Basketball Podcast Open Thread (7 pm PST), Football Podcast Tomorrow (7:30 pm PST)
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Dec 2, 2009 5:00 PM PST
in BN Podcasts
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So what do we make of this team? Ummmmm, I'm not quite sure anyone knows what to make of it. Changes need to be made, but they need to be the right changes. Is going to some zone defense the right change? What do the Bruins need to do offensively to put the ball in the basket? How do UCLA's tournament hopes look and what are the Bruins looking at with top-ranked Kansas coming to Pauley Pavilion on Sunday? Oh, there's also the little thing with Drew Gordon. We'll get to all of that tomorrow at 7 pm PST in the BN basketball podcast.
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Call on in and share your thoughts and questions. If you can't call in, use this thread to share any thoughts or questions and we'll work them in as well. You can listen to the show live beginning at 7 pm PST by clicking play in the box above and can listen to it anytime after the show by clicking that same play button or by heading over to iTunes.
Tomorrow, we'll also have a BN football podcast at 7:30 pm PST. We'll recap the USC game and break down each and every part of it. What did the Bruins do well and where did they struggle? What does all of that mean for the future of the program and what is up with the recent transfers/players quitting football? We will also evaluate UCLA's bowl possibilities and take a look at the entire Pac-10. We'll talk about it all tomorrow at 7:30 pm PST.
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I'd like to think that we just play to the level of our opponent
giving what happened with Butler vs LBSU, but I doubt that’s what is happening. If you play Butler close, you should not be down to Long Beach by 17. Those 2 teams are in completely different stratospheres.
We'll be underway soon
It should be an interesting show with A LOT to talk about. I also have a little recruiting update on Jordin Mayes.
Formerly ryebreadraz
Is that you calling in?
Formerly ryebreadraz
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Dec 2, 2009 7:07 PM PST up reply actions
It is the Gillette curse!!
First, Thierry Henry and the handball, now Tiger and the crash (and alleged mistress).
Now, what is going to happen to Roger Federer?
How was Cole Aldrich his freshman and sophomore years?
Didn’t hear about him until late in the season. My point. Let’s give our Freshman and Sophomore a little more slack. Let them play some meaningful minutes and develope. Pick on Drago and Keefe. They should have developed more skills by now.
Top 10 Big Men
I thought the observations on the impacts of the top 10 big men puts the Bobo situation in perspective.
Very true
It has proven so hard to scout and project big men.
One of my favorite examples (though involving PF recruiting rankings) from a few years ago involves one of the scouting services (either Scout or Rivals) rating LMR as a better prospect than Joakim Noah. As much as I love what LMR did for this team…really?!
It was Rivals that had Mata > Noah, btw
Other examples of big men from that year: Georgetown’s Roy Hibbert (all-Big East, preseason All-American, #17 overall pick last spring) was the #20 prep center of 2004, rating behind such Basketball luminaries as: Peter Prowitt, Jerome Habel, Bosnian league star Robert Rothbart, and the incomparable Drew Crank.
I don't mind missing on bigs so much
As I mentioned, it’s so hit and miss. What bothers me most is the misses on “fits.” We’ve had too many guys recently who haven’t fit with the program and we can’t afford to have misses from that standpoint.
Formerly ryebreadraz
Funny you mention that mine did too
I tried listening using Firefox and it crashed twice, so I switched over to explorer and it crashed once. It was my first time listening in and I thought a lot of your comments were very insightful. Also just wanted to say thanks.
Slightly better
We are making some inroads on Jones. Would not say that we are the favorites for his commit, but we seem to be gaining.
I think you are worrying too much about this Ryan
All major programs have players who end up transferring out of it. Off the top of my head, Duke (Taylor King, Elliot Williams, Eric Boateng), North Carolina (Alex Stephenson), and Kansas (Micah Downs) have all had players who have transferred recently who are arguably better than any of the three that have left CBH’s program and I’m sure there are plenty more if we really wanted to dive into the issue.
Ryan Wright was quickly overshadowed by LRMAM and PAA, and just like Chris Forcier, saw the writing on the wall and transferred.
Stanback was not a midelevel recruit (#18 small forward) and could has some talent, but didn’t get much playing time and the little time he did get as a freshman was very turnover filled. Stanback is a tossup between leaving because of playing time or leaving because of fit. To Stanback’s credit, his family didn’t disparage CBH on his way out and handled the process with class.
Gordon is probably the most talented of the three and was obviously a personality conflict rather than playing time. I think he really is the only one of the three who “hasn’t fit with the program.” I’m sure CBH thought he was going to be able to sculpt Gordon into his type of player, unfortunately he misjudged Gordon’s stubbornness and Gordon had to go.
One bad fit transferring out of six classes really isn’t anything to worry about. I know its easy to be a prisoner of the moment, but when you think about how many players transfer from other elite programs, I think CBH has done a pretty good job of finding players that fit his system.
Stanback's looking okay with UNLV
I watched a little bit of the UNLV v Arizona game tonight and caught a half of the Rebels game versus Louisville. Stanback looks comfortable on offense and has matured some physically. Kruger has him playing at small forward and isolates him in the post against smaller 3s. Nothing earth shattering, just a consistent player with a nice jumper – like James Keefe with conifidence.
Life is what happens when you're busy making plans.
More bad news
Looks like RN has a hyperextened knee and has missed 2 consecutive practices. Although TH might be ready for Kansas.
The good news is that the team should come out pretty loose this weekend since there really are no expectations and it is going to be a total crap shoot as far as rotations and playing time.
That is bad news
Hopefully it’s not too serious and he can return soon. What do you guys think the starting lineup looks like on Sunday? I’m hoping it’s Lee PG, Roll SG, Dragovic SF, Lane PF and Morgan C. Let Keefe, Nelson, Moser and Anderson come off the bench aggressive and looking to score. Play a ton of zone and slow the game down. Is the redshirt coming off Stover?
Life is what happens when you're busy making plans.
Don't think that CBH is ready to bench Anderson
And unless we go zone (which we won’t against Kansas), I don’t see Bobo getting major PT.
Howland has said that Reeves will get much of Gordon’s PT, though his knee injury may impact that in the short term. Figure that either Reeves or BL will slot in for Gordon this week. I don’t think that Drago will be starting this soon after his suspension/legal issues, but who really knows?
Morgan will play a bunch Sunday
Out of sheer neccessity Morgan will see major minutes for he is the only thing close to a big to match up with Kansas’ center. I don’t see a scenario where Ben doesn’t allow him to play and see what this kid can do against the best big man the team will see all year. Bobo chose UCLA over Kansas after he decided ot leave LSU – I think he’ll be motivated.
Life is what happens when you're busy making plans.
In terms of size, he is the only matchup
The problem with Bobo is that if he plays as he has to date, he will get destroyed by Aldrich. Reeves (if healthy) has the aggressiveness to play with him, but his size is obviously a major hindrance.
Hopefully, Bobo is able to earn a chunk of minutes on Sunday, and into the future. I would love to see him succeed, but realize that he need to grow his game significantly in order to contribute, even on this team.
Howland's system
UCLA built it’s Final Four runs on defense – but I’m not certain Howland’s defensive schemes work without LRMAM and his ability to defend three positions or the raw athleticism of Westbrook. Last year the Bruins were exposed on defense by teams that isolated and took our wings off the dribble, and this year the team is awful in every area.
I wouldn’t trade our recent success for anything, but it is within our right to question if teams have adjusted to CBH aggressive scheme by spreading the floor, finding mismatches and going to the rim off the dribble. That seems to be the common method teams have used to beat us, and, frankly, we’ve been slow to counter that.
Life is what happens when you're busy making plans.
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