Pimping Sunshine? My thoughts on this UCLA basketball team
by BruMase on Feb 5, 2010 12:31 PM PST
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PrintBumped. GO BRUINS. -N
Long time lurker, first time poster. I've been following this blog since its very nascent stages, and am very impressed with the growth and the always increasing quality of the discussion here. I have many times thought that I should actually create an account here and begin to contribute to the discussion myself, but for whatever reason I decided to maintain my lurker status. I'm not sure what has sparked this sudden change of heart, but I recently decided to create an account, and so here I am.
Bruins Nation has consistently been one of the first places I look every morning when I get to work, and have always appreciated the roundups that Nestor puts together every morning, using them as a sort of "one stop shop" for all things Bruin on the football and basketball fronts. It certainly would have been much easier to join the discussion in the recent good ol' days of Bruin basketball, when CBH could (almost) do no wrong. I think the obvious frustration that we all feel towards the current state of the basketball program has spurred my sudden interest to let my voice be heard.
Just so you all know, I have been a die hard UCLA fan for almost my entire life, ever since my much older brother left the nest to go to school there back in 1983. I am a UCLA alumnus (Class of '99) and a graduate of NYU law school (only mentioned because I know so many of the regular contributors here are card carrying members of the bar). So while I obviously missed the true glory days that the Geezers here might have enjoyed, I followed with baited breath all of the excellent teams of the 90's (I was heartbroken when Donny Mac's team lost to the chair thrower in the Elite Eight), and it killed me that I was just a senior in high school when the riots broke out in Westwood in '95. Sadly, I was in school for the beginning of CHP's reign of terror (BTW, thanks to the lexicon, I finally understand what that and CTS actually mean). So please do not take me as a bandwagoner, or apologist, or other derogatory term heaped upon those who are not deemed by BN to truly bleed blue and gold.
So while it makes me sick to my stomach to watch these guys play from time to time, and I too cannot wait for Senior Day so I never have to watch Rago wear the 4 letters again, it's kind of a downer that I feel like pimping sunshine may be met with disdain. These are still our Bruins, and I want to be someone who will stand behind them during this terrible time. CBH has done a wonderful job considering the circumstances, and I defy anyone who wants to start planting the seeds that he is not the right man for the job. He, along with many coaches around the country, was burned by what has turned out to be an awful 2008 recruiting class. Outside of Brandon Jennings (Europe) and Tyreke Evans (played for a scumbag), there were no truly dominant, difference making players in that class. The fact that UCLA had the #1 class that year just means it hurt us a bit more than everyone else. Look at the tough time UNC is going through. Coincidence? I would think not. Add in the defections to the NBA, and this UCLA team has very little talent. I know this has all been discussed ad infinitum, but I just wanted to say it again. I am not saying CBH is merely a victim, and that neither he nor the team are deserving of criticism, but I do want to bring up and emphasize some of the positives, as few as there may be.
TH and RN have been a revelation. The energy and passion that these kids play with makes games that are painful to watch at least bearable. In the offseason, many people thought that RN was behind BL and MM in terms of his ability to contribute right away, but when I think back to when I would watch clips of all of these kids playing HS ball, RN was the guy I was most excited to see this year. "Rage" is the most appropriate nickname for this kid, and I am tickled that he is seeing the floor and showing what he can do. Yeah, he could hit some more free throws for sure, but damn if I don't want that ball in his hands every possession.
This team truly is coming together. Even watching it on TV you can see it, as long as you want to. The bench is into it. Earlier in the year, you could see BL, MM and AS just sort of sitting there staring off into space. Now they show these guys and they are jumping out of their chairs to root their boys on. I like to see that, even if they aren't the successful team in terms of wins and losses that we have become accustomed to seeing. And even when it's obvious to everyone that Ragovic cannot play defense worth a donkey's you know what, his teammates are not getting down on him. Imagine what he would play like if they did?
This brings me to the larger discussion on Ragovic... I really don't like him. I don't. I consistently pause the game on TV and replay bits to show my wife what he does wrong. It probably annoys her more than anything because it makes watching the game take that much longer. All that said, I think DCBruins just said it best in his FanPost:
"this team needs him and he has done okay within that parameter."
CBH doesn't have a choice. At one point I was convinced that Dragovic has some dirty little secret about CBH that he is parlaying into playing time on the court, without any modicum of accountability. But I truly believe that there isn't another option. Yes, he is a defensive liability, but so would freshmen BL or MM. I wonder if anyone has really sat down and figured out how many points per game scored by the opponent that can be directly attributed to Ragovic's sh**tyness. I can't believe that anyone CBH puts in the lineup in his stead could be such an improvement on the defensive end that it would more than make up for what Ragovic does offensively. He takes bad shots on occasion, and he is clearly not that efficient, but at least he presents somewhat of a threat. He has hit some big 3 balls this year. Was the team in situations where they needed such big shots from him precisely because of his lack of defense? Maybe, but what other choice do we have? No one on this team plays defense well. Obviously if CBH had his druthers, we wouldn't be resorting to a zone, and I would agree. BL drew comparisons in HS to Ryan Anderson for his ability to rebound and shoot the 3, and while we hope that comes to fruition at some point, it cannot be that the comparison is accurate if CBH won't play him. In CBH I trust. So Rago is all we have.
My fingers are crossed that we can manage a winning season despite the team's many shortcomings. I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I won't be figuring out how far UCLA will go when I fill out my brackets this year. It's taken me a while to write this very long winded post, so I'll just say that I agree wholeheartedly with DCBruins' conclusion regarding this season, and the job that CBH is doing. I apologize to those who feel they have wasted their time reading this entire post, but I did not want my first contribution to be a comment where someone just thinks, "who the hell is this jack-hole and why should I care about what he has to say?" Actually, that's probably the response I'll get to this FanPost, which I fear doesn't really say anything despite the volume of words...Dammit. I didn't even talk about our guard play at all!
On another note, a big thanks to CRN for bringing our football program back to the discussion, and for bringing it to the cusp of great things.
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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Agree
I concur with pretty much everything you wrote. As an aside, I really appreciated how thoughtful and well written your post was. A bit long, but necessary.
Great Post
I think a good summation of the comments on threads.
I see your pt on Drago:
Drago’s D means if his guy shot a 2pointer, Drago figures he’s gotta shoot a 3 to counter it.
thanks for the post
not a waste reading it at all.
Looking around the country is certainly interesting – seeing how far UNC, UConn and Pitt have all fallen after being 1-seeds last year provides some perspective. Part of our issue is we tried to cling to what remained of our final four runs last year, and neither fully rebuilt nor achieved much. I expect those teams above to bounce back after one down year, whereas we are currently on a two year slide to deeper depths than any of those teams.
To your point
Here are the #1 seeds last year, with their current record this season:
Pitt (16-6)
UNC (13-9)
UConn (13-9)
Louisville (14-8)
I don’t like playing the “what if” game, but if you accept the notion that Tyler Honeycutt’s injuries are worth three of our earlier losses, that would have have put us at 14-8 and right in the same boat as the bulk of those former #1s. Granted, the Big East and ACC are tougher conferences than the Pac-10 this season, but our struggles this season are being shared by many big name programs around the country.
by insomniacslounge on Feb 5, 2010 1:15 PM PST up reply actions
I don't really think those teams
should be brought up in context of how far we have sunk this year.
Three of the teams you mentioned are in the Big East, who currently have 4 teams in the top 10. Our overall record (11-11) matches Rutgers, who currently resides at 15th (out of 16) in the conference. Rutgers is currently ranked 116th in RPI, where UCLA is ranked 123.
As far as UNC is concerned (where at 13-9 feels like the world is coming to an end), after winning an NC (and 2 in 5 years) and losing guys like Hansbrough, Lawson, Ellington, and Green, I would gladly accept the Bruins being in the position that they are in.
Big East and ACC are tougher conferences than the PAthetiC 10? You bet. You can also add the Mountain West, Western Athletic, and West Coast Conferences to that list. I would challenge anyone to find a year where the Pac 10 has been worse than this year.
You are right that these teams are struggling. Yet, I wouldn’t like our chances head to head against any of these teams, home or away.
In RPI rankings, UCLA currently sits between San Jose St. and Illinois St.
My point in a nutshell: No team has fallen farther off the college basketball landscape than UCLA.
"I don't forget very much" Rick Neuheisel, 11/28/09
Can't compare Williams/UNC to Howland/UCLA
The former has won TWO NCs since taking over his program.
Howland
should be extremely thankful he is currently competing in the worst Pac 10 conference on record. We could easily be somewhere around 7-15 if this were a normal year.
"I don't forget very much" Rick Neuheisel, 11/28/09
agreed
if last year had been our down year, it wasn’t as bad as the down years those other schools are currently experiencing. My concern is that we have become significantly worse in two straight seasons.
by britishbruin on Feb 6, 2010 10:24 AM PST up reply actions
good post
and it’s good to know that someone out there remains optimistic. NOTE: I am not throwing a subtle jab at any posters here. I just mean that, though the analysis here is excellent, it has been very negative this year. Makes it hard to keep rooting and want to throw my opinions out there.
Anyway, just wanted to tack on my support to this post.
by Captain Leebeard on Feb 5, 2010 1:07 PM PST reply actions
I second your opinion. Good 1st post!
It’s easy to snipe away at the deficits of this year’s team as there are so many of them. But I refuse to damn this team or coach because of the cards in their hand. I take pleasure in every little improvement I see and cringe every time we make stupid or lazy mistakes. The good news is that there have been definite improvements in virtually every element of our game. The bad news is that our team (like many other programs) isn’t at the same level as previous teams have been. I’d love to see more Moser, Lane, and Bobo, but not if it detracts from getting our core group to gel.
+1
great 1st post
still, i’m convinced that no one plays a worse defense than drago on the entire team, maybe we have to wait till a drago injury to see someone play extended mins in his place… oh but shooting rainbows and playing no D won’t get u hurt….
sorry for the negativity… but i do love this team, with RN, TH, MR, MAH, and even JF, but drago being the anti ben ball warrior simply clouds all the other bright spots
If we didn't love our school
We wouldn’t be here talking this out every day. That said we should NEVER wish injury to any of our players. I am sure you didn’t mean that.
of course i don't wish that
but i do wish to get the other guys mins somehow, i want to see BL, i want to see MM, with drago hogging 38mins and CBH now willing to sit him down despite drago being burn 9 out of 10 possession, is that too much of a wishful thought?
it just pains me to think that BL and MM have to go through freshmen mistakes next year as sophomores, when he could be riding high with TH and RN, that’s a difference between a team that will barely make it to NCAA tourney vs a deep run in it
my point on the kids
is that we cannot sit here and ask why we aren’t seeing BL and MM while Drago is on the floor so much. Look, as hard as it is to type this, Drago had some nice finishes under the basket off of feeds from TH. TH doesn’t have 8 assists without those finishes. As the other post (Nestor helped my post link to) said, if we believe that this team must do everything in its power to finish above .500, we cannot also say that BL and MM need more minutes this year. If they deserved them, I have to believe CBH would give them to them. I too want to see them, if only because it means that they deserve it now.
For me the biggest consternation and frustration
is a sense of opportunity lost. Howland should have played Lane, Moser more during those early season debacles and not have his quick hook. He should have played them a little more in first part of Pac-10 season and given them room to grow. He didn’t.
I want to win badly but I just don’t think we need to play Drago 35+ mins every game to make that happen. Will never agree to that.
That said, this was a beautiful post. It was passionate. Just the way people should disagree and discuss here on BN.
Yep my point on the linked one is I trust CBH on BL and MM
I don’t think CBH really wants to play Rago all those minutes and would love it if BL and MM were able to play better. They can’t.
Right now in the rotation ND’s backup is MR. CBH feels that it is better to play JA or MAH at 2 and bump MR to 3 over either MM or BL at 3. In defense of that, MAH has won a game for us with a shot and JA, who I don’t like, played a good game last night with 4 points and 2 assists, more in his nine minutes than BL has down in any game this year except against Delaware State where BL had 5 points and 2 assists in 14 minutes. (Stats are deceiving as I thought BL stunk in that game.)
but drago stunk in all games!
at least 90% of the time
and i'm done with drago bashing for today till cal game tomorrow
the only reason for the bashing is that drago in 1.5 seasons threw everything that i came to love about ben ball out the window
Rago scored 15 and had six boards
If he didn’t play, we wouldn’t have saved 15 pts defensively. Fields was too good. Imagine what he would have done to BL or MM. I hate his play, but he’s the best we’ve got.
When you see how CBH has developed RN and TH, you would realize that MM and BL just aren’t coming close to cutting it in practice. The freshman that can play, do!
and thanks to everyone
for the kind words re: my first post. i hope to make myself a part of this community as much as I can.
Thanks BruMase
It is nice to be backed up and agreed with in a bumped fanpost. Especially when it is ah mildly distasteful to say some of things like on ND.
I am grateful to BruMase
for laying out so well what has essentially been my case. I was thinking of changing my name to “Sunshine Pimp” because I am constitutionally unable NOT to support the Bruins and their efforts, though not, I hope, to the extremes such as Dorrell and Lavin. I just thought, and still think, that CBH has done about all he could. I believe that he would be delighted to increase MM’s and BL’s minutes, if only they would seize their opportuntites in the way that TH and RN have. As for Drago, whom I refuse to denigrate, he can be beaten in any way you can think of — overload, seal, fake and drive, drive with no fake, etc., etc. But we still need him. What rankles so many, I accept. I have no plans to ask for his autograph, though. And I am soft-pedaling the sunshine, out of respect for N. and others who have apparently already had more than they can take. I get it.
NYU law school eh?
I was at the b-school next door, graduated in ’01 so we were there at the same time assuming you went right after college. Did you ever take a class at Stern?
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
i took a couple of years off
so i wasn’t there when you were. I did my fair share of reading and outlining in the Stern library though, since you could cut the tension in the law school library with a dull butter knife :)
BTW, I applied to NYU Law...
… and actually wrote a 150-word “any topic” essay on how Ernie and Bert of “Sesame Street” are a great microcosm of roommate squabbles for adults.
I got in.
M
"In this program your passion bucket must be full to play SC." -- CRN, to Dan Patrick, 1/2008
I hear you!
Classes in b-school weren’t overly competitive…but interviews? Oooh mama!
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
by tasser10 on Feb 6, 2010 9:02 AM PST via mobile up reply actions
"tension" in NYU law library
I always had the impression that place was chill. Had couple of really good friends graduate from there and they always appeared to be having a great time.
Actually, I still think you are off on ragovich
Because playing him 35 minutes a game and not playing him at all are not the only two options.
Would LM really have been worse in the first 30 minutes of yesterday’s game than Rago was? I really really doubt CBH could say that with certainty. Is BH more comfortable playing rago? Yes, and that seems to be what its about.
Much like his stubborn refusal to go to a zone until the season was half over, Ben’s prejudicial assessment of players keeps certain players in and certain players out regardless of results. TThat is why some players get pulled after a single mistake and others can play regardless of how poor their effort or execution is.
There is absolutely no reason I can see why you wouldn’t be playing BL 5-10 minutes a game to see what he can do for you. I guarantee you his defense won’t be worse, and maybe he might surprise you… 35 minutes a game for rago is just not defensible.
I agree to a certain extent
No, playing him 35 minutes or 0 minutes are not the only options. Would L/M be worse? I don’t know. CBH cannot say that with certainty, much like you or I cannot say with certainty that they would be better. They couldn’t possibly play worse defense, but they could be just as bad. Learning how to defend is not easy for anyone at this level.
I agree that CBH is stubborn, and his apparent prejudicial treatment of players is sometimes mind boggling. But I don’t think his coaching/decision making is indefensible. In hindsight of course everything is clear, but the fact is that we won a close game. Perhaps it’s possible that playing BL 5-10 minutes would have resulted in a loss. We’ll never know. If we did lose, then of course I’d probably feel a bit less like defending CBH with respect to Rago.
Have you seen BL this year?
BL has had a chance to play this year. He has played over 10 minutes 4 times this year. And during that time, he has not looked as good as ND. He had 17 minutes in our biggest blowout of the year against NM and he went 1 for 5 and 0 for 2 from the line. His best game statistically, Delaware State, he got schooled by a 6’3" power forward. He had a chance with minutes early in the year and did not show he could add much. I think CBH’s decision is perfectly logical and reasonable based on what BL has done this year. Could he be wrong, sure, but I don’t think he is sticking to ND just because he is comfortable.
That said, I think ND should play less its just I don’t think BL should play more. Look I am not a ND fan but his backup right now is MR moving from 2 to 3 and letting MAH or JA play.
Lastly,I trust CBH in that if MM is not good enough to get in front of BL he is probably not good enough to play right now.
ok then why not make that back up move?
MR to 3 MAH to 2 and bench Drago, i would love to have Drago rainbows for 15mins a game, leave him in if he’s hot, take him out when he is sucking….
wouldn’t that line up be a better defensive line up, i loved ben ball for their tenacious D not their rainbows, i would rather have 40pts defensive struggle, than high 70s close game that we could barely close out
i would probably like drago if we are a shoot happy team like cal, but we are not cal, we are UCLA where only championship banners count…. and that drago gives us the best chance is just pathetic to even type it out, it used to be if u can’t play defense for 40mins you don’t stay on the floor, since when did our program become compromised to the point when we say that this ok? TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!
but i did see all this coming since last season with JS
JS was given the same privilege despite his swing door defense and poor shot selection, but never being yanked by CBH… drago is simply following it up with that act.. but at least JS tried on defense
Can you stop this "trust CBH" nonsense?
It is a little ridiculous. CBH is not a God. He is humane and is perfectly capable of making mistakes as he was obviously blind to what everyone was seeing this season from first two weeks: we needed to play freaking zone.
Furthermore, your argument that Lane has not looked as good as Dragovic is completely nonsense. I have actually seen Lane have decent games. I will give you two specific examples:
1) Howland put him during last 3 mins at the end of first half of Oregon State. The world didn’t crash and we piled on our run ON THE FREAKING ROAD.
2) Howland put him in during first half against Stanford ON THE ROAD … and the BRUINS actually made a run and got some momentum which we didn’t have because of a lethargic start.
Stats don’t tell the whole story on Lane. Rago has been pathetic, a f*king joke during 90 percent of his appearances at UCLA. So stop making this absurd arguments.
You sound like those 27 percent of defenders who still thought George W Bush was a competent leader at the end of his tenure.
I am not saying trust on BL
BL has played long enough to be judged and did not do well. He has not played in the PAC-10. You are right Nestor. I am not counting those minutes for or against him.
But if he looks bad in real minutes against NM and DS, why should you play him in the PAC 10? In which 10 minute plus appearance did he look good?
I don’t want ND, but I can understand why CBH takes him and think it is defensible to chose him over BL.
there must be a reason why ND is playing better in conference than non-conference
oh wait.. i remember now… Pac 10 sucks this year!
sorry for the sarcasm, but with Pac 10 this year, i wouldn’t see a drop off in BL’s performance
BL in the mins i’ve seen so far… usually our momentum shifts (for the better) when he’s in the game, he is not entitled like ND where he HAS to take the rainbow at every opportunity, against Butler we actually had the momentum with him in the game, then howland made the substitution and we lost it
My question is about BL
I guess we agree to disagree on that one. He came in against UW in a close home game and promptly threw the ball away. Again, it is not fair to judge someone on 2 minutes.
Further, I did not see the Butler game. I did see NM and DS not as good as even bad PAC 10 teams and he did not look good.
So you were forming your opinion on Lane
based on couple of minutes against one of the more athletic teams in the conference in a pressure cooker game?
Nope
Against long looks against NM and DS and other games I saw where he played more than an in and out.
Peace Offering something we can agree on
My uncle said this is the first year he can remember that the PAC 10 players are as bad as the PAC 10 refs.
I am not going to let this point go
Until I see how Lane and Moser’s career develop in next 2 years. If they turn out to be meaningful contributors even as role players next season, I will remember how Howland wasted their freshman season. It will be the first big strike in Howland’s career in Westwood from my vantage point.
You seem to be saying here
if they perform well next year, it shows what CBH was missing this year.
Elsewhere you often argue, if they perform poorly next year it will be because CBH didn’t develop them this year.
Is there a middle ground on which you would accept that CBH did the right thing this year with them? E.g. next year they turn out to be decent bench players but obviously not starter material?
Depends
… on the datapoints for next season. Howland has created this cloudy scenario given how he has managed the rotation this season. There are lot of questions without any good answers, creating a confusing scenario on how he has handled it last 2-3 seasons.
I’d argue the way Howland managed Keefe’s minutes over the years (using the quick during his first two years) perhaps shattered his confidence in his abilities (which were pretty apparent during huge NCAA tournament game). Howland also himself admitted he totally mismanaged Keefe’s redshirting prospects two seasons ago. Not hard to look up that admission.
Definitely agree that his track record is patchy on this front
I’d add that trying to bring Josh Shipp back from injury was a potentially risky move (even though he was granted his redshirt in the end), and that Ryan Wright refused to redshirt his freshman year when CBH wanted him to. (which ended up working out ok, given that at some point we had three centers injured simultaneously in Hollins, Fey and Mata(-Real)).
Weird to think that if Wright had reshirted (and bided his time) he might now be our starting center.
Agree with BB and how's this
I know the problem with ND, he only played 26 minutes as a Freshman for the season much less than Lane. If CBH had played him more minutes he would have been a good defender by now. You would think CBH would have learned his mistake!
And before anyone goes off, I am kidding. My point is I agree with BB’s example and I “would accept that CBH did the right thing this year . . . [if] next year they turn out to be decent bench players but obviously not starter material.”
I just want to reiterate that I DO NOT LIKE ND AT ALL
He sucks. He sucks bad. And I share N’s feeling of an opportunity lost. I am not saying to blindly trust in CBH (assuming that N’s comment was also directed at me). It’s been an ugly year, and I of course think that CBH is responsible for some of that. We may have been better off if we let BL play more in early Pac-10 games to get his proverbial juices flowing. But CBH didn’t.
Yes, the Pac-10 is despicable, but we’re tied for first!! (typed with sarcasm). A question: given where we are today, with the record that we have and the player development (or lack thereof) to date, if CBH (i) started to play Rago less, (ii) played BL more, and (iii) we finish our last 8 games below .500, how would everyone feel? Would we chalk it up to developing BL for next year? It would make me sick to have another losing season, regardless of whether CBH listened to BN’s collective opinion on Rago or not. If we finish above .500, then we’d all be geniuses!
the "blind trust" remark was not directed at you
It was directed at DCBruins, who is a good friend of mine. I would tell him that in person next time I have a beer at him. :-)
Also, another point re. everyone whining about negativity on BN (this is also not directed at you) but seems like a good place to put it. We are 11-11, tied for “first” (for not very long) in a joke conference in a season featuring some of the most humiliating losses in UCLA basketball history, and people want us to be positive?
Again, it’s the same line of whining we heard during the Dorrell years (and NOTE I am not comparing Howland to Karl Dorrell but observing similarities in some of the vibes that exist around the conversation of the respective programs resulting from disgraceful results).
Yep it was at me
I agree with what you wrote above and in the original post BruMase. I think playing BL is saying this season is over. I think the season is not over and it is important we finish above 500.
Nestor should know I am not happy either with this season. We finish below 500 and CBH has a big strike against him in my mind. Bigger than if BL or MM become serviceable role players later. That I think is where we differ a bit. I think that is more important long term.
Lastly notice, Nestor said “beer at him.” We disagree all the time in “real” life but we share a passion for the Bruins and I deeply respect and appreciate Nestor’s work here.
Even though this is not directed at me (alone), allow me to retort
I am not at all happy with this season. And it’s very difficult to be positive right now. But I don’t want to root against ND (who I DO NOT LIKE) and the rest of the Bruins for the remainder of this lost season. I’m still happy when we win. And it still stings when we don’t.
I have no problem with the negativity and the well thought out criticisms of CBH and this team. But since this a community, then those people who have expressed a preference to remain upbeat should not be labeled as “whiners”. The vibes that exist here, while similar, cannot really be likened to those that existed during the Dorrellian fall of our football program. Not yet at least. Just my $0.02, and I say this at the risk of being reprimanded on this, my first day as a BN participant.
Certainly not rooting against Dragovic
or rooting against him to fail. He has done it on its own CONSISTENTLY throughout his entire “career” in Westwood and have gotten rewarded for it with starter minutes.
When I say “whining” I talk about people who want to be spoon fed content the way they want it to be fed. People who only put up one line worthless feedback to lecture on what we should write or not write.
There is nothing wrong with disagreements if offered with respect and substance. What we will not tolerate is just attacks of any kind on people who are writing here and building this community purely out of their passion for Bruin athletics. Will not make any compromises on that stance and we don’t care much if people want to not hang out here for that.
We never started blogging here to write popular opinions and conform with everyone else. We will keep writing exactly what is on our minds. We are not going to look the other way if we feel something is wrong with our team, just for the sake of supporting our team.
UCLA is bigger than any coach or player leading or playing in their respective programs.
Fair enough.
Like I said in my post and just above, I have no problem with what you guys write. I may not always agree, but I’ve lurked around here long enough to know what I’m going to get.
D State and N Mexico
D state Drago played 28 minutes, Lane 14 minutes
Drago: .39 points per minute Lane: .36 points per minute played
Drago: 45% field goal % Lane: 66% field goal percentage
Drago: 0 offensive rebounds Lane: 1 offensive rebound
Drago: 3 defensive rebounds Lane: 0 defensive rebounds
Drago: 6 turnovers Lane: 1 turnover
Drago: 2 assists Lane 2 assists
Drago: 0 blocks Lane: 3 blocks.
I don’t think there is much of a contest as to who had a better game. I don’t have any defensive stats, but I can’t remember a game where Drago played great defense this season? Was this it?
New Mexico: Lane had a poor game without a doubt. Guess what? Drago shot 33% from the floor and 40% from the free throw line. as a SENIOR returning starter. He played a garbage game too. And was rewarded with more and more time on the court.
I’m not seeing the evidence that drago has earned these minutes and using Lane is somehow not worth trying a few minutes a game.
by silverlakebruin on Feb 5, 2010 4:34 PM PST up reply actions
Now THIS is how you put up a first post on BN.
Mase — Well done. I don’t expect every person to come in with a full essay as their rookie post, but you put in the time and stood your ground with thought, analysis and a genuine love of both the Bruins and the sport at issue.
Welcome to BN, with a virtual slap on the back, too.
M
"In this program your passion bucket must be full to play SC." -- CRN, to Dan Patrick, 1/2008
Thank you Pimp BruMase!
Very good post! I love the sunshine and I’ll be there Saturday to again yell loudly and cheer on my Bruins! :)
"The entire world that bleeds blue and gold ... they have been dying for this." - Coach Rick Neuheisel
Drago played horribly in the preseason and reverted to form
in the Pac 10 season. You have to trust the coach who sees them play in practice and knows how they stack up against more mature players. Again, TH and RN earned their time in practice, and get oodles in the game. BL and MM apparently just don’t match up.
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