Does Ben Howland's Current Rotation Give UCLA Best Chance To Win?

I have never been one to criticize CBH for things that he cannot control. In games against Fullerton and Miss. St., there really was nothing he could do better as a coach to get the team to collectively shoot better. I also have never been one to criticize players who are 18, 19, and 20 year old kids trying their best to play basketball, unfortunately sometimes they fall short of our expectations.

Having said that, I think it is entirely fair to hold CBH accountable for things that he can control. Unlike his players, CBH is an adult who is paid very well to do his job. While he cant magically make his players shoot better, he does have complete control over the most important thing: allocation of minutes and in-game strategy (the strategy issue is a tired argument and a topic for another day).

To answer your question N, CBH’s minute allocation right now does not in my opinion, give this team the best chance to win. I said it after the first game and will never stop saying it, this team is going nowhere with JA at starting point guard. As I stated above, I don’t hold this against JA nor do I have any ill will towards him. Who I hold accountable for this is CBH who has put JA and the team in a position where they cannot be successful.

Although I obviously do not speak for CBH, here is my best understanding of playing JA so much and not starting TH. With DG gone and JK hurt, we are suddenly very inexperienced and thin up front (hence why ND for all his faults is going to continue to keep significant minutes all season). Because of this, CBH doesn’t want to start TH and leave only BL and JMM to come in off the bench. When you look at it like this, it suddenly becomes understandable to play JA and ND so many minutes when all we have on the bench is BL and JMM both of whom leave a lot to be desired at this point. However, I would still rather have either of them in if it meant ML was at point for the majority of the game and TH had more minutes.

I think for RN to be his most effective, he needs to have a long above the rim player along side him. With ND and RN at the 4 and 5, we get abused inside by taller more athletic players. Having TH in at the 3 adds so much to our interior defense and rebounding that it makes no sense not to play him more. Now I haven’t seen TH knock down a jumper yet, but neither has JA save for a few shots against inferior opponents. But he doesn’t need to be a jump shooter on this team since MR, ML, and hopefully ND provide this dynamic to the offense. I would much rather have an active TH around the rim than a JA doing half hearted pump fakes with his defender ten feet off of him.

Sadly, until JK comes back, I don’t see JA moving out of the starting lineup. CBH has an extremely risk averse personality that leads him tp try something once, but if it doesn’t work immediately, he wont try it again. We’ve seen this with his “attempt” at zone defense and now after the Kansas game, are seeing it again with JA as a starter. CBH has always liked to pick a lineup/rotation and stick with it all year. This year must be very difficult for him with all the injuries (and DG) causing such turmoil. As such, he seems to be clinging for any consistency that he can find rather than grow a pair and try something different.

but i am not concerned about the offense as i am the defense. our offense cannot overcome our poor defense. given our history with ben ball, it is clear that it has always been defense that has gotten us to the promised land. and under this scenario, JA and ND are still the main culprits. he needs to pull any player who is not hustling, hedging, helping, rotating, getting back, stopping the ball, etc.. 110% of the time they are on the court. you cannot expect every shot to fall, but you can always count on good hard nose defense. CBH needs to step this up big time.

and i am befuddled like all of you as to why JA is still out there although he is not always in there at the end of the game. but i would think as a coach, CBH would pull JA out more often and “coach” him and then reinsert him thus “teaching” him. instead, he is like phil jackson letting the upper class men figure it out on their own. CBH should bench JA just to make him more hungry. it seems that he lacks confidence, aggressiveness, and leadership necessary for that position.

it would be interesting to see the +/- numbers while JA is on/off the court. Granted, such numbers would probably be minus for all of our players (with the possible exception of RN, maybe), but I would guess JA’s numbers would be more of a minus than most.

How many weeks have we all been spouting various ideas on how to create a rotation around less PT for JA and ND? It’s obvious to me that Howland is going to stick with what he’s been doing. I’m not suggesting members of this blog can’t keep theorizing, but for me, I’m so totally burnt out on these posts! They just get me more frustrated at the Caretaker! I can’t stay mad at him!

I can’t speak for everyone, but CBH does not owe me anything. This is his team, his players and I trust him judgment wholeheartedly. No one knows what the team is going to look like in a month or how it will fare in the Pac 10. From what I could see Saturday, I think they’ll do alright once Honeycutt gets further up to speed.

I certainly do not think Howland is beyond criticism and have said so before. He’s assembled this team so he deserves some fault for its failings. But let’s face it, the Bruins are not very good this season. I doubt things would be much better if Holiday had returned. Even if they manage to make the tournament, a long run is not realistic.

If by this time next year the Bruins are still flailing away with no hope for the future, then I will start to worry.