Howland’s Answer to UCLA’s Point Guard Crisis: Bring in a Rapping Quitter from North Carolina

So he’d be back when Pauley reopens.

Howland’s missteps have not been so glaring as this. Dragobrick was unfathomable, but obviously so. At first any way. Knowing Jrue was going to bolt was something that could easily be guessed, but there was a kind of leeway in that.

But this guy is a glaring example of the kind of guys coaches stay away from. This is the kind of guy smaller programs take a chance on, because they are smaller programs.

I’m fuct if I know what’s going on here.

I just don’t know what the departure of Tyler Honeycutt and the addition of Larry Drew combined can do to the team. Honeycutt probably didn’t have his best season this year, but at least he seems to be a good teammate. I really like the team chemistry this year, let’s just hope that it stays this way next year.

he’ll be with the team every moment they’re together – shoot-arounds, practices, on the bench at games, etc., just as the Wears were this past season. There is definitely the potential for chemistry issues. Not saying there will or won’t be (though on the surface I have to think bringing in someone who by all appearances is a petulant quitter is not a promising omen), but there is certainly a chance for team chemistry to be affected.

NCAA rules state a player must sit out an entire academic year. He left UNC in early February. I don’t know if that makes him eligible here in early February 2012 or at the beginning of spring quarter 2012, but either way it’ll be a while.

We were discussing addition by subtraction, for which I can at least see an argument for each side.

But what about subtraction by addition? It’s much harder to see two sides of this one.

It’s just a contrast of how people can respond to adversity.

If we have to have them, I would prefer a one and done of the Kevin Love variety.

and I know we have talked about it behind the scenes, but I do think this is honestly catching most of the community by surprise.

the ‘no scholarship next year’ idea comes from. Not trying to attack you at all, and as I limit myself to BN there may be other sources that people go to that confirm it, but on the official UCLA Athletics site it states he will be on scholarship for the 2011-12 season.

(well, then there’s the Brandon Willis situation… not even going there.)

UCLA site says he’s on scholarship next year (noted by KSB above)

That’s very different, and a major strike against the kid. But he might still be a useful addition for one season at a position at which we could use a veteran player.

Both?

Thanks for trying, KS, but that’s a baaaaaaad production. It’s too fast, for one thing. Doing it fast is just showing off. If the Major General wants to show off, and all Major Generals want to show off, the maestro just runs the last part of the last verse at top speed (“for my military knowledge though I’m plucky and adventury, has only been brought down to the beginning of the century.”) But doing it this fast doesn’t give the audience enough time to digest the words. My favorite – “When I can tell at sight a Mauser rifle from a javelin” – gets lost when the audience is just admiring your ability to deliver all those words on one breath.

And the orchestra is horrible. The company cannot have been poor, with those costumes and all that camera work. But a xylophone? Yech.

This is a broadway version, obviously. (And as Seinfeld would put it, “not that there’s anything wrong with that.”) The singers are broadway singers, and I doubt if a whole production of singers singing “can belto” rather than “bel canto” would be worth sitting through.

The words and the music rule. All the performers is just stand and deliver the words that Sir William and Sir Arthur wrote and the performance will be a success. It’s when guys like this try to add their mark that it just falls short. I think I would have asked for my money back.

Do yourselves a favor, Bruins. Go find a good performance. I know that CSUN has a good opera program, and UCLA probably does, too. Go watch a student production. It will be MUCH better than this.

I thought the old version – “The Compleat Gilbert & Sullivan” was a little disappointing. It was still great, but a little disappointing. You should be able to find a Mikado. I enjoyed the Eric Idle version, set at the seashore in England in the 1920s.

but I did hear him tell a ref to go ching chong himself once.

Way too soon?

My friend said goodbye to me at a party yesterday by stopping me… watiing a beat…. “ching chong ling long ting tong.” I laughed so hard I almost cried.

my remaining fingernails, hair, nerves, sanity…

everything I’ve read has him late 2nd to undrafted

that Howland has a year to work with him, get him primed and ready to step in and play, or if we get a good enough pg, back him up. This kid came to US, and will (hopefully) work his butt off to prove he belongs. He’s not going to just get playing time because he transferred.

Apparently, the chemistry on this year’s team was much better as evidenced both by the way the team played and by the way our players discussed the team and their mates.

Although I wrote what were probably two of the most critical posts on CBH this year, I do have a lot of faith in him. I see him as a man of wisdom and integrity. I like his “values”. When he takes a player like Drew, I think it is because he sees a bigger picture than say, Calamari.

Am I confident this will work out? No. But, I think it a risk worth taking for Drew’s benefit as well as our own.

Perhaps, this is another example of my age differing so much from others here. When you get older, you’ve made the kinds of mistakes that would have been irreversible but for the kindness of others. Once you’ve been in that position, you tend to be a bit more forgiving of those who have stumbled and a little more generous with opportunities for second chances.

We have heard that a lot in last 3 years. We are bringing in someone who was proven to be a cancer in another team, when we could have taken a kid like Spencer Dinwiddle to add depth to our backcourt. We could have also gone after kids like Anthony Brown harder or recruit kids like Jordan Mayes, who badly wanted to come to UCLA (and never got a whiff from the staff).

Instead we throw around offers to car wrecks – not just Drew but to guys like Matt Carlino with his own checkered past. Those are just some reasons we don’t have a lot of confidence in the recruiting and personnel management strategies of current staff.

that he is a talented player. I am pretty sure he will be the best PG we have next season, so I see him as a talent upgrade immediatley.

You only have one chance to play college basketball. If he wanted to transfer and come back home to find more playing time, can you blame him? Nobody seemed to be that hurt when Moutra or Allmond transfered out find more playing time. Nobody called them quitters. I guess leaving in the middle of the season is not ideal, but at the end of the day he is a Bruin now. Sitting around and chatting whether Howland knows best or not wont change the fact that he is part of the family now.

The westbrook option is a joke. Recruiting rankings are for people like us that are not talented scouts. I doubt Howland is sitting his computer entering his scout.com name and password to decide on who to offer. COaches do not see stars, they see the talent in front of them. He may have been the only one who knew he had lottery potential.

how many players out there are diamonds in the rough? You never really know if a player will explosively develop in a short time or if they need years to maximize their game.

that my daughter is thrilled to be living in La Jolla and not homesick, in the least?