A little perspective
by South Campus is for Lovers on Feb 4, 2011 10:58 AM PST
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According to espn, Larry Drew will be transferring from North Carolina; no reason was given for the decision. The first thing that jumps out to me is the parallel between what we are going through and what UNC is now facing. Both elite programs have seen a rough past few years: missing the tournament, high level recruits either not panning out or transferring. The only difference is that they have a title in recent years and we have only gotten to the Final Four.
While I believe that Coach Howland should have us in the tournament every season and that UCLA should be contending for the PAC 10/12 every year, it is a bit sobering to see another great program struggle. Even a guy like Roy Williams (who I think nearly every UCLA fan would approve of as a head coach) is going to "miss" on finding the right guys for his program every once in a while. Hopefully both programs can rebuild themselves back to elite status (the college bball scene is SO much better when the bluebloods are great) so that the parallels are more along the lines of conference and national championships than transfers and NIT's.
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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There is a massive difference between Roy Williams and Ben Howland
One has won multiple national championships and the other one has yet to raise a banner. We are both elite programs but Howland hasn’t completed the mission yet. Roy has been there and done that and he has a much wider net in recruiting cache compared to Ben.
Oh, and their down year was better than our down year
And they still recruit better than we do.
And they’re doing better than we are this season, in record, wins against quality opponents, conference record against a better conference than ours, etc.
Sobering indeed.
Here's your perspective
Is there any doubt that 5 star point guards won’t be lining up in the near future to play for Williams?
Is there any doubt that 5 star point guards won’t be lining up in the near future to play fo Howland?
Hint: One answer is “No” and the other answer is “Yes”
Darren Collison was not a 5-star point guard
but that’s besides the point, the win/loss records are more important
DC was a 5 star point guard
who came in underevaluated as a 3 star. We got lucky on him. I don’t think we can rely on that type of luck moving forward.
good point
My statement was not a downplay on Collison’s abilities, but more on the rating that scout/rivals set him at.
I think your point absolutely has merit, Engy
Who cares how many 5 star point guards are coming to Howland compared to Williams? More importantly, can Howland STILL attract the talent that helped us achieve such success? IMO, it’s the decision to recruit higher rated talent that got us in this mess in the first place… see #3 pg in the country Malcolm Lee, #4 pg in the country Jerime Anderson, #1 pg in the country Jrue Holiday, #7 pf in the country Drew Gordon, and #6 C in the country Bobo “party all the time” Morgan.
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
From my best friend, who is a huge Carolina fan and works the UNC boards as much as I spent time here.
Drew transferred because he lost his starting spot to a freshman. Plain and simple.
"Don't go east, young man."
Wear Twins, Stephenson, Drew. All So Cal kids who went east, and then left.
All these guys are good selling points for the future for Howland to use on any local guys with far away offers. Just save yourselves the trouble and misery and stay in Westwood.
greg in denver, UCLA guy for life - BruinsNation.com
That's "Don't go South"
I went from greater LA to Durham, NC, for grad school. North Carolina is not the East; it’s the South, and very different from California. Of course, the East, that’s the Northeast, is different too. But the South remains very different from the rest of the country.
by Arturo del Mundo on Feb 4, 2011 2:25 PM PST up reply actions
Good point
I was speaking purely geographically and not culturally. But, from having gone from LA to Houston myself, I see your point, and yours makes much more sense, literally, in this case.
greg in denver, UCLA guy for life - BruinsNation.com
To quote Peter Griffin
“Man, America’s great, isn’t it? Except the South.”
"Every day was a good day at UCLA." -Coach John Wooden
Williams vs. Howland
Howland has a long way to go to be considered on the same level as Williams (or Coach K or Izzo), but I was just making the point that even the best coaches hit tough times.
Howland seems to have found a pretty shiny diamond in the juco rough this year in Zeek, but I would also argue that he needs an elite pg to get to where we need to be.
by South Campus is for Lovers on Feb 4, 2011 1:35 PM PST reply actions
our tough times are likened to weaker talent on the west coast I believe
Since Howland mostly recruits from the west. On the other hand, Williams can recruit from all over the country so that’s another comparison to draw.
Which is why it was such a "great" idea
To push out guys like Stanback who could have been a very solid four year player.
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