Challenges For The Caretaker Of Westwood: Will Howland Adapt & Adjust?

Considering that Jrue was a highly rated prospect, the odds of him remaining at UCLA were slim. With that in mind, we should of had a point guard in the following years recruiting class. Especially considering that we had one scholarship available. I do not understand Howland’s logic.

I mean to be honest… what would have really happened to RW had DC not gotten injured at the beginning of that season. RW whats able to showcase his athleticism and what he could do when the ball is in his hands. Same thing happened when he allowed JF, AA, and JS to play some real minutes their freshman season. I think he needs to utilize the guys he’s recruited since he doesn’t really have the luxury of 1st round NBA talent right now (i.e. JK, MR, ND). Like you said he should give minutes to MM, BL, RN, and I sure hope that when TH is back from injury he gets some major minutes. That is our future. Not ND, MR, and JK. While I senior leadership is needed, I think we need to realize that 2 of those seniors (JK and MR) weren’t even starters last year, except ND. So like you said we might as well go with talent and potential over experience.

your point about the pointguard situation is really the biggest reason for this teams failure.
Its true that we have a young team and low on experience, but that was also the situation when JF, AA, JS,… first stepped on the court. We have to accept the fact that last year’s recruits are simply not as good as they were expected to be. Maybe I am giving up too early but I just don’t see JA being the type of player that UCLA can help build a top 5 UCLA program. Even if all the other players develop as expected, without a great point guard, this team is not going anywhere.

I have been a dedicated fan of the Bruins since listening to radio broadcasts prior to John Wooden’s era. Last night made me sick. Rather than nitpick particular players on the current team, it is much more important to take a broader view and address a bigger issue.
For example, why does Portland St. have better players than legendary UCLA? And why do 50 schools have better players than UCLA? My answer is because Ben Howland is a coach that earned his stripes with defensive basketball. Somehow he attracted some great players like DC and KL and RW but the multitude of great players, players with Jr. Kobe skills opt for venues that let them flourish as offensive stars. Most of that type of player don’t want to go to a defensive program. UCLA attracted Kareem, Walton, Goodrich, and many many more of the very top players in the US. We as alumni and fans should expect nothing less.

we are currently under-manned and over-scheduled. No immediate solution suggests itself, but we do absolutely have to go with the youngsters. Might as well get to it, without further delay. The Portland thing needs a little perspective. The “experts” are mentioning them in the same breath with Gonzaga, so they do have some status. I just hope we can reach the PAC-10 part of our schedule without having given up hope. That applies to the team and the fans as well. I am trying to learn how to breathe normally when under great stress, myself.

I will be curious to see the level of guard talent we can recruit going forward with Howland’s slow paced offense.

I had a friend over that went to Portland, and I kindly asked him to take a hike at halftime.

There are a number of problems with this squad at this point in time. The biggest problem, in my opinion, is that Howland runs a complex defensive scheme and a vanilla offensive scheme, which neither work with a young, inexperienced squad.

Defensively, shortcomings can be covered up with intensity and effort. The team lacked both last night, as they have for most of the season. I’ll be the first to stand up for Dragovic when it comes to personal attacks, but in no way can I defend his lack of intensity and lack of leadership. At least he played hard against Fullerton. He embarrassed himself last night. We simply look like a better team when he is not on the floor, and this cannot be unnoticed by the staff. He is a senior “leader”, and I do think that his lack of effort spread to the rest of the team last night. A leader cannot take games, or even possessions, off.

Offensively, our team is in trouble. Howland’s offensive system thus far has been “get the ball to the best player towards the end of the shot clock and let him make a play.” It worked great with JF, AA, RW, KL and DC. They aren’t on the team anymore.

This team needs a system to score. We don’t have any playmakers on the team. Not that we don’t have potential playmakers-I think Moser, Lee, and Gordon all have the physical ability to become one- but we don’t have any developed playmaking ability. Gordon is not much better than last year, which is understandable given his injury. Lee’s improved shot has yet to be found, and he seems like the same player as last year. In my opinion, Moser is the most intriguing player on the team, and the most likely to develop into a game changing player. He needs to be on the court as much as possible before conference play starts.

At this point, the team simply isn’t ready to compete. Howland didn’t play the young players enough. Injuries stalled development. The schedule is brutal. That said, there can be no excuses. Every team has struggles, but this early season has been disgraceful. Howland needs to make offensive adjustments. Period. The fact that 3 seniors graduated and a frosh left early do not hold water. The seniors were scheduled to leave, and the frosh was considered the number one recruit in the country, and should have been recruited with a contingency plan in mind. Instead of recruiting another guard or accepting a transfer, Coach Howland gave the extra scholarship to a walk-on.

I think this year’s team will grow into a decent squad by season’s end. There will be a lot of growth during the nonconference schedule- it scares me to think what the scores against Butler and Kansas might be… But hopefully we can turn it around and make a decent showing during conference play. This might be a year to simply out-physical other teams and play knock-down, drag out basketball.

I can’t wait for saturday.

Now we can see how weak our previous 3 opponents were.
The reality is that the Keefe and Dragovic are a bust. These guys have not earned the right to start. They have been here forever and bring almost nothing to the game. This is not a “union” where you are rewarded for years on the job. It is time to pull the plug on these lightweights and rebuild for 2010-2011. It is time to come out of denial, this team is going nowhere. And don’t expect any of the Seniors to lead this team.They are not leaders. Neither JK or ND would start on a competitive team. Mike Roll at least has learned the system and puts forth an effort. His passes are usually well placed, while he is not the best defender you can’t question his effort and he rarely gets beaten because he is taking a nap on the court like ND. ML has to become the PG with JA coming off the bench and growing. ML is the only guy who is able to create in the lane and break the zone down. RN should get every minute that ND is sucking out of the game. BL should get at least half of JK’s minutes and probably be starting with JK coming off the bench. Remember we are not going anywhere with ND, JK starting and they will be done in March. Let’s move on and get these young athletes some experience or we will be in the same boat com next fall. My starting linup for Butler would be ML, MR, DG, BL, RN. You think they would lose by more than 30? Bring Moser,
Anderson, Hamid, Keefe, Morgan and Drago off the bench to rest the starters.
I am going to really have to force myself to watch tonight, Last night was like a flashback to Lav’s last year. I think CBH will do what is right. He is just a little more patient and mature than I am. Go Young Bruins.

I don’t care how bad he looks in practice, a big body in the paint might have kept out some of those drives last night. He could be barely mobile and be better than what we showed. And I agree this should be the year for a youth movement. Let the freshmen and sophomores grow, let Roll shoot threes, and let’s stand behind them the same way we stcuk with our football team in October. Oh, and let N no D play only at garbage time.

When you have to depend on three guys from the hoops hotbed that is the OC (Roll – Laguna, Keefe – Santa Margarita, Anderson – Anaheim Hills), you’re in big trouble.

How we ended up recruiting from that area when about the only great program might be Mater Dei (and those players went to Duke I believe over the past few years) is beyond me.

Maybe I’m wrong, but the last decent UCLA Hoops player from the OC was Kevin Walker (Brea-Olinda), and he was a 6-11 three-point shooting one-trick pony. Did that date you as much as me?

It’s going to be a very long year.

I took some heat for criticizing Keefe last week during and after the Bakersfield game. As much as some people may defend his skills, he is a stiff. He plays very small for 6’8", can’t play above the rim, has no go to move, and makes bad decisions on offense. If you’re wow-ed by setting picks, sure Keefe does one thing right on that end of the floor. He is not a leader, he is not vocal, he is not a scorer and will never be an NBA player.

Meanwhile he’s taking minutes away from Reeves Nelson and Brandon Lane. RN and BL have a brighter future and that will be obvious when they get extended minutes.

Nic Dragovich is not a basketball player. He grew up playing the Euro ‘Chuck ’n Run’ style; which appears to be the complete opposite of Ben Ball. To pile onto Nestor’s +/- estimate for him. I know for sure he was -15 in his first 5 minutes alone. He was Portland’s MVP last night, igniting a 7-0 run from 7-7 to 7-14 and an 8-0 run from 15-20 to 15-28.
Some people who didn’t see the game might be wondering ‘How can one guy be responsible for all that?’. Well Nic’s first lowlight was a guy hitting a 3 pointer in his face. The next possession they drove right around him. Later in the game a 6’8" frail white guy drove right around him and had the thunderous dunk of the night. To add insult to injury the guy started laughing in Drago’s face and ND had no reaction. He continued laughing the rest of the game from the bench. His name was Sikma; you won’t have to look to hard to find that highlight.

Dragovich is basketball cancer. He takes incredibly bad fundamentals and mixes them with bad shot selection and produces the most inefficient results possible. He makes everyone else on the court look worse. It would be fortunate if the Bruins could somehow part ways with him as soon as possible.

If I’m the UCLA Head Basketball Coach, here’s what I do IMMEDIATELY…

1. Change styles starting next game to showcase for unsigned HOT Prep Seniors
2. All Hands On Deck! I’ve got NO STUDS, so all 10 -12 gotta play. How?
3. Balls out, Hard core, Get Spent Full Court Pressing from the opening jumpball.
4. My offense is generated off steals, turnovers. No setting up. Go To The Rack or shoot in the paint – OFF GLASS. A complete hurry up offense. If I’m gonna get beat, I’m scoring 100 in the process. I gotta show the nations ATHLETES that WE BALL at UCLA.
5. If I’m getting beat to bad, too often on the full court press – go immediately to PACK IT IN ZONE! They’re gonna beat my azz with outside shooting. Sure, sometimes people get hot streaks… but it’s rare – and NEVER sustains for BOTH HALFS!
6. I sit down any Bruin Player who celebrates with anything beyond a point of the finger to the guy who gave him an assist for the alley-oop dunk or easy fast break bucket. Who ever scores hustles his azz back in defensive position or sits da f down!
7. DEFENSE is more of an attitude and mindset. Everybody who got a FULL RIDE SCHOLIE to play Mens BB at UCLA has at least SOME athleticism. Therefore, guys on the floor – at least for the balance of THIS season, needs to understand I expect them to get SPENT playing defense, because a sub is comming in (fresh legs) whether they still got gas in the tank or not.
8. OK, guys who MAKE PLAYS (steals, picks, blocks, take charges… maybe THEY get more minutes.
9. I WILL be competitive in every game!
10. I WILL bring SACREDNESS – not scarediness – back to Pauley Pavillion!
We don’t get blown out at Pauley, even if we have to start fights and get T’s. It’s NOT happenin at Pauley! Pac-10 Officials, NCAA Officials be damned. Pauley is Sacred!
We Are UCLA. We ARE NCAA Mens Basketball. Period.

Blaming CBH and staff for the Bruin woes is in some instances unfair. They cannot shoot for them. As of today they are shooting FG% 423 #PT% 262 FT%567. This will win few games at any level. A free throw record like ours is horrible but many mens teams have same problem but not all. We will improve over the course of the season but there are no easy games for us. Go Bruins!! Better days are comming we hope

except for that one guy who can see a CBH team going into a wild, full-court scramble mode. I am in full accord with the youth movement theme, but beyond that, I don’t think we can expect much in the way of “adjustments,” because you don’t see much of that in CBH’s style. Play a zone? I would be shocked, not surprised. Shoot early in the clock? Oh, sure. Turn up the D? Now you’re talking. But I am most worried about Insomniac’s thought that the rotation is already fixed, or close to it. If that happens, a lot of youngsters might as well bring their knitting, because they’ll never get off the bench. I know Insomniac did’nt exactly say that, but Howland watchers understand the possibility. I agree with the notion that the Butler game may reveal something, so I’ll be watching with great interest. By the way, not to be annoying or to disagree for the sake of disagreeing, but I think BN is underappreciating JK. It looks to me like the man is actually trying to win.

Just got back from my T-giving jaunt (yes, I did get to watch the game and almost lost a pound or so of turkey in the process) and have been reading the article and comments following. There’s nothing I wouldn’t agree with (cept of course for many of the solutions proposed). This team is both a work in process and a sorry excuse for a UCLA team. It is way to early to judge the frosh class but certainly we better let these ‘talented’ recruits get the playing time they need (and expected when they signed on to come to UCLA). As for the sophs: way over rated and its not too early to say that. Just look around the country to find tons of players with more talent. It says volumes about how the high school players are rated and by whom. Finally the Srs: I can only speculate that they are just tired, demoralized and have no incentive. Beyond that, all three are just ordinary talents. I love MR though and see him as a great sixth man when he’s hot. I especially second the comment that CBH’s style of play and his “tough” practices and demeanor are not conducive to recruiting the biggest and the baddest nowadays. I worry (more than that, I’m convinced) that really top notch hs stars are watching this year’s team and will be saying no no to CBH’s offers, Josh Smith and Tyler Lamb notwithstanding (and don’t take their ultimate enrollment for granted). I hope that everyone is in this as much for the love of the game as they are for winning, cause there might be very little of the latter this year (and into the future). I don’t think CBH has done anything in his years at UCLA to warrant the adulation he’s received. Blasphemy! Blasphemy! He’s been fortunate to have like six NBA players on his teams and we all know that without superstars there are very few great coaches, including CJW (who is a great man, molder of fine individuals, instiller of values etc. etc., but was not a winner until Gail and Walt put him on the map and then Big Lew came out here followed by god knows knows how many more future HOF players.) Again, Blasphemy, Blasphemy! I would be worried about being banned were it not for the fact that it seems Nestor & Co. have come around to seeing (and admitting) some of the same things vis a vis this team and the Coach that others were pointing out prior to the Portland debacle. I don’t so much mind not getting to the Final Four. Not making the big dance at all, however, is not going to endear CBH (despite his three FF trips) to me and lots of other influential alumni (not to say I am influential). Prediction: if this season is as dismal as it portends to be, and next year is not a BIG IMPROVEMENT (all caps, not just a big improvement — like in a .500 record and third in Pac10 type of thing then the reign of CBH will come to the same end as has so many successors to Wooden. And my final note (of even more blasphemy and heresy): the Lavin years and therefore the Lavin coaching were not nearly as bad as you (many on this site, particularly N) would have us believe. I’m not going to look up the details, but my recollection is around a 65% winning overall record with playoff berths almost every year and a not too shameful recruiting record to boot. One might even argue (I am) that his style was more attractive to today’s hs hotshots than is CBH’s. So someone please, explain it to me. Why the hate Lavin trip? It must be that there were intangibles that I’m not aware of.

What a winner.

i’ve seen some posts about how our loss of players early to the nba draft over the last few yrs shouldn’t be an excuse, i for one beg to differ. people mentioned unc and kansas as schools that seem to bounce back every year, but look hansborough was a four yr player and lawson also came back when he couldve entered the draft in 08 – what would unc have been if they had left early?
kansas was loaded with upperclassmen last year.
duke finds a way to keep guys and when they hit their dry patch was when rat face lost the touch in keeping his studs at dookie.
in the last few yrs we have lost some serious studs way early. cbh is bringing in the good ballers they’re just leaving, maybe he’s doing too good a job? to dismiss that is unfair.
i know it’s tough right now and there’s a ton of stuff going against our bballers right now. last night was gag-worthy. cbh’s player rotation is frustrating and our continued inability to handle a zone makes me pull my hair out. but i pray you bruin brothers and sisters- a little patience, some more faith, and a smidge of understanding =)