Want to Dance? BYU or Bust
by DCBruins on Dec 17, 2010 4:32 AM PST
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PrintHow dire is the situation for the Pac- 10? As the Orange County Register writes in a caption "Because of the Pac-10 woes, Coach Ben Howland and UCLA might be in a must-win situation when they face BYU at the Wooden Classic at Honda Center" to this article which Ben Howland tries to dismiss in a defense of the PAC 10:
"I don't think it will be the last ranked team we play this year," Howland said.
Ah, CBH, who would that be? The Pac-10 has no one in the top 25. After BYU, UCLA next best out of conference opponent is . . . CHP's St. John's. I realize that CBH wants to defend the Pac-10 but that is getting tougher by the day.
Part of the problem with the Pac-10 many would allege is the lack of seniors. While the hot nearby San Diego State has five seniors on its roster, the same article points out the Pac-10 is lacking seniors. As a result, the Wooden Classic game against #16 BYU is looking like a must win:
Actually, there are just 16 seniors playing in the conference this season. UCLA, Stanford and Washington State do not have a senior on their rosters. . . .
Time and options are running out for the Bruins. UCLA can earn an automatic NCAA Tournament berth by winning the Pac-10 Tournament. Or it can win the regular season title. But based on the season so far, the conference shouldn't expect more than the two tournament berths the NCAA granted the Pac-10 last March.
This means if UCLA is to have any hope of an at-large berth it probably needs to win Saturday.
CBH seems to agree on the lack of upperclassman:
"These games matter so much in November, when you're barely getting going and out of your first 20, 25 practices," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "It really is an advantage to have an experienced team of upperclassmen to return."
Cal Coach Mike Montgomery summed up the Pac-10:
"Everybody's had a loss or two that would raise an eyebrow."
So I guess the good news is the Pac-10 stinks and the bad news is the Pac-10 stinks. UCLA needs to beat BYU to realistically have a shot at the Tournament without winning the conference outright or the Pac-10 Tournament. Back in Coach's day winning the conference was the ONLY way into the tournament. However beating BYU would make things much easier.
More good news for UCLA as the season goes on is the development of Josh Smith. The old joke that the good thing about freshman is they become sophomores seems to apply to Smith in the experience part at least. At the recent Pac-10 coaches' media day, CBH raved about Smith:
"His big thing is getting in better, better condition for him to play more minutes," Howland said. "He's got unbelievable hands. His hands are just incredilble. ... He has to learn to play lower and not so erect. He's really going to be a good player when you consider he's just a freshman right now."
Is it possible to say Josh Smith without using the word "big?" The UCLA frontline of Smith, Honeycutt, Nelson and Lane will be the big advantage over BYU Saturday. BYU will likely be without two of their bigs on Saturday.
The Bruins have possibly the biggest front court the Cougars have seen to date this year. . . .
If both Noah Hartsock and Chris Collinsworth are unable to go, the Cougars could find themselves in a difficult situation. With just Brandon Davies and James Anderson as available bigs on the inside, BYU could find itself very thin, especially if Davies continues his trend of picking up fouls.
For UCLA this may be a throw back game to the Wooden era in style. On offense to win, UCLA needs it to be a big man's game: pound it inside, win the battle of the boards and draw fouls. BYU will want to hit threes and be led by player of the week in All-America Guard Jimmer Fredette. More on the preview tomorrow.
While Coach will be represented in part by his great-grandson UCLA walk on Tyler Trapani, this will be an especially poignant Wooden Classic:
Howland said taking part in the Wooden Classic without Wooden in attendance was "really going to be difficult," though he liked having a link to the venerable coach on the bench.
"It's really special for me to have that Wooden blood as part of the program," Howland said, "because it is his program and it will always be."
Go Bruins!
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There won't be a dry eye in the place tomorrow
The halftime video montage at the Wooden Classic has always given me chills, but tomorrow it’ll probably be some watery eyes.
Let’s do this for Coach – both players and fans.
For those of you in the area, there are a TON of seats available. If you’ve never gone, the event is really pretty cool and definitely worth the price of admission.
Come early, be loud, and make each day your masterpiece.
Whose strengths will win the day?
It looks like a rinse and repeat of our last game, except BYU has better shooters. Hard to imagine we’d go away from force feeding the ball inside like we did last time, but I really hope we close out on shooters better than we’ve been doing, because last thing we need is to fall into a deep hole early by losing track of shooters when the ball goes inside.
It’s going to take discipline and focus for 40 minutes, but we bring the same intensity we brought to the KU game, we can definitely pull this one out.
If We Can Play the Way We Played Against KU,
and we should be able to, we can win out.
Since the KL year, I’ve been arguing against taking kids who will go one or two and done. It’s not the way to build continuity and the experience to win championships.
And, I’ve given CBH more deference than most here because he has lost so many players early.
Now we are seeing formal recognition that the lack of experience/seniors has rendered the entire conference weak. Who cares that the Pac 10 has a lot of young guys in the NBA? Not me. I’m not an NBA fan. I’m a Bruin fan and I think the key to rebuilding us is to get kids who are 3 and 4 year projects.
I actually thought Reeves was the perfect example of that player until I started hearing that he has ambitions of leaving after this year and may be adjusting his game to grease his exit. If that’s true, it sucks.
I wonder how one can evaluate talent with an extra eye — the first two for talent and character and the third for longevity. I hope CBH can figure it out.
sjh
What you're asking for is nearly impossible
You are basically asking the coaches to predict the future, to recruit players based on the potential that 3 years down the line, they become good players. Which means recruiting kids are aren’t very good in high school…and if they’re not very good, how would they get noticed? And you still run the Westbrook risk anyway…
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
There are two sides to that coin
Leaving aside that I don’t believe there is a surefire way to not recruit one or two and dones, having the ambition to take your game to the next level often goes hand in hand with motivation and work ethic. I don’t think that’s something you want to outright reject. I’m sure RW was not recruited as a two and done, but he ended up being one because he put in the work and he was coachable. Who am I to discourage that?
I think at the heart of the matter which you’ve addressed here is that we are lacking continuity, but for that I wouldn’t look at the early entries; I would look at the transfers. We’ve lost an awful lot of players that way as well, and yes, some of them were for good reason, but that goes back to talent evaluation. It’s not that we should be avoiding potential early entrants. We should be recruiting kids who have the personality and character to stick with things when times are tough. In addition, it’s about communication. That CBH admits he was blindsided by the Carlino transfer is a concern, and it tells me that the lines of communication aren’t open. Could be a potential red flag when you think about our transfer situation.
Westbrook vs. Carlino, HOliday v. Love
Westbrook is a happy problem. If CBH finds and develops a kid into a lottery pick more power to him. No problem or blame there, actually credit should be there.
On the other hand, Carlino wanted to play PG, was told he was going to play PG, and could not beat out Anderson for backup PG. There is blame here. Recruiting a whiny cry baby Daddy’s (the only person who has ever played him at Point) boy who could not wait AND/OR recruiting a kid that did not have enough talent to play the position.
On Holiday and Love. Kevin Love was a one and done, fine. We all knew it. I would take the next Kevin Love. Should CBH, have known that Holiday was a one and done? That had some pretty dramatic consequences because CBH was not prepared when he left. I guess the moral to me is it is fine to take some one and dones, just be ready for their leaving.
we need to allocate blame correctly
I can hold CBH at fault for misevaluating Anderson/Lee as potential point guards, but not for not having a contingency plan for Holiday’s departure. We just didn’t have a double contingency plan for Holiday departing and Anderson/Lee sucking at the point. And, if you recruit players as double contingencies (see: Carlino), then they are likely to up and leave if they don’t get time!
by britishbruin on Dec 17, 2010 11:49 AM PST up reply actions
Okay that works for last year?
But I don’t see how it works for this year.
sure
but my assumption was that Holiday was either one-and-done or two-and-done (surely even CBH didn’t expect three years of Holiday). So by my reckoning, any issues this year are nothing to do with being blindsided by Holiday… which is nitpicking over nuance, I just don’t see this year (or next year) as being the result of CBH not planning for Holiday’s departure – just misevaluating…
by britishbruin on Dec 17, 2010 8:24 PM PST up reply actions
Any player who excells in our program
figures to be an early exit to the NBA. RW and TH are prime examples. Additionally, DC was the exception. He could have left but elected to stay.
We could not compete with a team of BL’s, without TH and JS. JS will be an early exit. It seems unavoidable. A coach has to continually reload, a la Calipari, to stay at the top. Its not an enviable task.
Unfortunately, this results in a coach having to teach the basics over and over, instead of building on what he taught the year before.
by 75NatChamps on Dec 17, 2010 10:08 AM PST up reply actions
There's a sensible irony here
DC staying actually took CBH by surprise. Holiday was coming to take his place. I love DC for staying and it was the right thing to do…but if he had left as expected, we probably wouldn’t be in this situation at our PG position…
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Hoping for an improved Reeves in one aspect of his offense...
… which is his ability to finish when he takes a pass in the low post. I do not mean when he’s running hard on a fast break where he can readily elevate of slam dunks. I mean when he’s down low, close to the basket. After the exhibitons/cupcakes of our early schedule, it seems that Reeve’s has had trouble with this situation. He either gets stuffed (which seems to happen often on his first offensive possession in recent games) or he loses an opportunity for the “and 1” play. More than last year, it seems that there are several plays each game where he elevates and can’t get the ball above the rim. Am I imagining this?
The problem is
He has a good first move out of the post, but the defender has usually watched tape/is able to adjust. He needs to learn some counter moves. Just watch Pau Gasol to get some great counter moves and see some great footwork.
by OswegoBruin on Dec 17, 2010 10:04 AM PST up reply actions
Agree
He need to pump fake under the basket and draw fouls. Then he has to hit the free throws.
by 75NatChamps on Dec 17, 2010 10:09 AM PST up reply actions
Absolutely! That's so basic - but we never see Reeve's doing that.
I just a bit disappointed that with all his strength he doesn’t more often power through the foul, make the bucket and go to the FT line.
Those of us that are at least fifty and over
Coach’s unsurpassed triumphs, his team’s perennial dominance coincided with a society in political upheavals, mercilessly ravaged by angry protests and senselessly tragic assassinations. They became seared in our minds as we lived through our formative years, bewildered and awed at the same time.
His brand of coaching philosophy, stressing athletic achievements through personal excellence and scholarly discipline, contrasted so affectingly with the raging furies of others in the streets, demanding change through wanton destructions and reckless personal means.
I always became misty eyed, sentimental but proud of my personal journey through that momentous era when Coach and his winning ways became our beacon of hope and youthful optimism.
What a blessing to know that he, from way up high, will be smiling at us tomorrow again.
Great Post
You have a wonderful way with words, Htse005.
Automatic Ds and Fs for first comp
just to put us Fr in our place! Ah, the memories.
by mplsbruin on Dec 17, 2010 5:25 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
I loved the turbulence, the challenge to authority, the mobilization of power ---
I was on campus when the Free Speech Movement hit, when the war protests began, and when we were all sensing our power and flexing our wings.
Learning to navigate that turbulence was one of my life’s most important lessons.
HT makes an important point — as strong as we were in the streets (and we were strong), we were equally strong in the stands (Pauley and the Coliseum for our home games).
Looking back, I realize that as with today, college sports can unify a campus, cross diverse lines, and bring disparate souls together — just as they did back then.
Young ’uns, I wish you the same experiences we had, both in and out of the stands. May you learn the power of strong ideals and the community building power of sports.
sjh
We took our pleasures where we could find them.
And escaped into our own comfort zones, undoubtedly because of the chaos around us. You’re so right in saying that Coach and the team(s) were a rock of salvation; something we could count on and believe in. As an old timer now I often think of Dickens’ “those were the best of times…..those were the worst of times.”
Not nearly the same for us
but we had the LA riots, OJ, El Nino, the Malibu fires and the big earthquake in the 90’s. And we also won a championship then…
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Never thought of it like that
Sylmar eathquake was 1971, we won that year and the next. Northridge was 1994, we win the next year. Of course, Whittier was 1987 and I think those were the last days of the Hazzard era.
by bruinbabe2000 on Dec 17, 2010 1:48 PM PST up reply actions
Well, in 1974 Nixon resigned in disgrace and.....
NC State’s Wolfpacks ambushed us. Then when President Ford surprised the nation with the Nixon pardon, we overcame the odds and won it one more time for COACH. in 1975.
I was there in the San Diego Arena when a flagrant foul on Dave Meyer drew COACH’s ire. Even one of the referees approached the UCLA bench, muttered some words of comfort to him. Those were the days. Imagine you do it now, and speak your mind about a foul, or any foul.
Following COACH’s retirement the next year, I went back to Westwood during spring break in Wisconsin. We saw COACH jog walking inside the football practice field next to Pauley. He cut a healthy, spryly figure, acknowledging our cheers and hollers the way a grandfather would to his grand kids.
Such are theheart warming thoughts, fond memories of yesteryears when COACH graced our lives. Tomorrow will be a teary eyed occasion for us to see COACH again.
Coach had some kind of heart incident in the early 70's
So he walked the track at Drake Stadium almost every day. He was friendly to all the students, as you would expect of Coach, but generally of a person of his stature.
Speaking of graciousness...
May I impart an experience I had with Coach Howland two seasons ago.
I hadn’t been to a game at Pauley for many many years and decided to take in the Stanford game. Didn’t know that it would turn out to be one of the best games of the season, although it was followed by the Cal game which was likewise one of the best. As an aside, I was up in the 300’s behind the west basket. Late in the game when we were at the free throw line and would make a crucial FT, the crowd, and Pauley was quite full, would erupt out of near silence into a deafening roar in an instant. Wow!
Anyway, I decided to stay after the game figuring my 2 hour drive back to Santa Barbara could wait, especially since I was so pumped. I got auto graphs of nearly all the team members, even Love’s Dad who was hanging around.
Then, after all that, here comes Howland after his post game with the radio station. A line starts to form for autographs and photos. Lots of people and kids. He would bend down to the small kids height so his head was nearly even with theirs.
Then it was my turn. I happened to be wearing a shirt I got from the sports guy at the station I work for who went to an event where Howland was the reason for the event. You know he coached (assistant) at UCSB, right? Anyway, the shirt has just Howland’s head wearing a UCLA baseball cap with the caption “Howland…Goleta home boy”. Goleta is the town in which UCSB is located and is also where he spent some of his youth. No, the rumor that he dated Katy Perry is not true.
Well, he saw that and went wild. Grabbed me around the neck, asked how I was and then we posed for a picture.
But, even though that was rather cool, that was not what impressed me the most. What he did to so impress me was to stay around until the line was completely exhausted. Remember, it was then about 11:00pm or later. I remember vividly him saying to anyone hanging around the vicinity within earshot “anyone else?”.
Now, that’s class!
need to find a way for our bigs to score against the zone
Otherwise our size advantage is moot.
by RealisticBruinFan on Dec 17, 2010 5:25 PM PST reply actions
UW
Although not ranked currently, they should work their way back into the middle of the top 25. We play them 2×.
by DoubleTroubleBruin on Dec 17, 2010 10:30 PM PST via mobile reply actions
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