The Worst Is Yet To Come: Ben Howland's Bruins Bracing For An Ugly Finish
by Nestor on Mar 2, 2010 5:21 AM PST
in Basketball
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PrintWith a total of 2 mins for Bobo Morgan and Mike Moser against Oregon on Saturday afternoon, UCLA head coach Ben Howland sent a pretty clear message concerning rest of the season. He is not going to make any changes to the core of his rotation rest of this season. Seems pretty clear that he is going to stick with his psychotic reliance on Nikola Dragovic which is reaching borderline insanity, and he will most likely continue to go with Jerime Anderson in crunch time even though in his two seasons he has yet to prove himself as Pac-10 caliber defensive guard.
The whole sad scenario is shaping up to get even uglier this week as the Bruins get ready to play an Arizona team which is going to be looking for a strong finish heading into the Pac-10 tourney. The Wildcats are coming back home on a high note after pulling off a road win in Stanford. Just how insane was Howland's decision to stick with DRagO on Saturday? Consider the following quote from the OC Register:
"My parents came to Thursday’s game and one of my shoulders popped out," said Dragovic, who surprisingly didn’t have a rain cloud hanging a few inches above his head. "I came back, got a shot before the game and was feeling a little better. I could raise my arm above my shoulder. And then two minutes before the game starts I step on the ball…it happens."
Nikola is not expected to practice until Wednesday at the earliest.
I hope Nikola feels physically healthy soon but then again his head coach will most likely keep playing him 30 something mins a game. Meanwhile just what would you do if you were in Bobo Morgan's shoes? Let's see you work your rear end off the entire off-season (arguably making the most physical improvement among your team-mates). By all accounts it looks like you are doing everything you can to be attentive on game days, by supporting and cheering your team-mates and paying close attention instead of looking disinterested. When you get called upon for your first big minutes, you put together a solid game against Washington State. Yet, your head coach rewards you by giving you 2 minutes and instead with going with an one armed scrub, who can't shoot even when he is healthy and has never cared about playing defense and giving effort on the court.
So yeah what exactly would you do if you were Bobo? I wouldn't blame you if you were looking to get out of Westwood as soon as you get the chance and make us miss you like we are all missing Chace Stanback right about now. If this is not a direct example of doing everything to run a kid out of the program, I am not sure what is. More on the sorry state of Howland's team after the jump.
On the injury front it's unclear whether Reeves Nelson will be back:
Nelson was shooting baskets before Saturday’s game but that doesn’t necessarily mean that his return to game-action is imminent.
"He’s going to be re-evaluated on Wednesday," UCLA coach Ben Howland said of Nelson. "He is only allowed right now to ride a bike. He can’t do anything with too much exertion because of the blood pressure behind the eye. He can shoot. He can ride a bike. That’s what he’s been doing."
And Michael Roll sounds totally deflated as Gold described him as "Morbid. Stoic. Almost...sad," following Saturday's loss:
"It was hectic and we were pressing," UCLA senior forward Michael Roll said. "We were fighting back, we were down and couldn't just get over the hump. They had the right intentions, they were just pushing too much trying to get it to the hoop.
"Just unfortunate."
Can't blame him when his head coach hasn't been doing much to put him and his team in position to win or bothering to change his approach or rotation to inject a modicum of enthusiasm heading into rest of the season.
As for their next opponent Arizona is coming off a bit of a high even though prior to its Stanford win, it had lost 5 of its previous 6 games. The way Sean Miller's team pulled out the victory against Stanford is especially striking considering what we have gone through our season with Howland's inexplicable rotation(s) (emphasis added):
With upperclassmen Nic Wise and Jamelle Horne on the bench in the final critical possessions, newcomers delivered in the clutch.
Freshman center Derrick Williams, who tied the game by hitting one of two free throws with 30 seconds left, blocked a dunk try by Stanford's Jack Trotter with five seconds left. Sophomore guard Brendon Lavender grabbed the rebound and passed to freshman MoMo Jones, who banked in a 15-foot shot just before the buzzer to win it.
What is even more striking is if you look through Arizona's season stats. 4 of their freshmen - Derrick Williams, Solomon Hill, Kevin Parrom and Lamont Jones - are in team's top-8 in minutes played. Their 5th freshmen - Kyryl Natyazhko - is 10th on the team averaging 11.8 mins per game. Compared this to Howland's rotation this season. Natyazhko averages more than Brendan Lane, who is now up to 8.8 mins a game (due to increased mins following Keefe's injury) and still got benched during crunch time even though he was putting together his best game in a Bruin uniform. Again, I wonder if Mike Moser has been thinking what would have happened if he stuck with his commitment to Arizona.
I don't have any hope for Thursday night. I guess the only intangible that might be going our way is that we are not expected to win and that it might be a little different than our previous debacle against 'Zona since this time we are going to play a zone. However, this team sounds deflated and demoralized and it looks like Howland will most likely stick with his putrid rotation which has resulted in almost total unraveling of his program in his seventh season in Westwood. We should all be bracing for an ugly finish this week and beyond. The worst is yet to come.
GO BRUINS.
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All time low
I have followed and been a fan of the basketball program since 1988, and I can say without a doubt this is the worst shape I have seen it and that includes the dark Lavin years!$@/$. At least with the lizzard we knew the problem was that Lavin was a fake and had to be fired. What now? How could you go from 3 final fours and coach of the year to complete loser of a coach in just 1 or 2 years?Did Howland have a silent stroke or beginning stage Of mental disease that nobody knows about yet?
This is like we are in a collective nightmare and we’re going to wake up any moment with a sigh of relief.
by cyberdbk on Mar 2, 2010 7:08 AM PST via mobile reply actions
I have to disagree
I was in school during the Lavin years. Even with as frustrating as this season has been, I don’t know if we are anywhere near the Lavin years and experiences.
This is different from Lavin years
Unlike Lavin despite our criticisms we appreciate what Howland has done. That said there are some serious issues he needs to address and the stubbornness we are noticing in his management is deeply frustrating. It’s new territory for all of us. Lavin was an incompetent head coach who was also sleazy.
Howland is a very good coach and has a good track record. However, what we have seen on the court last year and half is disconcerting and raises serious questions (that are more than reasonable to bring up). We hope he will address them in an aggressive manner but last few weeks have been discouraging.
Just go back in time, if you could, and relive those Hazzard & Farmer years
You would then know this season and its magnitude of disappointments measures well with those horrendous years in the eighties when Hazzard & Farmer coached in Pauley.
Whereas Hazzard & Farmer obviously struggled to cope with the job that overwhelmed their skills, Howland & company does it the painfully irrational, hysterically stubborn way, straining Pauley fans’ patience and goodwill to the brim.
I agree this is an "all time low" but I disagree with the comparison
It is not Lavinesqe.
I believe the negative feelings are directly correlated to the huge gap between expectations this year and reality.
As N keeps saying, no one thought this was a final four team. But no one predicted a losing year either.
More importantly, no one predicted that a CBH team:
- Would not play with intensity at least 1/2 of the time
- Would not play solid defense most of the time
- Would be regularly outhustled
- Would be bombing from 3 point land early in the shot clock
- Would lose one of its supposed stars not to the NBA but to defection.
This team is “ugly.” And I think I have been one of the more positive people on this website. I had hope well into the PAC 10 games that we could turn it around with solid, pack the paint zone and intense “inside out” basketball.
This team has a personality problem beyond CBH: they get down on themselves when they make mistakes (except for N’s favorite player). They lose focus even when they are playing well. They make way too many stupid mistakes.
And I am increasingly believing that the team’s personality is negatively reinforced by CBH’s typical startegy. When we are ahead, he particularly likes to slow things down and use clock. Sound strategy but it takes the intensity out of this team, which is a problem because this team can not win without laser focus.
Hope for a miracle. Realistically moving on……
by Bruin Dad and Grad on Mar 2, 2010 9:34 AM PST up reply actions
Just so you know
I put up the numbers you requested (the best freshmen performances including KLove) in the original Thanks To The Two Tylers thread.
Thanks
Just followed that thread. If there was any doubt (and there is in my household), Kevin Love sure looks good in those statistics.
Thanks again!
by Bruin Dad and Grad on Mar 2, 2010 5:10 PM PST up reply actions
We all thought that final four teams aside, any Howland coached games
would at least be physically played, feisty, strategy based and most of all, intelligently coached. My oh my, hve we all benn in for a real TREAT !
Hope Drago heals up
But maybe, just maybe, he should take this week off to heal completely. Shoot, maybe he should take it easy for the pac ten tournament too
Lavin years!?
I can’t believe you are comparing this year to the Lavin years. We all knew Lavin was a terrible coach but keep in mind he had great talent year after year. Howland’s team doesn’t have the horses this year (which is Holwand’s/coaching staffs fault). To say Bobo is the solution to RAG because he lost weight while he is still terribly slow and always out of position and a black hole on offense. Just because he pays attention on gameday, doesn’t mean he deserves playing time. This isn’t junior high basketball. You do not go to every practice. Maybe, just maybe, Bobo is terrible there. I’m not saying Ragovich is a good player or deserves 30 minutes (I don’t think he deserves 3) but Bobo isn’t the answer. Go with a small lineup like we did starting the second half against Oregon.
by Waitingfornumber12 on Mar 2, 2010 8:02 AM PST reply actions
Just where did I suggest Bobo should get 20-30 mins or
is an answer for Rag? The point of the post was Morgan at the very least should have gotten credible mins (that would be lot more than 2 mins) given Rag was completely ineffective and inattentive (like he has been his entire career) during his 33 mins of action. The disparity in min rotation was even more galling considering Howland chose to stick with him even though Rag was injured and Bobo could have been a legit option against a zone defense.
Again don’t make up arguments that no one is advancing here to rail against.
I would also
If we had tried out a line up which would have Bobo at 5, Lane at 4 … for 4-7 mins …. giving Honeycutt a blow (by having either Roll or Moser taking the 3) … we might have had a shot of keeping Tyler out of foul trouble. Again, no where in our posts we are hoisting us Bobo, Moser or Lane as the panacea. The argument all along has been to given them a reasonable shot with credible mins so they could develop and have fair shot at making contributions this season.
So instead of refuting those propositions do not come here to rail against imaginary arguments that are not being thrown up on homepage.
Would you agree
to go with a smaller lineup and limit Rags minutes? I think it is a viable option.
by Waitingfornumber12 on Mar 2, 2010 8:11 AM PST reply actions
Saturday just makes less and less sense
The more is revealed about ND’s injuries, the even more inexplicable CBH’s decision to play him the majority of the game at center becomes. I actually have to give ND credit for playing on one leg and with one arm, but the fact that CBH put ND in that position is beyond me. I cant imagine that he honestly believed that “Hey, my soft power forward who likes to play on the perimeter has a messed up ankle and a bad shoulder, I should play him at center for 3/4ths of the game. Genius.” Dumb dumb dumb.
He was not playing center when
he jacked up and missed 3’s, some very early in the shot clock.
ND’s best game, for what it’s worth, is inside on O. If he were instructed to stay there, that might be ok except …
Unfortunately, with that comes the responsibility of playing some D. And, he doesn’t.
sjh
from someone who missed the games this weekend
can someone put the Bobo PT over the two games into context?
Reading the game thread for OSU, ND came in for his accustomed level of heavy criticism for his play; but it didn’t seem like there was such a clamor for more minutes for Bobo as one might expect under the circumstances. Was Bobo having a bad game? Did he have any injury issues?
Re: vs OU – are there any explanations for the lack of time? Disciplinary? (I only mention that because I had read some quotes that sounded like Bobo was sounding off slightly about his PT over the season, and wondered if this was symptomatic of a larger locker-room issue between Bobo and CBH) Are there matchup reasons due to OU’s quickness?
Reading about the games without having been able to watch, I am pretty baffled, given how we were pressing injured or recovering-from-being-injured finesse power forwards into the center position in preference to Bobo.
For Oregon game
Bobo played 2 miins. There was no injury or disciplinary issues.
Bobo did look a little lethargic in the first half mins he got against Oregon State but it wasn’t just him looking lethargic in rebounding department that game. It was the entire team.
I think if we had played Bobo 7-10 mins and give Moser around 4-5 mins, we could have probably kept Honeycutt out of foul trouble in second half.
There is really no plausible explanation for the rotation we saw on Saturday.
thanks
If there was a pure tradeoff between Bobo’s minutes and a senior’s minutes on senior day, I could understand one (non-basketball-strategy) motivation for Bobo’s minutes being marginally down. But when that isn’t the case, and when the senior getting unduly high minutes is being put into a position where he cannot be expected to succeed, it doesn’t even seem easy to put it as ‘senior day’ treatment (unlike if, say, ND had played major minutes at the 4 and BL had seen fewer minutes…).
I Think It Was Senior Day
and that Oregon played a small lineup. Bobo just didn’t fit. We’ll see whether the young players get more time on the weekend. BL earned a lot more playing time. I think he’ll get it this weekend. Bobo is another matter.
I hope it was not Seniors Day
That would be a perversion of the original tradition.
Seniors got to start and play a few minutes. After that, it was the “usual”.
Unfortunately, the “usual” substitution pattern has become hard to defend.
sjh
I think what frustrated me the most in the second half
was that we were getting killed inside by their guards driving to the basket for relatively easy buckets. I don’t understand why Bobo was not inserted to nullify that aspect. Even if he didn’t get rebounds or score, he certainly knows how to block shots.
I totally agree about the last few minutes of the game. BL and MAH should have been in there in crunch time. BL earned it with his play and MAH is steady and from what we have seen this year, seems to be a better shooter than JA. I am not writing JA off just yet, but for this year, he hasn’t shown me that he deserves to be in there when the chips are down. Hopefully next year we will see a kid that has worked hard in the off season and shows us what we all hoped for this year.
N has it right
Bobo did not have the intensity on Saturday that he had on Thursday. But he probably still justified more minutes.
by Bruin Dad and Grad on Mar 2, 2010 9:36 AM PST up reply actions
Bobo has problems Rebounding
We were getting killed both games on the boards and Bobo had 0 rebounds for the weekend. That said, I like Bobo and think he should have been playing more earlier. Bobo has improved his footwork and looks decent on offense with his back to the basket. But he is still a project. He should stay and by his senior year he may be something. He is at his best against slower teams (like WSU)and not against quick teams.
BL was the guy who should have been the main 5 against OR as he could/did rebound and was a better matchup with OR’s athletic\quick but not skilled inside players. (OSU was not that way at all, there best inside guy, Burton, was brute force but not quick.) Thus I think it should have been BL for 30+ minutes (or at least the crucial last four minutes).
one note on BL
he looks like he has really learned to box out aggressively in a way that no other interior player for UCLA has done this season. I wouldn’t have any problem with Bobo – or even ND – having low rebounding numbers if they were boxing guys out and (say) TH was the guy taking down the credit for the rebounds. Sometimes Luc used to get slightly disproportionate rebounding numbers because he was long and athletic while the likes of LMR kept the opposing rebounders at bay, and TH is ideally suited to taking the ball at the highest point with his own length, athleticism and timing. Unfortunately, TH is often having to grab rebounds in spite of his teammates, not with their assistance.
by britishbruin on Mar 2, 2010 11:16 AM PST up reply actions
BL was a good matchup in OR Game
Lower rebounding numbers are okay given your role. For example, ND will not rebound as well as RN ever because RN is always close to the basket. BUT ML the PG is outrebounding Bobo and ND, that is a problem.
You are right on TH and I would add that TH can’t be 5 because he needs to be the weakside rebounder. In the OSU game it was frightening how many offense rebounds they were getting and for a while it looked like Burton (a wide body) was going to get his career high in a half. CBH briefly moved ML to 3 on defense to help with rebounding!
BL did a good job rebounding and playing defense against OR. Without him we would have lost the rebound margin by a bigger total.
slightly disagree
it isn’t a problem if your nominal point guard is getting higher rebounding statistics than your bigs if your bigs are ‘assisting’ on enough rebounds to earn their keep. Your guards are always likely to pick up some rebounds here and there, but if you are securing the ball most times off the defensive glass through good team rebounding, it doesn’t much matter whether your nominal center is getting them himself or boxing out so that his SF teammate can leap and secure the ball. Obviously, this doesn’t seem to be the case. My point is mainly that regardless of how many or few rebounds BL is getting, his technique is sound and helps his teammates; the same doesn’t seem to be true of Bobo, ND, RN etc…
This season, for reasons best known to CBH, our rebounding strategy stopped being based on team defense and started becoming a free-for-all with most players just going for the ball (perhaps because if RN tried to box out a genuine big center, the big guy could have just reached over him…).
by britishbruin on Mar 2, 2010 11:57 AM PST up reply actions
Yeah, I am using a statistical approach too much
Your points are right but ND and Bobo even under those scenarios should rebound better.
Also, BL is playing the same position in the same zone and getting rebounds. So I think the statistics do point to the fact that BL should have played more as does his technique.
I disagree on the rebounding strategy comment. He has set it up so TH can rebound. TH is a better shot blocker than ND but TH needs to stay home and rebound for us. Thus there is a bit of strategy in keeping TH at forward as rebounds are more important than Block shots and others can block shots but not rebound as good as TH.
not sure what you are disagreeing with on the rebounding strategy
Unless you thought my comment was based on this game specifically? I meant it as a more general comment over the season – where, in particular, RN and TH would often go for the same defensive rebound without either boxing out their man (to say nothing of ND…). We rely way too much on TH’s athleticism -and RN’s aggression – to get our rebounds, rather than positioning, technique and teamwork.
You are right..
But it’s harder to find a body to box out when playing zone. I would agree with you that this year’s team lacks the fundamental, physicality on boards that used to be CBH trademarks.
Life is what happens when you're busy making plans.
I just don't think it is a "free-for-all"
And that is where I disagree with you on rebouding strategy.
On the defense side CBH has set up the zone for TH to be the best rebounder. As 11 says below it is harder to find a body in zone but keeping TH on the weak side (offense’s left side) of the zone allows him to be in the best position to rebound and is a “strategy.”
This was more important and obvious over the weekend when ND was Center.
Can't say I blame Bobo
for being lethargic. He hasn’t had enough PT to get into the flow right away. Plus, if he works hard, there’s no guarantee he’ll even get more time. I’m just speechless at the lack of giving our big men and young guys more PT. I mean, we’re not competing for anything, so why not build for next year. I know it’s a broken record, but at this rate, with the low morale and frustrations with PT, I wouldn’t be surprised if more players jumped ship. Howland needs to make some changes and fast. If we have another poor showing on Saturday, can we say he’s officially on the hot seat?
rereading my own post
it may sound like I am challenging people’s opinion of how CBH screwed this up. I am not. I have no standing to do so having not seen the games. I was just wondering if anyone has any additional insights.
Another criticism of CBH
was not drawing up a play for MR who was on his way to a career day in the final minutes of the game (this is when having timeouts at the end of games help). Why anyone would pass the ball to Rag in crunch time is beyond me.
by Waitingfornumber12 on Mar 2, 2010 8:54 AM PST reply actions
Religious zeal?
OK, this is just speculation. As no one on this site can find a plausible explanation for CBH’s devotion to Drago, I have the following question:
Recently, I saw CBH commenting on his personal commitment to his faith and that he had been praying for our Bruins. But could CBH’s love for Drago be related to his faith, or his desire to save Drago?
Please, no offense intended. Just asking?
by Arturo del Mundo on Mar 2, 2010 9:04 AM PST reply actions
It better be
Because there is no other explanation from a bball perspective. CBH is making himself look real bad. Playing a bad player a majority of minutes, even though he is clearly hurt, only sends a very negative message to the rest of the team.
I anticipate major defections in the off-season, and loss of recruits. Then, CBH will really be up a creek without a paddle.
Louisville, KY for UCLA class of '87
Agree on defections
I have no inside information to support any of this, but I would not be surprised at all if 2-3 players left the program.
You wouldn't need much inside information
to suspect who the leading candidates would be. Moser, Bobo, maybe Lee.
by Kerckhoff405 on Mar 2, 2010 10:26 AM PST up reply actions
if Lee thinks he is NBA-ready
then I think he’ll go. Otherwise, transferring to another school just puts him one year further away from the league by sitting out a year.
If Bobo can’t get / CBH won’t give minutes under the current circumstances, then it makes sense that he would look elsewhere – unless he thinks that another off-season of learning and conditioning can make him a force in CBH’s team. But the latter seems unlikely given competition from JS2 and AS next season…
Moser seems the most likely to leave, if SF is his position – hard to see him getting more than a few backup minutes with TH playing 32+, unless one or other of them ends up with minutes at the 2 or the 4.
In the worst case scenario of all three leaving, how much does it hurt us? Seems like the loss of Lee would remove our most obvious option at the 2, but if we read correctly what we have for next year, then the loss of Bobo or Moser wouldn’t leave a gaping hole to fill.
by britishbruin on Mar 2, 2010 11:11 AM PST up reply actions
Lee is D-League ready
Shaky handle, bad rotation on jump shot, inconsistent release point on shot, athletic, but not uberquick, not tall for a NBA combo guard or a great leaper, not a strong decision maker with the ball, have I said enough. His positives, he is creative off the dribble when he has room and he can do some damage in the open court.
Life is what happens when you're busy making plans.
that would be my assessment too
but I am not an NBA scout…
Losing Moser
doesn’t appear to hurt as I wonder if he’d get more than 5 minutes a game next year. With JS2 coming the loss of Bobo wouldn’t seem too traumatic, though I’d like to see him stay and play well. ML…if Lamb can play reasonably well, losing ML might not be too bad. On one hand, I still think ML can get 15+ a game if he can play at the 2 and find his confidence. On the other hand, if he’s grumbling and unhappy, his leaving wouldn’t be a bad thing – I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we did show some improvement after DG’s departure.
Open question: What is AS going to bring us next year? I of course haven’t seen him in high school or in warm-ups, and I’m too lazy to track down video when I know there are regulars here who are quite knowledgeable about recruiting.
Does ND's family or country have mob connections?
It’s easier for me to believe that CBH has had a gun at his head than it is to believe he is this bullheaded. It also, seems to me CBH would be better off if he recruits players to his old defensive mold than to try and fit players to this current group. You can’t tell me this university and it’s current coaching staff cannot recruit a point guard who has it all and to bring in some big’s to shut down the door to the hoop. Does anyone have a better explanation for coach’s behavior?
'CaptainJack65'
Jack Metcalf
MM, Bobo and CBH's rotation
I’m not privy to the practices, don’t know the individual players ability to absorb a game plan, put in the extra work, etc. All that said, CBH is in a difficult spot here. On one hand the coaching staff has to consider this season over and begin developing the freshmen. On the other hand you have CBH devotion and admiration to the seniors and what the sacrifices they’ve made in helping to rebuild UCLA to a national program. It was Senior Day, the game meant everything to Roll, ND, JK, MAH, SS – it also meant a chance for the Bruins to get to .500 overall, 9-7 in league play, improve their seeding and chances in the Pac-10 tourney, etc.
I understand what the posters are saying and can really relate to their frustration. But CBH is all about winning, he must obviously feel that ND playing with one arm is more viable than Bobo. We may all disagree, but he’s armed with the ultimate inside information on this topic. Outside of glimpses (granted that is all we have seen from him thus far due to his minutes) what has Bobo done on the court for us to expect he’s going to turn into Michael Fey?
MM got his chances in December, displayed some raw athleticism, but, frankly, he’s behind TH in the pecking order for a reason. MM and JM each know what they have to work on this summer, they fully know who is being brought in, they also knew that when they walked on campus. This is a competitive environment, something these young men are going to have to embrace and learn from or they’ll not succeed in life – forget about basketball.
I stand behind CBH. This season was been putrid, but I’m not ready to throw him under the bus or lambaste him. This year is a clunker – consider this CBH’s mulligan, the pressure will be on next year. Again the team will be young, devoid of leadership, outside shooting and if Josh Smith is just okay as I think he might be…This same type of year and same discussion will take place but the message board will be full of ALL CAPS vitriolic verse.
Life is what happens when you're busy making plans.
Whole heartedly
agree. Well said. None of us see first hand how these players compete in practice. if Bobo, MM aren’t getting playing time, its probably because they are not good enough to play on this team (which is saying something).
by Waitingfornumber12 on Mar 2, 2010 1:13 PM PST up reply actions
Mulligan
Yes, we are giving him a mulligan. It means we are not asking him to step down. If he was another coach, we would have mounted an all out campaign asking him to step down. Because of the goodwill he built up, he is getting two years. It doesn’t mean that he gets to retain our trust.
I certainly don’t have faith in him right now as he has effectively shattered it for reasons we have articulated all season. I hope he gets to build it back up next two seasons but we have enough facts from this season to stridently question his in game decisions, program management strategy, without just placing blind faith on what he sees in practices.
This is not the site for supporting a coach based on blind faith.
I'd say he can regain trust here just as quickly as he lost it
By returning to the fundamentals of defense, both in coaching and substitution patterns as well as recruiting. I want to see CBH be the man to turn this around because it’s clear he understands what a special place this is, and it therefore gives him all the motivation necessary to make the changes. The question remains will he be willing to push the right buttons in the offseason to begin the turnaround.
He did it before with freshmen. BenBall is not zone D. I will definetely agree with Nestor that we may need to get some new assistants in to help with the recruting trail.
by Waitingfornumber12 on Mar 2, 2010 1:42 PM PST up reply actions
CBH is the right guy
CBH was an established program builder before he was named coach. He has done nothing, that includes this year, to dissaude me from feeling he is the right guy to lead the program the next ten years. CBH has great work ethic, an eye for talent, integrity, a sense of history and, prior to this year, was regularly mentioned as one of the top five coaches in the land.
By all accounts the 2008 has been a flop. Some of that falls on CBH and his staff, some falls equally on the players as well. The team does have some capable players moving forward, I trust Howland learns from this year and we won’t see this type of slippage again. If I’m wrong I’ll admit it, but three consecutive Final Fours, Pac-10 titles, several players holding their own in the NBA, etc tells me I’m right in my assertion.
Life is what happens when you're busy making plans.
You are entitled to your opinion
We haven’t reached any conclusion yet on whether Howland is the guy to lead the program for next ten years. We will talk about that after two.
He has a great work ethic. There is no question about that.
As for his “eye for talent” – that is up for debate now given what we have seen in last two seasons. It is not an established fact.
He has done great job rebuilding programs. However, he doesn’t have a track record when it comes to maintaining an elite one. We should have that answer in next two years.
Lastly, I appreciate that he has integrity and sense of history for this program. However, those two are not deciding factors on whether he gets to lead for next ten years. He will have to earn back the faith and trust in next two years based on what he accomplishes on the court.
That is fair Nestor
Every program, especially those on the national level, are going to have players transfer, heck, they even mix in subpar years. I don’t think any of us thought we were a national contender this year, most of us suspected we were third place in conference and would make the tournament, but nothing beyond that.
CBH has these guys playing hard. He has shown flexibility in flipping to a zone defense, trying to save a season that was lost in Anaheim. Last years recruiting class looks solid, we haven’t seen a lot from MM or AS, but the other three guys all have high ceilings. You could make the argument that a decent PG makes the team 5-6 wins better. Would we be having this same discussion if that were the scenario?
Life is what happens when you're busy making plans.
Probably not.
Speaking of PG’s, can anyone provide me with stats on the JC PG they have coming in? Is there any reason to believe that he can be the steady hand needed to make the Bruins that much better? The Bruins don’t need a PG that scores 18/game like DC. They just need to get a PG in there that can get the ball down the floor and start the offense so ML won’t have to do it.
by Waitingfornumber12 on Mar 2, 2010 2:07 PM PST up reply actions
Jones
I don’t know anything about him, but I do hope he can make a jump shot. Without Roll, next year’s team will have nothing resembling a consistent outside shooter (TH might be one). Anybody heard anything on Zeigler’s son signing.
Life is what happens when you're busy making plans.
CMU? Michigan?
UCLA needs to find a shooter. I’ve seen Tyler Lamb play since he was a freshman at Colony HS and he’s not a great shooter.
Life is what happens when you're busy making plans.
2010-11
If Lee decides to enter the draft, Lamb is comparable to him, a couple inches taller, more consistent out to the stripe, not real great off the dribble or a knock dead shooter. I can see JA, believe it or not, seeing a lot of time at the 2, he can shoot the ball decently and might thrive off the point. Let’s hope that doesn’t come to fruition. I can see a scenario, especially if the Bruins play zone where Smith, Nelson, Moser and Lane share the minutes up front and Honeycutt plays big guard.
Life is what happens when you're busy making plans.
JA as 2
I could see that in that he is not a bad shooter and can drive BUT, and it is a huge but, he is not a good defender at all and is arguably the worst defender in CBH’s time to get minutes.
Hopefully he will improve over the summer.
RW & AA
I hope he follows the summer workouts of the those 2. With Jones coming in and a startin position up for grabs (and not handed to him) should be interesting to see his improvement.
by Waitingfornumber12 on Mar 2, 2010 2:30 PM PST up reply actions
JA
My nephews were on the b-ball circuit during HS and I saw a number of these guys play. I can say I am most surprised by JA’s lack of development. Some of it has to be attributed to injuries, but he was a highly competitive, borderline cocky, guy that thrived with the game on the line. I just don’t see the same player in Westwood. All that said he does have ability to create his own shot and can spot up, he might do okay as a combo guard.
Life is what happens when you're busy making plans.
JA had a really confident drive
to the basket in crunch time to tie the game. Then he made two horrible unforced turnovers. His confidence must be shot, and he needs to retool.
How was JA's defense in High School?
There was one time on Saturday where he let Porter get by him and then tried for the steal. It was so frustrating because the first thing you learn is you play defense with your feet not your hands.
Did he play D in high school?
Story on "Zeke" Jones
http://www.chicagohoops.com/articles1/lazericjones2.html
Life is what happens when you're busy making plans.
Welcomed relief,
Every good team needs a leader on the floor. Lets hope Zeke can be that guy.
by Waitingfornumber12 on Mar 2, 2010 3:08 PM PST up reply actions
Great
I like the fact that he can finish at the basket, even after contact. Dribble penetration is something we lacked this year, which bottled up the entire offense when the pg was put under pressure.
This link has a video of LJ in a single game
http://ucla.scout.com/2/933028.html
Some of it is good, some of it is JC level opponents.
and some of it is
clanked free throws after a 5 second build up.
But according to this site
http://www.jucoathletics.com/njcaa_stats.php?sport=mbb®ion=24
he is a 77% FT shooter, which is somewhat more comforting.
Why CBH left ND in the game late
As many of you, I tried to rationalize why CBH left ND late in the game. I found a good reason why. Do we agree MR and ND are the best free throw shooters we got? TH, JA, ML,and BL are all bad FT shooters. Toward the end of the game this is one important element to keep the game close. What do you guys think?
That explanation doesn't make sense
Because Rag has never cared about drawing a foul or initiate contact. He is good at jacking up dumb 3 point shots, which is exactly what he did at the end of the game hurting our chances. So NO. That explanation doesn’t work.
works if we were protecting a lead and expecting our opponents to press hard and maybe foul
does not work if we are playing from behind or in a tie game, IMHO.
As N points out, ND is unlikely to be driving and being fouled, otherwise it might make sense that you want your guys who can knock down FTs even when playing from behind, if you are expecting a lot of wild block attempts or expecting defenders who are not in foul trouble to be contesting every shot hard.
If we had been up 5 or 6 with a minute to play I would buy your theory, but otherwise I don’t think it quite fits.
BL shot 4-4 and had 5 rebounds
Had clearly outplayed Drago all game and had helped us claw back into the lead. He should have stayed in.
Raises the question
If you are not playing ND, who do you play? Who is a better option?
by Waitingfornumber12 on Mar 2, 2010 2:09 PM PST reply actions
in the specific case of this game
it seems like there were plenty of people who could have contributed more in his place.
Hard to believe that a healthy Bobo isn’t a better option at center than an injured ND. Alternatively, BL filled in reasonably well at center a week or so ago, so you could play him at center, with TH moving at the 4, and giving some of ND’s minutes to either MM playing 3 or to MAH playing as a guard and MR playing the 3. Of those, Bobo time seems by far the best (and most likely) option to me – but all three guys mentioned could potentially have contributed more on the court than an injured ND.
Bobo should have gotten at least 5 mins in the second half
Just to see what he could do. ND had one rebound and was ice cold from the field. He might have provided some protection against drives to the basket. However, the key to winning the game was finding a way to cool of Tajuan Porter, even if it meant a hard foul.
Ole! doesn't hard foul. He steps aside
He doesn’t go up for blocks and doesn’t foul.
Bobo can block and I think putting him in with a combination of RN, TH and BL — for real minutes — will give us a glimpse of what he can do.
Also, all of the above have picked up fouls, or left there men open by rushing to guard a man or area Ole! has abandoned. That’s another cost of giving him minutes.
sjh
Earl Watson
watching the Lakers game and he has 7 assists in the 1st quarter! Watson against JF…how fun.
Go Bruins!
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