Howland could indeed bail out if something pops up.

He can say all he wants about the dream job, the traditions and being the humble caretaker, etc. But he is human like all of us. With the pressure building up, and no viable solutions exist but his own, which flubbed miserably already, who would care what was said previously ?

No offense, but I live in CT and Calhoun does not have a good relationship with his players. They view UConn even more as NBA boot camp than UCLA players. Plus, this season made UCLA’s look good. The players completely quit on Calhoun.

we might lose last night. We did. But I said it before. If we lost, at least we lost fighting hard. For that, Michael Roll did. But unfortunately, and I am not going to rehash the resh of the rehash, someone let him down.

So if rumor has it that he might want out, fine. We’ll deal with it when it happens. This is UCLA. Whatever happens, UCLA will still stand as the nation’s premier athletic program.

I’ve been following UCLA basketball since my Dad started taking me to the games in 1967, and I think this is the worst team that I have seen in terms of athletic talent. Yes, they may have had a better record than the other two teams with losing records, but I think that is a result of the weakness of the conference this year. Losing to Long Beach State and Fullerton was unprecedented, and there were some really ugly losses to Portland and SC, just to name a couple.

I agree that the future is very iffy. If everybody stays around (one “if”), I think that Honeycutt, Lee and Nelson can be good. Lane shows some promise. Anderson showed some signs of life last night, at least on offense. If the incoming freshmen are any good (a second “if”), they can work together with the current team to provide size (Smith) and athleticism (Lamb and Jones). There might be a “player to be named later” who can contribute. But Smith looks like a project to me – a third “if” is if he can get into better shape this summer working out with Kevin Love. If the existing players stick around and if they develop (a fourth “if”), maybe things will be ok.

Losing Dragovic will be addition by subtraction in my view and the view of almost everyone else here. Why Howland thought he had to be a featured player is really beyond me – at the most he should have been a guy brought off the bench for instant offense if he was hot. When it was clear he was not, he should have been returned to the bench as he adds little else.

As for the dark side of things, losing Roll is going to hurt. He wasn’t a great player, but he provided veteran leadership and some scoring. Somebody will have to pick up the slack, and it is unclear who that will be. There will be no seniors on next year’s team. And I am also concerned that there seems to be this undercurrent of players not wanting to play for Howland or do what he wants. While this may just be a perception and not reality, unfortunately sometimes perception is more important than reality when it comes to recruiting. The talent level has really fallen off at UCLA and I don’t know if Howland is going to be able to replenish it – if players think that it is not in their best interest to play for him based on perception, he won’t be able to do it.

In conclusion, I think this is the darkest time that I can remember as a UCLA basketball fan. Farmer was a lousy coach, but we had hope when they fired him that Hazzard would be good. He was also lousy, but Jim Harrick for all his faults brought us 20 win seasons, tournament appearances and a national championship. Lavin was awful, but we knew he would be fired and had confidence that Guerrero would replace him with someone who would restore and maintain the glory. It looked like he had succeeded with Howland, but now a lot of “ifs” are going to have to come true in order for the program to turn around. Otherwise, we are going to struggle for a couple of years and then probably go through a coaching change. And it will be very unclear if there is anyone out there willing and able to clean up the mess. I will point out in closing that Guerrero’s last men’s basketball hire before Howland, Pat Douglas at UCI, just got fired after he initially did a good job there. History may repeat itself at UCLA.

This is a worrying thought:

So Howland and his staff needs to be on recruiting trail LIKE NOW getting in at least two more serviceable options for next year….

… Howland is going to have to settle for left over recruits at this point .

The reason this is particularly worrying to me is that in an era in which your best players can leave after 1, 2 or 3 years, you need a lot of flexibility in your scholarship situation; and that also-ran players are likely to suck up 4 years of scholarship. If CBH is looking to bring in some ‘serviceable’ guys, I actually think going the transfer / JuCo route could be more productive – players who are physically ready to contribute, are hungry, and only have two years to either make an impact or take up a scholarship. Giving scholarships to some scrubs to make up a practice squad is just creating problems for the future.

If, for no other reason, than Dragovic won’t be around to suck up minutes. I’m sure Anderson will still get a ton of minutes to cause all of us to pull our hair out, but CBH won’t have a choice — he’ll have to play TH, RN, JS, BL, ML, TL, JMM, and MM big minutes.

It wouldn’t make any sense for any of the guys rumored to be transferring (MM, JMM) to do so. There is no Roll or Dragovic in their way of getting minutes now. Why go somewhere else, sit out a year, and then wait for what could be an uncertain situation? At UCLA they know that CBH liked their games enough to recruit them and offer them a scholarship. Guys sometimes have to be patient when it comes to minutes — does the case of DC and RW in their freshman years teach people nothing? Was it really that long ago?

This was a transition year. Everyone knew it going in, but I don’t think we expected it to be this bad. We will be a young team again this next year, but if we see some sort of improvement from the young kids, we could be a top of the conference team next year, no question.

The future is bright.

After a series of bricks, the camera caught Nelson running downcourt, melancholy and puzzled. You could tell with his next few moves that failed to score that he had his wind sucked out of him already.

Who wouldn’t !?!

The whole team sagged after ND’s errant missile strikes. The only one that had any fight left then was Michael Roll. Even he knew the end was in sight. That tormented look on his face when he finally exited was not a picture of a proud, young student athlete contented with his achievement at all. Not one bit. With his parents in attendance even, I cannot imagine what went through their mind.

Apparently, some Cal Bears players congratulated him after the game when the two teams lined up to shake hands. Again, he struggled with his emotions, squeezed out a hollow smile. I know very well how students felt when teachers failed them. In this case, HE IS FAILED BY HIS COACH !

I was about to scream that one out loud when my wife timely handed me my plate of dinner. It was my favorite vegetable of asparagus, sauteed shrimp & those tiny little potatos. Talking about drowning my sorrow and frustrations in food, I shuffled them in my mouth fast. Who cares about eating manners anymore, really.

The whole time, I was thinking. Is this how my son had to cope with in return for our trust and respect to commit him in the program these past five years ??

If I were in Mr & Mrs Roll’s shoes, I know this is what I would ask. They should have too. If they didn’t, it was more or less their courtesy for UCLA only.

For some reason everything is this horrible blue background and I can’t read a thing! How do I fix it back to it’s normal state?

CBH might have a good feeling that Honeycutt and Lee are going to the NBA and he recognizes that if they leave the program it will set back the rebuilding project even further. He probably figures that while UCLA may be his “dream program” (even though when he signed a contract extension at PItt he claimed that it was the place he wanted to be for a long time…just check out that press conference) he better find a new job while some programs still have the three final fours in their not too distant recollection. In other words CBH is about to test the waters this off season before the failed seasons start to add up and he is asked to leave westwood.

Unless he is asked to leave, which isn’t likely yet. DePaul would really seem a step down for him. I don’t really see how CBH could leave for DePaul on his own. But then apparently he is not too amenable to change either. So with next season shaping up to be a make or break one for the program, only he himself knows what is in his sleeve.

Should he really bail out, it may just work out for the best of our program and his coaching records. DePaul has been a doormat for quite some time now. Howland is a good fit to restart it.

I keep staring at the lineup of scholarship players for next year and it is horrifying. I was at UCLA from 80-85 and even with “down” years we had 5-10 McDonald’s All-Americans on the bench. This lineup looks unbelievably pathetic, like the year after getting the NCAA death penalty might look. The cupboard is nearly bare. I think from now on I will avert my eyes when the list is posted again. “Nightmare” comes to mind. Hello, football!