Howland Suspends Bobo Morgan For Thursday, Dragovic/Nelson Medically Cleared To Play
by Nestor on Mar 3, 2010 6:44 PM PST
in Basketball
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PrintFreshman J’mison Morgan was suspended by UCLA coach Ben Howland on Wednesday and will miss Thursday’s game at Arizona. The disciplinary action was the result of a violation of team rules.
Okay then. Meanwhile Nelson and Rag has been cleared for this weekend:
UCLA freshman forward Reeves Nelson was medically cleared to play in UCLA's regular season-ending roadtrip this weekennd at Arizona and Arizona State. Nelson had retinal surgery on Feb. 22 to replace a retinal tear in his left eye. He was fitted for eyewear and practiced today in his new goggles.
UCLA senior forward Nikola Dragovic, meanwhile, practiced today without issue after playing through a sprained ankle and sore shoulder that required a pre-game shot on Saturday.
I am guessing this means we will continue to get 30+ mins of Ragovic per game to close out the season. It would be good to hear exactly what Morgan was suspended for. I wonder what did exactly Bobo do to merit one game suspension?
Perhaps Howland did the right thing with Bobo. However, right now lot of us don't have confidence in him in terms of whether he treats all his players in a fair manner. If we don't get any more information besides "violation of team rules" line, it will raise more questions about whether Ben Howland plays favorites when it comes to enforcing team discipline.
GO BRUINS.
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two thumbs down for watching Rag'o' 35 minutes per game this week.
But like you said, we just don’t know about Bobo. It could be that he barely did anything wrong and this is just playing favorites. Or it could be a standard breaking of rules that requires by school/team rules that he be suspended for a game. The fact that we don’t know (and probably won’t know) means that IMO we should just let it be and not make assumptions either way.
Can’t wait for this terrible season to be over. I’m much more worried about the potential exodus of players this coming off-season than I am about winning any more games this season.
I will not make any assumptions ...
However, it is reasonable for questions to arise considering the circumstances around this season.
I respectfully disagree
Howland suspended Rago for two games earlier in the season. It’s not about favorites. Bob must have done something to violate the team rules which govern off-court behavior. Effort on defense is apparently not a “rule” (if it were Rago would never play and others would also be suspended).
Our coach has made some questionable in-game decisions, but there is no reason to imply, even with a negative implication, that a suspension of a player, which is a serious matter, was done because the player in question is not liked by the coach.
That is fine
This suspension happened the exact same day Howland openly questioned the character of some of his players in public. So it didn’t happen in a vacuum. So if you are not uncomfortable with having questions that is fine. But I do since I don’t have a lot of trust in Ben Howland right now.
It’s too bad that’s how things are now but it wasn’t us who shattered the sense of trust. Howland brought it upon himself. As I said I am not making any conclusions.
Yikes
I never thought this would happen to Bobo. One of his flaws always seemed to be he was too nice and not aggressive enough.
ND is tough, except when it comes to rebounding, going inside, playing tight defense, etc.
If we weren't sure who was next
Now we know. Bobo is the next to be ushered out the door. Interesting approach to handling a program. We’ll see how it plays out. At least this move will make us give him more leeway on giving Rago all those minutes.
Maybe the offense was something serious, like riding double on a moped. No…I’m sorry, that’s what I did when I was at UCLA to earn a ticket and a day in traffic school. The rules there are very tight.
Louisville, KY for UCLA class of '87
Good Excuse to play ND
I still say that if ND does not produce, he should be replaced. Good thing that RN is playing, that will make BL and MM available, besides our star TH. MR can also play a little forward. So, let’s count those minutes played by ND. If he shoots poorly ( the only thing he can do) and still stays, then we can conclude that Coach is playing favorites and coaches badly. As for Bobo, I like to find out if there were any previous incident that had resulted he same suspension.
I would guess
that decisions about violations of team rules are much more open to scrutiny by higher ups like Guerrero than decisions about who deserves playing time based on their performance. As such, I would expect much less scope for favoritism.
He suspended DG from practices for freaking out in practice (or something); he benched JA for being late for rehab; I presume Bobo must have done something tangible to be disciplined in a more serious way.
Yes and No
Although Gordon and JA may have been suspended for one action, we know that they engaged in patterns of bad behavior, not just one time things to get suspended. I am worried what Bobo did to get hit so relatively hard.
well
we also don’t know if Bobo’s low time last weekend was in any way disciplinary.
but your point stands
this seems serious.
If he hasn’t been showing up to classes (anticipating a transfer) I would assume he would be suspended for the rest of the season, not just this game. Maybe something like failing to show up for a film session after the OU game?
One game suspension seems serious
especially if you are a star. Since Bobo is not a star, Coach can easily suspend him for half of the game which would not make any difference in Bobo’s playing time. My thought is why should coach make unnecessary unhappy decision at this time of the year. The action does not benefit anyone.
It appears to me
That maybe there is a reason why Howland has been reluctant to play Bobo this year. I know that I give coach Howland a lot of flack for playing ND so often when Bobo needs the time up front, but maybe this has been an on going issue and it was just never serious enough to merit media attention. I can’t claim anything, it just makes you think that perhaps as a coach, he does understand what is going on better than I do, and that if he feels a need to suspend Bobo for a game at a crucial time like this, there is most likely a reason for it. I can’t say I’m very happy about it, but you don’t just suspend players for minor violations, you make those players run more laps or do something to atone for their actions.
"If you don't have the time to do it right the first time, where will you find the time to do it again the second time?"-Wooden
Speculation
is unfair to both Bobo and CBH.
We don’t have a “right” to know everything or a need to make things up.
sjh
Agreed
Just like the ND accusations, speculation and projecting our own opinions onto something that we know nothing about is a pointless exercise.
That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if Bobo isn’t a Bruin next year. He hasn’t been able to break into the rotation and is already behind RN and BL with Josh Smith likely moving ahead of him next season as well. With AS as a backup, I really don’t think we would miss him.
+1 on everything
particularly if AS is good to go.
+1
What if it’s something really embarrassing? What if Coach is keeping it private to keep Bobo from further embarrassment? I don’t think any of us are entitled to know. Would I like to know? Yes. But do I deserve to know? Nope.
by LavinRuinedCollege on Mar 3, 2010 8:06 PM PST up reply actions
We are not making things up
Neither are we assuming Bobo did anything. However, we never agreed with Howland’s handling of Rag situation. Lot of us thought he handled it very poorly and we are not going to just assume Howland did the right thing this time around. We are not saying Bobo’s suspension wasn’t justified but as we have said in recent weeks we are not just going to go with “trust” in Howland mantra. He lost that a while ago.
But you are willing to speculate
It’s one thing to look at this season’s results to point out mistakes in his coaching. It’s entirely different when you wonder what rules a player may or may not have broken. We don’t have all the facts about Dragovich and we don’t know what CBH knows about the situation. We know even less about what Bobo did. What we do know is CBH’s track record. From that we know that CBH is tough but fair.
From CBH’s insistence to play Dragovich, we can question and criticize his coaching decisions. With his coaching, we have 20/20 hindsight to back up our criticism of CBH. However, it is quite different to look at how CBH punishes his players (without knowing all facts) and jump to the conclusion that he is being unfair.
It’s unsettling to me how easily some at BN can jump from criticizing a man’s coaching to questioning his integrity.
by Gen2Bruin1987 on Mar 4, 2010 9:56 AM PST up reply actions
There is a difference
Between asking questions and offering speculations. No where in my post I speculated what Bobo might have done. The only thing I did was raise questions and it is reasonable to do so given how Howland has unfairly treated other players in comparison to Rago. Moreover, this becomes the 4th suspension just this year (following Rag, Gordon and Jerime). So clearly something toxic is going on and it is reasonable for us to ask questions.
If asking questions whether Howland is treating his players fairly given what he has done with Rag is uncomfortable for you, tough luck. We are going to do lot more of it, especially depending on how the season ends up.
Also
Point me to exact sentence in my post where I “jumped to conclusion” about whether Howland unfairly treated Bobo. Here is a hint there isn’t one and your comment is a classic whine without any basis.
Let's see
You said:
Perhaps Howland did the right thing with Bobo. However, right now lot of us don’t have confidence in him in terms of whether he treats all his players in a fair manner. If we don’t get any more information besides “violation of team rules” line, it will raise more questions about whether Ben Howland plays favorites when it comes to enforcing team discipline.
You may not say it outright but that’s the conclusion you want others to believe. You use your “questions” to lead the reader.
BTW, calling someone a whiner when they disagree with you is a interesting response.
by Gen2Bruin1987 on Mar 4, 2010 12:20 PM PST up reply actions
for what it's worth
I agree that N’s phrasing has a negative shade, but I think it would also be difficult to express a fully neutral statement on this. You can either assume that CBH’s decision was right (what I would tend to do in the absence of evidence to the contrary) or maintain skepticism (what others would do in the absence of evidence contradicting their prior belief that CBH treats players unequally).
When N says ‘right now a lot of us’ and ‘if we…’, I take it that he is expressing the views of that group of people who now want CBH to prove that he is acting fairly. When I first read it, I took it as being unduly negative, but rereading it I think he fairly states that there are two possibilities, and implies that how you react to this incident and its handling depends on your prior beliefs about how CBH is performing in general.
A lot of the comments on this thread seem to be based on differences in prior beliefs rather than differences in factual understanding- precisely because there isn’t much evidence on this incident. Particularly because this is a disciplinary issue invoking ‘team rules’, I am inclined to take it on faith that CBH is acting fairly, but I understand why other people are concerned, and are seeing a player who has had few playing time opportunities now hit with a suspension.
by britishbruin on Mar 4, 2010 12:39 PM PST up reply actions
You whined ...
And you whined by alleging I made a conclusion I never made. Now you are backtracking by saying that it’s something I was trying “lead” others to “believe” without noting the fact how I precisely stated up thread about not making any assumptions and just raising questions. Don’t make up stuff about what I am writing again and I would suggest not extending this silly argument which started with your whining. Thanks.
Nestor, Don't Read This
Perhaps I am reading too much into what you say. I have no issue with you questioning his coaching based on what is happening on the court or how he recruits. There is a lot I don’t like about his game tactics, substitutions, use of timeouts, etc.
by Gen2Bruin1987 on Mar 4, 2010 3:48 PM PST up reply actions
Honestly
I think our wires really got crossed here. I raised questions that were going through my mind. Remember this place is like a daily journal that is essentially recording our thoughts. I didn’t draw any hard conclusions. When I do they are not hard to miss. I wondered out loud something that went through mind given all the stories from this season. It’s not comforting to read but that’s how it is. I was being frank. Anyway, let’s move on from this for now.
You are right and it is good to be cautious
But it still worries me.
It may very well be that Morgan is one of the recruits cbh was speaking of
when discussing problems with recruits. Or it may be he’s not. We don’t know anything, but this is a possibility. I really like the guy, so I hope it’s more about practices or something like that. But we did all jump to conclusions about who cbh was speaking of when he was speaking of character issues…maybe we were wrong and/or maybe this has nothing to do with bobo. I think we shouldn’t speculate about what we do not know…although I realize that’s hard to do, when we care about the program so much. I agree with 66. We don’t have the right to know everthing.
Go Bruins!
This team is out of control!
If Bobo gets one game for whatever he did then Drago should have received a season suspension for his off the court troubles. As far as I am concerned let’s just drop this sophomore class and open up some scholarship spaces for true UCLA Bruins!
one more thought...
This sophomore class has had more suspensions in one season than the three final four teams had combined!
more public suspensions
we have no idea if people were held quietly out of practice etc (a la Gordon, before he blew up)
valid point...
but I feel like JF, AA, LRMM, KL, RW, AA, DC took their job as a Bruin seriously and did not do anything to sacrifice their opportunity and privilege. Those teams had a certain chemistry, discipline, seriousness, and sense of purpose that these young guys are lacking. On the bright side we all know what CBH can do when he is asked to rebuild a program…and this is now officially a program that needs some rebuilding.
Its Just Bad News
Bobo seemed to be improving. It can’t be good, but it might be small potatoes. Its just sad.
Our team doesn't have a whole lot of discipline off the court
It’s something you don’t hear reported a lot, but something that Howland’s had to manage all year.
Who cares?
Seriously. It’s not like he was even going to play. And besides, it’s ONLY 1 GAME. He probably missed a team meeting, fell asleep in a film session, or didn’t keep the bench warm enough against Ore.
Let’s look forward to Reeves cumming back and the team playing hard the rest of the season.
I don't want players that have to be suspended for violating a team rule
I can’t recall Coach suspending anyone. I know he threathened to suspend a tall, thin, red-headed guy for a season over a grooming issue, but that resolved itself.
I don’t think Coach Howland can correct the particular character flaws that a lot of these guys appear to have. It looks to me like they all think they know more than the coach. It looks to me like they are just biding their time until they can join the nba, and in the meantime, there are certain things to which they are entitled.
I don’t want any more of these guys. I’m not proud of my school’s basketball team at this point, but it’s more of a disappointment in the character of the characters than in the won-loss record. I don’t know any of the players or coaches personally, so I don’t know if I’m mis-reading things. I don’t think I am. Coach Howland, if you want to dump all the guys who don’t share your vision of what it takes to win, it’s all right by me. Go find some guys who we can be proud of because of their work ethic, like Mata-Real. We may not get to the final four, but we won’t be wringing our hands and wondering about the character of the players, or why a particular guy got suspended.
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