[UPDATE] Mike Moser Is Transferring Out Of UCLA

3 transfers in one year? This isn’t a record is it? I feel like all these transfers just make CBH’s program look worse.

Indeed, unlike the previous 2, it seems MM did not have any sort of attitude problems. He should have had more minutes in the next season, what with ND no longer being around to steal them. I wish he could have been patient and waited for the next season.

Now when you say other departures, do you mean more transfers or NBA-related? I’m not strongly familiar with the time frame of the NBA draft.

I would really like to know what is going on in the program. I really hope Coach Howland can pull this together, because there’s been a steady exodus of talent (whether they fit UCLA or not) but really no plan/forseeable top recruits coming in. I’m really hoping the coaches can pull in some diamonds-in-the-rough, but does the current coaching staff have that eye?

The doubt about whether there are more transfers must be about ML and/or JA.

Assuming both stay, we will have 3 juniors (counting Jones) and 3 sophs (BL, TH and RN).

The rest, freshmen.

I think the key issue for us has been that our freshmen have not either tough or strong enough to play Ben Ball. They need at least one summer in the weight room, usually between their frosh and soph years.

BL won’t be able to do that — and he’s one who needed it. In fact, I’d not be surprised if he takes a red shirt year.

We really need JA and ML to use the summer wisely. We need TH to get stronger. RN has to learn to shoot FT’s.

And, once more, we will start players who have never played Div 1 ball and played with our more experienced guys.

Still, I have faith in CBH. If he thinks MM leaving is the right move, it probably is.

We all knew this was coming but it still sucks. MM is going to end up like Stanback IMO. Unless we get a stud who has NBA written all over him, this is a loss. It is highly unlikely whomever picks up his ride is going to be better prepared to contribute considering Moser has been in the program for a year already.

but MM’s departure now gives us 4 scholies to offer.

No one on this team this year stepped up so much that he will be earning more minutes next year (and thus depriving others of minutes) than expected.

So did CBH initially think MM would be better and more deserving of time, and has now realized this isn’t true? The alternative is that he recruited a player that he didn’t envision playing more than a few minutes. Neither option is very reassuring.

who is deeply troubled with what is going on in this program?

I wouldn’t give them all out this next recruiting year unless they’re all studs. Next year we are looking at no senior class and unless we get some defections to the NBA or transfers, we’ll have no schollies to give out. Hopefully these next few weeks help steer the program in the right direction

I really don’t get the fuss of people worrying about JMM and MM leaving. Neither of them were Pac 10 level players and neither was going to be much of a factor next year. TH is going to play 33-36 minutes per game next year which would have left 5 minutes at most for MM to battle for with TL and any other recruits CBH lands in the next few weeks. JMM couldn’t beat out RN, BL, or even ND at center and I am pretty confident that AS is already a better player than him. With Smith coming in next year, he would have just sat on the bench alongside MM. In both cases, the writing was on the wall for MM and JMM that if they wanted to get the playing time they wanted, they needed to go elsewhere. If they had stuck around for two/three more years, we would just be talking about them as pathetic seniors who never panned out and are taking minutes from the new young guys which they need to develop / so they don’t transfer.

The fact of the matter is that in college basketball, you don’t need depth. In fact, the shorter the rotation the better. Look at Duke today, there three best players (Scheyer, Singler, and Smith) never come out of the game. They rotate four bigs and that is it. Every minute that a 8th, 9th, or 10th man gets is minutes that your better players are off the floor. ML, TH, RN, and Smith should each play 30+ minutes per game next year.

The only person that matters for next year is TH. If TH leaves, then it is definitely panic time. If he stays, we will be a good team next year.

Reflects on their quality as recruits in the first place, and with the loss of Daniels gives the impression that the program is in freefall. While in each case, we can say that the team is not hurt by their loss, in toto, it reflects poorly on the program. All of that will go by the wayside 1) if we get some unexpected quality in recruiting CBH is doing to fill the four scholarships, or 2) the teams performs well (with low expectations) next season. So its a wait and see situation.

That’s what some nut over at yahoo has to say. If you’d like to comment here’s the link:

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Where-does-this-Duke-title-team-rank-amongst-Coa;_ylt=AuKrKjGdMWzOa7rIE8bw8uU5nYcB?urn=ncaab,232256

It’s a sign of one of two things, neither of which is good, poor player evaluation or poor support by the coach or maybe both.

After all, the kid has a great attitude according to all information. So it becomes a questionn of talent, that is, is he a keeper or not? I really have no idea myself because his playing time was so limited it is impossible to make any judgment outside of practice.

Apparently CBH is more than happy to let him go because he won’t get PT here. So did CBH mess up in his initial evaluation when he recruited him? And he’s going to get it right this time late in the recruiting game? Mmmm.

It doesn’t add up or smell right to me. There’s something we don’t know. DG was a head case. Bobo, who knows? But now a good, young kid with the right attitude who never really got a chance to play is jumjping or being nudged out to nowhere? Something’s not right IMO.

I thought those 4 letters on your chest meant somethng special. I’m not blaiming the kid under the circumstances. I’m not blaming CBH. Too little information. It just doesn’t add up. All in all, not a good sign IMO.

GO BRUINS!

and so does what it has meant for each transferring player.

In a program with long-term plans, young players are brought along. This applies, whether they’re future starters or merely role players. They get a little time in games, here and there, early in the season and in their careers, and more time later. Of course, this presumes that they’re willing hard-workers. As far as I know, this was the case with Bobo and MM.

Now, it may be that giving even a few minutes to young players who won’t be stars could adversely impact winning now. If so, so be it, for it is part of the long-term plan that all players are brought along. Each player is, not only better, but also better able to contribute, as time goes by. Each player is made to feel that their presence and their contributions are important to the team.

But, that’s not what happened with Bobo and MM. They attracted cobwebs on the bench. They remained unimportant. They didn’t develop. They languished.

Yeah, their leaving opens up some scholarships. But, to me, this is like trading in all your cards for the chance at a better hand. Duke and Butler showed us, as if we needed reminding, what an asset it is to have upperclassmen on the roster. I think this is true for both NBA-level players and for role players. There is something about working hard, and sticking around as a unit that pays intangible benefits. Not to mention, greater year-to-year stability. A team with multiple players who can step in, after injury, foul trouble, or just to give starters a blow, and not lose much is a strong team.

But, to me, CBH seems all too eager to plow under last year’s crop and replant. Even if he should land some hot-shot recruits to fill the void, the strategy is unreliable. For one, incoming hot-shots are not likely going to stick around for long. For another, fragile assets such as collective purpose and team chemistry are not given much chance to take root.

I think CBH squandered Bobo and MM’s time at UCLA. Whatever their eventual level of play, they could have been valuable contibutors this year and next. But, they weren’t, and they won’t be. This is what I find most troubling.