Howland's Words (Of Contrition & Frustration) Are Meaningless

I take back everything I said last week about improvement, reasons for optimism or a non-losing record. Watching that game last night was heartbreaking – it was the first time ever (including that horrible 2000-2002 stretch) that I seriously considered finding something else to do for the second half.

It is hard to believe that this was the team that beat Cal last weekend. The team returned to running no semblance of an offense and did it without any energy. Roll and Dragovic took horrible shots. This team may show flashes down the stretch of being a decent team, but essentially we need new players. When we are in love with RN, who basically cannot get off the ground and bulls his way to the basket only to miss or get fouled and misses the freethrows, that is a sad state. RN makes a young AA look like a superstar, and yet that is all we have. RN should be the 8th or 9th guy off the bench of a bruin team, injected to give some energy, not close to being a starter as a freshman. The players are simply not Div 1 players, and that is the sad fact. CBH did not get the desired recruiting results, and if it doesn’t improve, UCLA will fall out of the ranks of the teams challenging for NCAA for some time to come. That being said, except for this year, I love the way CBH teams play, and I hope he gets talented players willing to play his system, like JF, LRMAM, JS, Afflalo, AA, KL, and the most loyal Bruin of them all, DC. One year does not a coach make.

If you want to disagree with what I wrote above, that is fine. However, what will not be acceptable is if you attack any member of BN moderators. Also, if you want to offer arguments as how a losing season will be acceptable for UCLA, then you should offer your arguments in the same detail we have done it previously. People will take your comments seriously when you offer your arguments supported by facts and context.

I know winning a BB national championship is a freakish thing, but I was disappointed over the last several seasons when the Bruins were unable to do it with 3 NBA starters on their various teams. And I questioned Howland’s strategy, especially clock management.

I got ripped for it here. Now I see that others are starting to agree with me.

There’s no doubt that CBN took over a dysfunctional program that the joke of a coach ruined, but I don’t think he fulfilled his or its potential.

Three straight NCAA final fours in this competitive age is impressive, but I was at UCLA when we won 10 NCAA championships in 11 years, with the greatest coach (in any sport) of all time. So, I guess I am spoiled. But this present team is so bad and at some point it’s the responsibility of the coach, that I think we have to tell CBN we want better from him and his players.

I worry about the future. What recruit would want to come to a place that has no O and is comical at best on D? None of these guys are leaving anytime soon for NBA riches – so that appeal is out the window. And kids these days, for the most part, aren’t going to care much for those 4 letters they could have draped across their chests. The rebuilding schtick only works for coaches who have shown they are doing that. Things need to get better in a hurry – I’d like to think things have hit rock bottom, but there’s only so much weeks in a row you can keep telling yourself that.

2004 – (Inc) .. too soon to grade for me
2005 – (A+) different attitude had taken hold
2006 – (A+) thanks to emergence of Hollins
2007 – (A) showed our guts, but offensive inability gets exposed.. especially when you just can’t stop a team like Florida you have to generate good shots.
2008 – (B) too much talent to get owned in that final 4 against Memphis, this is when I began to really grow concerned about our bouts of stagnation on offense.
2009 – (A-) unlike most I actually think he did a decent job given the talent.. this should have been a decent down year type of season. We just had no interior defense with Aboya improving remarkably, but stuck as a center we couldn’t hope for much more than what we ended up with. In hindsight this grade could be lowered I suppose given that our frosh got very few minutes.
2010 – (F) zero improvement from game 1 up until now. Some players at times look more comfortable, but as a team we look totally clueless. That had led to an uneven effort which is frustrating beyond belief. They are making the game of basketball look so hard out there at times. I would argue are uneven effort is also directly correlated to a player like ND. If we are stuck relying on his good shooting to win us games then we are in serious trouble. I would rather go in the direction of good basketball players and size. We need to get the other team on their heels and get early fouls on other teams bigs. No settling for jumpers. I would also starting getting youth much more experience. This season is dead from a postseason perspective. I don’t want a Lavin pac10 tournament run if its not earned unless of course we miraculously started playing games like it means something and its fun out there the 2nd half of the season.

My overall grade counting this half season would now be a B. Coming into this season probably between a B+ and A- which is the minimum I would expect of a coach at UCLA. A solid B or B- for me would indicate a coach on the bubble. How we finish this season and next season are obviously critical to our long term health with CBH now. I approve in the end, but not my alot.

Worry a little about banging inside given that no one can shoot >60% from the stripe, but jumpers aren’t working either. Nelson and Lee have some shown some ability to do some work inside – and even Roll on occasion. Next year will be interesting – either Howland conjures up the biggest turnaround in recent memory or the choice will be obvious. Would really hate to see the latter, but from where we sit now, I just can’t fathom this mix of coaching and talent orchestrating the former. There are just no bright spots.

I am more and more sure that our problems lie with the roster, and not CBH’s system.

However, CBH’s selection of players over the last 3+ seasons produced this roster. And it wasn’t until this year that it became glaringly obvious (at least, to me) that his selection process has been flawed.

Unfortunately, next year’s class was selected using the same flawed process. This makes me wonder why we expect them to be any different from the last 2 classes, and why next year won’t be more of the same as this year.

After a 9-4 season! The players are EXACTLY like them! A bunch of underachieving players with a great (game minded) coach.

I still can’t fathom the idea of putting Howland on the hotseat. I think we’re just overreacting to poor timing really, but still, this has been an abysmal season.

Let me put it this way: it’s 100% unacceptable, but have a little faith, Howland is a great coach

I think the best thing for this program would be to get new blood in the staff and CBH to make some changes there in the offseason. As it stands now, CBH runs a monarchy with a bunch of yes-man who don’t really bring much to either recruiting or advanced scouting. But changes there will have to wait for the offseason and knowing Howland, probably wont occur. Its much better in his mind to just keep doing the exact same thing even if it is failing than to switch to something that might be better.

As for this season, for the first time, I have no idea what to think. The Pac 10 is still terrible and we could very easily end up in the top 5 or get hot in the tournament and make the NCAA tournament. Of course, we could also not win another game all season too.

I would like to see BL get much more playing time, but not necessarily at the expense of ND. ND still gives a chance to win games, JK does not. BL can do everything that JK can do (which isn’t saying much), is taller, quicker, and not mentally destroyed like JK is.

I would also like to MAH get more minutes at backup point over JA. I know we worry about ruining JA’s ego, but he still doesn’t get it (the complaining after he pushed the SC player in the back on the breakaway was a embarrassing). MAH is a much better shooter than JA and at least has a little bit of heart, something JA has not shown.

As for MM, I agree with you Nestor that it would be nice if he got some playing time. Unfortunatley our only two consistent scoring options are MR and ML who play ahead of MM. MM could get some time as TH’s backup where he could play his more natural small forward position, but this would mean more time for ML at point (since JA/ML/MR is the lineup when TH goes out). This would be fine with me, but then poor JA gets left out again.

In sum, this season is a disaster. No player has really earned any playing time. Some of the starters aren’t getting it done, but the bench hasn’t exactly pushed the starters for their minutes either. The coach stubbornly pushing a square peg into a round hole hasn’t helped matters.

but those words mattered a lot more after the State school losses – they matter less and less with every additional listless performance. Incremental improvement would be acceptable. 1 step forward and 2 steps back is a little harder to swallow.

to come out so flat in our rivalry game was disgusting.

Or does the rivalry mean nothing to this age group.

To us Geezers, it meant everything. You don’t want to lose, in anything, to sc. And, not the way we lost, yesterday.