UCLA Basketball has Potential Even for Next Year
by bruinnn on Mar 16, 2010 3:50 PM PDT
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I understand the extreme concern that everybody has for this basketball program due to the horrific season we just put forth this year. The thing that I don't like is that everybody is criticizing Ben Howland and how he has destroyed this program. It is soooooo quickly that we just forget about the fact that he led us to three consectutive final four seasons with the last one being just two years ago. Here are some reasons we should have hope and excitement for the 2010-2011 season rather than give up all our hope and trust in Ben Howland who we recently placed all of our trust in:
1. The rumors about Ben Howland going to DePaul are just that, RUMORS. This has always been Ben Howland's dream job and he will not walk away from it.
2. Malcolm Lee and Tyler Honeycutt are going nowhere near the NBA for now. Neither of them will get drafted and once they hear that from an NBA scout, they will come back for at least one more year. You may ask why they won't get drafted...according to various mock drafts, Cal guards Theo Robertson, Jerome Randle, and Patrick Christopher are going to be drafted either late second round or not at all. Malcolm Lee and Honeycutt are no where near as good as any of those three players.
3. Ben Howland knows best. He sees all of the players at practice and he realizes their strengths and weaknesses. Yes, when he took Bobo Morgan out of the ASU game after he made a nice shot and then took a charge, I was furious; BUT, we saw how much Bobo needed to improve when he got some more playing time and showed that he had absolutely no quickness on the defensive side of the ball and couldn't do anything to help the team. Every fan, including me, could not stand that Dragovic was constantly being played over Lane and Morgan but Ben Howland believed that this teams only chance was to get Dragovic hot (which didn't happen all year). He could have given more time to players like Moser and Lane in place of Dragovic but he wasn't giving up on the season and just playing for next year. That is something to admire. We would never accept a player giving up on a season and playing for the next season so why would we accept a coach that did that.
4. We have another top notch recruiting class in place as Ben Howland said he is going to hit the recruiting trail hard (another indication he isn't going to DePaul) and as he already has a top 3 center in Josh Smith and another top 50 overall player in Tyler Lamb (6'4 guard). He also recruited the best JUCO point guard in Lazeric Jones and he will pull in at least 2-3 more quality recruits by the time the players sign (he always has been a great recruitor and that will not change as long as he is at a school with a name and tradition like UCLA).
5. The system has been purged of players who do not have the discipline and character that Ben Howland wants in the program (Drag/Gordon). Jerime Anderson showed some great life in the California game and proved to us fans that he has the potential to be a solid point guard in the PAC 10. He will get stronger and quicker over the offseason and will hopefully have no injuries to set him back. We will be returning TWO all conference freshman in Reeves Nelson and Honeycutt (only three other teams had even 1 all conference freshman as the honors are only given to 5 players). A look at our potential starting lineup:
1. Jerime Anderson: I believe that he can make great strides this offseason as he was injury-plagued last year and never got into a rhythm. He finally has some good experience under him and will be working to get better with one of the best coaching staffs in all of basketball.
2. Malcolm Lee: He showed that he can play at an extremely high level when starting at the shooting guard and he will work on improving his shot all offseason. His troubles came when he was running the show at point but he shouldnt have to do that next year as Anderson, JUCO transfer Jones, and possibly a freshman recruit (maybe Ray McCallum) will all be battling for the point position.
3. Tyler Honeycutt: Was unable to lift weights most of the season and can now get stronger and will have a whole extra year of practice time. He didn;t reach his full potential even at the end of the year because he wasn't completely back into the swing of things until mid-conference season due to the injury. All that practice time that he missed to start the year was really harmful to his season.
4. Reeves Nelson: Imagine him at his real position going against players his size rather than having to play the 5 and go against people much larger than him this year. He still averaged 11 and 5.5 at the 5. He will be a monster at the 4 and we should be able to rebound with anybody in the country.
5. Josh Smith: A true 5 and our most coveted recruit since Kevin Love. If he can get back into shape and contribute like he is expected, the Bruins should have the best frontcourt in the PAC 10 with a solid backcourt in Lee and whoever picks up the point position.
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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One More Thing
forgot to mention the bulking up of lane and the whole recruiting class of this year on the bench. We will be a much deeper team as well.
I would like to get on board with you.
But CBH is going to have to make a believer out of me all over again.
A lot of the positives you mention were true last off season as well. We had a lot of potential to be a good team, but we weren’t. Gordan’s departure is a good example of something that could have been prevented. As you yourself say, Howland knows his players.
You point out how quick we are to forget Howland’s Final Four runs, but many of the cracks in his armor were evident during those Final Four runs and became basic your basic chasms once exposed to the light of day.
Your argument depends on a lot of WHAT IFs. And, in my experience, when you need that many things to line up you can bet that very few will. For example, you point to our acquiring Lazeric Jones as a good thing. Bringing in a JUCO is a desperation move. Sure, some of them have worked out well in the past, but honestly name one Juco player that has gone to lead his team to a deep run in the tournament.
Again, I hope you are right, but I’m just a little more realistic right now.
The best thing you can do for your children is to love their mother. John Wooden
Name a Juco?
Going back a little ways …but Larry Johnson was one and Walter Berry is another. There are others but I agree …its pretty hard to make a big bet on Lazeric Jones seven months before practice begins.
Darington Hobson
Hobson has lead New Mexico to a 3 seed in the tournament this year, and I guess we’ll see if they can make it deep into the tournament.
We're havin' too much fun today. We ain't thinkin' 'bout tomorrow.
Me too
I can sense the passion leap out in the post but I’m not buying it. We have many issues that go beyond our roster. JA made some shots…..great but he has A LOT to work on. For starters, he needs to stop getting jacked on the perimeter. And for those that expect JS2 to be ready for heavy minutes are delusional. I don’t care how much he works out with KL. He’ll get in better shape but I doubt he’s going to be in the type of condition that CBH has demanded his players to be.
I’m ready for Spring FB and for better or worse, we’ll see what happens with BB.
Best JUCO point guard?
Yeah, I’m with you, I’m not really even sure what that means. The closest thing I can think of would be something like saying “he’s the best QB in the Canadian football league”. He could be really good, or not.
"I don't forget very much" Rick Neuheisel, 11/28/09
As I recall, John Vallely went to a Junior College before he came to UCLA
and he was a big time player. Coach didn’t have many, but he had some guys from Junior Colleges. In addition to Vallely, there was a kid named Swen Nater but he was a little tall to play point guard.
"Gordan’s departure is a good example of something that could have been prevented"
I don’t see where you’re coming from on this one. As I understand it, Drew Gordon came into the program with unrealistic expectations of both Howland’s system and his own ability to affect it and a cadre of sycophants (including his parents) egging him on. He tried to lead a revolt against Howland’s system, and, when he realized that it wasn’t going to work (and that we weren’t winning), he skipped town like a petulant toddler.
The only way I can see Gordon’s departure being preventable is if Howland forsakes his ideals and system to please him. We’ve been all over CBH’s case for betraying his principles with ND, and I’d like to think that we’d be just as all over him if he did it for Gordon, and whether Gordon would have performed better as a result of said forsaking should have nothing to do with it.
JA never showed even a flash
of potential in terms of being a Pac-10 caliber PG. His last game was his best offensively, but as many other people have echoed, he is a huge defensive liability. He just doesn’t seem to have the speed or athleticism to keep up with players at this level.
Another thing
The Pac-10 might be even weaker next year than it was this year. Cal loses Randle, Christopher, and Robertson, ASU loses Glasser and Boateng, Washington loses Pondexter, and SUC loses Lewis, Gerrity, and Johnson. Arizona and WSU should be better, but with even a little improvement over this years team (which is not much to ask) we should be in decent position relative to the conference.
We're havin' too much fun today. We ain't thinkin' 'bout tomorrow.
Yeah
One Pac-10 writer has already picked UCLA to win the conference next year
by SuperBruinMan on Mar 17, 2010 8:14 PM PDT up reply actions
I'd like to know more about the DePaul and UConn rumors
They flashed by with almost no substance to support or negate them.
Was there any support for the propositions?
And, if so, why are they false, now?
sjh
Like the sentiment but not sure I can agree with the points
2. TH and ML. I want our players to be so good the NBA wants them. Fact is ML has not shown he is good enough this year. TH is a different story. He certianly is athletic enough (more so then any of the CAL guys) but was not ready b-ball wise. Of course, neither was JH. Thus I’m not sure it is a good thing to have players the NBA does not want.
3. “CBH knows best.” CBH deserves respect but not blind obedience. He admitted he should have pulled Rago more after bad shots. He admitted he played BL wrong in the OR game. That said he also proved he was a great “Thursday” coach and can still coach. I am hopeful next year all our games have the Thursday efforts and not the second game let downs.
5. “system Purged” of Bad Characters. There was a debate here on BN who was worse, JA or Rago. The point is not that the winner of the debate but that most here thought JA had some character issues as well. Also RN gave up on defense at times. There are a lot of questions even without Rago in the character department.
Starting lineup
1. JA did have a good offensive game against CAL. But he was not playing like a point and was beyond belief bad on D. The fact is JA may be ready to contribute next year as a 2 guard IF he plays D. He may be too slow to play D. I can seen no world and in which he is a starting point.
I will close with a point I do agree with you on.
2, ML. ML could be good/very good 2 next year and a Ben Ball Warrior. He was hurt playing point and assuming we have a point he would be a good defensive stopper and slasher at the 2. So agree with you wholeheartedly on that one.
Agree with DCBruin
There are a lot of holes in your contentions.
2. NBA draft is based on potential. TH as a freshman with minimal conditioning has much more potential than the 3 CAL seniors you mentioned.
3. CBH sure had a lot of people (respected coaches, analysts, his own players, and fans) questioning his player management and allocation of player minutes.
4. Top notch recruiting class – at this point it looks like a reasonable class, not top-notch
5. Purged of bad characters – ND just doesn’t have anymore eligibilty left, I don’t see it as CBH “purging” him. He also apparently “purged” CS and RW (wright). Another way of looking at the situation is maybe he “purged” JF,AA,RW,LRMBM,KL,JH all leaving for the NBA early (of them all, I still can;t believe Luc left early)
Too many "if's"
In a comment to one of Nestor’s posts I mentioned that the future was dark for UCLA basketball (the darkest that I can remember in over 40 years as a fan) because of all the “if’s” that have to come true for the team to be good again. I note that MexiBruin also makes note of some of the “if’s”. I really hope that bruinnn’s positive thinking turns out to be reality, but I’m not confident based on what I have been seeing over the last couple of years. I think there is a legitimate chance that Lee will leave this year and that Honeycut will leave either this year (perhaps not so likely) or next. Relying on a JC point guard is a huge “if” and another Big If (literally) is if Josh Smith can get into decent shape and be an immediate contributor in the middle. Lamb looks like a nice player, but I think it is unrealistic to think he will be a Farmar or Afflalo. Yet another unknown is if Howland will bring in any other players who can contribute right away. Will this year’s freshmen develop into more effective players next year? Did last year’s freshmen develop into more effective players this year? Maybe a little bit in terms of Malcolm Lee, but that’s about it.
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