[Updated] Getting Ready For A Hopeless Trip
by Nestor on Jan 5, 2010 2:14 PM PST
in Basketball
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PrintOver at California Golden Blogs, Avinash goes inside the numbers for UCLA's upcoming matchup against Bears. There is not much in there I can disagree with as he offers up the only bone for UCLA basketball fans:
The big thing that could help UCLA is if Jorge Gutierrez can't suit up, which would force Christopher and Robertson into more defensive assignments on the talented Lee and maybe stretch the Cal rotations a little more. That could open up Dragovic as a three point threat (he's very hot and cold with his stroke, but it wouldn't be shocking if he got going), slow the pace down and make Cal play a drag-it-out game. The Bears have to make sure they don't get sluggish in their offense and dictate the tempo--keep the ball moving, keep players moving, rotate onto their defenders, and show a similar effort to what they put up against the Cardinal.
Well Gutierrez is going to be out for tomorrow night's game but it is not going to matter much. I don't think Bruins have a prayer tomorrow night and honestly I am not really feeling all that inspired about watching a basketball team being led by Jerime Anderson and the Bricklayer from Belgrade.I know Anderson is hurt and it might mean we will see lot of Honeycutt but that doesn't give me a lot of confidence either. What exactly should we be looking forward to tomorrow night? What are the options:
- Our team can come out and play inspired basketball like they did against Notre Dame in the first half but then eventually melt after encountering the first signs of adversity
- Come out and look flat out of the gate both offensively and defensively and then get blown out and humiliated ala Mississippi State and Arizona
- Come out and play tough like they did against Butler and Kansas and then follow it up by laying egg at Maples Pavillion.
- Somehow pull out an "upset" but I don't think Jaron Rush is walking through that door.
Seriously, going into this game I have the exact same feeling as I was experiencing when I had to get ready for on those Dorrellian Saturdays to watch a Law Firm quarterbacked UCLA football team. It's hard to get excited to watch these guys but somehow Ryan and Patroclus will gather up their notes to discuss the Bay Area trip in tonight's podcast (6 pm PST). Some more thoughts after the jump.
Even without Gutierrez, the matchup against the Bears is going to be ugly. If you think our backcourt had a tough time against Arizona, I have no idea how the combination of Lee, Anderson and Roll will handle Randle (19.6 pg), Christopher (16.2 pg) and Robertson (12.9 pg). In our last two games, Howland tasked Lee with shutting down our opponent's key playmaker. The strategy worked against ASU as Lee was able to shut down Glasser, which effectively throttled the ASU offense. However, it blew up on our faces on Saturday when Fogg destroyed Anderson or whoever tried to get in his way.
Well if Fogg toyed around with the Bruins on Saturday (gulp) what exactly will Christopher do with either Anderson or Roll. The only solution I can think of here is if Howland decides to give Honeycutt loads of minutes early on at the expense of Anderson (and who knows it might happen given Anderson is suffering from a groin injury). And I am guessing defensively Howland might put Roll on Robertson because he is more of an outside shooter. Even with that aspect, I think Robertson should be able to handle Roll.
On the frontcourt, the Bears start junior Markhuri Sanders-Frison (6’7" 275 lbs.) and senior Jamal Boykin (6’8" 240 lbs.). If Bruins were to have any kind of shot we will need Dragovic (and Keefe) to D up against Boykin. I am not really counting on it (hey I never really hold my breath waiting for Drag to play defense).
If for some reason Dragovic goes off early on with his outside shot, Bears will probably bring Omondi Omoke who seems to be more of a defensive oriented player for Sanders-Frison. They also have a giant in Max Zhang (7’3" 240 lbs) who the Bear fans love watching like we used to with George Zidek back in the day. Either way, I don't really see the Bruin frontcourt having a shot against theirs even though their frontcourt might not be the strongest part of their team.
The bottom line is our guys can't defend the 1, 2 and 3. Lee can't guard Boykin, Christopher and Robertson at the same time. I don't see Howland mixing in any kind of zone defense in this game because he will be fearful of Cal shooters going off from the 3 point line. Perhaps I would be a little hopeful if we were a decent rebounding team and had shown consistent effort from our front court so far this season. But we don't have anyone in our team except for Nelson who has given us consistent effort in our front court and even Nelson gets lost a lot on defense.
Yeah, there is a chance Bruins will come out and play "hard" and show some "pride" early on but I don't see them sustaining that effort for the entire 40 minutes. They haven't done it for the entire season and I don't see them doing it all on a sudden with a current core in place. Still somehow I will be watching this game tomorrow evening and get ready to take my medicine with rest of Bruins Nation.
As I said above for more on this game and the Bay Area trip make sure to tune into BN podcast with Ryan and Patroclus tonight at 6 pm PST. They will have one of the guys from CGB crew sharing the Bear pov on tomorrow's game and more importantly I think their discussion on the state of our program in general is going to be very interesting. I am going to try my best to tune in. So should you.
GO BRUINS.
UPDATE (N): Well as soon as I finished writing this I read A's post about Honeycutt starting in place of Anderson. It is somewhat comforting I guess but not sure how much. I think his matchup against Christopher is going to be rough but I guess still not as hopeless as Anderson taking him on. We will still have defensive issues with Roll and will have to cringe watching Dragovic playing anti-Ben Ball on the front court. GO BRUINS.
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If you've read this far but didn't see the fanpost by Achilles...
TH to replace JA in the starting lineup!
Yeah
Will it make a huge difference? Perhaps a little but not sure how much though. Updated my post.
I don't think
it will make a huge difference, no. I’d like to see a couple of weeks with ML getting starter’s minutes at PG. I don’t expect this groin tweak to keep JA out or hobbled that long, but I am glad to see ML get more planned time at the point rather than just covering for a break of JA’s. Not a huge difference but to me a positive direction for the team.
A question a friend of my asked today in another forum
That made me shudder. Would Howland have given Jordan Farmar the minutes he got as a freshman if Bozeman hadn’t gotten injured during the 04-05 season?
Pessimism is one thing
Nestor buddy don’t get ridiculous. We owe Bozeman a favor because he was so bad at point he killed Lavin. CBH would never have played him at point and to his great credit rehabilitated him into a good defensive small forward.
Most reports out of practice
were consistent with what I’d been hearing that JF was leading Bozeman for the starting job when Bozeman got hurt.
Formerly ryebreadraz
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Jan 5, 2010 9:40 PM PST up reply actions
Farmar and Bozeman were competing for the starting PG job
Farmar would not have had so many minutes, but then again he had more minutes as a freshman than as a sophomore, when DC provided an alternative option at PG with JF sliding to SG. If Bozeman had been available, JF, AA and JS would all have got fewer minutes. We probably don’t go to the final four the following year without Ced, and I suspect JF doesn’t end up going to the NBA after his sophomore year. Which maybe means we never get RW.
Ug.
So stoked to hear that Lee is starting at point guard
Both Holiday and Lee were point guards, and neither really got/have gotten the time or start at that position. I’m excited to see how it turns out.
And I will be seeing it in person, as I will be at the game tomorrow night.
by inhowlandwetrust on Jan 5, 2010 2:36 PM PST reply actions
Whatever
I’m thoroughly unimpressed with Cal this year.
Will they beat us? Probably. But will they reach the NCAA tournament? I’m not so sure. They really are NOT that good, and it will show as the season moves on.
I’ll still watch and hope we can take that next critical step this year, but I’m also not holding my breath. Lets see what our boys can do!
Hopeless trip?
Not in my view – it may be overly optimistic, but I’m hopeful that UCLA can pull out at split this weekend, mostly because I’m heading to the Stanford game and don’t want to deal with the embarrassment of losing. Thus, I’m taking the path of foolish optimism! Ignorance is bliss.
Tickets Available?
JoeB, what is the best way to secure tickets down in Palo Alto? I am thinking of making the 180 mile drive but really don’t want to do it if its a sell out and all there is is scalpers. Maybe its the neighborhood (high rent district), but scalped tix in Palo Alto are usually tres cher.
stanford tics
Last time I checked, there were some tickets left through the Stanford website. If they have sold out, also check Craigslist. I have seen some good deals for both bay area games on the San Francisci site.
formerly bruinhoo
by Patroclus on Jan 5, 2010 5:06 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
they seem to be selling them on the stanford official site
$42/pop. The map suggests not great tickets. But I’ve never been to Maples (seriously considered going this year, but I’m feeling as optimistically about this game as Nestor and don’t need the additional depression right now.)
Go Bruins!
I've walked Maple while empty
and can tell you that it’s pretty small and I doubt there’s a bad seat in the house. Great looking arena.
Formerly ryebreadraz
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Jan 5, 2010 5:21 PM PST up reply actions
Well
As I wrote in the A’s Honeycutt thread, as hopeless as I am feeling I think it’s the Stanford game where we will have to make our last stand. I don’t see us having any shot tomorrow night. NONE whatsoever. I think it’s too much to expect us to win tomorrow with ML starting his first game at point and TH also getting his first collegiate start. However, if we can hang in there and then somehow use that experience to pull out a win on Sat, I think coming back to Pauley with 7-9 record will give us a shot.
The question I have in my mind though is whether Howland will just go back Jerime if he gets fully healthy. That will be akin to what we saw against Zona when we stopped zoning after doing it so well against ASU. Also, there are also the evergreen questions (at least as this season is concerned) about whether we can play hard and 100 percent efffort for entire 40 mins (can’t believe that this is even an issue for a Howland coached team).
Well, I broke down...
I’ll be at Maples on Saturday afternoon; hope you are right about making a last stand. Otherwise, this could turn out to be an ugly day trip.
formerly bruinhoo
I was lucky enough to get them through a friend who works for Stanford, so I’m not quite sure, but as Harsha notes below, you may still be able to get tickets on the Stanford site.
Stanford does still have a few
Upper section 6 is the best available that came up for me a few minutes ago – UCLA Bench side, behind the basket/corner. $50 after fees.
formerly bruinhoo
Thanks everyone....
Call me fairweather or whatever but driving 360 miles roundtrip and paying $50 or more (I would need two tix) just doesn’t excite me enough right now. The early start doesn’t help me either; would have preferred a night game even if it meant staying down there overnight. Besides, I think it may be TV’d up here in the Sacramento area. But thanks for helping me with the info.
Last year I was sitting in the student section at the Stanford game
There was a group of about 30 UCLA fans that got their hands on tickets in the floor level student section. We got ours through a friend but Stanford put them up for sale 2 days before the game. Keep an eye out for good seat options right up until the last minute.
And yes the students were big time pissed (though polite to us). They were made at their A department, not the UCLA fans.
by Bruin Dad and Grad on Jan 5, 2010 6:57 PM PST up reply actions
Now if CBH will start JK over ND (assuming JK is ready)...
… then I think that’s a lineup you can grow with. SERIOUSLY.
Having RN and JK together gives us, at least in theory, a Double Bash Brothers-type starting frontcourt, which I think is ESSENTIAL for CBH’s overall defensive scheme to work. As I mentioned last year pre-Tourney, consider who we have had at the power spots since 2006:
2006 — Hollins, Luc
2007 — Mata, Luc
2008 — Love, Luc
2009 — Aboya, Drago (?!?)
Now, granted, LMRAM, even as an early-entry, forever earned the lifelong praise and adoration of BN for his unrelenting defense and unmatched tenacity on the glass.
It would take divine providence on the level of loaves, fishes, and wedding-water-based zinfandel to turn JK into the second LMRAM.
However, assuming JK is recovered, I think it’s clear that he can at a MINIMUM bring more of the toughness and rebounding savvy that ND has only shown in all-too-brief flashes during his time at Pauley.
Think about it — big man hedges on screen and roll plays; big-man double teams in the post; outrebounding opponents for weeks at a time; opponents being unable to finish on open LAYUPS because they’ve been banged around a whole game.
ALL of that (or the biggest chunk of that) results from our big men locking it down inside.
We’ve often joked about how the KD football teams would never have been out-toughed if CBH were at the helm. There’s a train of thought that says that a football team’s O-line is nothing less than the engine for a team’s offense. If you have a strong, ‘97-’98 Bruins-style O-line, that’s like having a V12 hemi under the hood of an F-350 Super Duty truck. Ain’t no obstacle you can’t bowl over or hammer through with that much horsepower driving the steel.
The analog to hoops, esp. under CBH, would be the muscle at the 4 and 5 spots. LMRAM may not have been big, but he was strong, and he rode shotgun for a team with LMR at the pivot. God bless him, LMR is a great Bruin, a great guy… but NOT the next Lew Alcindor or Bill Walton or even George Zidek. What LMR did bring to us, though, was STRENGTH and the willingness to USE IT. On setting picks or guarding pick and roll, on glass or someone’s *ss, LMR banged around with every bit of his considerable strength, and, points or not, IT WORKED.
I submit that, given 2-3 games together, an RN-JK frontcourt can FINALLY give us the kind of interior toughness and strength that we need. Two bodies that can bang are WAY better than one.
It may not get us to the Sweet 16, but it will be a definite sign of growth and get us closer to the CBH-style of play we all know and love.
M
"In this program your passion bucket must be full to play SC." -- CRN, to Dan Patrick, 1/2008
Not going to happen
Howland is in love with Dragovic’s ability to “go off” 3-4 times (entire season).
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