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UCLA Basketball Coach Steve Alford will "Stay True" to Himself and Made A Mistake "Changing Too Much"

Steve Alford loves the stretch four and thinks GG will be a good one. - Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Steve Alford gives an interesting interview over on the ESPN podcast that has a lot of coach speak but some interesting tidbits. The reality is it lays out the case that this is a make or break year for Steve Alford at UCLA. Breaking it down to the key parts.

Alford Gets The Problem, But....

I am paraphrasing the quotes a bit and apologize if I miss a word but the gist is below from Steve Alford in the podcast:

We had a pretty good [defensive] culture moving into last year....[But] We didn't defend as we had previously...lost that. We did too much changing. We were all over the map. Didn't stay true who we are. We did not get better. That was the mistake I made. We didn't get better on defense because of too much changing. From different zones to different mans.

For UCLA basketball junkies, this is a fascinating quote because:

  • Alford takes responsibility for the horrid defense. Good for him.
  • Not sure about the defensive culture previously. The best defender for Alford’s NCAA teams was Norman Powell. While Alford deserves credit for Norman Powell’s growth on offense, I think it is fair to give his former coach credit for Norman Powell’s defense. I would argue the next two best defenders (Jordan Adams and Tony Parker his junior year as a center) were also Howland trained.
  • The "too much changing" quote is interesting. I did not see Steve Alford try many new gimmicks or different mans. However, I did see a lot of strange (too many) personnel combinations that did not work. The ultimate gimmick of two centers (Welsh and Parker) failed on defense but included others such as Alex Olesinski and Jonah Bolden’s as threes.
  • I take this to mean, at its best, UCLA’s defense under Alford will focus on making you beat us from the outside. That has been UCLA past philosophy under Alford. A dangerous proposition against say Oregon but probably a good one against Arizona.
  • Seems unlikely UCLA will press or trap more to force pace as might be advantageous with the skill sets of the freshmen.

But He Remains Clueless On Bryce

Steve Alford calls people like me out when he discusses the pressures of social media that Bryce Alford has to go through. He talks about how tough Bryce is. Fair enough. Bryce, as a player, does take too much crap but

"Bryce is no different than any other player."

To quote Bill Walton "Please." If defense is the problem, Bryce is the worst defender. Part of the solution would be benching Bryce for Aaron Holiday. It is not even close. Look, if outside shooting was the problem, Bryce would be the answer. I wish Bryce would at least TRY on defense and lead by example. Bryce does not. So Steve, if you really want to change the defense, you need to stop being dad and change the defense by benching Bryce or benching him unless he puts out a consistent and determined effort on D.

Lonzo Ball and Pressure

Maybe I am cold-hearted but, at this point, I have problems mustering sympathy for Bryce. If he tried on defense, maybe I would be more sympathetic.However, as of now, I am sympathetic to Lonzo Ball. I am surprised some people writing him off as bust after three exhibition games, one that was not even televised. Steve speaks about working with Lonzo and mentions that the hype for Lonzo is "unbelievable." I think this is a fair point. Lonzo had "25 people" in Australia after each game.

I agree guys. Calm down on Lonzo. The kid is going to be special but he is not going to be Magic Johnson his first game. (FYI, Magic shot above 23% from three his first 9 years in the NBA).

The Steve Alford Passion

I am not sure why but Steve Alford loves stretch fours. Steve loves the idea of a big he can play at three point line and in the post. TJ leaf may be the ideal of the Alford four. Steve brags about having three stretch fours and besides the crap defense, blames last year on the injury to GG. He praises Alex’s play in Australia.

Alford seems legitimately excited about the depth at the four and five and especially the "stretch four."

A Reminder Why UCLA Is Special Today

The ESPN guys brought up Kentucky and Duke’s "pro day." Alford quite rightly pointed out that UCLA does not need it because we have so many scouts in the pro city of LA every day. Scouts don’t hang out at Duke and Kentucky all the time, they do at UCLA. (Of course the downside of this is it lures players to leave before they should sometimes.)

Also unlike Kentucky or Duke, Steve Alford talk about how UCLA has pros practicing with players in the spring quarter. There are a lot of NBA guys hanging around staying in shape or in the cases of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love giving back as well.

After this season, Steve Alford will have four years at UCLA. This is his team. It will represent his vision. He has the horses that a school like UCLA can provide. Can he take advantage? If the answer is no, he should be leaving with Bryce.

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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