no I do not expect to win it when we have a title caliber team. I do however expect to go down fighting with a title caliber team. That is to say I would rather be beat by a team that played their butts off to beat us. If I were to get greedy I would say UCLA should be a top 25 program at minimum year in and year out, but given our coaching since I have been watching since the early 80s I would accept just an improving NCAA tourney team in down years. I would suspect these expectations are probably lower than what CBH’s are, so I do not feel bad for having them.
That being said anomalies can happen. Things can go eschew and miss the mark on recruiting. I can give a pass once in a while on that season, but not frequently. The top programs retool and get it done. It is a long season and Howland has plenty of time to show his stuff. That being said as great a job as Howland has done so far I hesitate to anoint him to the top of the heap of coaching yet. Should he deliver a tournament team at the end of this season he will have done the work of an elite coach. Should we struggle to .500 basketball or worse he has clearly earned a pass, just not a permanent one.
Does anyone find these expectations for UCLA basketball to be unreasonable?
Point Guard
It’s hard to say what is our biggest problem, but one of the many that needs to be repaired is the point guard position. However, I do not think Lee is the option. He and Roll can bring it up in a pinch and initiate the offense (or whatever it is that we have in lieu of an offense), but they are not point guards and would be terrorized by the Venoy Overtons of the Pac-10. Anderson is the only true PG with handles and a low dribble. He played under control last night and I thought was effective in most aspects of the game. His shooting was comically poor. Airballs, layups that didn’t make it above the rim, ugliness all around. It is inconceivable that anyone who plays with regularity could be that bad at shooting the basketball, so I think it was just a bad shooting game. He is also likely behind the other players with his shooting because he missed so much practice time.
With time, I see him developing this year into a solid point guard. And he has to because we have no other long-term options.
The team had one of those poor shooting nights for the ages. At first it looked like they were nervous, which is understandable given that only Dragovic and Roll have proven they can shoot and score at this level. As the game progressed, Lee got more comfortable. They had open looks and missed them. It reminds me of how difficult it sometimes is to shoot when you’re wide open. You look around and say “I wasn’t planning on shooting, but I’m so open that I kind of have to.” CLANK.
Roll needs to shot more. A proper analogy is the QB who thinks his receiver is covered because there’s a man near him. Eventually, he learns that if he puts the ball to the right spot, the WR will get it even if there is a defender near him. Roll needs to realize that just because a guy is in front of him, it doesn’t mean he’s going to impact the shot. You just need to pick the right moment and let it fly.
Additional thought on guards
It is absolutely inexcusable that we only have 3 guards. We must be the only school in the country that can’t find guards. There are tons of quick 6’ to 6’3" guys who can play ball. We need at least two in next year’s class (we have 1 right now) including a true point (we have 0 right now) and two in the year after that.
Maybe losing 4 point guards to the NBA first round draft since 2006 has something to do with it...
If anything, it’s inexcusable how quickly Howland develops his guards to become NBA-caliber players.
It used to be we couldn't
get anything but guards. These things come in waves, you take the best athletes, we are gonna grab a ton of them if we get our way this year. That is just recruiting.
I would argue with a couple of points
Drago’s entire career has been a slump. he is not a good defender, does not play with energy, always switches on defense, doesn’t move on offense, and can’t create his own shot. He can be a good spot up shooter when the offense has good players to keep the defense honest. If they don’t, Drago is as useless on offense as he is on defense.
I don’t think saying we should have player RN in the overtime is akin to saying he is the saviour of the season, but it is recognizing the guy with high energy and a hot hand over guys that pass the ball around the perimeter until their is 3 seconds left on the shot clock and shoot an ill advised three pointer.
"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"
by silverlakebruin on Nov 17, 2009 12:12 PM PST reply actions
RN would have been doing the same thing JK was doing
In overtime, JK was very active trying to post up on the high post and flashing to the free throw line where the 3-2 zone is weakest. Unfortunately, the ball never went there. I don’t think RN would have made the swing it around the perimeter offense get the ball into the right spot any better. The team really hasn’t practiced too much yet, I’m sure they haven’t spent a ton of time working on defeating a 3-2 zone (something CBH has always struggled with—-WVU, Michigan).
I agree that a shooter like Drago is best when he is functioning in a good offense. The flipside of it though is that if he isn’t shooting those shots, the defense really can sag off of our perimeter players and make driving for ML even more difficult.
by bruinponcho on Nov 17, 2009 12:24 PM PST up reply actions
In 12 minutes
Nelson had 11 points (4-6 from the field, 3-5 from the line), 6 rebounds, 4 on offense, and 1 block., he had zero assists.
In 32 minutes, Keefe had 2 points (1-2 from the field, 0-1 from the line) 9 rebounds, 2 on offense, and 0 blocks. He had 4 assists
I just don’t buy the arguement that Keefe was a better option at that point. We were struggling to score, we had 8 points in the ten minutes of overtime.
Why would you try to feed a guy who in 32 minutes had take 2 shots? You have to establish yourself as an offensive player and you get fed… Keefe isn’t an offensive player and doesn’t look to be one, so why would he get the ball down low?
The numbers are so far out of wack you just can’t justify keeping RN on the bench. He was the third leading scorer even though he only played 12 minutes. He had the highest field goal percentage on the team.
"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"
by silverlakebruin on Nov 17, 2009 1:13 PM PST up reply actions
Agree that Nelson
Was the only bright spot from that game and should’ve played more. He can find his way to the basket from the post, and is currently much smoother around the rim than DG or any of our “bigs.”
I wonder what message it sends to players
when you are the only player who exceeds expectations in the game and you are still sent to the bench in overtime…
"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"
by silverlakebruin on Nov 17, 2009 2:17 PM PST up reply actions
What stands out to me most
is the difference between Keefe and Nelsons intensity. RN is not shying away from taking shots (even bad one’s) while Keefe seemed hesitant. I would expect Keefe to play with more confidence at this point in his career.
First and definitely not last time I'll say this
IF JRUE HAD STAYED…
Well, we’d be 1-0, for sure. We’d be ranked in the top 20, and with a lineup of JH-ML-MR-ND-DG we’d probably be the favorites in the Pac-10. Jrue would be our leading scorer and most dynamic and explosive player, as well as a shoo-in don’t-even-think-twice-about-it top-5 pick in the 2010 draft…
Damn it. This is going to drive me insane.
Let it go...
just .. let it go. You have any idea how crazy I’ve driven myself thinking about what could have been? Imagine if Jordan Farmar and AA would have stayed and played with Kevin Love. We would have had Westbrook and DC as well. Think of how deep that team could have been.
Agreed
The reality is that the only reasons Jrue and KL even attended UCLA in the first place is because the NBA made them wait a year before entering the draft. To wish that Holiday had stayed is pretty futile.
by insomniacslounge on Nov 17, 2009 4:50 PM PST up reply actions
the only difference with those guys
is that they were all ready for the NBA. Jrue isn’t. But still man, try not to kill yourself lol…we’ll be ok.
Has there ever been a player better than Detlef Schrempf?
by bucknellbruin on Nov 17, 2009 9:44 PM PST up reply actions
If Jrue had stayed we'd be what you saw last night
with a better point guard. We probably win. But nothing exciting. But so what if Jrue would have been the best player on the floor for the Bruins, that is not saying much. Jrue was mediocre last year. IF he developed over the summer, he could have had a good year. But the same is true for Lee, Gordon, and Anderson. Jrue was the best player in a recruiting class which has, up to this date, underperformed. Plenty of time, but the clock is ticking.
Hey guys...let's reread the title of this post...
While debate might allow us to release a little frustration from last night’s loss, let’s remember this is the first game with basically a brand new team. With the exception of Drago, everyone else has played limited role minutes over their careers at UCLA usually mixed in with players who have all since gone on to play professionally.
Take a deep breath and trust in Coach Howland. Teaching is what he does best (see: Russell Westbrook) and watch how he molds these kids into a cohesive unit by season’s end. At this point I am sure he is looking for answers and proper “mixes” and though losing to a CSU Fullerton totally sucks anytime, I’d rather go through this in November than look like a rudderless Lavin-coached team in February.
I agree. But remember
rudderless Lavin-coached February’s began with losses like last night—with no shortage of execuses.
I don’t think the issue is whether this team can be better or get better because Howland is the coach. Howland is a good coach. I think the frustration is that some of us thought these kinds of losses were things of the past. But, given the roster, perhaps this game was inevitable. When I looked at the www.uclabruins.com men’s basketball website for the first time this season about a week ago, the players highlighted and pictured at the top of the screen instantly told the story. Drago, Keefe, and Roll were pictured. Nothing else to say.
Finally, after watching a lot of ESPN’s 24 hours of hoops, I’m convinced UCLA’s performance rated in the bottom quarter of all performances. No wonder we barely beat Concordia. Yikes!
Think again
Before comparing Ben Howland to Steve Lavin. Don’t insult our head coach like that again. You will not get another warning. Thanks.
A difference
Lavin’s squads would never even have been in the game. In a lot of their losses against inferior competition, his teams would get behind early then totally lose their composure. We might have lost to the likes of Cal State Fullerton Monday night, but we took them to double over time before succumbing. If JA’s shot falls at the end of regulation, we are all sitting here laughing about the close call we had against Cal State Fullerton.
Oh UCLA you sweet bitch, you've BRUINed me for anything else.
There is no need to dignify any comparison
between Lavin and Howland.
rfirpo has made some decent contributions in past so we will let this one go. But people need to remember … we have banned people for stupidity. Comparing anything associated with Lavin to Howland is beyond stupid.
In other news
Number 1 Kansas almost lost, number 2 Michigan St. almost lost, Kentucky almost lost, and Georgetown almost lost in addition to Mississippi St. losing last week. Only difference was a shot here or there at the end went their way and didn’t go our way. Some of these teams were playing against arguably better competition than Fullerton, but this just goes back to my main point: College basketball isn’t like football, its a long season and everyone has bad games and is going to lose.
Thankfully, in basketball all that matters is how you finish the season, not how you start it. I’m looking forward to finally having a team under CBH that will improve over the season rather than be good/great at the start and not getting much better.
You're right
and doesn’t that make what Coach did even more remarkable.
You Can Lose and Still Look Good....or Win and look horrible
Recent posts pointed out that one missed shot that otherwise goes down and “we’d be laughing about the close call.” Sorry, that misses the point of the whole game. We looked bad and played bad from start to finish (exception being a spurt of five or six minutes where we overcame a 10 point deficit) and it was obvious — even to me who is, admitedly not as schooled in the finer points of the game as some of you, but still have probably seen more good and bad teams than most (given my age). CSF could have won that game by 10 if they had finished better in the paint. We, on the other hand, were sloppy in all aspects of the game. Let’s not sugar coat it. Now, the real question has been raised as to why. Hopefully it was due to alot of things (game time, injuries, nerves, who knows) that will change quickly. Maybe though it really was due to “underperforming recruits.” Jury is still out on Holiday; right now I like DC’s play better (especially starting in place of injured CP and doing it with aplomb (don’t you love that word?). So I don’t think its an answer to say what if he had stayed. This class of sophs has no excuse. They were top notch, star players in hs. Now some can’t hit a free throw, (and others still aren’t in condition to play college ball) What gives? I see way too many teams with frosh and soph standouts and I just think our’s aren’t making it. I worry that a bad season will impact future recruiting.
I didn't watch the game, so I didn't notice this till just now
Why didn’t JMM play? Is he still hurt? I hope not, because if we’re going to do this “rebuilding” thing right, we need to get him into some important game situations. He and Gordon could be Twin Towers in the middle, especially if ND doesn’t improve and has to come off the bench.
Are you kidding me?
After you have spouted off all week about all the things wrong with every player and CBH, you just know admit that you didn’t even watch the game?!?! Unbelievable.
With regards to JMM, he likely will never get much playing time at UCLA until maybe his senior year. He is incredibly slow footed and doesn’t have a good motor. This combined with his passive behavior keeps him from becoming the player we all hoped he would be. After seeing how good of a shape he was in this summer, I was hopeful for him. But his weight loss hasn’t made him any quicker.
LOL
FLAT is sounding like some Lavin supporters from back in the day on message boards, who would throw up stats without watching the game.
Comeon FLAT. This is not the way to get into discussions here. You are making yourselves look just silly.
SIGH
I guess my postings under “theslammer” are going to follow me for the entirety of my BN days. Dug my own grave and have to lie in it, I know, but still, it sucks. Ah well, I like this site anyway and I’ll be sticking around.
We lost to CAL STATE FULLERTON. My high school varsity team could beat Cal State Fullerton. We’re currently losing and looking pathetic against Cal State Bakersfield, something that Nestor and others have continually pointed out in the game thread. Did I really even freaking NEED to watch the game to know that something’s wrong with UCLA basketball when we lose to CAL STATE FULLERTON??? You guys are DESPARATE for a punching bag, and while I don’t blame you, it’s such a cheap shot to compare me to a Lavin supporter.
No, I didn’t watch the game (yeah, I bet EVERY SINGLE PERSON ON THIS BOARD who posted some reaction to the game watched it, even if they were 1,000 miles away from the game location with limited internet access). But I followed the game thread from beginning to end. I had the game updated constantly on ESPN Gametracker. I think I was able to get the best possible read about the game without actually watching it.
But my point is this…did I really need to have watched the entire game in person to realize that something might be wrong with UCLA basketball (and NOT CBH; find me an attack of CBH I’ve made in the past three days. I dare you. I double-dare you. In several of my posts I freaking DENOUNCED people who were denouncing CBH. So stfu in that regard.) after they lost to Cal State Fullerton? No, I didn’t. And that JMM thing…that was my desparate attempt at a neutral post after the embarrassing loss. The original post read, “FU*(%$ SH*^$ MOTHERFU^$()%W ^&($(^$&(&^$($^&*(&!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I did kind of want to get some info on JMM, but above all I wanted to post something optimistic in the wake of 68-65…and it wouldn’t come. I’m sorry. Actual optimism will come in the near future, when our young guys inevitably mature, realize their talent, and become a cohesive, aggressive, dominant unit that brings back memories of 2008. Sorry to disappoint you guys; there WILL be some actual optimistic posts very soon, probably as soon as tomorrow after the football team beats ASU. Basketball-wise, it might take a little longer, but the optimism will come.
PS: Nestor, please. I know that you think I’m some kind of closet Dorrell/Lavin supporter, but just…please. I first started following this blog back when it was firekarldorrell.com, SPECIFICALLY because it was called firekarldorrell.com. I think Steve Lavin is the Basketball AntiChrist. Come on…JUST because I don’t worship Rick and Ben to the point of freaking deities and (VERY OCCASIONALLY) question things they do doesn’t mean I long for the days of UCLA winning 11 games in basketball and going 6-6 in football with future Pro Bowlers all over the roster. Please, man. Please.
FLAT, just one suggestion
Your writing style suggests youth. Very few youthful writers are persuasive. If you turn the temperature down to simmer, and if you make your points without skipping any steps, then you will sound less youthful and therefore more persuasive.
As but one example, there is a regular contributer here whose name used to be ryebreadraz but I won’t give his current name because it might embarrass him. When he started posting, most everyone thought he was a grad student somewhere because of his writing style and the thoughtfiullness of his comments. We learned later that he was in high school at that point, to our (or at least my) utter amazement. He earned respect by both the content and the style of his commentary.
There are lots of others whose writing style you might think about trying to emulate. My point is that I think it’s human nature to take more seriously someone whose point is made without a torrent of profanity and exclamations and jargon. I may be alone in this, but maybe not. Just something to consider.
Again, this is just me, but I don’t think there is any rule that says a person is not allowed to criticize any coach or anyone else. If you do want to advance that sort of argument, you have a much better chance of persuading others to come around to your point of view if you explain your reasons (and the most important word in any such explanation is “because.”) I don’t think either Coach Howland or Coach Neuheisel is perfect, because (there’s that word) among other things each of them has admitted making mistakes. I think we are lucky to have both of them as our leaders because of their passion for their positions and the school and because of their past record of success which is likely to recur. But again, that’s just me.
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