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Howland Comments On UCLA Staying "Healthy" & Smith's Conditioning Efforts
by Nestor on Jul 20, 2010 5:39 AM PDT
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PrintGary Parrish, the senior hoops writer for CBSSports.com caught up with Coach Ben Howland recently. Coach Howland per Parrish's report is still having "a little trouble walking" five weeks after his Achilles tendon surgery and "keeps the crutches laying around just in case he must turn to them on a bad day." Still Howland continues to strike optimistic notes as he looked for silver lining re. the rash of surgeries the team has had this off season:
"An injury-riddled summer is better than an injury-riddled season," Howland said, and you must admit he has a point. "We just need to stay healthy once we get into September."
And on the conditioning efforts of Josh Smith:
Howland didn't want to get into specifics about Smith's weight or body fat percentage, saying only what we all already know -- that there has been a conditioning problem -- before opting to focus on the positive. Howland said Smith isn't where he needs to be now, but that he's getting closer, and that he's going to be counted on to contribute immediately.
"I expect him to play a very important role," Howland said. "That's why this summer is so important for him, and he's working his butt off. He's working three times a day. He comes in at 8 a.m. every day and rides the bike or runs on the treadmill for an hour. Then he comes back at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m., too. He's doing good. He's really looking to get into good physical condition."
Let's hope Josh keeps at it. It was pretty well known last year that he was not happy with the off-season efforts of Jerime Anderson and other players. So I think it is a positive sign that Howland is sounding enthusiastic about Josh. Howland is one of those guys who will not BS around. Parrish added:
Howland will be bouncing around the rest of the month trying to gain commitments from Class of 2011 prospects who will join David and Travis Wear (transfers from North Carolina) for the 2011-12 season. Assuming that also happens, the worst will indeed be behind the man who established the Pittsburgh program before rebuilding UCLA's, the worst both in terms of that mid-June surgery and basketball in general.
Fingers crossed.
GO BRUINS.
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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Wondering
how many commitments he’s looking for. We have right now 12 of 13 scholarships accounted for. If he doesn’t fill that last slot soon we’ll have it for next year, then the only other openings would be if players who could stay decide to depart. There’s been lots of talk on BN about the possibility of ML leaving if he has a good year, and many (including myself) think TH will leave if he has a reasonable year. Wonder if CBH has a plan B for this time around if one or both go pro and/or if one or more other players leave for (at least in their minds) greener pastures.
In the immortal words of the pin I got while an undergrad: Roses are red, violets are blue...f*** $C.
IMO that is part of what he is recruiting for
Anyway you look at, CBH was caught flat footed when Jrue Holiday left early to go pro. For the first time since he had been at UCLA we only had one true PG on the roster. Putting aside JA’s play, what if JA got hurt? He always had 2 PGs before and I think he learned his lesson.
If ML and TH were to leave after next season, we would have arguably one wing man (2/3) on the roster, Tyler Lamb. I do not think CBH will let that happen again and will be looking hard for people for that spot.
However, all this has one interesting caveat. The NBA could be going on a major strike next year. It might not even be possible to go out early next year.
I don't know if CBH was caught flat footed...
Wasn’t Holiday expected to be a one-and-done for awhile?
Yes and no
There has been a lot of debate here on Holiday’s leaving early that which I am not trying to rehash.
But what I am saying is that CBH made a mistake only have one PG on the roster last year. In all previous years, he had at least two.
2004-2005 CB and JF (yes CB got hurt but that is part of the point, we had 2)
2005-6 JF and DC
2006-7, 2007-8 DC and RW
2008-9 DC, JA, and Jrue Holiday
2009-10 JA
2010-11 Jones, Carlino, and JA
Can someone explain to me
why Josh Smith essentially let himself go? As an elite HS athlete, why did he let himself gain so much weight and get so out of shape? I think that as someone who is receiving an $80,000 education for free, he should be required to report to school in shape.
"We should have a banner up there: the only team to make the tournament without a coach." -- Baron Davis, remembering his "coach" at UCLA
by inhowlandwetrust on Jul 20, 2010 11:46 AM PDT reply actions
He was always heavy
College will also probably be the first time he has a dietitian working with him on his diet. Of course, none of that will matter if he does not try. That why this sounds good, he is putting in the effort.
It took Dexter Pittman 4 years at Texas
to deal with his weight, let’s hope Josh Smith does it in a fourth of the time!
"We should have a banner up there: the only team to make the tournament without a coach." -- Baron Davis, remembering his "coach" at UCLA
by inhowlandwetrust on Jul 20, 2010 12:16 PM PDT up reply actions
He was a big guy to begin with
but he had a serious injury to his knee while playing football and that basically shut his career down for nearly a year.
RESCUING DANCE MUSIC FROM THE BLAHS
yes
we ought to have thumbs up and thumbs down buttons so this answer can be elevated.
by britishbruin on Jul 20, 2010 2:53 PM PDT up reply actions
One theory...
in high school, his skill level was so far beyond the vast majority of his competition that he could be way out of shape by D-1 standards and still dominate.
In the immortal words of the pin I got while an undergrad: Roses are red, violets are blue...f*** $C.
Yep and size
Being that big in High School when most others are not makes a big difference. When you get to the PAC 10 there are a number of big guys.
A slight nitpick but
with him being from another state, the price of 4 years at UCLA is closer to $200,000
by SuperBruinMan on Jul 20, 2010 2:54 PM PDT up reply actions
Smith's work effort is encouraging.
Three times a day must be making a big difference. My big concern is whether CBH will be able to slide defensively during the season, or whether he’ll just keel over on his bad leg. Go Bruins.
3x times day.
Thats a great start for the kid! Keep it up!
Way more than most people work out
I lost 40 lbs in a year working out just ONCE a day for 4-5 days a week and with a semi-good diet. I’m expecting big (or should I say little?) things with this work effort. I just Alfred Aboya doesn’t visit campus anytime soon.
by Alanamaslama on Jul 23, 2010 7:00 PM PDT up reply actions
wtf?
because Alfred might intimidate him??
by britishbruin on Jul 24, 2010 10:43 AM PDT up reply actions
Schollie Situation
CBH uses them like his time outs. If he could have used the last one this year he would have. While not mentioned I think we all agree we have too many PF’s.
Bruin frontcourt is the most underrated... And Smith is a MONSTER!
Although our backcourt situation is still unproven, the one thing our squad has this year is the most UNDERRATED frontcourt in the nation. Smith, Nelson, and Honeycutt will be one of the best frontlines in this cuntry. GUARANTEED. Depth could be an issue this year, but if everyone stays next year (they will with NBA lockout guaranteed), along with the Wear Twins, we will have the best frontcourt period.
I am a big time Bball recruiting fanatic (also have learned a lot from good friend, WW “Wes”), and Fat or not, Josh Smith and his game bear a strong resemblence to Big Baby Davis of the Celts. Not just physically, but game wise.
I had a chance to watch Fat Albert Smith at the Mickey D’s AA game, and let me tell you, even in his bloated state, he held his own and dominated when he got the ball. His hands catch everything, he was unreal quick for a man that size (think Shaq-ish), and his long arms block anything. The guy has a wingspan of a 747. Granted, he was no fast-break machine, but fortunetly, we don’t really play a run and gun offense.
Yes, it’s an all-star game, but everyone is hungry (no pun intended) to showcase themselves. People tried to defend, but failed. He bullied some of the best big men out there (Sullinger, OSU 5-star). Again, I was surprised how well this guy moved for his size.
I can’t tell you how much Smith is going to rock it this year. Howland is right when he says he expects Fat Albert to play a very important role… as in he will get us back to the Tourney. GUARANTEED. Our frontline with Honeycutt, Nelson, and Fat Albert goes 6’7, 6’8, and 6’9 respectively. Nelson and Smith form a powerful inside duo that play MUCH BIGGER than their height. Those 3 alone should help us outrebound anyone. The only thing that can stop them is foul trouble… getting a healthy Lane back will do wonders for the depth.
somewhat agree
not too sure about the NBA lockout, but agree that Smith, Honeycutt, and Nelson together is a pretty solid frontcourt. LOL @ fat albert comments. Hopefully that will have less relevance as the season gets closer….
Smith and fouls
another reason we desperately need him to keep working on conditioning. It’s very hard to play effective defense and not pick up needless fouls when you’re tired. Hopefully RN commits to defense 100% of the time this season as well, helping out Josh down low.
Stover should add depth/fouls too
But if no-one leaves at the end of the year, that’s a very PF/C heavy core of Smith, Stover, Nelson, Lane, Wear, Wear…
And big men can only get you so far in college. To take one anecdote out of context – the Lopez twins are both getting significant NBA minutes and couldn’t elevate Stanford very far.
by britishbruin on Jul 22, 2010 1:33 PM PDT up reply actions
Stanford was a 3 seed
28-5 against teams other than UCLA. They lost in the Sweet Sixteen against guard-heavy Texas, but if UCLA in 2012 is as good as Stanford was in 2008, it would be a nice rebuild.
by SuperBruinMan on Jul 22, 2010 6:41 PM PDT up reply actions
Great stat and point
Considering we are cumming off a losing season (I’ve already forgotten our crap ass record, and don’t care to ever remember it), the only thing acceptable to me is GETTING BACK TO THE BIG DANCE! Baby steps cum with rebuilding, and before winning a Pac-10, P10 Tourney or winning a certain # of games, the #1 thing each and every year is getting to the NCAA Tourney. Arizona really pulled off an amazing streak of consecutive tournament appearences even if last year’s was bogus. It blows my mind how some people seem to take this for granted. Not having your squad in the tourney BLOWS. It ruins the best sporting event of the year.
Considering our Big men is our strength, reaching the goals of what the Lopez twins did is NOT a bad thing. Especially after such a horrendous last season. Oh wait, that’s out of my mind now.
Warning to all teams next year:
“Envy our past & fear the future baby!!!”
Did everyone
get TE193’s POINT? Just in case you missed it, it’s in his POST up there.
Now where’s my BEER?
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Here's your BEER! (haha)
Just a joke… it’s actually pretty tasty. I brought some back and toasted to the sanctions of Troy.
Please don’t sick the BN Mafia on me. We’re all rooting for the same team here.
UCLA – "Envy our past… & FEAR OUR FUTURE BABY!"
Very Power Forward Heavy and Very Swing Light
If we lost Honeycutt and Lee, we would only have one true swing guy, Lamb.
Obviously we could recruit there as well when\if we lose TH and ML, but one of the bigs might have to move down to 3.
Good stuff DCB
And that’s why Recruiting is 50% of coaching now. We shouldn’t have to worry about who’s leaving. We should have faith that our staff can attract the best to cum here. We all know Howland can coach the x’s and o’s with the best of them, but I’m rooting for u Coach, we’ve got to recruit well to stay in the game.
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