Spaulding Roundup: High Intensity And Alterraun In Town

With the news that Malcolm Lee had hired an agent breaking right around the time that the Bruins were practicing, the writers assigned to the UCLA beat had a lot to cover last night. With a limited amount of source material on Tuesday's practice, this is going to be brief.

After Monday's sloppy and listless practice, the Bruins did come out with an improved intensity on Tuesday, but were still making some of the mistakes that frustrated the coaches the day prior. Alterraun Verner is back in town and has been stopping by some of the practices, giving Dietrich Riley some (much appreciated) pointers in the process.

``Coming from Alterraun Verner, he's a veteran. It's an honor for him to pull me aside. He could have let that play slide by and not say anything to me. For him to say something to me, that meant a lot to me. He's someone I look up to. He's a great player and a great role model and a great guy.''

Good to hear Dietrich being to open to taking constructive advice, and that the respect for and reputation of ATV continues through to the younger players in the program.

Speaking of intensity, Cassius Marsh may have been a bit too intense, getting into another brouhaha at practice. In speaking to Jill Painter after practice, Cassius described the incident as two brothers scuffling; Coach Neuheisel echoed the sentiment, but did note that such releases need to be controlled, at least so not to reach a point where a player would be booted in an actual game.

To follow up from yesterday's injury report: After undergoing an MRI on Tuesday, Tony Dye's knee injury is now thought to be somewhat more severe than earlier thought. Neuheisel hopes that Dye can return before the end of Spring practices and the Spring Game, and Dye is also hopeful.

"They (doctors) said it shouldn't be anything serious," Dye said. "It shouldn't be the ACL. I feel like right now I could play in the spring game, but that's because I'm stubborn. We'll see."

John Young remained out of practice after having injured his shoulder on Monday; depending on the source, he either had an MRI earlier in the week, or is scheduled to have one today

The Bruins have today off from practice, and will return to Spaulding on Thursday afternoon.