UCLA vs. LMU Basketball: Offensive Offense
by DCBruins on Nov 13, 2011 4:27 PM PST
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I wanted to take a day or more to put my personal perspective on the LMU game from Friday night. As with many UCLA fans, I felt this was yet another tough weekend. But while the Utah game can hardly come as a surprise (in four years RN has won just three conference road games), the LMU basketball loss was a shock.
Many people are using the game to bring out their complaints/grievances against the UCLA administration, certain players, the commitment to defense, recruiting, even the player's shoes, you name it. Some are equating the problems in football with basketball saying they are now soccer fans or some such because UCLA football and basketball are too hard to watch.
For what is worth, my thoughts are twofold: (1) this is the first game of the season of a team that is 40% new starters and (2) I don't care if it is first game of the season, we should not lose to LMU. So comparing football to basketball on point one, I am more upset about football that we still can't win on the road and are getting beaten by 25 in ugly fashion this late in the season by a bad team. However, on point two, in football we may have looked bad against an inferior talented team, like San Jose State at the start of the season, but we still won on talent alone, unlike Friday against LMU.
Some will say it was because our defense was terrible. To me that is a point one above. To me the defense was a C-. In other words, it was bad but I am willing to accept that was an early season issue. Put it this way: in summer league, playing with the pros in pick-up games on campus, etc., you do not practice team defense. It takes a while to pull that together. Also, LMU shot 38.6% from two for the game. That is not bad defense. We blocked 6 shots and Josh Smith, while terrible on offense, for example, had three blocks and was doing good IMO on defense.
Now LMU did shoot 66% from downtown. Some of that was bad defense but some of that was a ridiculously hot team from beyond the arc. Senior LMU big man Ashley Hamilton was 1-13 for his career from three, having not made a three since his freshman year, but went 2-3 in the game. There is no one, including LMU fans, who could have anticipated that. So maybe the defense while bad, was not horrid as some will say given the time in the season. This is point one.
However, I don't care: when we play LMU we should score more than 58 points.
Last year we scored 58 or fewer points one time: a 57-44 win over Pacific. That was the second game of a back to back series and we were tired but we won and played very good defense. 58 points against LMU is completely unacceptable. Moreover, we looked beyond bad in doing it. I would give our offense an F, and only that high because I can't go lower. This is point two.
If our offense was just a C- like the defense, we win the game. First on stats: we shot 40%, including 13% from three. But worse, with our huge size advantage, LMU still shot and made more free throws. That should almost never happen this season. We also had a rebound advantage of just four. Yep, our starting small forward is bigger than any player on the LMU team, yet we could only win the boards battle by four.
But stats don't tell the story. This was the worst looking offense I have seen from a Bruin team since Lavin's last year.
It's starts with Zeek Jones. Zeek was terrible in every way. If this was the first game last year, I would be in full on panic mode. He looked like a bad JC transfer who did not belong at this level and Anderson fans and others are going to say he is not a PG. However, Zeek was very good at times last year and this was not the Zeek I had learned to like. What happened?
Well, first of all Zeek has had terrible games before. He went 0-7 against USC and Arizona and 1-9 against Washington State on the road. He also went 0-6 with 6 TOs against St. John's at home last year. In other words, maybe it was not just Zeek's injured hands that caused him to have terrible games. I know against Arizona and St. John's, he lost his cool. For the LMU game he had his high school teammate and NBA superstar Derrick Rose watching. Was he pressing too hard for that reason? Does he feel he has to be the leader, instead of last year when he seemed to understand his role? Regardless, we went 2-2 those games listed above last year and all those teams are much better than LMU. I tend to think Zeek will be good again but in any case if this happens in any other game this season, we can turn to Anderson. In conclusion, Zeek was terrible, but his problems alone don't explain the absolute disaster on offense and maybe (hopefully) they are not going to happen often again.
So what else was the problem? Some UCLA fans turn to blame Reeves Nelson any time effort comes into the equation, often for good reason. But to understand Reeves' problems in this game, I think you have to look at the Wears. Some will say the Wears carried us in the first half scoring 20 of our 33 points. Well the Wears also failed to do something else: pass the ball. Every time a Wear touched the ball you knew he was going to shoot. They took 16 of UCLA's first half shots and had 0 assists. If you look at the game comments in the first half, you will see a lot of comments saying "where's Reeves?" The fact of the matter is the Wears, Travis and David, were the top two options in the offense because when they got the ball they shot.
One can say the Wears kept us in the game but I think they destroyed UCLA's offensive identity. That first half Smith had one shot in six minutes compared to Travis' 8 shots in 9 minutes. Nelson had 4 in 16 minutes to David's 8 in 18. Admittedly David made some long jumpers, but I do not think it is good for the team to rely on David Wear's shooting from just inside the three point line.
To go further it hurt because UCLA was not shooting free throws. Just think if Smith or Nelson were shooting inside they are likely to draw fouls on LMU. They are both good at drawing fouls. LMU's star big Ashley Hamilton may not have been able to play the minutes that led to his career game or maybe even just tire his legs enough for him to miss those three pointers.
But of course this is Reeves we are talking about so how did he deal with the fact the Wears were shooting the ball every time they touched it? He did what you do in the Say No League and other summer leagues; he dribbled the ball coast to coast and shot every time he got the ball. In the first half Reeves had two assists and no three point tries. In the second half he had no assists and three ugly looking three point attempts. Reeves' "solution" to the problem of the Wears not passing and Jones being very off was to shoot every time he could. Note, in the exhibition game Reeves did hit three outside shots. All were plays when he took his time and took advantage of the fact he was left alone. In this game he literally just chucked up shots from three.
The offensive problems, of course, did not end there. Our biggest offensive weapon, Josh Smith, took four shots and only shot 2 FTs. Both numbers are unacceptable. Some are going to harp on foul trouble, I don't think that was the whole problem. UCLA looked completely unprepared for the most obvious strategy to stop Josh, collapse on him in zone or man-to-man.
Smith also looked unprepared. In the Arizona game last year, the "perfect game", Josh passed beautifully out of double teams including to Reeves going to the basket for his career high in assists. Against LMU, Josh seemed confused and frustrated by double and triple teams and his teammates were not helping him.
These problems better be fixed and fixed fast. It is not acceptable to have UCLA look like it had not practiced offense yet this season. If the Wears are option 1 and 1A in the offense, then people like Reeves have to deal with it or get benched. If the Wears are not, they better learn to start passing first and taking what is giving them instead of just shooting the ball every time they touch it. The real option one, Josh Smith, better understand that he has a bulls-eye on him every night. Both Josh and the team better be ready to deal with it starting on the next game.
The players can complain all they want about the Sports Arena but the fact of the matter is fans won't want to watch this even on TVs in their homes. Football is bad and RN is rightly in trouble, but if CBH keeps playing like this against teams that any UCLA scholarship player would start for, CBH will be in trouble as well.
Go Bruins.
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I don't blame the Wears.
They kept us in the game the first half. When they didn’t in the second, it was over.
I blame the epic fail in guard play, both PG and shooting with no screens to set up any shooters even though Smith was triple teamed underneath. Just terrible guard play, most likely compounded ny orders from CBH to pound it in no matter what to Smith.
Offense has been CBH’s Achilles heel from the start. He doesn’t like up tempo, transition, fast break. He hates the three, rarely sets up or screens for it. If we can’t pound it in, he doesn’t have a plan B that I have seen. All we needed was to hit jumpers from the corner of the key all night to open up underneath. Never done. Ridiculous.
to be clear
I am not blaming the Wears. CBH blew it. This TEAM did not look like they had played offense together. The Wears were playing like you play in Summer league, looking to shoot every time they got the ball. Reeves looked that way as well for the later part of the game.
The blame is on CBH. He needs to fix it.
you know..
I can’t believe Chapel Hill has rebuilt their program so well since Taylor Hansbrough graduated.. And in the same time period since KL left Westwood we are still struggling with the basics.
Sad but true
Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing. You don't win once in a while; you don't do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing. ~ Vince Lombardi
That's on Ben.
UNC, and the rest of the country also has to deal with One and Done’s. Ben’s just not cuttin it.
U-C-L-A Fight, Fight, Fight! Go Bruins!
NBA: Where Greed Happens. RIP 10/10/11.
Jrue Holiday was the only other one & done
It’s the failed 08 class, and that he for whatever reason hasn’t picked up a true frosh PG since Holiday. If he doesn’t pick up Lavine (or another PG) for 2013, that’s five years without a true frosh PG recruit — puzzling given how important that position is in his system.
The whole offensive composition is a mess. When Josh is in the game, teams will zone, which allows them to play a man in front and behind Josh. With his weight being the same as last year, Josh has no ability to elevate or make a quick move to get open, so a guard looking for a post feed is staring at a lot of traffic getting him the ball.
Defenses can do this because this team can’t shoot the basketball. Opposing teams want Jones, Lamb, the Wears, and Nelson to try to beat them from the outside. We have nobody that can break down their man and get o the basket in a halfcourt set. We have nobody on the perimeter that opposing teams are fearful.
Usually when you have a team lacking in athletes and 1 on 1 ability, you have at least some shooters. That isn’t the case here, and the problem exacerbates itself when our coach allows Reeves Nelson to float on the perimeter and shoot jumpers and refuses to take Jones out of the game when he takes ill-advised shot after ill-advised shot.
There is no doubt that the team will improve, but the roster makeup doesn’t lend itself to a team that can make noise. We are a big team, but unfortunately we can’t take advantage of that because our most potentially dominant player is woefully out of shape and our guards demand no attention.
Agree on all points
This is a team that is rebuilding its identity, yet again, and not all of the parts fit yet. Between RN, the Wears, and Smith this team has more talent and depth upfront in terms of “looks” that they can throw at opponents than any power conference team out there.
Chemistry may also be a problem with the Wears coming on, but I won’t make that judgment after one game. Absorbing transfers is a challenge for any team.
The bigger problem is, the guards who need to create for them are suspect to begin with, leaving me to doubt whether they can run basically two different offenses. Zeek jones is ok, but does he inspire anyone to take this team to a title contender level? he needs to show he can consistently run an offense first. Anderson is what he is, a mediocre backup PG.
Waiting for April.
Yep
I agree with this a 100%
The whole offensive composition is a mess.
I will add that where was Reeves down low? He shot on the run or from the outside. I love the latter shot if I am an opponent.
David Wear could be a partial answer from the outside. But he has to be able either to feed the post OR as a team we need to reverse the ball to him.
did you see the LMU players??
they were acting all hot sh*it after the game. no team will fear us now. DAMN…DAMN.
Actually they started bad
The first minutes of the game they looked terrible and nervous. The problems was we were bad as well. If we could have played well at first we would have been okay and put LMU on their heels. However, we didn’t and they got confidence.
Good analysis on the Wears and the offense. I hadn’t picked up on it yet, but it makes perfect sense. I also agree with UCLADodger32 that Josh Smith’s conditioning is a major factor in him being unable to finish and get position to get the ball download.
Michael C
www.onviolence.com
Thanks Michael
Josh will get in better (relative) shape as the season progresses but he needs to be ready to be the number one option for however many minutes he plays. The team and Josh were not ready for him to play that role against LMU.
Totally agree
I just hadn’t noticed the Wear’s stat line yet. As soon as you wrote it I was like, “Yep, they are ball stoppers.” So is J Smith, but (when he gets a good pass) in a good way.
Michael C
www.onviolence.com
GREAT breakdown, DC
This is basically exactly how I felt after the game. It was a bad loss, but I’m not hitting the panic button. I think Zeke was pressing and Josh was asleep. I also think the Wears and Nelson need to figure each other out. I’m impressed with the Wears.
I also felt the team had a little extra pep. They were moving a little faster, smoother. I don’t know how to describe it exactly, but they looked like a group of guys who were practicing with pros all summer. Unfortunately, I think they also acted like pros by taking quick outside jumpers. Zeke took some shots that are good shots for Russell Westbrook, not so much for him. Maybe a little too much swagger. Am I the only one who noticed this? They seemed to trod more slowly up the court in recent years IMO.
Yeah on Zeek
Some comments I am reading on Zeek piss me off. He was HORRIBLE in the game but he has had many good games for UCLA. But as you said he needs to realize he is not Russell Westbrook or anything close to that. That fact very well, along with pressing, may be part of the problem.
Offense More Of A Problem In This Game Than Defense
Your observations are correct regarding the defense. LMU was unconscious from three, and several of the shots were deep or by people not normally thought of as outside threats. We got drove on some, but I didn’t think it was all that egregious. The offense was the bigger problem as you note.
The offense totally lacked cohesion. The good news is most of it is correctable. Part of it we can assign to the fact we had 60% new starters. (Not 40%. The Wears started, plus Lamb was not a starter last season = 60%.) We didn’t have good spacing. The middle was often clogged. We were out of synch. We didn’t play as if we had an identity. This can and will change.
Another piece was as you noted: the Wears were a black hole in the first half. Rather than work the ball inside, they shot pretty much from anywhere and everywhere. In the second half we looked to correct that, but then we ran into the third issue: Zeke laid an egg and, to a lesser extent, so did Lamb in the second half.
Zeek was simply awful. He did not look comfortable. His passing was decent to terrible at times. (One thing that seemed to be missing from our offense was the pick and roll as a trigger for the offense. LMU used it multiple times, it seemed to me we hardly used it at all.) His shooting is on him, but I will cut him some slack because he was working with three new starters as noted. They will gel. Lamb did provide some scoring, but his passing was also awful. In fact, there was an LMU run in the second half that essentially put us away that was the result of multiple bad passes by Zeke and Lamb.
This team has some very good parts. It needs to find itself. LMU came back to earth Saturday and lost to MTS Saturday night scoring only 51 points. (4-18 from three-point land).
Frankly, I think we’ll be ok. Howland just needs to figure out how all the parts fit together and get them to buy in.
To Clarify on 60% vs. 40% and Tyler Lamb
I consider Josh a starter even though he does not start. You are, of course, correct, but this is to some extent Josh’s team so while not technically correct, I will call him a starter.
I did not touch on Lamb. As you say, I think he did help key the second half run for LMU. In the first half he sat all but 8 minutes with Powell playing most of the half. Powell did not hurt on defense as the LMU two guard was 1-5 in the first half in 19 minutes. This will be interesting to watch.
Just finished reviewing the first 7 minutes of 1st half
Score is 9-8. David Wear has scored, as has Lamb on 2 J’s and Nelson on a nice layup. Travis on one touch inside kicked it back out. David Wear has fed Josh 3 times in this period of play. The first pass was not a good one, the second was well contested and the third was caught by Josh deep inside, but he failed to convert. The other Josh opportunity had him open for a pass but zeke just looked at him and wouldn’t throw the pass. So I’m really not seeing, SO FAR, what everyone has been saying about the Wears. The shots taken by David Wear have been good ones. The game is close so far – but already Ireland has shown amazing athleticism on a drive to the lane where he abruptly stopped leaving zeke kind of collapsing down trying to stop his own momentum, the Ireland elevates quickly for an amazing 2 in the lane.
as a former coach
Never liked giving up two scholarships for the same type of player ( the Wears) or as my best friend says who is a huge UCLA fan the Wear sisters. I read in the box score 8 players played and of the 8 four cannot guard on the perimeter and basically are post players. Nelson, the twins, and smith that is 4 out of 8 players cannot pressure the ball playing man and is a huge defensive liability not only to getting beat off the dribble but also getting out to defend the three ball.
I like Josh Smith and think he is a beast. I would like him to see the ball more and get more touches. As an armchair QB I think Ben panicked to give those two scholarships to the twins as it would have been better suited to bring in two players who can shoot/stretch the defense and play off Josh Smith like a 4 around 1 and slash to the basket.
I like Ben as a coach but he is crazy if he thinks he can play man when the Wears and Nelson or Smith is on the floor. Ben complains in the scrimmage the team gets beat off the dribble too much, well have sad news those four players are not going to get better defending on the perimeter. Ben is a great man to man defensive coach, but he does not have the personal to defend playing man as he wants too, and has to give in he cannot be stubborn and should play zone.
by ca1forniaangels on Nov 13, 2011 7:50 PM PST reply actions
Your point is valid
But then former coach Harrick attempted the same scenario with that other pair of twins too. Their names escaped me now.. They went to Stanford instead. Only a few seasons back, Stanford had the Lopez twins too.
With 3 minutes left in 1st half, Josh is mostly sitting due to 2 fouls, 27-26
LMU takes the lead as Ireland burns zeke on a drive to the basket. Josh gets his second fout with incidental contact at the FT line, really a questionable call. LMU 3 as Reeves can’t close on his man fast enough. Next LMU 3 comes as Powell totally loses his man in transition and they nail the open shot. In between, zeke has bricked a fairly open J. At 9-16, reeves misses a layup, but we get a stop and reeves takes it to the hoop for 11-16. Goes to 11-19 as reeves again cannot close on his man who nails another 3. Travis shots an in close shot that misses but he follows his miss with a putback, 13-19. With 9 min left, T Wear takes his first outside J, but misses. A good, open shot assisted nicely by Lamb, but not converted. Next possession, Twear misses again from about 10 ft. Josh in for twear, Lamb misses a bad 3 pt attempt, but we get a stop. David W steps around his defender and cleanly hits a 15 ft J, 15-19. Another D stop is followed by DWear hitting a wide open 3, 18-19. Another D stop, but zeke misses a short J taken early in the possession. Another D stop as Garibay travels trying to get around Josh, but Zeke throws a lazy feed to reeves that is taken all the way for an LMU layup, 18-21. Zeke misses a floater and Nelson’s non-chalant D allows his man to break to the basket for lay-up, 18-23. Zeke misses a reverse layup, then goes underneath a screen to allow Ireland a wide open 3 which he makes, 18-26. Powell nice feed to Reeves for lay-up, 20-26. Stop on D followed by Dwear J on in bounds play, 22-26. Ireland misses long J over lamb, reeves rebounds, dribbles about 10 ft, spots Powell and makes a very nice pass, Norman scores and is fouled. 25-26. Stop followed by Twear outside J, 27-26.
I'm going to wait for after our Tuesday game before speculating too much.
In re-viewing essentially the entire first half, I did not see a lot of stuff I’m reading about nor did I see some stuff I thought I saw.
- DWear really tried to feed Josh, actually more than anyone else.
- None of the made 3’s were on the Wears, and few of the LMU pts were made by their men
- Significant number of made hoops were against Reeves
- Zeke hurt our offense as well as D, his one open view of Josh he didn’t throw the pass
- baskets by the Wears were essentially all on reasonable looks
- Nelson looked good on the break, taking it all the way AND looking ahead for a nice feed to Powell who made the “and 1”.
Now maybe the second half was the Wears shooting every time they touched the ball, and maybe in the second half they stopped looking inside to Josh. ANd maybe if all this did happen, it was because Josh wasn’t working hard enough to free himself and zeke was trying to personally win the game by going mano-a-mano against his LMU PG tormentor, Ireland.
But if a team is collapsing on Josh and you don’t have anyone else who can hit a J, then why shouldn’t the wears have taken those shots? That doesn’t mean it will be that way every night, but don’t you take what the defense is giving you.
Now, does this situation mean that on the opening game of the season, reeves, josh and zeke are all going into a funk because the game plan by lmu is giving most of the looks to the wears? I just don’t know. I can’t read their minds. I hope not.
Reading my recaps, I more concerned about defensive execution rather than team chemistry at this point. Powell is energetic, but raw. Both Lamb and zeke were getting beat off the dribble. Nelson was non-chalant getting back on D and slow to close on 3’s, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Wears joining Reeves in failing to guard the 3. Lots of work to do on the defensive end.
I didn’t get to pay the closest attention to the game unfortunately. But, it seemed like every time I glanced at it the Wears looked like the only Bruins who had ever played offense before. I actually got the impression that they might be confused by how awkwardly the rest of the team was playing.
Over
by cybermaldonado on Nov 13, 2011 8:55 PM PST up reply actions
Really frustrating to again see lackadaiscal defensive effort from Nelson
Especially when he’s shown he can be lockdown defender. How can someone who locked down Derrick Williams get beaten by Ashley Hamilton? I can understand Zeek getting beaten, but someone with NBA aspirations getting so thoroughly abused? Incomprehensible.
Nelson finished 6/12, but IIRC, most of those shots were in the 2nd half. So Nelson not getting the ball means he’s going to pout and slack on defense?
Don't think he pouted in the first half - he just didn't put enough effort in on D
Against Williams he saw a challenge that really motivated him.
In the first half of this game, I could see him not really respecting the possibility that LMU could beat us, so his effort was mediocre.
In an interview, I heard Nelson shrugging off Howland’s focus on D with a comment that went kind of like this: “Our D is fine. No matter what we do, Coach always just wants more D.”
To be fair, the threes he gave up were not so much lack of effort, but he just failed to take the measure of his man. He needed to be one step closer to challenge those shots. The other thing, they did scorch us with a really high percentage of makes.
What surprised me is that I expected the Wears to give up 3’s figuring that they are too slow to cover from where they have to be in order to respect getting beaten off the dribble. Maybe this happens in the second half.
The Nelson comment was from the the scimmage
and you are right the threes came from unexpected sources. Their two guard was ineffective from 3, not even attempting a shot, the expected source.
Reeves Nelson
Seems more interested in showing the NBA scouts he can make the 3 points shot (which he can’t) than playing for the benefit of the team
To be clear
Reeves started going coast to coast before the end of the first half and his frustration probably started before then. (That frustration was also just as likely with Jones as well as the Wears.) Smith only played 6 minutes in the first half so he could not be the focal point except for those 6, when he shot just once.
The Wears should shoot the open shot and I like David shooting the open three. I hate David shooting the long range jumper just inside the three point line. He did make those against LMU but IMO that is still not a good shot, unless your first name is Dirk.
However the Wears don’t draw fouls and did shoot quick. The set offense needs to be patient to try to get the ball inside, including to Reeves.
We were 34-33 at half time down only because of a lucky three by Ireland at the halftime buzzer. The second half they hit 6-8 threes and we only scored 25 points.
Thus, our three defense may be bad or they may be hot, but regardless our offense sucked. You may be right that the Wears should have kept shooting. It is certain Reeves should not have shot those threes. Either way the team chemistry on offense was non-existent.
Hadn't looked at it that way...
Yes, coast-to-coast Reeves might mean frustration, but I didn’t take it that way. He was actually effective doing so and in one case pushed a great pass ahead to Powell for an “and 1” play. And his early, certainly first, coast-to-coast would seem to have occured well before a lot of frustration should have kicked in.
I think David Wear (not T Wear) should be taking those 15-17 ft J’s because he’s demonstrating he is a good shot and remember he’s playing SF. If you have no mid-range J threat, the collapsing double & triple-teaming of Josh becomes even more effective.
Yes, they were on fire from the 3 – but none of those were cases where we had a hand in their face. And you might call the Ireland buzzer beater lucky, but Zeke totally left his feet on a pump fake so Ireland ended up with a clean look for that shot. Lack of D discipline like this by Reeves & Zeke persisted throughout the game .
Pretty much agree with your assessment w/out reviewing tape
The Wears seemed to be the only two just going out and playing. Not that they don’t have flaws but it would have been a whole lot worse without them. They took open shots which you have to take at that level. LMU was daring the offense to make outside shots. David Wear came through.
Defensively, the team’s scouting report probably said that LMU was a lousy 3pt shooting team. However, they came out on fire and our guys were slow to adjust.
The biggest problem of the game was that, like many believe, Zeek was pressing and there was nobody else to turn to at PG. Going forward Anderson will be there in such a case. Hopefully he’s able to snap out of the funk quickly and get back to being a solid guard who should be a better shooter than last year with healthy wrists. The most worrisome aspect was his inability to stay in front of his man.
SG is a real concern for me. I don’t think Lamb is a starting quality player. He’s a solid defender but he won’t be as good as Lee due to athletic limitations (He’s not as tall, quick, or long). On offense he’s pretty bad. He’s neither a knock down shooter or a guy who can create. He also looked like a guy who was trying to figure out his role on the court. Although he knocked down his open shots, you could see just how little respect LMU had for his shooting by how far they left him open.
I’m hoping that Parker is able to earn minutes away from Lamb going forward (but he might be needed at SF too). He seems to have the best chance of providing a slasher role. Didn’t really get a chance to see his shooting skills in the game. Powell is raw but very athletic. He should improve as the season moves forward with a strong work ethic.
David Wear had a good game. I was glad to see someone can knock down an open shot and do it with confidence. I’m not sure if he’s great at moving without the ball though. It looked like he got all his shots as a spot up shooter. This is important because good off the ball movement can draw attention away from the bigs down low. He’s a below average defender from the 3 spot though so he’ll have to dominate in rebounding to make up for it.
Reeves Nelson is what he is. Travis Wear brings a high IQ and a nice touch inside.
Josh Smith thought they were playing some bums so he decided he ought to fit into the crowd. His immaturity is something to keep an eye on. If he sheds 10-15 lbs during the season like he did last year then we should see a much better player towards the end of the year.
Getting Anderson and Stover back will help. Howland is one of the best teachers in the game and will make sure these guys play better going forward.
by abasketballfan on Nov 14, 2011 5:29 AM PST up reply actions
Makes me wonder then why Nelson wasn't a step closer to Hamilton then
But even with Hamilton going off, I feel could’ve weathered it if Ireland didn’t go off with him. So was this game squarely on Zeek’s shoulders then?
I hate to get into this, but in a sense
a lot of responsibility may have fallen onto zeke because 1) he failed offensively to play like a PG and he could not shoot a lick as well; and 2) he failed defensively to cover the most pivotal offensive player on LMU. Guys like that can be very disruptive. First he establishes his creds by taking zeke off the dribble, then our guys start to look to help and now it’s drive and dish time for LMU. In theory, this is what you like your pg to do.
Now, zeke is so involved in losing this personal battle in front of his HS buddies, including Derrick Rose, and in front of Bruin NBA PGs Westbrook and Collison, that he completely ignores the leadership role he has to play as PG. This makes the whole team worse and now Nelson thinks he has to shoot 3’s to make up, and maybe yes, the Wears start to shoot too much, and all the while Josh is getting into a deeper funk with triple team inside and no post feeds. Everything spiraled down the drain starting with our struggles at the 1 position. Zeke’s head was too much into his personal challenge, and not into the team’s needs. My 2 cents, for what it’s worth. Hopefully zeke gets this one out of his system.
Both Lee and Anderson out puts a lot of pressure on Zeke
I’m glad the next game is coming up soon – Tuesday. I want to see these guys really bounce back. Jerime should be available.
We also need Stover. His replacement as the backup 5 has been T Wear, and I WAY MORE want that guy to be Stover with his defensive presence. If I had to give up one of the Wear twins offensive skills, it looks like David Wear is the one to keep on the floor.
Lee out? Did you mean Lee leaving early?
Either way, yeah, UCLA had a lot more experienced backcourt depth last year.
What did you think of Powell & Parker?
Zeek is the biggest problem against LMU but not the only
He was 0-7 in the first half and we were down 1. I think there is something to what you said above about the spiral effect, I would just add the fact Reeves reacted in a bad way that caused problems as well.
Thanks for your insight
Thanks for your detailed perspective and level-headed analysis. I am also pleased that the next game comes quickly, and I hope to see some tangible improvement.
Regardless, they are my Bruins and I will root for them until I am hoarse, even if some of the hoarseness comes from yelling WTF.
stover
Why did he not play? Hurt, suspended or a DNP?
by ca1forniaangels on Nov 13, 2011 10:28 PM PST reply actions
MIGHT BE OLD NEWS
But I just came across this article: http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/compensation/Interim%20item%2005%2008%20—%20Guerrero.pdf
so 5% increase in his salary every year since 2009 huh? and pay him another 750k for 5 years of HORRIBLE service?
JQOT@J#HIB $WN RTWIB$WRNG#QR I’m getting angrier by the second
and others..
1. one courtesy vehicle
2. Annual employee compensation: 1.29 MILLION
The problem with this team pre-dates any of these players...
Including the LMU disgrace, Howland is 63-41 since his little run of success 05-08. Compare it to the following:
* Gene Bartow: Two years (52-9)
* Gary Cunningham: Two years (50-8)
* Larry Farmer: Three years (61-23)
* Walt Hazzard: Four years (77-47)
* Jim Harrick: Eight years (192-62)
* Steve Lavin: Seven years (145-78)
How much longer does he get to live off of 05-08?. I keep hearing about his great recruiting classes. But where’s the point guard? Where’s the planning for the one-and-dones? I hate what I’ve been seeing on the court the last few years. Everybody is entitled to a down year or two, but this is really starting to feel like a trend to me.
I don't disagree on the LMU loss being disconcerting
But it’s a little “creative” to claim Howland’s overall record is only 20 games over .500. He’s 189-83. And it’s a little early to call one loss a sign of a “down year.” UCLA lost in puzzling fashion to Montana last year but still managed to finish respectably.
Now if LMU gets followed with more puzzling losses, then this sentiment will make some sense.
It'll start tomorrow
when we lose to Middle Tennessee State.
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Lee and Honeycutt vs Lamb and D. Wear
I think Lamb has the potential to be a better scorer and outside shooter than Lee. Only time will tell.
Trying to replace Honeycutt with D. Wear is like trying to replace Kobe with R. Hamilton.
It seemed to me that Honeycutt’s presences last season made Zeke look a lot better than he actually is. Toolbox’s passing and outside shooting last season drew opponents defense to him like a fly to sheet. This took a lot of pressure off of Zeke because he was often not the primarily ball handler and play creator for the Bruins. With Honeycutt gone and replaced by one facet D. Wear (mid-range jump shooter) Zeke has now been given the responsibility to run the offense when he is on the court.
Against LMU he failed miserably. While I expect him to play a bit better as the season goes on I am not expecting much from him. Anderson a rare four year college player these days, though that will now change with the NBA out of business for who knows how long, is not very good either.
I am not sure what the solution is. Maybe Powell needs more minutes. He couldn’t do much worse than Zeke.
It looks like it is going to be long season unless someone can step up and play like a Division 1 starting PG.
Maybe Powell or Brown will be the answer.
We shall see
David Wear is not one facet
My re-viewing of the first ca 30 min showed that David Wear had the most feeds into Josh. In the first half, with limited minutes by Josh due to his fouls, DWear passed into Josh 3 times. In Josh’s limited minutes, the closest Zeke came to making a pass was one look where Josh was momentarily open, but Z didn’t throw the pass. Early in the second half, a feed into Josh where he beat the double team & fronting that finally resulted in a basket was a pass from …. David Wear.
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