More Howland Thoughts On Next Season ...

by Achilles on Mar 26, 2009 4:00 AM PDT in Basketball Comment 11 comments

David Lassen of the Ventura County Starr talked to Ben Howland about next season:

“It’s going to be the youngest team since I’ve been here,” said Howland, with the possible exception of my second year, when we started three freshmen because Ced (swingman Cedric Bozeman) got hurt.”

* * *

“I always have said that I think you see the most improvement in a college basketball player between their freshman and sophomore years, when they really see how it’s a different level, and the guys are older and stronger. I expect our freshman will take a big jump between this summer and next year. Russell (Westbrook, who blossomed dramatically as a sophomore) was the classic example of that.”

* * *

“I think they’re all going to have to contribute,” said Howland. “Just look at the numbers. We have three seniors back in (Michael) Roll, Nikola and James. No juniors, and then you have five in each class, assuming Jrue is back. If not, four and five. So there’s a large majority of players that have one year under their belt or none. “We have five new players that are freshmen coming in this year, they all think have a chance to be good players. How much they can do in their freshman year remains to be seen. It is tough.”

* * *

“When you look at the teams that are left in the tournament right now, they have a lot of things in common,” Howland said. “One, for the most part, would be field-goal defense and rebound margin. This year, we were not nearly as good a rebounding team as we’ve been in the past. What we do next year in that department will obviously be a big part of how we end up doing.”

Next season should be very interesting and also a lot of fun. Howland will have a lot of raw talent at his disposal and it will fascinating to see how he fits it together.

The first big question for next year will be settled some time this spring when Jrue Holiday either stays or goes. If you think of next year's team as being on a journey, the Holiday decision represents a major fork in the road. If Holiday stays, then he's likely paired in the back court with either Malcolm Lee or Michael Roll and Jerime Anderson comes off the bench. If Holiday does not return, one presumes Anderson starts with either Roll or Lee -- but that dominoes into the playing time for freshmen like Tyler Honeycutt and Mike Moser.

The second question as far as I'm concerned will be the play of J'Mison Morgan. Morgan came into the season out of shape and never really played this year, but recent reports are that he's committed to staying at UCLA and he says he'll work hard to improve his conditioning and his skills on the court. I feel he has a lot of potential and that a contribution from him either as a starter or as a solid reserve behind Drew Gordon is essential.

Like this year, next year's team returns three seniors. Unlike this year, the seniors on next season's team (Roll, James Keefe, Nikola Dragovic) are role players (I realize Dragovic starts) who won't play the same senior leadership position that Darren Collison, Josh Shipp and Alfred Aboya did this year. As Howland indicated, next year's team will be very young. I feel expecations for next year should be guaged accordingly.

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A few thoughts

1. I’ve not taken the time to see how many of the remaining tournament teams start players who started last year. I have a hunch (meaning not supported by fact) that tournament time is the time that experience counts — that “sleeper teams” are often starting players that have played together, lots of minutes, in previous years. We’ve always said that we started three players two of whom had little starting or playing experience and one who had none and that that was part of the reason we were the team that we were — a highly successful team but one that was vulnerable at spots.

2. No matter what men want to believe, size does matter. And, we were not “big” where it mattered. JH, as good as he was, will be better after a year in the weight room — whether he plays for us or in the NBA. And, more importantly, the remaining members of the young guns — if they hit the weights hard — will have Westbrook like transformations. As we know, RW exploded not just because he had a year of experience but also because he hit the weights hard in the summer between his freshman and sophomore years.

3. In a like manner, in Ben Ball, toughness matters. I think the players we have coming back have a nucleus of people who can play tough — and by tough I mean in the LMR/PAA mold — if they want to. JK is one of them. Although he did not have his break out year — and I thought he would, he is big and strong. ND played a lot tougher this year, in spurts, than in years before. I think toughness is both a matter of strength AND attitude. ND has started to develop that attitude. At the beginning of this season he was still playing a bit weaker on D and letting the ball go by rather than getting on the floor for it. Then, he bought in and, with the exception of some lapses, really got tough. He played hard on the boards and — to the best of his ability — some good D stretches. I really expect him to be totally tough next year. Kids like DG and ML were tough this year — but somewhat smaller than need be to carry it out throughout the entire game (seem my comments about size matters — these are the guys, who if they spend their time in the weight room, will be dominant players).

3. Bobo: IIRC, as a child, Bobo had some serious problems with his legs. And, from what I recall, with grit and desire, he’s become a great player and overcome the vestiges of the problem. If that’s true, we have to be careful how we talk about and judge him. If he is running as fast as he can run and playing as hard as he can play, that’s all we can ask. If he’s not as fast on a hedge or quick coming down court AND that is a reflection of his body not his effort — so be it. I know he had other skills to learn, needs to learn the D — as do all new BenBall players — , and it is said that he needs to lose weight — but it is not fair to him to have expected more from him than one should expect from any freshman. It sounds like he will work very hard this summer. I look forward to seeing him next fall.

Bobo has become one of my favorite “I really don’t know much about him” kids. Much has been made about his comment about coming here “selfish”. I love the fact that he is both sufficiently perceptive and honest to make that statement. He’s still just a kid. Do you think he’s the only hot shit high school player who has come here “selfish” and with an expanded sense of self importance? How humbling it must be for these High School all stars to find out that they are surrounded by bigger and better players who know the system and game. Many of us here were probably high school valedictorians who coasted through high school only to get their first “C” or worse at UCLA in their freshman year. I think the criticism of Bobo is misplaced. He’s just a kid in his first year of college ball. To predict that he will never amount to anything is simply wrong. I love his attitude, his sense of team, and his laugh. He will make a major contribution to Ben Ball lore before he leaves.

4. I stayed out of the post game analysis that followed the end of our season. You all were doing so well. And, honestly, although I was not disappointed in our team, I really hated to see the season end. So, I just want to take a moment to thank the entire team for giving us such a great year — and congratulate JS, DC and PAA for being all that I would want a Bruin to be.

sjh

by Class of 66 on Mar 26, 2009 5:41 AM PDT reply actions 1 recs

66

You gotta put good stuff like this in fanposts my friend.

by Nestor on Mar 26, 2009 5:54 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Done

sjh

by Class of 66 on Mar 26, 2009 6:20 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

My two cents

I know I am not an expert nor a coach in my life, but I played a lot of basketball and watched countless basketball games since 50’s. I had posted several time to advocate playing zone when we don’t have quick and tall players. I felt learning to play zone is relatively simpler than man-to-man. I saw many times Coach Wooden switched game plans to suit the ponsonnel. Most of the time it worked. I don’t know what kind of team we are going to have, but I certainly hope Coach Howland would consider this option. Last year’s team, to me, is not a man-to-man team. I trust Coach Howland 100%, and I will support him whatever he chooses.

by NNL on Mar 26, 2009 10:25 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Am I an idiot for

Actually thinking that we’ll be better next year if Holiday stays, because we’ll be faster, bigger, and more athletic if Jrue/Lee/Gordon/well-conditioned Bobo are all starting and gelling together? Not to mention that our depth will be unbelievable (Jerime, Moser, Honeycutt, Drago, and Keefe could all start on any other Pac-10 team, and we’ll also have Reeves, Lane, and Stover), and we’ll potentially be able to score all over the court if Gordon/Bobo pan out, which IMO is a good bet.

by theslammer on Mar 26, 2009 1:09 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I agree

I think CBH is one of the greatest coaches in college basketball. But there is a part of me that wants to know and may be someone can help me understand: What is wrong with using different defenses when situation warrants it. Why does a team have to play man-to-man defense %100 of the time? Is there an advantage to doing this? is a Zone defense inferior in some way? I am not questioning the coach, neither do I have enough basketball knowledge to criticise, I just want to know and understand.
Go Bruins.

by cyberdbk on Mar 26, 2009 1:09 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

The best answer I can give

Is the three years before this one. A well played man-to-man defense with everyone on the same page is stifling and incredibly effective. We had the 3rd, 2nd, and 3rd best defenses in the country over that three year span. One could make the argument that this was done despite not having world-beating athleticism (a big factor in why pundits underrated us during our first two FF runs). CBH is now recruiting the bigger horses. The athletes with natural gifts. The challenge will now be to get them to buy in, which isn’t as easy as it seems when you consider that a lot of these guys have been tagged as pretty good defensively based on their athletic skill alone. They will need to adjust to defending Div 1 players individually as well as learn how to defend in “the system” where you effectively help your teammates as well.

by Tydides on Mar 26, 2009 1:52 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Also, when you play a strong man-to-man defense...

… there is likely a certain consistency re: teaching and fundamentals.

For example, if playing a zone, you may tell your guys to crowd when a shooter is on the high wings as opposed to the deep corners, and you may tell them to funnel palyers differently. Now, imagine if you decide to press at full-court, how those protocols change.

Now imagine a half-court trap.

Now imagine a 2-2-1.

Or a 1-3-1.

It’s very rare you’ll see a team play ONE of these defensne all the time, throughout an entire game, whether winning or losing.

With man, though, the principles are the same, although not encessarily easy. Anybody can get a hand in a shooter’s face, but the nuances of it — which hand to slide to, how to avoid contact, what angle to attack from to cut off passes, etc. — are hard to pick up unless you teach, rpactice, and develop it over hours of practice. This is why you can’t exactly just tell a team to do a full-court press in the last minute without some basic fudnamentals and practice of it beforehand. Just look at our press agaisnt Gonzaga versus our press agaisnt Nova — the former had only one freshman on the floor (LMRAM) with 4 guys with 1-2 seasons in the CBH system already, while this eyar’s press was msotly being done with freshmen with limited regualr-season PT.

Anyway, man fundamentals are always needed in any system, press or trap or box and 1 or whatever, and staying with it religiously makes it easier for individual skills to develop, and also allows for players to be on the same page re: rotations, double-teams, switches, weakside help, funnels, etc. I may question the frequent over-attack mode agaisnt spread-out systems, but 95% of the time, the system works best. At a minimum, it prepares our guys for the so-called “No-D” NBA, where they only have to deal with, oh, I don’t know, the biggest and fastest athletes in the whole frakking world.

Solid fundamentals. Universal application of skills. Consistency in teaching. Improvement through repetition. Development for future professional work.

Yeah, we can use some flexibility and adjustment now and then, but overall, IMO, all solid reasons for adhering to straight man-to-man D.

"In this program your passion bucket must be full to play SC." -- CRN, to Dan Patrick, 1/2008

by Meriones on Mar 26, 2009 2:12 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

One thing to point out

Collison was also on the court at the end of the Gonzaga game, seemingly as a safety. But then, he still more playing time that year than many of this year’s freshmen. Also, he’s really fast, and a really good defender, so he fits that role really well.

by jaffa on Mar 26, 2009 5:35 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs