Ben Ball Game Day Roundup: Season Starts Tonight

by Nestor on Nov 4, 2009 12:44 PM PST Comment 17 comments

Don't forget folks. The basketball season gets started tonight. Ben Ball warriors start the 2009-10 season tonight in an exhibition game against Concordia University Eagles. The tip off is set for 7:30 pm PST.

The official site posted game notes with some information on the Eagles:

Located in Irvine, Calif., the Concordia University Eagles are members of the NAIA and the Golden State Athletic Conference. They are coached by Ken Ammann, who played two years at Stanford before graduating from Stanford in 1991. He is in his ninth season at the helm of CUI and sports an overall record of 221-62 (.781). Concordia has qualified for the NAIA National Tournament for three consecutive years and has made six appearances in the previous eight seasons Ammann has been at CUI. Ammann guided the Eagles to their only NAIA national championship in 2003. The Eagles return two starters from a team that went 28-7 overall last year and 16-4 in the GSAC (2nd place). CUI was ranked as high as 4th in the NAIA a year ago and finished with a final ranking of 12th after losing in the NAIA Quarterfinals in 2009. Senior guard Terrence Worthy is the team's top returner. Last year as a second-team All-American, he averaged 9.5 points, 2.4 assists and 2.0 steals per game. Another Eagle to watch is junior center Ben Smith, who averaged 8.0 points and 4.5 rebounds per game in 2008-09. Sophomore guard Cameron Gliddon is the team's highest scorer returning (9.6 points per game) and drained 65 three-pointers last year.

The OC Register has a great story on the Eagles center - Andre Murrillo. Andre is attempting a comeback after a life threatening stabbing just months ago. The entire Eagles team and community has rallied behind Andre and it's going to be a huge moment for him when he gets on John and Nell Wooden Court tonight.

As for the Bruins three of our guys ~~starters~~ are going to sit out the game:

Earlier this week, UCLA Head Coach Ben Howland announced that senior guard Michael Roll, sophomore guard Jerime Anderson and freshman forward Brendan Lane will not dress for the Bruins' first exhibition game against Concordia. Lane has missed the last two weeks of practice with a sprained left ankle. Anderson missed the first two weeks of practice with a strained left groin and only returned to practice this Monday (Nov. 2), but not at 100 percent. Roll also has a sprained ankle (right) and returned to practice on Monday, but only practiced in drills with no contact. All three student-athletes will continue to be revaluated on a daily basis.

This means those of you who will be at the game or follow it online will get to see how ML handles pg duty on the floor. With three starters out including our PG being one of them, I wouldn't take this game lightly. I am not kidding (see Syracuse).

The game is not on TV. UCLA All-Access, UCLA Athletics' online multimedia platform, will carry exclusive online video of the games against Concordia on November 4, Humboldt State on November 10 and Delaware State on December 27. You can get more details here. We will throw up an open thread around tip off so that folks who are following it online or via radio can post away.

Just hours to go.

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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Its like Christmas morning

I cant wait to go to the game tonight. I’m a little scared about this Concordia team as they wont be a pushover. It will be interesting to see how much playing time MM and TH get at shooting guard with MR and JA out. I’m also looking forward to seeing Mustafa Abdul Hamid back on the court after being injured all last year. He has been so overlooked, but might be the critical backup to bail CBH out this season with our thin backcourt and penchant for injuries.

by bruinponcho on Nov 4, 2009 1:02 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Me too!

I went to practice on Monday and I was impressed with the freshman that played. Reeves Nelson seemed to be very competitve and play with a lot of fire and heart. Honeycutt and Moser looked pretty good shooting too. Oh, an I know we all have heard, but Bobo looks like a different person! He is in great shape and moves totally different than he did last year.

Can’t wait til tonight at Pauley! GO BRUINS!!!

"The entire world that bleeds blue and gold ... they have been dying for this." - Coach Rick Neuheisel

by uclafan11 on Nov 4, 2009 2:59 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

ucla basketball has open practices??

or do you just have access?

by insomniacslounge on Nov 4, 2009 4:02 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I think they had an "open" practice yesterday for the media

and prolly opened it up to folks close to our program. Given uclafan11 can feed the entire football team on the road, I am assuming one of the easiest thing our AD can do is make sure she can check out the practices when it is already opened up the media. They should be doing lot more to thank supporters like her. :-)

by Nestor on Nov 4, 2009 4:08 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

The Monday practice was for big donors

You either have to be a member of the basketball booster club or be an upper tier Wooden Fund donor. The practice was at 3:30.

by Gen2Bruin1987 on Nov 4, 2009 4:14 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

ahh...thx for the clarifications, Gen2 and N

on a related note, I really need to become best buds w/ uclafan11

by insomniacslounge on Nov 4, 2009 4:25 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Brendan Lane is a starter?

If so, who among Gordon, Keefe, and Dragovic begins the game on the bench?

by insomniacslounge on Nov 4, 2009 1:16 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Dragovic

He was dropped from tonight’s starting lineup after missing (or being late for) a team meeting.

Due to the aftereffects of a case of food poisoning, there is a question as to whether he will play at all.

by bruinhoo on Nov 4, 2009 1:54 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

To clarify - Lane is not projected to be a starter

Like poncho, I think N meant that 3 players are sitting tonight, not necessarily 3 starters.

It remains true that Drago will be coming off the bench this evening.

by bruinhoo on Nov 4, 2009 2:47 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

I think N misspoke

I like Lane and think he will be a great player by his junior year, but don’t expect him to contribute much this year. Especially since he has been out for most of practice.

by bruinponcho on Nov 4, 2009 2:23 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

Yep

My bad guys.

by Nestor on Nov 4, 2009 3:14 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

just remember guys

exhibition games mean NOTHING!!! It matters how we end the season, not how we start.

Victory or until next year!

by ncrpz2 on Nov 4, 2009 1:49 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

I don't entirely agree w/ that assessment

Given how young this team is, and how new so many of these players are to Howland’s system, I’d say that any time they can go to work on the court together is meaningful.

Now if you’re just saying that a poor performance tonight does not mean that the sky is falling, then that is a sentiment that I’m in agreement with.

by insomniacslounge on Nov 4, 2009 1:57 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

In the same vein

I think that the young guys need to get a lot of playing time in this game. I don’t care about it “looking” impressive (especially since we can’t see the game anyway). I want the freshmen to get as much experience as possible before the games start to count. I know that there’s something to be said for certain units gaining familiarity with each other, but with so many of our guys out that probably won’t happen here anyway, so the next best thing would be to give the freshmen time.

by Tydides on Nov 4, 2009 2:18 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs

The whole team is inexperienced

I agree with you Ty about getting the freshman playing time, but I’d much rather see our sophomores who were at most getting 10 minutes a game last year to get some time on the court first. Even JK really didn’t get much playing time last year. I hope to see what the freshman can do, but I’d also like to see what the inexperienced sophomores can do as well. Should be fun.

by bruinponcho on Nov 4, 2009 2:26 PM PST up reply actions 0 recs