Thank You Thread For The Last Ben Ball Warrior: Michael Roll (MR)

Roll was a new student/freshman and my gf at the time was also a freshman. There was this little mixer/dance on the tennis courts during 1st week so there were a lot of freshman and sophomores out celebrating. My (now) ex-gf runs up to me and says, “this guy was hitting on me and tried to kiss me.” In an attempt to seem like the macho bf, I went up to Roll and asked if what he had just done was true. He simply looked at me, apologized and said, can you blame me for trying, look at her. If only I had known he would be the last remnants of a Ben Ball Warrior left on this dispirited basketball team. And as far as his philosophy goes, at least he always kept trying, even if the odds were stacked against him.- :P
GO BRUINS

Roll was a real champ and fought to the end. I really hope he continues to mentor the young guys on how to be a humble yet effective player.

Redick has steadily improved his all around game and earned some PT…I hope someone at least gives Roll a chance to do the same.

No other UCLA player has ever struck me more as a coaching type then Roll. That includes Cameron Dollar, who is now a coach, and Earl Watkins, who will one day be a coach when his NBA career is over.

You made enduring a frustrating season a little less frustrating. Thank you for not letting the play of your teammates affect how you played. Thank you for being a constant reminder of what hard work, hustle, and dedication looks like.

MR I mean. I dont see any recent recruits that remind me of him. Those 6’-5" guards, sturdy, ben ball defense, could shoot. We’ve had 3 or 4 over the last couple of years. As a matter of fact would he even be recruited now with this emphasis on “high quality” players. Been reading this site for awhile now, 1st post. Started following the Bruins in Walton’s soph. season. Anyway good luck Michael!

One of the few bright spots of the season. Could you imagine this season without him? I think we would have single digit wins this season and even more team turmoil/bickering. Without MR this season, I really think the past season would have been so horendous that CBH would never be able to recover from it.

I met his mother at a bar in San Jose the night before we played Kansas in the Elite 8. She seemed like such a nice, down to earth type of person, much like MR.

I hope someone will be able to fill his shoes next year, awfully big shoes to fill.

Still (despite not really getting any notable time) was the Gonzaga game when on the sidelines he’s basically clotheslined by AA2 and Ryan Wright when they were celebrating like mad. He really is the last of the warriors and (it’s depressing to think about) but we may not see a player with this much heart for a long time

It was a joy watching Roll this year. During a time of struggle for the hoops program, I couldn’t help but feel proud every time I saw Mike Roll play with the same passion that his friends Luc, Alfred, Lorenzo, Darren, Arron, Russ and others played with during our recent glory years. Watching the last game, I watched him on every possession. I knew it may be the last time for a couple years that I’d see a bruin who I could share the same amount pride in as I did with Roll. I remember last year there was a post how we were witnessing something special with Darren Collison and we needed to not take it for granted and appreciate his final moments as a Bruin. I took it to heart and focused solely on the passion and skill and dedication that Roll brought to the team during the final stretch of the season. I’ll miss watching Roll a lot. It seems he is last in the line of warriors who actually listened to the coach and played with the same passion and intensity that was expected of the players under Howland’s rule.

I just hope that Lamb or Jones or Smith can come in and rekindle that passion and dedication. I hope we get more guys like Roll, who even when things were bad, did not turn his back on the formula that brought us success. Seeing Howland bring him out for that special moment/ovation from the crowd while leaving Dragovic on the floor really said something about the appreciation he shows toward Mike Roll. Like us, he knows Mike Roll is the last “Ben Ball Warrior;” for now at least.

emailed me at the start of the CSUF game when ESPN listed him as our star and said: “If he is our star we are in trouble.” We agreed this was going to be a tough year and thought that it was going to be ML or maybe, when he was back from injury, the new guy TH that would emerge as a leader.

Boy were were we wrong. MR became much much more than a three point specialist. He lead the team in ASSISTS! He showed he could score going to the basket. He even played PG successfully in the ORST game. He did everything and more that could be expected of him on offense. He exceeded our expectations and as others have said he became much more than a “role player” but truly a PAC 10 first teamer.

He was a dream to watch because he was a person achieving his maximum potential and leading the team the way a senior leader should by being clutch. Everyone remembers his big basket against CAL but he also did it with a 3 at OR to tie the game for us. It is just that time we lost in OT.

Bye Mike and thank you for everything. Good luck on whatever your next step is and whatever it is I will not doubt you again.

from MR in which he said," I just wanted to show people I could play." In fact, he showed even more than that.

The headline said it all: you are a Ben Ball Warrior.

Thank you for all your effort on the court and off the court.

Good luck in the future.