Washington Humiliates UCLA, As Howland's Gutless Coaching Costs Bruins More Than A Game

great finish MR

I’d be nice if college basketball had that +/- stat that the NBA keeps for each player on yahoo sports. I’d love to see the +/- on Drago.

Did the guy on MLB net commentating in the game just drop an N bomb

I don’t believe in “moral victory” losses but humiliating losses this late in the year are unacceptable. I knew we were going to lose this game, just like i thought we would beat WSU, but this was terrible.

Can’t argue with the assessment above. Looked like Lane deserved additional minutes ahead of ND, and that Bobo may have deserved a little more time in place of RN (who seemed to give up on defense early).

Have to say that in addition to the surprising in-game decisions the lack of preparation for this game was scary. We didn’t have any idea how to attack them or any idea how to defend them. Mismatches all over the place, somehow always against us.

MR tried hard to step up on offense when it became clear the point guards weren’t getting it done, but was torched defensively and had a bad shooting night. ML’s best contributions were when he wasn’t playing point, but was pretty bad all night. JA had some good moments in garbage time. TH wasn’t terrible but was below his usual standards.

everyone takes the blame for this one. it was ugly. ball handling to shooting to rotation to energy to coaching…

i get what you’re saying N about CBH and Rago. It is mind boggling. then the rest of the team…damn.

the privilege these players got, the scholarship and everything came too easy for them…they have no appreciation. how can the coaching staff have wrongly evaluated this crop of “talent” or lack there of? I mean, damn! ML can’t even dribble around the perimeter without shaking in his shoes whenever someone’s pressures just a bit with a little hand motion. Our centers can’t post up for shi*. Our team can’t figure out any defensive or offensive scheme. The athleticism is so poor…DAMN! Really? The scouts thought this was America’s best group of kids to play for UCLA?

It is time, after a loss like this to start playing the young guys and give them experience. I know that has been discussed already, but today’s game was horrible.

We absolutely need to start playing a new rotation. RN has the passion and energy in the game, but as posted above, he absolutely shouldn’t be playing the 5. We’ve seen his struggles at that position on both sides of the ball.

After these last two games, BL and JMM should absolutely get the majority of the minutes that Rago has played, and Keefe’s as well of course. We saw what BL did tonight and we know he’s got potential at the 4.

And not to pile on Reeves as we’ve done above, but he needs to be moved from the 5. It’s not just on D, but on O, when he gets the ball down low, his first thought is to go for the basket and not to pass it out or find others.

Of course, he’s a freshman, so he’s got a lot to learn from the game. Personally, I’m amazed at how much Bobo has come along even from the beginning of the year and he should get a lot more consistent time at the 5. His pass out of the double to the screener (TH) for a layup was a beauty. Of course, he got pulled shortly after..

During the offseason Alumni Association dinners or conferences where they’ll have the head coaches as the keynote speakers, I want everyone to ask why his coaching was terrible this entire season and what he is gonna do to shore it up on and off the court. Also, ask him if he knew that Nikola Dragovic was Serbian for “No Basketball Skills.”

ND won us some games this year. This year is worse without ND. Also Nestor has not said don’t play ND.

But CBH needed to mange ND better. A cold ND is no good unless we are playing UW in the first game and they key their defense on stopping him (tonight they keyed on pressing our guards). So yes you need(ed) to play ND BUT

1. You need to give him the hook when he is cold.

2. You need to tell him to go low more. He is a decent post up player and is also a good driver when matched against a traditional 4. If he won’t do this, you need to yank him.

3. He will never be a good defender, either will MR. But MR tries as hard as he can. ND needs to try more. In other words, it is okay to play zone to cover the deficiencies of your talent but that talent has to do its best.

4. At this point, as Bruinponcho says, it is time to give up on ND.

Not managing ND is telling people (Nestor is arguing RN) that they can play for UCLA without playing D or being held accountable. That is a big worry.

However, I agree 75 that even if he did all this, we would not be a great/good team. PG is the most important position in college basketball and our best point guard is an out of control 2 guard. But I always considered the winning season more important.

But now I agree with Nestor I think we would better shape for the future if we held ND (and maybe RN) more accountable.

I am not as sure about all this but thought I would throw it out there.

if for no other reasons than I have done it so repeatedly that it becomes embarrassing and too time consuming for me to do it. There is an obvious disconnect within this team between themselves, as well as between their coach and themselves, that it is affecting everything that they do. They don’t do anything well. The problems are too numerous to list……although we all try. I am done. That is why CBH gets paid good money, to figure these problems out and correct them. If he wants to keep making the same mistakes game in and game out, then so be it. If he wants to keep relying on guys who don’t care about the game, then so be it. If he wants to limit the minutes of the guys he’ll need to bust their butts for him next year, then so be it. I guess if I want to go see some good basketball, I’ll have to head off to watch CIF girls basketball playoff games…………like I did tonight…….so be it. At least I saw some players who cared.

So I went to bed before this thread went this far.

If I’m Bobo, I’m calling LSU this morning to ask if they’ll take me back. Couldn’t be worse. At least he’d be getting some playing time.

The low point of the commentary to me, as a geezer, came when Roberts pointed out that the worst UCLA loss in Seattle previously was in 1975, Coach Wooden’s last regular-season game, and the Bruins went on to win the championship. Bilas then listed some of the players on that team, but omitted David Meyers. And Knight said, “The reason UCLA won in 1975 was that Scott May broke his leg.” At that point, I turned the damn thing off.

I really thought that after the WSU game we’d see Bobo and Lane starting and getting a lot of minutes. Maybe Lee, Roll, Honeycutt, Lane, Bobo, and Nelson first off the bench. I never dreamed Dreckovic, after all those horrible games, would not only start but throw up a totally embarrassing brick—and then not get yanked!

Oh, well. I guess I’ll stick to the Olympics next week and not bother to burn the midnight cable just to watch more of these fiascos.

Living in the Great Lakes region, I tuned in the UCLA game, just to catch an"out of region" game for me. I couldn’t get past halftime, had to turn it off. I can see why there is so much angst on the board. Not only was that not the ‘UCLA Basketball’ that I remembered from years gone by, this was just godawful basketball. I wish you fans luck in getting this mess straightened out.