DG had a great game and it was good to see him shooting shots toward the basket instead of fallaways. MR did a great job finding him around the basket early and DG showed off some improved post moves (though still not refined) later on.

I know Bruin fans everywhere are in love with RN. He is the perfect hustle player and wide body for CBH’s system. He will be a great contributor off the bench this season. I’m also encouraged by BL who is noticeable taller and longer than the rest of our frontcourt options and has very soft hands.

All that said, JK was huge tonight. In addition to his senior leadership, him calling for the ball at the high post and his teammates actually giving it to him is what helped brake down CSUB’s zone. He is a good passer and can shoot the midrange shot, so the high-low action with him and DG or RN will be the key to beating zones this season (in addition to MR continuing to shoot 3s). JK even showed off some ballhandling ability breaking the press and then kicking it up to MR who found RN for the dunk late in the second half. JK is never going to be a superstar, but solid play from him will be critical this season.

I know some will say this was Bakersfield and they are not as good as Fullerton…and I agree with that. However, I believe if we were to play Fullerton again tonight, things would be different.

Anderson played significantly better although not anywhere near the level we need from our starting PG.

Roll showed leadership on the floor directing traffic and herding the freshmen players at times.

Gordon had a career high scoring night and was a force out on the court. That is becoming standard practice for him. He is developing his post game nicely but it still has a way to go. He’ll clean it up.

Keefe was very solid for us and played the roll of “glue-guy” tonight that we so desperately needed last year after the departure of Luc. He did a lot of the little things we needed to keep momentum.

Reeves Nelson….can’t put my finger on it but he hits all the right buttons. Great hustle, great sense for being in the right spot at the right time, great power inside. Really happy to see him get the minutes he deserves.

Overall I think we can say the awful shooting night against Fullerton was an anomaly. Call it first game jitters, call it lack of practice time or whatever you want but I don’t expect to see that ugly of a game again for a while. We aren’t poised to win the conference right now but if there is one thing we know about Ben Howland, it’s that he knows how to develop players over the course of a season. He has emphatically proven that over the years and we have no reason to doubt him yet. Some players will get it quicker than others but this team will gel and learn how to play with each other soon enough. We will be in for a real treat when that happens.

I know that he pulled it together a bit in the 2nd half, but he looked absolutely miserable in the 1st. It’s got to be a confidence thing, because it appears that he has all of the tools. I was watching him in pre-game shoot around tonight and he looked very stiff. His shot was not smooth and he even air balled a few 3s, which is pretty inexcusable in warm-ups. JA just needs to get out of his own head for a little bit, put the injuries behind him, and just play.

I know some of you will defend him but he is not representing himself or UCLA basketball very well. It would suck if he was a consistent shooter, but he isn’t and we certainly can win without him.

And yeah, I have no problem with the term ‘euro felon’. We can all agree to disagree right now and move on before some of you Nicola apologists start throwing up the ‘give Nicola a chance’ arguments. This is his second offense. Lord knows what he did at the concert. UCLA Basketball does not need that type of press nor those types of distractions.

Bob Knight had the Hoosiers passing on the interior really well in the 80s and early 90s. With the great ball handling big man that we now have I think BH can take big time advantage of this. Gordon looks like a real team player that is willing to dishoff and Keefe has eyes behind his back (almost like Walton did). With Nelson providing the beef and Lane/Honeycutt the smooth I thank they can really get the interior play to really work.

Unfortunately the recap doesn’t show all the passes that missed the mark. For every pass that led to an easy bucket on the interior, there was a pass that was picked off or deflected out of bounds. Malcolm Lee still has a problem with getting in the air before making a decision and everyone else could learn something from the old maxim, “you’ve gotta fake a pass to make a pass”

This was a pretty sloppy game but I’m glad we pulled out a performance that is more indicative of what UCLA basketball should be this year.

I thought James Keefe did a terrific job in the paint. Folks talk about his ‘lack’ of foot speed but I think he more than makes up for it with his effort and hustle.

Reeves Nelson is definitely a monster down low. It’s nice to see a freshman box out properly and have a good idea of where the ball is at all times. His game is looking very David Lee-ish to me. Hopefully he has a short-range jumper to make the comparison valid. Heh. I said it in the last game’s thread – Nelson is definitely a boost of energy off the bench. There’s no drop off in hustle when he comes in to replace the Commissioner. Is it a faux pas to compare him to former U-Dub juggernaut, Jon Brockman? He’s not as big yet but the heart is there.

The Bruins’ great passing has already been mentioned. I don’t think breaking that sort of defensive pressure will be as easy in Pac 10 play. But kudos to these young Bruins for executing and getting really easy baskets.

People were wondering where the leadership was going to come from. It’s pretty apparent that Roll, Lee and Gordon will be the guys to take competitive games by the horns and lead the Bruins to victory. Roll was solid on his mid-range jumpers last night.

Lee seems to have the best floor vision out of all the guards. He made some excellent passes (yes, some were forced as well) to the bigs for some easy lay ups. He’s also able to get to any point on the floor which is key for this season.

I cannot say enough about Commissioner Gordon. He doesn’t seem to have a go-to move down low yet but he’s capable of affecting every game with his defense and rebounding. That block was pretty devastating.

As long as we show improvement for every game, this season will be fun to watch. Go Bruins!

We needed the W last night and we got it. There were some positive things I saw but there are a lot of issues on our team that a more talented/experienced team will expose.

PG Play: JA is really struggling. He played better last night but it was marginal at best. I’m not so concerned about his shot (FT & perimeter) but him being a “Floor General”. Too many times I saw him pick up his dribble when he got a bit of pressure. As the primary ballhandler, he needs to be stronger with the ball. Also, he threw multiple lazy passes on the perimeter that either led to a deflection or ended up in a turnover. JA does not get the team into its offense well nor does he exude the leadership that we’ve seen from this position.

Having said this, we all have to remember that he missed a couple of weeks due to his groin that resulted in us not being able to jell as a team. This is BIG especially with such a young/inexpeirenced team. JA did not play significant minutes last year and yet he is being expected to just produce like the prior PG’s without skipping a beat. He may be feeling a bit of pressure from outside as well as from himself. The verdict is still out on him but I think he’ll get it together as he gains confidence and experience. JA is a Soph but I see him more as a RS FR.

Also, just like AA played PG out of necessity, I would like to see CBH do the same with ML. Hamid is not a viable option IMO. Of course, this is dependent upon whether MM or TH are ready to contribute at the wing positions. PG may be where ML’s pro prospects lie but he is not ready to be one full time. Saw some silly passes and bad decisions from ML last night.

Energy/Effort: Must have this and must be the identity of this team. Not saying others don’t but we have 2 guys that exude this quality. DG and RN are going to have to inspire the team and get the others to buy in as well. I say this because we don’t have a low post option nor a Go To Guy. DG/RN/JK are lunch pail type of players. They are not the type of players we can dump a pass into the post for a bucket. Nor do we have guys on the perimeter that can create their own shot or create for others. Offensively, we are very limited at this point of our team’s development.

Even if Drago did not get into trouble, I like JK in the starting lineup. His game is not spectacular but he is solid and provides a calming presence. He knows CBH’s system both on O and D which is clearly evident when watching the team. He also hit a couple of midrange jumpers last night which we’ll need because teams will zone us a lot with the lack of consistent perimeter shooters.

We were too sloopy for my liking but it’s understandable considering how young we are and all the practice time we lost due to injuries. The team needs to value each possession as well as know their assignments on D. We still had a lot of breakdowns on D but this will get better as the team gains experience.

I’m excited to see how all of the young players develop during the course of the season. But this is going to be a trying year IMO. We may take our lumps but by the end of the season, we should be a much better team with even higher aspirations next season.