Monty Clowns Howland Again: Bruins Lose 73-63
by Tydides on Feb 11, 2012 3:12 PM PST
in Basketball
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PrintPut to rest all thoughts and pipe dreams of a potential at-large berth to the tournament. If the Bruins were walking a tightrope before, following the 73-63 drubbing Cal gave Ben Howland's listless, confused, hapless team, that rope has snapped. Against a marginally talented but well coached Bears squad, the Bruins put on a performance eerily reminiscent of the first game up in Berkeley: A somewhat close game blown wide open right after halftime.
Howland's other chance to make the tournament also took a major hit. At 7-6 in conference, the Bruins are now 2 games out of 4th place in the loss column, and are looking squarely at the four wins in four days road to the play-in game. How exciting.
Though the game was close in the first half, the signs of the impending meltdown were all there. The Bruins played disinterested and selfishly. Aimless passing around the perimeter and ill fated one on one drives were all the offense UCLA seemed to be able to muster, and but for a few lucky shots by Lazeric Jones, the game probably would have been over at halftime.
Though Joshua Smith didn't have a game like he had in Washington, he was at least more active than we've seen him earlier this year. It's not enough to come out and say he had a good game, but at least watching him fight for position and make some aggressive moves around the basket show interest and engagement. It's certainly better than what we saw from the Wears, who were a combined 5-19 from the floor on an array of long jumpers and other selfish nonsense.
It just doesn't seem necessary to break this down further when you look at the box score. Cal would have joined an ever increasing list of teams that have shot 50% or better against us for the game if they weren't already on that list from the first time around. On the other side, aimless, purposeless, stagnant, 6 assist offense leads to 39% shooting for UCLA. It's really just a textbook beatdown of a team that is now just hoping to lobby to sneak into the NIT. At least we can take comfort in the fact that we should be a tough out in the NIT/CBI, right?
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The main problem, in my opinion.
The team is terrible and unwatchable. The players are just going through the motions. The team lacks leadership. The team lacks heart. There is no coaching going on. All of these things are perceived by Guerrerror, and he is going to make a change. Granted that any change will be for the better, at least until our new coach has to start coaching, but I see the main problem as being that this team is so bad that Guerrerror is going to get a new coach to show that he knows what he is doing.
(Is it just me, or after we make our first four passes we end up with the ball right where it was to start with, and with the players all right where they were to start with, and with none of the guys who handled the ball actually looking to shoot. )
This program has been unwatchable for last 3+ years
It’s a broken and dysfunctional program with no leadership at the top.
I don't watch anymore.
I can’t stand seeing the four letters disgraced.
I just read the blogs and hope Guerror is fired and told to take his strap-on somewhere else.
Unfortunately UCLA finds creative ways to lose games
Sad that they can’t find creative ways to win games. JERIME did better than Zeke in all aspects. Heard nothing about him from the Jerime discounters. He did get anxious at the end but hit some key shots to bring UCLA within range. I think that if they don’t sweep the conference tournament but win a couple of games and 5 of their last 6 regular season games that they will get into the NIT because of their storied history.
zero assists in the first half
26 in one game and then 0 in first half. So very inconsistent. You never know what you are going to get from UCLA.
We Are UCLA -- We should not accept invitations to meaningless tournaments and bowl games.
We need to put to rest the idea that backing into bowls or begging into tournaments is a good thing.
We should not enter post season play unless we have earned the right with a season worthy of reward.
We demean post season play, and diminish our brand, when we accept invitations to loser bowls/tournaments.
We need to just say no. Strap On won’t. So we need to stake out the position.
(And, BTW — the fan base has made clear that it does not want to go to these bowls — it does not buy tickets. So, we embarass ourselves and lose money. Nice brand management, strap on.)
sjh
I feel very strongly about this
Just because some lowly place “invites” us does not mean that we have to accept the invitation.
I’m traveling and working. Will try to post something.
sjh
Somebody posted a story about how Larry Brown found a conference trophy in a desk drawer
when he first arrived. To me, that should sum up our program. And certainly playing in some second rate tournament after an unsuccessful year tarnishes the legacy of our great program.
That was me
Here is another relevant point of reference from the past-
In 1984, UCLA went 17-11 overall, 10-8 in the conference for 4th place, under Larry Farmer. They did not make the NCAA tourney (understandable), and got an invite to the NIT. This is when we had a real Chancellor- Charles Young. UCLA TURNED DOWN THE NIT.
Back then we had standards. The CBI is the equivalent of the EagleBank Bowl, the NIT is the equivalent of the Fight Hunger Bowl.
I am with 66. We need to get back to having some real pride, and not settling for bullshit post-season berths, and calling that success.
In T-ball, everybody gets a trophy at the end of the season, even if they never catch the ball and never hit the ball. That is fine for T-ball, because participation is the goal. But it seems like DG and Block also want that to be the standard for UCLA athletics.
This is not T-ball. Real bowl games played in January. Real postseason basketball, where the final 4 is a plausible goal.
Why is that too much to ask? We were there before with Chancellor Young. Incidentally, that same year that we turned down the NIT, 2 months earlier we had beaten Illinois in the Rose Bowl.
It has been done before. Time for DG to go. And if Block won’t do it, time for him to go also.
Thanks for checking in and taking credit
I love that story, and this one too. I’m in with you guys.
+1
Assuming either of those tournaments extends a bid, the ONLY choice Blockhead and Guerror should make is to very humbly refuse.
And they should do it twice to make up for dragging our brand through the third (possibly fourth) rate Kraft Flip An Oreo Bowl.
Actually, correction: Guerror has a second choice to make — to resign effective immediately.
Go Bruins.
by HighDesertBruin on Feb 11, 2012 6:10 PM PST via mobile up reply actions
Yeah and we went to the NIT the next year and won it
with Reggie Miller as MVP. Seems we didn’t have standards just one year later.
I agree that the NIT/CBI is a bullshit tournament. Even the real tournament is bullshit now…69 teams. There is no way in hell that 69 teams are out there that deserve to be playing for a national title. We are having a bullshit season in a bullshit conference. We play in front of 5,000 mosly listless fans and haven’t been relevant in almost 4 years now. We have no right to “have standards” and calling tournaments not worthy of our participation. Play the goddamn games with pride and integrity and be thankful anyone wants to showcase this garbage. Then after the games are over fire the goddamn coach and bring someone in that will put this program back to where we all want it.
I'd like to hear your pregame speech...
for the balance of the schedule. This is the fire they need to hear.
Take some fact sheets about the championship years, go to the Sports Arena, have the team look at each banner while someone reads the fact sheet for each banner hanging.
Then ask if they believe playing in the NIT is why they came to UCLA.
Yeah, and not only did we win the NIT...
but it totally pissed-off just about everybody. Daily Bruin ran a headline that read (paraphrased): CONFIRMED We Are Number 65! Funny. Back then, I just knew UCLA Basketball could never get lower than that humiliation.
U-C-L-A Fight, Fight, Fight! Go Bruins! Go Lakers! Go Dodgers! Go Angels!
Ben Howland empties my passion bucket for UCLA Basketball, and I resent it.
Of course no one should be happy or satisfied with it
but to turn down a tournament on the basis that it is “below our standards” or “hurts our brand” after what we have been watching the last 4 years just makes us look arrogant and silly. We are nowhere close to an elite program and are not even a shell of where we once were. No sense in pretending that we still are. Accepting the invite and playing with pride would be the humble thing to do. But don’t dare be satisfied.
No.
It’s below U.C.L.A.‘s standard. Period. So are the players. So is the coach. U.C.L.A.’s standard hasn’t dropped one bit. The standard is the same as it has always been. And that will never change.
The players and coach most certainly should not be given any extra opportunities to embarrass the university by failing to live up to its standards. The sooner basketball season is over, the better.
by Seth Chandler on Feb 12, 2012 12:59 AM PST up reply actions
Here's another reason not to go to a postseason "tournament" (and that's apart from not wanting to get blown out by Middle Tennessee State again)
The players need to know that if they don’t perform, they will not play in anything that reeks of post season play—they can watch those games on ESPN 5 or 6 whatever it is.
66, another point about fans not wanting to go to obscure bowls or made for TV basketball tourneys, they don’t even want to go to the games. Regardless of what some press flak tells you, this was the best attended game in terms of people who paid to go and the dump was half empty. Until we have a coach who can lead (and that may mean CBH regaining his mojo perhaps next year), nobody needs to go anywhere—this is UCLA and it is time we stood for something in basketball besides being an over hyped NBA development team.
Today's Doonesbury Nails It
Bowl games and tournaments should be rewards for excellence; they should be earned. They are not an entitlement. The fact that there are so many — fueled by TV money — has rendered an “invitation” meaningless.
If we do not play to our standards, we should not reward the team or coaching staff.
That is not arrogance. That is setting a high standard for ourselves and demanding that we meet it.
Today’s proliferation of tournaments and bowls is the sports equivalent of grade inflation and worrying more about the student’s self esteem than that he or she actually learned something. Going to our last couple of bowl games, or going to the CBI is like giving a student a B because he or she signed her exam — but flubbed the answers.
Fairly graded, our football program got no better than a D for the season. Fairly graded, I’m not sure our basketball program looks much better. Shall we reward this with post season appearances? Refusing “invitations” will tell the teams that we expect more and will not give them credit for simply signing in.
I found it funny that the very next day after I posted this comment, Doonesbury did a Sunday panel on exactly this topic. (For those of you reading this later, www.doonesbury.com on 12 Feb 2012).
We should not be giving out trophies for “most improved camper”.
sjh
I have Howland fatigue
It kills me where he has taken this program the last three years.
Howland's trademark . . .
. . . has never been offense. He was originally hired because of his defensive expertise. The Howland brand of defensive basketball does not attract the right kind offensive-minded recruits. As a result, it’s pretty clear that Howland will never take the Bruins to the NC game.
The Cal team that beat us today
would have been a middle of the pack team at best in our Final Four years. We continue to get outplayed, outhustled, and outcoached which only magnifies our plethora of weaknesses – no leadership, no true point guard, no consistent or deady outside shooter, no coaching adjustments, no dominant post play, etc, etc, etc.
If Josh starts the season next year in proper shape, if the Wears develop a back to the basket game, if Larry Drew plays like a senior point guard, if Kyle Anderson and Jordan Adams are the real deal and able to shine if CBH is still here, if we close out with Shabazz and Parker, if, if, if…..
The common denominator of the state of our top two athletic programs was forced to pull the plug on CRN. Hopefully, he will be gone before the end of this season and a capable AD will bring in our next BB coach and return us to relevance.
Displine?
Stover did not play a second. Thursday night, he and Josh chatted amiably during the National Anthem—classless conduct in my book. This afternoon, Stover’s body language was entirely different. He looked at the floor during the National Anthem (which was sung brilliantly by an all women student a cappella group) like he had lost his best friend.
He was obviously benched but for what I do not know.
From Jon Gold
#UCLA Ben Howland said Anthony Stover told him he couldn’t play with sore foot tendon. Had an MRI on Friday.
Thanks for clearing that up.
Disregard my thoughts on discipline. But he sure looked saddened during the Star Spangled Banner.
today's game in a nutshell.
We seemingly missed every open shot while they seemingly made every open shot.
In many ways this reminds me of the NC game against Florida. There was a 5 minute period near the end of the game when Cal could not score. It didn’t matter though, because they were unstoppable the rest of the game and our own scoring drought was longer.
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
This may have been discussed above . . .
but this group of players is in no way, shape or form a “team.” When I played team sports over the years there were some teams that just clicked and there were some that couldn’t finish a 5-yard sack race. In those cases, it made sense to say “the coach doesnt do the scoring so its on the players.”
CBH recruits these guys . .. he must have a sense to their cohesiveness and whether they simply mesh. But I have never seen a bruin team that plays more disjointed than this squad. They are mostly talented players, but there is absolutely no mental connection among them . . . I’m not expecting Kurri-Gretzky preciseness, but these guys cant even run a decent fast break without throwing the ball away, forcing a shot or simply tripping over their own feet.
We cannot deny that this is on CBH because he evaluated these kids and he brought them in to win national champiosnhips . . . this isnt some pick-up team at the Wooden Center. Even the three Mater Dei guys (Wear, Wear and Lamb) act like each game is their first together.
This team is a disgrace and its time to say goodbye to Mr. Howland. Change is good, and even with the Final Fours, he has held the reins for nearly a decade with no national titles and a current 4-yr stretch that will in all likelihood yield a total of TWO tourney wins in the 4 years . .. a nadir even Lavin didn’t dip to. Enough is enough.
Completely agree charnaw
I really get upset every time I see Jones make a bad turnover and then immediately look to point the finger. And you know there are guys on the team that are not happy that the Wears get so many minutes despite a poor shooting night or a poor defensive effort.
Like you said, this is just not a “team” and that is not going to change with Howland coaching I believe
Poking my nose into BN for a sec...
You know when I knew Cal was gonna win? In the second half, Cal was up by 17 points and Josh Smith walked to the line and smiled after having fouled one of our players. That told me, “Oh, he doesn’t really care about winning or losing. Just getting through this game.” I know you guys said that Cal has marginal talent, and that may be true, but I honestly can’t pick out any elite talent on UCLA (although Jones was making Lin like shots to the hole.)
Lawrence Ross
Pot calling kettle black
Though we criticize Cal, there a few among us who think there’s any NBA talent on this squad. P.S. Osky sucks but the tree swa . . ..
It can be both, honestly
Cal and UCLA can both have marginal talent. Have you seen our conference’s OOC slate? It’s an ugly scene.
Why did it take you so much longer than us to realize this? ;-)
I wouldn’t say Cal has “marginal” talent. There may not be any superstars, though Gutierrez is very very good, but the rest are solid and do things right. That makes for a good team, especially considering the conference this season.
greg in denver, U.C.L.A. guy for life - BruinsNation.com
Cal plays really good basketball.
They are tough on defense, pass well on offense, make assists, play with poise, generally look like they know what they’re doing out there. Almost as if they’d been coached.
And Gutierrez is as good as anyone I’ve seen play against us.
by Seth Chandler on Feb 12, 2012 1:04 AM PST up reply actions
I was always told leadership starts at the top
I read some of these fanposts and it sounds like the 2011 football season, no leadership, teams just going through the motions. I put this squarely of strap on, he sits at the top of all athletics programs at UCLA and allows problems like this to corrupt the two revenue generators and the flagship program of our university.
Home games at the Sports Arena?
I give the students a pass for missing the games this year. One, they are not even home games and most of the kids there don’t have access to cars to get there. And two, look at this team? Would you rather party at the frats/Maloney’s or go watch our team lose?
I
Tough position for the students
It would be nice if they used their collective voice to force some changes around Morgan, which could include not going to games, esp with the logistics being what they are this year.
On they other hand, they won’t be students forever, so I can understand them going to every single game they can.
I don’t envy the environment they find themselves in right now.
greg in denver, U.C.L.A. guy for life - BruinsNation.com
I think josh smith is the laziest player to ever wear a UCLA uniform.
Can anybody think of a lazier player in one of our uniforms?
Yes
The Serbian who shall not be named.
I think Josh’s lack of conditioning is a real anchor for him. that doesn’t excuse it, but explains at least part of it.
greg in denver, U.C.L.A. guy for life - BruinsNation.com
Let's sum up our team
Our star player and leader was kicked off the team after having some sort of falling out with the team and/or coach. Our next star player got side-tracked at the buffet table on the way to the preseason, and showed up unmotivated and out of shape. Our two senior point guards that we already knew were not high level D1 guards remind us of this fact regularly. One has reached his potential, and it remains simply not good enough. The other forces himself to play beyond his potential, sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad. Lamb has become a player that if you didn’t know to look for him, you could completely forget he was there. Serviceable, but not becoming a go to guy. Powell is not developing, despite getting adequate minutes currently. The Wears came to us with reported caveats and warnings, and we see that the warnings were well founded. Both may be good kids and try hard, but they are not stars, and when they try to play like stars, we go down in flames.
Our coach has put together a bad team. Remember when he first came to us with reports that he recruited big studs that liked to bang and play D. What happened to that? We don’t have a single player that is a stud, or likes to bang, hustle, or play D. We have no speed. Our coach has lost his touch. He doesn’t see talent anymore, something is blinding him. Ok, Stover likes to play D, but he is not a stud athlete.
Louisville, KY for UCLA class of '87
Good point
I remember all that talk about “bang and play” but this team just looks soft
Soft
I think that’s the key to why Howland’s FF Teams worked and why they haven’t since.
Anyone think AA was soft? LMR? DC, RW, PAA, JF, KL? Even Roll? No way. Not ever.
How about Jrue? Drago? Honeycutt? Nelson? The current roster?
We did a fanpost last season on this exactly when a Fox (now CBS) reporter called last year’s team soft, noting that he never would have believed a Howland team would ever be called soft. Things haven’t changed much. If the softshoe fits…
greg in denver, U.C.L.A. guy for life - BruinsNation.com
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