Bruins "Survive at Home" Against Stanford
by Patroclus on Feb 4, 2010 10:40 PM PST
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PrintYes, those are the words used by the announcing crew to greet the final buzzer. Drago and friends limited Landry Fields to only (a career-high) 35 points! Along with Jeremy Green's usual 18 point contribution, and having 3 other guys available on the court at a time, the Cardinal stayed in the game until the final few seconds in a 77-73 victory for the Bruins.
The Bruins started the game strong, with as much focus and intensity as they have displayed at the opening tip as at any point this season. This did not translate into a command performance against the shorthanded Stanford squad, as the Cardinal held a small lead through much of the first half, entering the locker room up 32-29. The lead changed hands on several occasions in the second half, before the Bruins took the lead for good with a Drago 3-pointer with 6:40 left gave us a 59-57 lead. Thanks to the unusual tactic of actually making free throws down the stretch (10-13 in the final 5 minutes), the Bruins held on to their slim lead to leave Pauley as a .500 team.
Tyler Honeycutt continued to display his team-leading talent with another breakout performance, threatening to accrue a triple-double before finishing the game with 12 points, 11 rebounds (6 offensive!) and 8 assists, along with 3 blocks and 2 steals. Reeves Nelson took the team scoring lead with 18 points, while Mike Roll scored 16, keeping the Bruins afloat late in the first half with 3 consecutive 3-pointers, while Nelson made 7 of 10 from the field, and contributed 5 rebounds while staying out of foul trouble.
What can be said about Nicola Dragovic that Nestor is not currently thinking? To his credit, he was perfect from the line, making 6 free throws, including 2 critical shots in the final 10 seconds to ice the game. While he shot 4-9 from the field, finishing with 15 points and 6 rebounds, NoD lived up to his new nickname with a defensive performance worthy of laughter, as well as Donnie Mac's criticism. Malcolm Lee continued his struggle shooting the ball with a 2-9 performance from the field; his 0-2 showing from behind the 3-point arc adds to what is now an unbelievable 3-29 3-point streak in Pac-10 play.
While the return of Jerime Anderson has alleviated the near-total usage of Roll and Lee, the Bruins short bench was still on display tonight, with Anderson playing 9 minutes and MAH getting only 6 minutes on the court. While Nelson and James Keefe combined for 40 minutes (a playing time formulation that Ben Howland has displayed through much of the Pac-10 schedule), Honeycutt and Drago (?!?!?) each played 38 minutes. Recall that last week, Honeycutt followed up his career-high 40 minutes played against Oregon with arguably his worst performance of hte year against the Beavers. Lets hope the playing time does not have a draining effect on him.
With tonight's losses by Arizona and Cal... Meet your FIRST PLACE UCLA Bruins!
Please, don't laugh. Really, keep the laughing down, there are students cramming for midterms on campus that I am sure don't appreciate the hilarity of an 11-11 team leading the Pac-10.
Go Bruins!
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The good, the bad, and the ugly
all rolled into 1 team. Be that as it may, I’ll take 1st place…and enjoy it as long we can make it last. And who knows, CBH has traditionally brought his teams up to speed in the 2nd half of the season so maybe, just maybe this will turn into a more remarkable season than anyone thought early on.
I think Drago's D was pretty decent tonight
It seemed though very every good play or turnover he caused, he gave up an easy basket. As Don MacLean eloquently put it “Reeves Nelson is a beast”. Sometimes the ball just appeared in his hands and went into the hoop. Honeycutt amazes me every game and his stat line is so balanced. Roll got some nice threes and Malcolm held the game nice but he should definitely penetrate the line way more.
Overall a good night for the Bruins. Here’s to steamrolling Cal
"I can't believe I ate the whole thing" Homer Simpson
Way closer than it should have been down the stretch...
There were some pretty poor calls [not] made in the last five minutes or so that went in the ’Furd’s favor. Specifically, Reeves Nelson went up for a basket, and got whacked in the head. No foul. The next possession? UCLA defender has his hands up, playing clean D, foul. SPTRs at their best (worst).
we'll see
we have our toughest stretch coming up Cal at home and 3 straight away to USC, Wash, Wash st. We win 3 of 4 and maybe we are a decent team.. 2 and I suppose we are an average team to be lumped in with the rest of the mediocre league. One thing I like about our recent teams is that we typically can play as well away as we do at home.
I think part of that is the tenacity of Howland teams and the other part is I don’t think we consistently get wonderful home cooking like say Washington does. Personally I think the last few years for Washington hat has been to their detriment. You can’t get that much home-cooking (ie Brockman able to know everyone around at home and he is walking foul trouble on the road) and then expect to go out on the road and know how to win without such beneficial refereeing.
I am glad CBH is now aware who is best 2 players are, but I am not sure one of them should be coming off the bench. I would rather Keefe gets NDs backup minutes and JMM get RNs and some of NDs minutes. And I have a question off the top of my head.. has there been a worse free thrower that was in our program 4 or 5 years than Keefe? Has he actually gotten worse every year?
Foul Concerns
Until last night, RN had been in foul trouble in most games, often early.
I think that’s why JK starts.
sjh
RN had two fouls in the first half last night
it was why Stanford took the lead and why RN did not play too much
I don't get the ND bashing
I thought that ND as well as the whole team had one of its best performances of the year.
To blame Fields fantastic game on ND is ridiculous. Fields is one of the best players in the conference and the way he was shooting tonight, you could have brought AA out of the stands to guard him and it wouldn’t have made much difference. But that doesn’t even matter because we were playing a ZONE DEFENSE for the first 34 minutes of the game. In a zone, everyone is responsible for everyone. Further, most of Fields shots were from the outside and top of the key, i.e. not ND’s area.
I thought the move to man-to-man was a curious. It worked for the first few plays as it caught Stanford by surprise, but after that was rather ineffective. That said, the play of the game (momentum wise, not necessarily highlight wise) was ND playing tough man-to-man defense on Fields, stripping him, and then diving for the loose ball. It was a play that reasserted CBH’s team in control and was enough to ride to the victory.
I’m not saying ND is the greatest defender in the world or even an adequate defender for a CBH team. But to bash him after he had one of his best defensive games this season (had 3 steals, 1 block, and came up with a few loose balls) really speaks more of the irrational commentator than it does ND. The fact of the matter is we wouldn’t have won today without his clutch 3 and the fact that he is the only person on this team that can shoot free throws at a reasonable percentage.
by bruinponcho on Feb 4, 2010 11:11 PM PST reply actions 3 recs
i think switching to man was a good move (if we had the personnel)
when the game down the wire (within 3pts) and fields lighting up the scoreboard, the zone is most ineffective against the 3, switching to man is the right move, just that most of our players this year play swing door defense…
not that i want to bash ND, but i feel that sometimes, if we take away his 16pts and his defense liability, maybe we will still have the same team, or probably a better team – better defense leads to more turnovers leads to more points on transition and better shot selection
which we can’t say with drago on the floor – constantly burned on his side of defense, always letting players on his side grab the offensive rebound, constantly hang outside the 3 pt line on offense, constantly launch 3pts (result of stagnant offense) that results in long rebounds and transition points for other team
for me, as clutch as drago might be sometimes with his 3, i think i’ll be a happier fan w/o his 3 but with someone with better defense – i wouldn’t mind a line up like RN-TH-ML (at SF)-MR-MAH, yes we will have the slowest backcourt in the world, but at least this line up will give the team higher bball IQ
It's in the contract
You must write at least 2 Drago-bashing references in every story, average 0.5 Drago’s per comment… or lose moderator status, turn in an old UCLA hoodie, and subject yourself to an IRS audit.
formerly bruinhoo
If Fields gets drafted
he should pay Drago’s legal bills as a thank-you for helping to pad his stats.
by BruinFanGA on Feb 5, 2010 4:03 AM PST via mobile up reply actions
I have been converted to the "Keep Him On The Bench" party
I was leaning that way, and definitely made up my mind when he was holding the ball and the ‘Furd guy just slapped it away from him and went the distance. The guy is a senior, and plays like that? And I don’t think the fact that he made some free throws means he had a good offensive game. It just looked to me like he was only confortable shooting (albeit not making) the three point shot. I think a very telling stat is the number of fouls he committed – zero. He never bumped or slapped or pushed anyone in 38 minutes. But then a good matador doesn’t have any actual contact with the bull, either.
I think Rag (no D and no O) earned the bashing.
The Guy is Infuriating
He also had a terrible cross-court pass in the first half that turned into a gift steal, and had an insanely easy tip in miss at a crucial juncture near the end of the game. That being said, he was 4-9 from the field and 1-3 from 3, he had 6 rebound and 3 steals, a decent line score. He was 6 for 6 from the line, which was crucial. He was ok tonight. He tried to guard Fields who couldn’t be stopped by anyone on our team. I just don’t like his lack of hustle, which particularly shows when he is stripped or loses a rebound. He never sprints, he just jogs and lets other people chase. Compare him to Roll, and its night and day, although even MR is guilty of an occasional horrible pass out of nowhere. Nevertheless, MR is all hustle and heart. MR was 5-11 from the field, including 4-5 from 3, with 5 assists, and 3 rebounds. MR’s output was more efficient than ND’s but his hustle was ten times better.
We would have lost without his 15 pts, 6 rebounds
Any defensive improvement would have been offset by lack of offensive production. He just lacks hustle and lateral movement. When he’s cold we lose games, and he was terrible for the first half of the season. With his reversion to form on offense, inconsistent but generally good, he has to play. At 6-9 he’s a decent rebounder for college. I just don’t get JK. When he scored 18 in a tournament game as a sophomore, he was ready to break out. Now he makes a simple put back into an adventure. He made two offensive moves at the beginning of the game that looked like a guy who has never played the game. He shot a 7 foot shot that was two feet short. His confidence and feel for the game is shot. And he will never learn how to set a pick without drawing an offensive foul. I was hoping he’d improve with more consecutive minutes, but CBH gave him 14 mins tonite and he had 2 pts on 1-4 shooting. At least he pulled down 4 rebounds, 3 on the offensive end. He’s from my town, and was a great high school player with great fundamentals. He’s all hustle even now. But he has lost his game. I hope he’s had a great time as a Bruin, because he’s a tremendous kid.
Actually Stanford repeatedly went at Dragovic's area
Something not only that we took note of but everyone else watching on TV including Donnie Mac who said Dragovic was playing out of his defensive position all night. He was more than responsible for giving up more 20+ points on defense.
The apologies being made for this worthless scrub is getting as nauseating as all the apologies were being made for Karl Dorrell. To say that Dragovic had “one of his best defensive games” this season after he got PWNed through most of the game is pathetic and it sounds like those Dorrell supporters who would hang on to any piece of isolated positive evidence to discount the overall body of work.
If you don’t like the Dragovic bashing, then don’t read this site. Go somewhere else to pimp his point production and we are not going to miss that here.
Not just Stanford
everyone we play has gone at him, usually successfully. And, his lapses have caused others to come over to help leaving their areas open.
I’ve not seen him play a strong D game, yet.
I have seen him play a few strong D possessions. But, I don’t think it is correct to say he played a consistent game on D last night. Donny Mac is an honest commentator. He called ND out and was right.
And, even though his stat line looks good, as I pointed out in the game thread, his overall decision making was not. With a smaller Stanford team that we were destroying inside, he jacked up outside shots way too early in the clock. That is simply bad judgment.
However, I dont’ see an easy solution to the ND issue; if you look down thread, you will see a post from me pointing out the dilemma CBH faces in deciding who to play in that spot.
sjh
+1
I think it was the Oregon game that really convinced me of Drago being a liability to the team. He got faked out of his shoes in one simple move by Porter, taking three steps back and he drains a 3 with no pressure. I threw my hands up on that one and said that’s it. I’m done with his BS.
It's SO bad
that Tyler Honeycutt has to go over and tell Drago what to do! He did it a couple of times last night. I would be embarrassed.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
the irrational and the rational
Irrational: “Rago’s man got 35 points!” – I only saw the 2nd half, but it seemed like Fields scored on anyone guarding him at any moment – ND, TH, RN even
Rational: “ND is slow on his feet, and often either lets his man by matador style or hangs off his man too far and gives up a relatively easy shot”
He is a bad defender night to night; last night he made some bad plays and the occasional great play. He is bashed for being a bad defender, not for having a good or bad defensive game relative to his defensive ability. He is also bashed for not trying hard and hustling (which may require the commenter to have a window into another man’s soul, but is an understandable conclusion from watching the movements of his physical body for 40 minutes). And he is understandably held to a higher effort/smartness standard than freshmen as he is a senior.
He becomes the person to bash when the team is doing badly; whether he is having a very bad defensive game or only a moderately bad defensive game is irrelevant. If we continue to hear Malcolm Lee NBA talk and he continues to jack up shots without making them, I expect he’ll get some abuse as well. But as it is, it’s hard to direct anger at RN or TH as promising freshmen, or at MR who has been a model citizen for the program and seems to make the most of his abilities, even when those guys are doing badly. JA dropping out of the starting lineup means he’s less of a target.
I have said before – he has been a source of embarrassment off the court, and is a subpar defender without being a stellar offensive player to make up for it. I would be happy for someone to step up and take his spot – if Bobo had been healthy and generally better, he could have taken his minutes moving RN to the 4; if JA was actually a quality point guard, maybe we would have gone with a small quick lineup more often with JA,ML,MR,TH and RN. JK, with additional minutes, appears to have demonstrated that he is not a better answer at the 4.
However, given the performances from other players, I am yet to be convinced that we have better options than starting ND, though it would probably be better to bring his minutes down. If BL still isn’t ready to play major minutes, putting in either the ‘big’ or the ‘quick’ lineup above to change things up from time to time seems like the way forward to me.
I agree
Only quibbles
1. BL has had a chance and has not shown he is ready. (it took less minutes of a hurting TH to see he was a player.)
2. I also think ND should get a quicker hook sometimes. By that I mean he seems to be a very streaky player. When he is in one of his bad streaks get him out. But his play at the end of the game helped us win when he had not shown as much the rest of the game so maybe CBH actions are more understandable.
3. ML has sacrificed his game for the good of the team. He is playing in his second gear and cut out TOs because that is what the team needs. His offensive game is suffering but if he was scoring 15+ again, I think we would be losing some of these games. He had 0 TOs vs. Stanford last night and set the tone for us not to turn the ball over, a HUGE problem for this team earlier in the year.
Any new thoughts by Lee on leaving?
He really has struggled with his game pretty much his whole career here… along with some other players.
ML really needs to work on his shot
His mechanics just are not very good. He doesn’t even lean back like ND does, but his whole body axis goes back about 15 degrees on his shot. He also doesn’t shoot from his fingertips and has way too much ball contact. I’d much rather have ML work on these shot mechanic issues over the summer and just focus on being a slasher this season. With MR, ND and even MAH on this team, ML really should not be taking any outside shots.
Lee.
I don’t think any NBA scout will gamble on him. We’ll see i guess.
Wrong
Malcolm would easily be a second round pick this year based on that ever elusive “potential.” Its the same reason JH got drafted 17th last year. ML is doing a good job of showing scouts he can run point (his NBA position) and it would be enough for them to risk a non-guaranteed second round pick on him, but he would be very very wise to stay in Westwood and develop into a first round pick next season.
Not the way he's playing right now
Averaging 8.75 points and shooting 4.5% on three’s in the last 8 games.
by SuperBruinMan on Feb 4, 2010 11:49 PM PST up reply actions
i dont get the jh comparisons
jh would have been a top 10 pick out of high school.lee was highly touted but nt gatorade player of the year caliber. i think this year he came in ranked in the 40’s of potential draft position and has not done a single thing to validate that.
jh was/is a natural pg who played out of position all year last year. his lack of production in draft evaluations could be explained away by this whether legit or not. ml is a natural 2 trying his hand out at the point, out of necessity now, not because howland thought he was the best option at the beginning of the season. and he has yet to show any real flashes of nba potential at the 1 now really. i’m sure roll and honeycutt lead the team in assists and lee seems more content jacking up 3’s instead of slashing to the basket which is why he was talked about in the first place. and he hasn’t shut anyone down on d that i can remember this year, in a way way down pac 10.
Across The Face
Not saying its the right move
All I’m saying is that if ML declared this year, some team would draft him in the second round. I think I made it pretty clear that he has a lot to work on and would be much better off if he stayed one or two more years as would whatever team eventually drafts him. It wouldn’t be a good result for anyoneinvolved (ML, UCLA, ML’s NBA team) if ML declared, but it is something that sadly has a possibility of happening still. I don’t think it will, but you never know.
Borderline
Late 2nd round isn’t exactly confidence inspiring. He probably won’t even make it out of training camp if he was drafted. TH I could see being drafted, I doubt he will leave this year, probably wants to raise his stock first. Anyway, if Lee does leave would anyone miss him?
JH Was 1-7 in 30 mins
of Play for the 76er’s. He’s averaging 36.4 per game shooting on the season and only 5.2 ppg. He averages 17 minutes. In the game against the Lakers, Kobe didn’t even guard him, roaming the court and allowing him open 18 footers anytime he wanted. He is clearly an NBA project, but one that will probably pay off over time. ML is not nearly as polished, and isn’t even a proven defensive stopper of NBA quality. That being said, I was surprised JH was picked so high, given that he actually was losing playing time as the season ended last year, due, in part to his woeful shooting. ML might be picked, but it would be easy to see him not making a roster and bouncing around the league for a couple of years and then out. Of course, there are so many Bruins in the league for so long, like Gadzuric, Darrick Martin, and Matt Barnes, that you can never count a Bruin out. Compare ML to Cedric Bozeman, who didn’t really make it, and its hard to project ML as an NBA player based on his current play. I see him coming back (unless he can’t hack academics).
The Sixers are so bad
that JH is considered their top defensive stopper. They clearly perceive him as a long-range project, but their biggest mistake was letting Andre Miller go, who might have taught him a thing or two.
Amazing that the one skill he carried over to the pros is the one he learned from CBH.
Holiday will probably emerge
as a go to guy in a few years like Trevor Ariza did. It’s just a shame that he couldn’t finish his development in college…
by inhowlandwetrust on Feb 5, 2010 8:25 AM PST up reply actions
hoping lane or moser step up
it is absolutely brutal when keefe comes in games. he’s a solid guy but is a complete liability on both sides of the ball and shooting below 40% from the stripe to boot… it’s night and day when reeves is in instead.
lee needs to take it to the rack and honeycutt needs the ball in his hands earlier in the shot clock.
i liked coach mixing it up on D.in this game he needed to do that with stanford’s shooting. glad cbh adjusted in game instead of sticking with something that was failing and take the blame for the loss tomorrow…
Across The Face
IF BL or MM had game in practice
The would get playing time. They are obviously behind the others. Keefe has 4 years in the system, and knows where to be on offense and defense. He is much more physical. For the 14 mins he gets, he spells RN. CBH uses a three guard offense to spell TH and ND. As long as we are stil playing to win games, BL and MM will not get any meaningful playing time. Bobo is more likely to see some minutes when he recovers. They will get their chance next year.
Honeycutt
Too many minutes, hope CBH finds him some rest. Don’t want to burn him out this season. Tournament time maybe, but now? Already had injury issues, leading to poor conditioning prior to the season. This isn’t going to end well.
Also, 1st in the pac-10? WOW!
Go Bruins, its a miracle, but for now lets just roll with it.
it's nice to be 1st
but also shows how pathetic pac-10 bball is this year, there’s no way in the previous 10 years we can play the way we are playing now and still be tied of 1st
WIN is a Win
These days we need to be happy—no matter who we play……I will take the win!!
TH and RN
The bright silver lining of the season is that TH and RN are maturing into players who will be dominant Pac10 players, hopefully for the next three seasons. ML is playing out of position, so with a point guard (Lazeric Jones, McCallum, Josiah Turner? or and improved JA) taking control next year, the whole team will improve. Will Tyler Lamb provide TH level talent. Will Josh Smith be RN quality or Bobo quality? Will we snag another high quality player? Will BL or MM confound expectations? The future is suddenly bright. The program is off life support and the players are having fun again. Its all good tonight. I love my team. I love my coach. Go Bruins!!!
Has anybody else noticed?
Next year we’ll have a Josh Smith on the basketball team and a Josh Smith on the football team.
Both could play for CRN
JS the hoopster is a WIDE LOAD. He makes Dexter Pittman look like a poster boy for Jenny Craig. That boy is going to have to stay away from the buffet if he is going to succeed under CBH.
Josh Smith the bballer
currently looks like a lineman. Once he rehabs from that knee injury, hopefully he’ll drop at least another 10 pounds I think he gained while he was hurt, and shouldn’t look so… round.
Unbelievably, we also had
TWO Nikola Dragovic’s at one point, one on the football team and one on the basketball team…if I’m not mistaken…that’s even crazier.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Nothing Has Changed re ND
ND is a very frustrating “approach/avoidance” conflict exacerbated by the lack of depth on this team.
He is the girl with the curl — when he’s good, he’s very good (streaking on 3’s, some outstanding passes, blocks, rebounds and hitting ft’s which is something no one else on this team can do) and when he’s bad, he’s horrid (jacking up shots too early in a possession, lazy ball handling, and D lapses.)
One problem is that you don’t know which ND you’re going to get at any moment.
CBH has had to deal with the “approach/avoidance” nature of this conflict and I would not want to be in his position. First, he has to predict which ND will be on the floor — and it changes by possession. And, then if he wants to pull him, he has to find someone to play in his stead.
That’s the biggest problem; with whom do you replace him? JK? Maybe, to some he is more likeable, but his game is not better. BL? For whatever reason, he’s not had enough minutes to prove himself worthy of more game minutes; he really has not looked good on the floor; either the goat is VERY attractive, or the truth is that BL does not look good in practice either.
My solution would be to play Bobo for ND for several minutes a game allowing RN to play his natural position. The zone should protect Bobo if he is weak on D. And, we’ve seen RN’s “face the basket” game, in glimpses, and it is quite strong.
Making the “play him or bench him” decision on ND is not as one dimensional as many think. I’m sure that CBH struggles with it in every moment.
I’ll ask the same question I’ve been asking all year: Who would you play instead of ND? How many minutes would that person get? What would be your substitution strategy? These are sincere questions, not taunts.
sjh
ND has been "very good" for entire 40 mins
Perhaps twice this season. That’s it. And that was just on offense.
Otherwise he is consistently atrocious on defense. I think it is ridiculous to dismiss the potential contribution Lane or Moser could have made to this team based on their isolated minutes, given how players like PAA and LMR struggled but still got mins in their freshmen season. The way Howland has handled the minutes of those two guys have arguable stunted their development, put incredible strain on the rotation, and not to mention alienate a huge chunk of the UCLA fanbase.
For the people who are defending Rago for yesterday’s effort have a very short attention span that only focuses on last 5 mintues, while forgetting 35 minutes of atrocious, unwatchable minutues, which created a crunch time situation against a joke Stanford team at Pauley.
"Could have made ..."
No argument with the premise that had we played BL and MM they “could have” contributed during this time of the season — other than I’ve not heard anything about how they look in practice.
The problem is, what do we do, tomorrow?
Start ND. But pull him and give minutes to others?
Last night CBH had a real problem.
ND sucks on D and they were going at him. (I guess I really can’t agree with those who say he played good D last night. He made some good D plays, and went to the floor, once — but when I say someone “played good D” I mean consistently, throughout the game. I think he has been so bad on D that when he makes a good play, we rejoice and he seems to wipe a big part of his slate clean.)
On the other hand, ND is the only guy on the floor we can count on to make FT’s.
So what do you do? If you can, I suppose you do a D and O substitution pattern. But, who goes in for him on D? I still believe that Bobo is the answer to some of this. He was on the bench last night. Is he healthy?
sjh
Bobo or Lane or Moser ... perhaps they could provide answers
But apparently we will never find out because Rago must be playing like an NBA all star in practices.
To compound the problem --
We are now in First Place — I can’t get those words out of my mouth without gagging. So, now, the pressure is on CBH to minimize the risks he is taking so as to not lose a game.
Had he taken the “risks” with BL, MM, JMM earlier, we would be able to calculate just how big a risk it would be to play any of them instead of ND or JK.
I think that now that we are in “the race” (gag), we will take fewer risks and, with imperfect information, that means more ND and JK.
Others might say — Go For It — play the young guys and we won’t hold you responsbile if we drop out of the “title” run — but CBH will take heat either way.
sjh
It will mean
More unwatchable and infuriating basketball which we will have to keep watching for rest of this season.
TH and RN are worth watching -- so is MR's deep commitment worthy of support
ML trying to play under control — that’s good, too.
MAH always puts a smile on my face.
There are reasons to watch.
But, whether we are in first place now, or not, this season is going nowhere. I’d play young.
sjh
I agree with you re Honeycutt and Nelson
who are working hard to earn initial honors here on BN. :-) Same with with Hamid.
As for “reasons to watch” I am an addict. I watched pretty much every single game during CHP and CTS era even though there weren’t many reasons to “watch” those debacles.
A most honest answer
I watch, and have always watched, because I am a Bruin. Which may be synonymous with addict in this context.
I watched Farmer, Hazzard, the lizard, CTS — any team in Blue and Gold and I cheer my heart out. That won’t end.
sjh
Tough situation
Drago and Roll are the only guys on the team that stretch the court. Without them on the court, defenses can simply sag and clog the lane. I think if we had another shooter, we would see a lot less Drago.
I only got to watch the last 12 minutes last night, but from what I watched Drago played well. My gripe with him is always hustle-related, and he hustled during the portion of the game that I watched. It sounds like he didn’t play hard the entire game though, which is frustrating. I think he is talented enough to be one of the Pac-10’s best players, but he doesn’t seem to want it.
I like the idea of Moser subbing situationally for Drago. Drago doesn’t really play PF, so its essentially swapping a quicker, more athletic player for a shooter. I wouldn’t mind seeing it in action. I like Bobo in short spurts, and he looked A LOT better the last few games that he played. I haven’t formed an opinion on Lane yet.
by AllHailMightyBruins on Feb 5, 2010 8:07 AM PST up reply actions
Drago's D liability
was summed up best when Mac Lean said I’d rather see landry Fields shoot over Michael Roll than go around Dragovic. Classic.
re: Bobo
as far as I am aware, that was his first game in which he might have been called upon – so probably not at 100%, but healthy enough to play if need be.
For what it’s worth – and I said so above – I agree that a few minutes of Bobo might be the best way to take away a few minutes of ND. Now that JK is having spells at the 5, Bobo coming in doesn’t have to be just a way of resting RN. Bobo and RN on the court together would definitely provide a different challenge for defenders – in a way that bringing on BL for ND or JK for ND is probably just a backwards step.
Hopefully next year Lane and Moser will make some contributions off the bench behind RN and TH. Making ridiculous projections into the future, it is hard to see those guys starting at any point down the line if RN and TH stay for 4 years.
About ND
I don’t know about you guys, but I have this feeling about the guy.
He’s a 4-year Bruin, starting the last two years and all. He’s certainly put in his time with the team.
But still, I don’t know what it is. It’s not that he’s not a Bruin, but it’s just this strange feeling I have that he doesn’t really care about UCLA. He didn’t grow up in the US, where he would have gotten a taste of what college sports mean. I just don’t really think that he has any allegiance to the school or the students. He’s just here to play basketball, get some experience so he can go back and play professionally in Europe. That’s really the sense I get in all of this. Now he might feel some loyalty to Ben Howland who has stuck his neck out for him more than once, but that’s it. By contrast, I look at Reeves Nelson who is constantly engaging the Den and working his ass off. That’s the bottom line for me, really. Some of the 3-pointers he’s taking look like shots that players jack up on the playgrounds, completely off-balance. I remember watching Afflalo and how hard he had worked at getting his jump shot technique down, it was a thing of beauty. Drago looks like me when I practice at the gym…
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Drago occasionally engages the Den as well
He did last night. (I’m not a Drago fan, but I’ll give him that)
by gradstudentbruin on Feb 5, 2010 7:06 PM PST up reply actions
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