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Hoops Roundup: All About Defensive Execution & Fundamentals
by Nestor on Nov 3, 2010 6:07 AM PDT
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PrintGuess the basketball season starts on Thursday night when UCLA takes on Westmont College at Pauley (7:30 pm PST on "BruinTV" which I guess is some kind of pain online streaming service). Westmont is an NAIA school. Last year the Bruins started the exhibition season against another NAIA program - Concordia - when they needed a pathetic buzzer beater from MAH to win the game (setting an ominous tone for rest of the season).
Not sure how much we can really make out of Thursday night's game (we will put up an open thread for it). It is going to be interesting to see who Howland starts at PG though. Right now he is not naming his starting PG. During this week's press conference when he was asked about it he noted that we are going to "find out" on Thursday. He didn't answer the question whether the time split between Jerime Anderson and Lazeric Jones will be 50-50. WATCH (thanks Jon for the video):
Howland also said our "defense is lot to be desired." Apparently in this week's practice apparently the guys shot 64% against each other. Interestingly Ben Howland singled out Tyler Lamb later during the press conference for doing a "very good job" defensively (who needs to work on his "jump shots").
He mentioned that Zeke Jones is "further ahead" than any high school freshman pg. He also praised him for being "tough" and not turning the ball over. Zeke apparently needs to work on ball screens and making better decisions in terms of generating the offense. Watch the video to form your own impression. Other tidbits from Gold include:
* I asked several players if the new transition offense was just a wrinkle Howland is trying to incorporate, or if the identity is changing to more of a fast-paced game, and the consensus was that this is a new identity. I'll believe it when I see it.
* Josh Smith did say, however, that at one point during a recent practice, Howland said, "You can't take the ball out of the basket fast enough." That's surprising.
Also from the OC Register on the chatter re. UCLA playing "fast":
"We've all wanted to play (fast)," Honeycutt said. "A lot of people have criticized that we're too slow. I doubt they'll say that we're too slow (now). If anything they'll say we're too fast."
Honestly, I find all the chatter about speeding up our offensive pace a little amusing. It is definitely helpful in terms of pushing a narrative through the tradmed (populated by morons who never understood or appreciated the fact that Howland has always prodded his guys to PUSH THE TEMPO TRIGGERED BY DEFENSE). However, I sure hope the regular members of this community, who have been here since the very first days of Ben Ball infatuation - starting in 05-06 (before Gonzaga bandwagon took effect) - appreciate the fact that Ben Ball has always been about getting fast breaks from defensive stops.
We got fast break points when we had back-courts of JF, AA, DC, and RW - that started with our defense. Guys like AA, DC and RW triggered plenty of fast break points and pushed the tempo through their commitment of defense. That didn't transfer over to the guys like Jerime Anderson and Jrue Holiday, who were more enamored with having a good time in Westwood and fast-tracking to bling bling than building on the tradition built by previous Ben Ball warriors.
Perhaps Malcolm Lee can bring back that kind of defensive leadership again as the captain of this team and reignite the old days of Ben Ball of pushing the tempo triggered by defense, but we will have to see. Similarly we will have to wait and see to find out exactly what Lazeric Jones brings to the table or whether Jerime Anderson is committed to salvaging his career (just like DT, CB and RH did during their closing years at UCLA).
But for now, I have to roll my eyes when I read about the "excitement" around our fast paced offense. It's silly. Let the tradmed guys fall for that. As for rest of us, who really want to follow this team, we need to zero in on our defense, rebounding and fundamentals. If the Bruins don't improve and take a step forward in those categories this upcoming season, none of the happy talk about fast paced offense during this off-season is going to matter.
For the Bruins to get back to the tournament (not back into it like a pathetic bubble team) it will have to start with defensive execution and being fundamentally sound in Howland's half court offense. It would entail fully committing to rebounding and playing Howland's intense brand of physical basketball. Hope guys like Lee, Honeycutt, and Anderson understand and appreciate the need for re-establishing that glorious culture of Ben Ball before getting all wrapped up in silly chatter of pace and tempo.
GO BRUINS.
This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of BruinsNation's (BN) editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of BN's editors.
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They need to D up and Rebound
The zone was implemented last year out of necessity, and we didn’t even do a good job of playing that.
Losing 98-90 is no better than losing 65-63.
Regarding speeding up the game:
I’m on record saying I would like CBH to speed up the game. However, I want to make a distinction between more fast break points which is what CBH has emphasized this off season; and not passing the ball around the perimeter before putting up an ill advised shot.
These are two very different things.
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
Yes
And fast break points start with defense. We used to have lots of it when we played defense. We stopped in last couple of seasons.
I think I know precisely what
the up tempo style Howland alluded to, really. But then I could be wrong in my interpretation too.
Howland’s slow down, defense oriented style reminded me of Bobby Knight’s golden days at Indiana. Those of us watching NCAA games in the 70’s and perhaps into the late 80’s before Knight’s personality disorder got the best of him can also tell you too. His teams played ruthlessly physical, defense oriented game. Their fastbreaks hinged on turnovers and defensive rebounds. Not all lightning quick nor dazzlingly athletic, the type of players Indiana recruited specifically excelled in such style much like the Ben ball warriors Pauley saw several seasons earlier. Naturally, I am not including the likes of DC, etc.
That last Hoosiers championship in 89, or 90, if I recall correctly , especially impressed people because talent wise, Jim Boeheim’s Syracuse team obviously was the better of the two. Yet Knight’s team prevailed in a last second shot from the corner.
Howland’s style, when he first came to Pauley, reminded me so much of the dominant Indiana teams of yesteryears. Those close games we won particularly enamored me, not for their beauty but substance and efforts which I thought should come before style.
The players then executed well.
So perhaps the often repeated premise that the coaching staff scouted the wrong players for such style indeed explained succinctly Howland’s woes the last two years. Now when he said it’s up tempo and what not, may be he had the inkling that the current crop could be coachable for such style.
Just my perception.
The uptempo style will work with great defense pressure
If you can get the ball up the court before the defense gets set you can get some easy
baskets. But UCLA must also play great defense to make it work. With Joshua Smith in the
middle UCLA should be able to control the paint force outside shots it’s a winning
combination. GO Bruins GO Bruins
A Comment on the Pace
This has always bothered me. It’s a smear campaign against CBH and UCLA that has really caught on. It started the first year we went to the final four, and then the NC game. The TV personalities commented that we had a very “deliberate” offense, and Ben called many of our plays. No mention of turnovers causing fast breaks. No mention of the Jordan Farmar five-seconds-into-the-shot-clock-pull-up-3s.
Opposing coaches needed to find a downside to UCLA’s success, so they started injecting the idea that UCLA wasn’t “fun”, played “slow” and that CBH was a “control freak” and would never “open up the offense”. Unfortunately, too many kids bought this line, including Drew Gordon. Everyone failed to mention that UCLA’s offense was consistantly among the top 10 in efficiency, and that we had many spectacular plays off turnovers (most notably in my mind? RW’s dunk against Kansas) from DC and RW. It’s a silly bit of mudslining, and it’s been remarkably effective against us.
Definitely
I think what we are seeing right now is a concerted effort on part of Howland to weave the narrative about UCLA playing up tempo. I am just saying that we should be smarter about the big picture in terms of what we end up seeing on court.
Encouraging news
That Zeke isn’t committing turnovers. Early reports suggested the opposite. This team has enough talent that all he has to do is take care of the ball and play solid D. Get the ball to the playmakers and knock down the occasional open three a la Cameron Dollar.
Is it me or does Holwand seem more energetic and upbeat than previous years? Hopefully for good reason!
by Waitingfornumber12 on Nov 3, 2010 1:54 PM PDT reply actions
Sometimes we guess right...
Didn’t we go through the whole football preseason saying that the tradmed was getting it wrong when it came to the pistol? The war cry here was that the pistol was going to be an occasional look and that the reporters were bozos for thinking that we would be operating out of it on a consistent basis.
Not saying that BN is wrong on this account but it seems like we might want to wait and see how this plays out before bashing the idea of a more up-tempo b-ball attack. Howland knows very well the strengths and weaknesses of this team. If I’m him and I’m looking at a team that will struggle in half court sets but should be able to gobble up defensive rebounds, I’d be looking to push the tempo too. I for one, would like to see Malcolm Lee (who will undoubtedly put up the most shot attempts this year) taking a lot of shots in transition.
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