Bruins Nation

Options

2008-11-22T13:00:05Z

Couple of quick pigskin notes to pass on during this Bye Saturday. Brian Dohn noted something we have already referenced here on BN. CRN and Chow will have some options at QB this spring:

There's plenty of options, including Kevin Craft - who's struggled under center for the Bruins this season - backup Chris Forcier, redshirt freshman Kevin Prince and Richard Brehaut, a recruit from Los Osos of Rancho Cucamonga High who has committed and is scheduled to enroll in the spring.

Prince has done well running the scout team during the bye week.

"Absolutely, (Prince) will be in the mix," UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said in previewing the spring competition. "Everybody will have their hat in there. It's who knows the most about our offense and can engineer it and make the throw. It's not a complicated thing how you decide who your quarterback is. It's based on who can know what happens before it happens so you're not always in a reactionary mode.

"I think Prince knows the stuff, but he's in redshirt mode.We're going to get through the rest of this season, hopefully as productively as we can, and see where we go from there."

Neuheisel has repeatedly said this season that Forcier doesn't have a complete grasp of the offense. Forcier said he believes he's getting better each week.

"I'm just trying to stay within (what) the coaches tell me to do, and don't try to do anything outside of what I've been taught," Forcier said. "Stay relaxed and positive and just have fun."

As mentioned before, unless coaches see some kind of dramatic improvement from Forcier during practices, I am not sure how he can break in this spring. He couldn’t beat out Rasshan last season. This year despite having more than a year of head start in the UCLA football environment (in terms of familiarity with team-mates) he couldn’t beat out Craft. Perhaps the proverbial light bulb will go on for Foricer, but I think if I were to bet, it will be Prince who will have the best shot at dislodging Craft as the starter next spring (unless Craft locks into it with tangible improvements during the remaining games this season). As for Brehaut, hopefully he can come in a learning mode and with the mindset of soaking everything in while being patient. Don’t forget about Crissman who could make it interesting, if he fully recovers from his shoulder injury by spring.

Speaking of options, Milton Knox is excited about playing for CRN:

Freshman running back Milton Knox received praise from his coach after a pair of long runs Wednesday, and he was given another chance Thursday to "go live" as Neuheisel allowed the scout team contact in this week before the Nov. 28 game at Arizona State.

"It's the first time I've been hit since camp, and it felt good," Knox said. "I feel I can play. Now, it's just about knowing my playbook. I'd like to start [next year] but even if I'm number two, three or four, I just want to play."

His cause would be helped by a strong recruiting class, something Knox thinks is possible because of Neuheisel.

"He's one of the friendliest people I've ever met, he practices with us, he builds a relationship," Knox said. "It's why I came here: He makes you feel like family, telling us we're all brothers and we'll get this done together. He's charming, and honestly wants to change how we've been doing here, and he has the ability to make those things happen."

Can’t wait to see him, Franklin, Dean, Bell and others going full speed next year with a year under their belt. Don't forget about Christian Ramirez who will be returning from an academic suspension (assuming he is back in good standing after this year). So, that’s another position where Chow and co will have no shortage of options next season.

Again … no games today. We will put up an open game thread later this afternoon for those watching the big game this Saturday.

GO BRUINS.

UCLA vs So. Illinois Highlights

2008-11-22T05:55:23Z

What can you say about the breakout game from Alfred Aboya? Check out his line for the game:

Aren't we happy Aboya decided to return for his senior season? Let's hope AA2 adds to his highlight reel as his final season unfolds.

Meanwhile, Drew Gordon gave us just a taste of his potential and never say die attitude with a monster block from behind on a play most would have given up on.

Ironically, the Salukis (btw, go here in case you don't know what a saluki is) would go on to tie the game at 48 following that play, but something must have finally clicked, as the Bruins went on an 18-2 run en route to a comfortable 77-60 win.

Go Bruins!

Hail to the Chief!

2008-11-22T00:08:08Z

First of all, I'd like to thank all of those who kept us poor saps at work updated on the game. Second of all, let me say: Hail to the Chief! Big Alfred Aboya came up in a big way in a close game with 10 minutes remaining. The President asserted his dominance with 22 points on 6-8 shooting and 9 rebounds barely missing a double double as the Bruins take care of the Salukis down the stretch to pull away for a 77-60 victory.

Photo Credit: Nick Laham/Getty Images

All I have to go by is the box score and the game thread comments, but after what appeared to be multiple defensive lapses in the first half, the Bruins seemed to have the answers defensively in crunch time. We were once again reminded that DC should really be taking more 3s as it was his back to back triples that busted the game wide open. I hope Aboya's breakout game is the beginning of a Ryan Hollins type of transformation.

From reading the comments, it appears that we still have much to work on (allowing 46% shooting), not that I'm surprised by that, but having a blowout game is still a great way to bounce back.

Edit: Let's hope Alfred's hand is okay. This would be a devastating blow after such a fantastic game. This isn't what I meant by this season being similar to 05-06.

Edit 2: AP Article

Howland feared Aboya may have broken his left hand, but X-rays and a CT scan at the NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases came back negative.

A team spokesman said Aboya would have a precautionary MRI when he returns to Los Angeles.

Center Court: Ben Ball (Southern Illinois) Open Thread

2008-11-21T21:45:05Z

Let me echo godblesstyus95 (emphasis added):

Let’s remember that they [our Ben Ball warriors] are still amateurs learning this game and developing both physically and mentally. Let’s also remember that a couple of players decided to return this year for a last shot at a championship… how ’bout a little more love for those playing for the 4 letters, and a little less for those playing for the 3 (NBA)?

I am with him and with DC, JS, JK, AA2, JH and all of our boys:

Photo Credit: Nick Laham/Getty Images (via Yahoo!)

Last night in someway might have been a necessary lesson which will give everyone a jarring sense of reality. But that doesn’t mean we get to mope around. Bruins are back in action this afternoon against Southern Illinois. I don’t have a lot of notes on the Salukis to share because of timing issue. You can check out there team pages on Sportsline.com and WWL.

The tipoff is scheduled for 2:00 pm PST. It will be on ESPN2. You can also track it on our official site.

I do know that Coach Howland had our guys practicing early this am to get ready for the Salukis. He went right back to work to get our guys ready not just for this afternoon but for the long run. We will be with him and our warriors every step of the way.

So let’s buckle up and get started.

Fire away.

GO BRUINS.

Buckle Up

2008-11-21T12:00:07Z

Let me make something clear right off the bat re. this place for those want to do drive by trolling after tough losses (in either hoops or football).

BN is not talk radio.

BN is not a message board.

This is not a place where you get to just pop in after a Bruin loss and get your frustrations out of your system. If you are going to take knee-jerk, drive by shots against our coaches or our players, showing up randomly in a community you don’t normally participate in, then we suggest you pick up the phone or call in those dumbed down talk radio shows or find a message board that works for you. We don’t care if that impacts our site traffic

We are not going to let BN turn into a place where you can come by and confirm Steve Lavin and rest of traditional media blowhard’s talking points about “spoiled and unreasonable” UCLA basketball fans. Moving on to last night’s game.

Last night’s loss against a very well coached Michigan team is not a surprise. Those of us who follow our program on a day to day basis here on BN, knew the kind of challenge our guys were going to face against Beilein squad. I think Jaffa’s data points in the comment threads provided some key information putting this in perspective by going over Beiein/Howland matchup dating back to their Big East days:

Howland at Pitt, Beilein at West Virginia: 2-0 Howland (82-46 at Pitt and 80-61 at WVU). They were only at these places at the same time for one season (2002-2003) – Howland’s last at Pitt, with a top 10 team, and Beilein’s first at WVU. Not surprising he was able to get both wins, and both blowouts at that.

Howland at UCLA, Beilein at West Virginia: 2-0 Beilein (60-56 at Pauley in ‘05-’06 and 70-65 at WVU in ‘06-’07). The first featured a still-young UCLA, against an experienced WVU in Beilein’s 4th season. In the second we missed Collison as Westbrook struggled in his first start (4 pts on 1-11, 4 assts, 3 TO in 32 mins), in Beilein’s 5th year at WVU.

Howland at UCLA, Beilein at Michigan: 1-1 (69-54 UCLA at Mich, and this game). Last year’s game was our 12th of the season and Beilein’s 12th at Michigan. Tonight’s game was the third in their career for much of our team, playing for the first time against a very uncommon attack.

What I take from this: Howland’s wins come against teams very inexperienced in Beilein’s unorthodox system, not built to play his way. Beilein’s team wins when they’re the more experienced. I would say tonight’s game fits this pattern. It may only be his second year at Michigan, but his team is much less reliant on freshmen (4 combined for 48 mins for us, 2 combined for 30 for them) adjusting to the college game. Our seniors didn’t play well either, true, but as mentioned above, the mixing and molding of the entire team around those new players hasn’t happened quite yet, and needs to happen.

Let’s expand on the point re. mixing and molding of the entire ream, something rye also brought attention to in his must read post below.

I will go back to this post in which I laid out two of the top factors which I think are key to this edition of Bruins have a successful season this year. First, this is what I wrote re. DC’s “decision making”

Yet notwithstanding DC's greatness, I think there is some room for improvement for this great Bruin guard. I think if DC has an Achilles heel it is his decisiveness as the floor general while we are on offense. Let me see if I can explain this. From what I have seen from DC in last three years, it seems at times he needs to be a little more authorative around his decisions on whether to take the shot or pass it off to his team-mates. In his defense in his first three years at UCLA, in terms of scoring he had more prolific scorers in AA, JF and then KL (a once a generation freshman) to which he often gave up the ball to. However, at times it seemed like UCLA offense lagged a bit as DC was waiting around to make his final decisions. So, I think this year we might see a little less of that as DC will be one of the primary scorers in our offense. In that case, I think DC needs to be a just tick faster in making his decisions on whether to launch or drive for his shot rather than passing off to another team-mate. We need DC to be more aggressive in decision making and hopefully his unquestioned stature as the senior leader will make the process a little easier.

Well, sadly last night DC made my point. I think the key here is what jaffa and rye already alluded to above. This is a matter of our guys figuring out and getting comfortable in their roles and syncing up with each other. It’s also a matter of DC taking charge of this team by trusting his own strengths and instincts. We saw how last night at times he was trying to be too unselfish (botching scoring chances on fast break or passing up wide open shots). He needs to get into the mindset that he is the unquestioned floor general during crunch time and then take over accordingly.

If DC is having issues taking over, I don’t think it might be a bad idea for Howland to have JH run the point and move DC at 2 setting him up for wide open jumpers. It worked number of times last year when Howland had RW running the point, who was instinctively more aggressive and sure footed in making his decisions on whether or not to attack the rim himself or passing it off to the best available option.

Also, in the same post I wrote about DC’s decision making, I also noted the need for “consistency” from JS:

Now that JS is fully healthy there is a chance we can see JS from his freshman season, who foreshadowed the kind of Ben Ball we have been accustomed to courtesy of warriors such as LRMAM and RW last three seasons Interestingly CBH has dropped hint that we may see JS spend some time at the 4 (which caught JS by surprise). That might not be a bad deal because it could be a move to field a guard heavy lineup exerting even more tenacious defensive pressure. Remember Howland did the same thing in his second year playing DT at the 4.

Ultimately, I think if JS were to have a memorable last season at UCLA, it will have to be centered around his total commitment to all out defense, sheer tenacity and hustle, that will allow him to emerge as the replacement of LRMAM in this year's squad. If he brings that defensive tenacity and then let his offensive instincts take over within the scheme of Howland's offense, JS might break out with one of the more memorable final year, a Bruin senior has put together in some time. Given what the kid has been through you can bet we all are going to be rooting for him.

JS had an awful night. He didn’t play great defense and he was totally unfocused on offense. Except for his first strong drive to the hoop, frankly he looked like a missile without a guidance system rest of the game. It was a disappointing night for the senior who turned the ball over team-leading 6 times (DC was second with 4).

Again JS’s contribution to this team will have to start with defense and playing within the scheme of this offense. I also think, it makes sense for Howland to given ML more mins early in the season so that we have a credible option at 3 when we head into the Pac-10 season. One concern I have had with CBH (and ironically it’s the same one I have with Neuheisel and Chow who been stubborn in their commitment to giving Bell more time at TB over Coleman and other young backs) is that he is often too ferociously loyal to his upperclassmen. I thought RW deserved more than 9 mins per game in his first season. But hey … I don’t care if I don’t win this argument given what Howland has done in Westwood. Still, for the sake of discussion, I think Bruins will be better off this year if Howland loosens up the shackle on his talented freshmen.

I would love to see ML getting more time at the 3 and also DG and JM getting their mins early in the season. I haven’t seen anything in the papers this am, but I am assuming JM didn’t get any mins because he might still be working into game shape, and Howland might have thought he wasn’t ready for the 1-3-1 zone. Howland confirmed that assumption on Dohn's blog:

"It's a hard game for both of those freshman big guys (Drew Gordon being the other) to match up against them defensively because they're so out on the perimeter,'' Howland said. "(Morgan) is a center used to playing around the basket, so I think it would be very difficult for J'mison.''

Here are some other tidbits from last night’s game that stood out to me:

We only made 5 out 11 FTs. That will not get it done and will burn us again if we keep shooting that way. What stood out to me were the clunkers from JK, MR and JS. I understand if AA2 clunks from the charity stripes, but we can’t have guys like MR and JS looking out of sync from the FT line. It cost us the game last night.
ND looks much improved on defense. He is not looking lost out there anymore. However, he is still forcing the action a little bit by jacking up shots. He was forcing it and not taking them within the flow of the game. Again the improvement is encouraging, but he still needs to settle down on offense.
JK had a great start last night (like rest of the team). He was active around the boards accounting for 6 offensive rebounds (team leading 8 total rebounds). However, like rest of the team he didn’t have a strong finish and got somewhat lost during second half.
JH … wanted to save the best for last. I had to chuckle when Dukee V mentioned that he wasn’t a “one and done” type. He showed last night that right now he is the best athlete in our team. He was smooth. Forget the pretty jumpshots or the effortless gliding to the rack, my jaw was dropping the effort he was showing on the defensive side with couple of spectacular block shots. I will reiterate what I mentioned above … I’d love to see CBH let JH run the point and shift DC over to 2. I think we might see some of the spectacular results we saw when he was doing the same with RW.

Anyway, in closing I am not all that shook up over this loss unlike some of the irregulars who came by to post their knee jerk reactions giving the impression that sky is falling. Again, our request for those guys are simple. Dial up the talk shows.

As for Howland, here was his response to last night’s setback:

Standing in a crowded hallway, somewhere deep inside Madison Square Garden, Ben Howland hurried his players outside and back toward their hotel.

It was past midnight, the UCLA coach in no mood to wait around.

"Early practice," he said.

Don't be surprised if the fourth-ranked Bruins get some extra work this morning, maybe some quick tutoring, after their 55-52 upset loss to Michigan on Thursday night.

Bruins get back in action tonight against Southern Illinois, who got run out of the gym by bunch of Dukees, who always peak during football season (sending Vitale into a tizzy). I haven’t seen the Salukis much except for the few mins against Duke from last night. What stood out to me was that they seemed to have a pretty good inside game. They were hanging in there (down by 6 at the half time) until they imploded in the second. They will present a challenge for our front court through Carlton Fay, the sophomore forward who is leading the team in scoring (16.5) and rebounding (7.5). I will post some links to Saluki info during our game thread which will go up right before tipoff (2 pm PST).

So, in closing I am as worried about our team as I was following our thumping against Memphis in our last appearance at MSG. Our team has a long way to go. We are not a top-10 team right now. We are probably a top-15 team at best. If there is a silver lining, hopefully last night’s loss bring a heavy dose of perspective among those who have suddenly started paying attention to our basketball program following the Gonzaga magic. Right now based on our issues, I don’t see our team making the Final-4 or the Elite-8. I am fine with that. However, what I am excited about this season, is to watch this team grow and develop in what I am expecting to be the same roller coaster season we experienced in 2005-06. My suggestion for those who are in it for the long haul: show some patience and buckle up. For the rest who are panicking and reaching premature conclusions, don’t try to jump back on the bandwagon, when our warriors get it going.

GO BRUINS.

Patience, Patience, Patience

2008-11-21T05:46:36Z

If there's anything we should take from tonight's game, it is the need for us, the fans, to be patient. Let's address some of the postgame comments by fans, starting with the one that has the easiest answer.

"Collison got fouled on that last shot!"

- Yes, Collison did get hit, but if you're counting on that call late then you're in trouble. We've been the beneficiary of late no calls before and now we're on the other side of it. We didn't deserve the whistle anyways. Michigan outworked us and wanted it more. They got the W they deserved.

"Holiday needs to begin to assert himself"

- We were spoiled by Kevin Love last year. Freshmen don't step in and know exactly what to do and when to do it. Holiday does need be more aggressive because two second half shots isn't enough, but that will come with experience. Our offense is very precise and requires a lot of people to do their job well to get the shot we want, but Holliday is a special talent who can score outside of the offense. When should he stay within the offense and when should he get the quick bucket outside of the offense? When should he demand the ball? When should he look to spread the court and when should he go to the bucket? When is he going to focal point of the possession and when will Shipp or Collison or somebody else be the focal point? Those are all questions that will be answered in time and when they are, we'll see Holiday assert himself when needed.

"Play freshmen more"

- If we played freshmen more we wouldn't have been playing tonight. It was our seniors who got us through Miami (OH) and it's our seniors who need to lead this team. it doesn't matter if our freshmen are out of their minds because if we don't get production from the upper classmen we won't win.

Some freshmen aren't in shape yet (Morgan), some are overwhelmed by the college game (Anderson), some don't have the footwork (Gordon) and some don't know where to fit in offensively at times (Lee, Holliday). All of these things can be improved though. As Morgan practices and works out, he'll get in better shape. As Anderson plays more, he'll adjust to the speed of the game. As Gordon goes through practice, he'll improve his footwork. As the team plays more together, Lee and Holliday will find their niche. it can all be fixed, but it will all take time.

"Make adjustments to use our athleticism"

- We dont have the basics down yet so we're not going to work on massive adjustments. If we are having issues defending in the half court why would we teach our players a full court press? If our players don't know their rotations in the half court, how will they know where to be in the full court? You want to get out on the fast break? Well that requires stops on defense and effective forwards rebounding the ball that allow our guards to get out quickly. Keefe and Aboya are doing their very best, but they haven't played the type of minutes they're playing now so they have to learn. Gordon isn't comfortable throwing the outlet pass right now and Dragovic is just understanding the concept of coming back to the boards.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now as we learn our rotations and defensive assigninments our defense will improve. We'll start forcing more turnovers to get into the open court and with time our big men will become more comfotable not only rebounding, but finding our guards with the outlet. We've got to lay the foundation before we can start building up.

Anybody who has been around trusts in Howland's ability to develop a team. N has preached over and over the similarities to our team in '05-'06. That team developed and so will this team. The weaknesses are evident and the coaching staff is well aware of them. There are a lot of questions surrounding this squad, but the easiest answer to these questions is patience. You want to fastbreak? Let the guys learn how to defend and we'll get easy baskets off of turnovers. You want Holliday to assert himself? Let him learn how to assert himself within the team concept.

So we're not a top 5 team right now. Big deal. Ask Duke what it's like to be a top 5 team for the first 4 months of the season and not make it out of the first weekend of the tournament. The easiest fix to our problems is time and patience. The team will be there in March, but if we, the fans, wring our necks over every little thing in November, we won't be there to watch it.

We Saw This Coming ...

2008-11-21T04:49:25Z

All week we have talked about how John Beilein's team have given Howland's Bruins difficult time over the years. Going into this game with a team featuring five freshmen we had a feeling that this was going to be a tough night:

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Frank Franklin II (via ESPN)

Well it wasn't fun. The Bruins got off to a great start. But it was Michigan Wolverines, that pulled out the win with more hustle, intensity and poise down the stretch. Bruins lose 52-55. Here is the box score.

Of course losing is not fun but we have to keep things in perspective. We went through the same deal in 2005-06 season when Coach Howland was developing a team mixing in veterans with young players.

I am sure there is lot more to analyze this game. I will try gather my notes tomorrow am. The key issues are pretty apparent. Our seniors didn't step up. DC looked indecisive and JS was out of control. We need a credible interior presence and our freshmen will be going through growing pains.

Again ... we saw all of this coming. I am not too worried. I think we lost to a very solid team which was prepared by one of the better coaches in the game. We will go through our growing pains and end up where we need to be ... later this season.

Thread away.

GO BRUINS.

Center Court: Ben Ball (Michigan) Second Half Thread

2008-11-21T03:53:58Z

Ben Ball warriors need a boost:

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Frank Franklin II (via ESPN)

We are down by 2 pts early in the second. Let's hope JS and rest of the guys can settle down and get it together in the second half.

GO BRUINS.

Center Court: Ben Ball (Michigan) Open Thread

2008-11-21T01:00:06Z

Let’s get it on.

How big is this UCLA-Michigan matchup tonight in NYC? Well it’s big enough that our friends from MGoBlog and Maize n Brew took note of it in midst of their Holy (tOSU) week.

As discussed all week, the Wolverines under their second year head coach John Beilein will be fired up to take on our Ben Ball warriors tonight. So here to JS, MR, AA2 and rest of their team-mates bringing their A game on DEFENSE:
Photo Credit: Jack Rosenfeld

For our notes on Michigan Wolverines please go here, here, and here. The tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 pm PST. It will be on ESPN2. You can also track it on our official site.

As always if you are watching the game, share your instant thoughts/commentary here in our game thread.

Fire away.

GO BRUINS.

Ben Ball Gamenight Roundup: Warriors In The Big Apple

2008-11-20T12:00:05Z

The Ben Ball warriors are in the Big Apple tonight, returning to Madison Square Garden for the first time since 2005-06 with a team that featured a developing team which was working to gel upperclassmen CB and RH with underclassmen nucleus of AA, JF, LRMAM, DC and MR. That team lost to Memphis in the first round, clearly looking like a squad needing time to grow through an entire season.

Coach Howland finds himself in a similar situation once again with a team with a mix of seniors and five highly touted freshmen. From the Daily Bruin:

"With this current team, I’d rather play (the tournament) a little later; I’d rather be doing it in a few weeks from now,” Howland said.

But the Bruins will have to find some quick answers to beat Michigan tonight.

The Wolverines run an unorthodox system, designed by coach John Beilein. On offense, the team will employ lots of cuts and perimeter shooting. Defensively, the team runs an unusual, 1-3-1 zone.

“You can’t just break down,” Shipp said. “You have to be on top of your defensive game.”

JS need to watch out because the Wolverines run a spread offense, which gave the Bruins a lot of trouble when they took on Beilien’s well drilled West Virginia teams from few years ago (remember we lost both of our matchups against them in Westwood and then in Morgantown). Bruin Basketball Report gives us a glimpse on how Beilein runs his offense:

On offense, Beilein’s teams like to spread the court and utilize a combination of crisp backdoor cuts and kick-out precision three-point shooting, a combination that usually gives Howland’s help-defense type teams problems.

Last year the Wolverines struggled to learn the offense, and its too early to tell whether they have the right talent to make this offensive system effective in Michigan this season.

In the first two games, Michigan has attempted 38 three-point shots per contest making them at a 34.2% clip, however, if you remove Harris’s shooting then the rest of the team has shot just a mere 29% from beyond the arc.

Nonetheless, the Michigan starting line-up is littered with players who can and will make the three-point shot a weapon.

As for defense, BBR has more on their vaunted 1-3-1 zone:

Beilein has installed the same 1-3-1 zone defense at Michigan that he used at West Virginia. Its a zone that has been problematic for Howland to solve. Its not the type of defense that a UCLA team sees often and the lack of experience against it has shown up with usually Bruin players either getting trapped on the sidelines or attempting long soft lobs over the zone that allows the defense to easily recover and defend.

At times Howland has tried stationing a guard at the high-post to attack the 1-3-1 but it hasn’t been very fruitful. The most effective Bruin offense against this zone has been by attacking the zone at the seams by dribble penetration, exactly what Darren Collison did successfully last season against Michigan. The Wolverines didn’t have the quickness in the backcourt to stop Collison. But this year may be different as the Wolverines have added quality and speed to its line-up as well as the return of its two best players from last season.

We talked about their two best players – Harris and Sims – last night. BBR has more on other key Wolverines contributors who will present a challenge for our warriors tonight.

For us to win tonight, seniors will have to step up in crunch time, just like they did against the Red Hawks our last game:

[W]hen it mattered, in the tense final minutes of the win over Miami for the right to go to New York, UCLA was anything but young.

Check out the replay. Find a freshman on the floor the last 6 minutes and 7 seconds? No way.

Find a freshman scoring in the final 13 minutes? Nope. In fact, of UCLA's last 16 scoring possessions, only one involved a freshman, Drew Gordon, who scored on a putback at 13:19.

This was almost exclusively a Darren Collison-Shipp show, with one or the other scoring on 11 of those possessions. Juniors Michael Roll and James Keefe converted on the other four.

But Howland said he isn't discouraged with his freshmen, who totaled just 40 minutes and 10 points in the game.

"Holiday's going to be a great player," he said, of the 6-foot-4 guard many think will be the nation's top freshman. "It'll take time. But not a lot of time. ... He's much farther along than Russell (Westbrook, a first-round NBA draft pick as a sophomore a year ago) was at this stage of his career. I don't know what people expect."

Then there's Malcolm Lee, from Riverside North: "Long and athletic and can play defense," Howland said.

Howland is going to count on JH, ML and rest of their freshman classmates in a huge way. There is a reason they have been put through grueling film sessions early in the season, which will continue rest of the year. Hopefully those guys will keep taking forward steps from previous game and fill in their roles tonight. They sure sound ready:

"We've got three seniors so we just need to play our roles," Lee said. "Come in and be like the Energizer Bunny and get the game going."

Can’t wait to see them for the first time tonight. The tip off is around 6:30 pm PST on the Deuce. We will have our game thread up about an hour before tip off. See you then.

GO BRUINS.

Spaulding Roundup: Bright Future

2008-11-20T11:00:06Z

Let’s go through some quick football notes before refocusing on Ben Ball game night. It looks like Bruins had a rocking night in recruiting front in both sports. Not only we reeled in MM, CRN got a jump start for the class of 2010, by securing a commitment from one of the best WR in West coast. Brandon Huffman from Bruin Report Online reported the commitment from Paul Richardson, a 6-1, 175-pound wide receiver prospect from Los Alamitos (Calif.) High, who is “considered one of the best at his position in the west.” For more details on the subscription based article go here.

While CRN and his staff have been shoring up commitments for future classes, they are also keeping a close eye on and developing the talented underclassmen who have been redshirting this season. Dohn published CRN’s assessment of some of our cubs who have been coming along in our scout team this year.

The bye week gives UCLA a chance to look at its future, and the end of Wednesday's practice was highlighted by a spirited scrimmage between scout teams.

In a brief reprieve from this season, Rick Neuheisel could look forward to 2009.

"It was fun to watch Milton Knox and Jonathan Franklin," Neuheisel said. "Connor Bradford's showing he's going to be a good player on the offensive line. Kevin Prince has come on as the quarterback in that deal, and Jerry Johnson as a wide receiver. Defensively, Damien Holmes, E.J. Woods, Andrew Abbott have been impressive and Donovan Carter and (Patrick) Larimore have impressed.

"We've got a nice group of guys on both sides of the ball. It's fun to watch them compete."

It will be fun to watch these guys next year.

As for the group he is currently working with, Lance Pugmire (hey, what happened to Chris Foster?) from the LAT provided some interesting comments from Scott Glicksberg re. the constant shuffle in our current OL:

Glicksberg bounced from starter to reserve to being suspended a week for violating athletic department rules. Now he has a shot at returning to the starting lineup after replacing an injured Darius Savage early in last week's game at Washington.

"It's been up and down," he said, "playing next to somebody new all the time."

The fifth-year senior said it helps that the players trust offensive line coach Bob Palcic, who gave them a simple instruction in training camp: Whoever plays hardest in practice during the week gets to start on Saturday.

"Coach Palcic is just trying to find the best combination of five that he can," Glicksberg said. "Nobody feels like it's anything personal or anything where he's not giving people a fair chance."

That is good to know. It’s not surprising I guess. It’s easier for players to buy into what coaches are preaching when they come in with the credibility and track record of someone like Palcic. It bodes well for the guys we have and the ones coaches are developing and bringing in for the future.

GO BRUINS.

Mike Moser = Our Newest Ben Ball Warrior!!!!

2008-11-20T02:38:37Z

And Howland wins another recruiting battle.

Dohn just broke the story. Scout.com also has the story.

Mike Moser, a blue chip wing-forward from Portland Oregon, who had previously committed to Arizona and then decommitted following Lute retirement, just committed to UCLA as recruit #5 in the class of 2009! MM picked UCLA over Oregon State (which was gunning for him hard as the feature recruit of their program) and JustSC.

How good is Moser? According to do a good friend of mine, whose opinion I have a lot of faith in, he is a much polished version of LRMAM coming into Westwood.

Here is an interview of MM at Nike Global Challenge:

Video: Mike Moser interview, Nike Global Challenge (via dubsackhustla)

Here is a highlight of an MM off the wall dunk:

Moser's off the wall (via cpflyer)

And another high light package of rim rattlers from MM and DG!

Mike Mosier and Drew Gordon Dunks (via yimr572)

GOOD TIMES.

Hopefully other moderators can update this post through the night if more info. becomes available.

Welcome to Westwood MM.

Again ... what Howland and his staff done to followup last year's number 1 recruiting class is nothing short of INCREDIBLE.

GO BRUINS.

Michigan Notes

2008-11-20T02:00:08Z

So Michigan Wolverines are off to a 2-0 start early this season with wins over Michigan Tech and Northeastern in the first two rounds of 2K Sports Classic Tournament. Michigan experienced a tough 10-22 season last year in Coach Beilein’s first year in Ann Arbor. In some ways the growing pains Wolverines experienced last year with a new coach who was trying to establish the foundation of his unique style and system (1-3-1 trap zone) was not unlike what Coach Howland experienced in his first year in Westwood.

Michigan is led by sophomore guard Manny Harris, who was anointed as the Big-10 player of the week, after his smoking hot season start averaging 28 points, 8.5 rebounds and five assists in their first two games. Wolverines are not a one man team though. Manny is getting a lot of help from forward DeShawn Sims who is averaging 14.5 points and 9.5 boards coming off the bench. These guys know full well, it will be a rocket boost for the Wolverines rebuilding psyche if they can pull off a win against a top-5 UCLA team on the national stage. From the Toledo Blade:

UM is feeling a bit better about itself after finishing 10-22 in Beilein's first season last year, but it also knows a win against the likes of UCLA would mean much more come March than either of its first two triumphs.

And win or lose, the Wolverines will either face No. 10 Duke or Southern Illinois on Friday night.

"We all know that this is a big game, a big game to go out and make a name for the team and get your respect," Harris said. "You live for games like this and we've got the opportunity, so it's big.

Of course it will not be the first time Harris and Sims are taking on our Ben Ball warriors. They gave us a fight last season leading us 27-24 at half time in Ann Arbor against a team that featured KL, LRMAM, RW and LMR. As noted in MLive.com, Bruins ran away in the second half by playing classic Ben Ball via defense and rebounding:

Last year, UCLA scored 25 points in transition; Michigan struggled to defend Collison's quickness. The Wolverines were out-rebounded 36-18 and gave up 11 offensive rebounds - numbers Beilein knows his team can't afford Thursday.

But a year of working under Beilein's system has also changed Michigan's perspective.

While pointing to the positive remnants of last year's meeting, Beilein also senses a new comfort level, adding to what he believes is a better-shooting team.

"I think our kids will have a little more belief in themselves as they go in there," Beilein said. "At the same time (because of last year), I think UCLA would never take us lightly."

The Wolverines are confident if they build on their progress while not falling some familiar pitfalls, remaining within striking distance of the Bruins is possible.

"The biggest challenge is us not beating ourselves," Harris said.

So who is going to guard Harris? I am not sure how much time DC is going to spend guarding him because of the height advantage Harris (6-5) enjoys over DC. He might be took quick for JS. So, I think it might be that JH will get a major portion of Howland’s defensive assignment against Harris on Thursday night, which could be a tough situation for our talented freshman. It will be very interesting to see how Howland defends Manny out of the gate.

As for defending Sims, he is going to be a challenge for JK and rest of his front court team-mates. From what I have read on our first two games, JK has had a very so so start. This will be the game for him to step up and make a difference starting on the defensive side and making sure he is getting his share of the rebounds and maintaining presence down low.

Besides Sims, Michigan is getting notable contributions from other front court options. Wolverines’ other main score threat also comes from the front court via Zack Gibson. The 6-10, 220 lb junior forward is averaging about 7.5 points per game. Anthony Wright, a 6-6, 235 lb soph is third in the team averaging 5.0 boards per game. So, hopefully the Bruin frontcourt freshmen – DG and JM - who have been subjected to grueling film sessions heading into this game, will be read for Thursday night. They will need to scrap every possession on the defensive side and be relentless around the boards, which will jump start our offense.

I think the key will be how much defensive pressure DC, JS, JH, and ML will be able to generate on Harris and his backcourt mates. If they can force Harris to get out of rhythm and force the action, it will bode well for us. Can’t wait to find out how prepared our young guys are against a hungry, rebuilding program on Thursday night. Hope they are ready.

GO BRUINS.

CRN on Lexus Gauntlet

2008-11-19T04:31:40Z

Here's a couple of video clips of Coach Rick on Monday following last weekend's win over the Huskies. The first clip touches on CRN's thoughts about his return to Washington and how he grades himself at this point of the season:

The second clip covers what he would have changed in his decisions so far this season, recruiting and thoughts for next year:

A little premature, perhaps with two games remaining and a slight chance to make it to post-season play.

Spaulding Roundup: Sobering Notes

2008-11-19T11:00:07Z

We have some sobering news to pass on from Spaulding on this Humpday. We will start with a note that is somewhat positive. Sonny Tevaga is back in practice and he is insisting that he is committed to focusing on UCLA football:

UCLA offensive lineman Sonny Tevaga returned to practice Tuesday insisting that he has an improved attitude about football. […]

"Just walking around slumped, you know what I mean?" Tevaga said. "Just having a bad attitude."

Tevaga started the first two games of the season at right guard and played much of the Oregon State game as a replacement for Nick Ekbatani. He said that UCLA's losing record affected him.

Apparently, watching the team win on television in his apartment -- "It was a very sad weekend," he said -- served as a remedy. On Tuesday, he persuaded Neuheisel that he still wanted to play.

Asked if he saw himself at UCLA long-term, Tevaga replied: "I'm a Bruin. This is where I wanted to go since I was little."

The immediate future is less certain in that coaches have not decided whether Tevaga will accompany the team to Arizona State on Nov. 28. "I'm going to watch his performance in all facets of the program," Neuheisel said.

We will know by next Friday whether Tevaga has been focused and working hard during practices. Meanwhile, another player coaches are keeping a very close eye on is Chinonso Anyanwu, who has been diagnosed with Crohn's disease. From Dohn:

UCLA junior Chinonso Anyanwu, a key contributor on special teams and a backup linebacker and defensive end, could miss the rest of the season after being diagnosed with Crohn's disease.

He was hospitalized three weeks ago after complaining about stomach cramps and experiencing pain in his joints. He said he received the diagnosis Thursday.

"It's scary," said Anyanwu, who has been a spectator at practice for the past week. "They didn't know what was wrong at first. They had a few ideas, but they took a bunch of blood from me."

Chron's disease affects the digestive system, and can cause pain in the abdomen as well as vomiting and weight loss. Anyanwu said he lost nearly 20 pounds in a week, and was down to 202 pounds. He has since gained 11 pounds, but the disease can also cause complications with arthritis and rashes, and he said both experienced both.

"My ankles started to hurt and I thought it was from practice, and my knees started hurting, too, and I had a weird rash," Anyanwu, 21, said. "I rubbed (the ankles) to feel better, but after sitting there for a while, after I got up, I couldn't walk. I had to be wheeled around because it hurt so much to walk."

Chinonso is understandably taking it a little easy. The good news is that this condition might not be a career-ender:

Anyanwu said he took comfort in knowing Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback David Garrard suffers from Crohn's disease, and still plays football. He added he hoped it would not end his football career.

"We still don't know what that means to his future," UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said. "It doesn't sound as though it's a career-ender."

And speaking of career-ending, it is over for Ben Olson:

A career that began with so much promise for UCLA's future likely ended during a meeting in UCLA's training room Tuesday when senior quarterback Ben Olson was told by a team doctor a recent CT scan showed his broken right foot is not yet healed.

A discouraged Olson heard the news after watching most of practice.

He was hoping to take reps this week and play Nov.28 at Arizona State. The Bruins (4-6) finish the regular season Dec. 6 against USC, and need to win both games to get to a bowl game.

"They don't know for sure (how long before it will heal)," Olson said. "It looks better than it did a few weeks ago. It's healing, just slower than I would like."

Olson, who was the top-rated prep quarterback out of Thousand Oaks High in 2002 class, has been injured much of his career.

After transferring from BYU to UCLA for the 2005 season, Olson missed games because of a broken thumb, a concussion, a couple of knee injuries and the foot, which he broke twice. He has not played this season.

"It's disappointing," Olson said. "The whole time I've been here I feel like I've been saying the same thing. I don't know why things have happened like they have. I don't know why things have worked out like they have."

He would most likely not qualify for a red shirt next year and he is not going to try.

At this point I think all we can do is thank Ben for being a Bruin. Let’s hope no other kid in college football ever goes through what he has endured since his arrival in Westwood. Hopefully he is going to succeed in whatever he pursues after college with his degree from UCLA. I will be rooting for him. Thanks again Ben.

GO BRUINS.

Highlights of recent women's soccer and volleyball wins.

2008-11-19T04:00:14Z

Highlights of recent women's soccer and volleyball wins.

Ben Ball Roundup: Early Season Lessons/Wolverines Week

2008-11-18T12:00:07Z

With no football game to prep for this weekend, this week is shaping up to be our first major Ben Ball game week of 2008-09 season. Bruins have a huge game coming up this Thursday night against Michigan Wolverines. Even though because of our high pre season ranking, we will probably head into this game as “favorites” in the eyes of many casual basketball observers around the country (who are probably already looking ahead to a possible UCLA-Duke matchup in the finals), I think this game is a huge question mark for our Ben Ball warriors.

Let’s just get this out of the way. I hope no one here on Bruin Nation is thinking about Duke after this post. This week should be all about Wolverines.

Given our recent history against John Beilein, I think this game will be a toss-up against a much improved Wolverines team. They will be fired up and ready to go all out to make a national statement in Beilein’s second year in what at least in my book is the marquee All Sports school in the Big-10 (in essence UCLA’s twin brother from the Midwest). Kevin Pearson from the Press Enterprise has a brief capsule on Bruin’s familiar opponent:

This will be the seventh straight season that UCLA has played Michigan, so there's no lack of familiarity. But the connection goes deeper than that.

Second-year Michigan coach John Beilein, who came to Ann Arbor a year ago, also faced UCLA when he was leading West Virginia with his unusual 1-3-1 attack the two years before that. So these teams really should know the score.

"Well, Josh (Shipp) does and Darren (Collison) and Alfred (Aboya) do," Howland said.

"You have to stay focused on what they're doing," Shipp said. "They do a lot of backdoor cuts. They're just waiting for you to break down."

Twice with West Virginia, Beilein's teams beat UCLA. Then last year the Bruins turned it around in Ann Arbor, thanks to a 41-18 run over the final 14 minutes for a 69-54 win.

"They're a much-improved team," Howland said of the Wolverines, led by 6-foot-5 sophomore guard Manny Harris, averaging 28 points in his two starts.

We will have more on other Michigan players later this week. But one immediate question Coach Howland will have to answer is who will be guarding Harris. Given Howland’s comments in the Daily Bruin, it seems like JH might get a shot:

Just two games into his college career, Howland said that he has a huge role defensively in store for Holiday: the task of guarding the other team’s best player. It is the role that former Bruins Arron Afflalo and Russell Westbrook played during their time at UCLA, and it is the assignment Howland said Holiday will draw this season due to the physical gifts he possesses.

“For us to be the team that we want to be, bottom line is (he’s going to have to do that),” Howland said. “There’s going to be games where he’s going to be guarding great players, and there’s going to be times where it’s going to be hard. But he’ll figure it out.”

Howland noted that it is not an easy task for the young freshman to undertake, and there will be a learning curve, as was the case with both Afflalo and Westbrook early in their careers.

Howland said that during Afflalo’s first season, the freshman struggled with the assignment and had some off nights defensively. The same was said of Westbrook, who evolved from an average defender to the Pac-10 defensive player of the year.

Yet, Howland cautioned that Holiday’s learning curve will be much shorter than the other two Bruins and that much of the experience and learning will have to be done on the fly.

“It’s always hard when you’re changing levels, whether you’re going from high school to college or college to the NBA,” Howland said. “It’s just different. There’s no doubt that Jrue’s going to end up being a really good player for us. He’s thrusted into a very difficult role right away, and I think I alluded to this after the game – I’m expecting him to come in here and guard their best player on the other team.”

For many of us this will be our first opportunity to see JH and rest of the freshmen. That’s some treat if we get to see JH taking on Manny Harris in our first true national telecast (ESPNU doesn’t really count) of the season. At this point given what I have read on paper, it seems like a scary proposition for us. If any of you have a different thought on it and want to talk me down, would love to hear your takes in the comment threads.

Meanwhile, JH and his team-mates have been going through grueling film sessions following the (expected) not so polished performances in their first two games of the season:

Gordon said before the film session, he thought UCLA's five freshmen played well against the Redhawks. And after the film session?

"We've got a lot of work to do," Gordon said. "You can see it come together on some plays, but on other plays you'd just be like, `It's the beginning of the season.' "

Howland is a detail-oriented coach who sweats every little morsel, including reminding players to wear sweat shirts if the weather is chilly.

So, when it comes to watching tape after a mistake-filled performance, which comes in the second college game for UCLA's freshmen, the rewind button gets a workout.

"You have the rewind button. Horrible," Gordon said. "When he sees something he doesn't like, he will let you know about it. And you will see six, seven, eight times.

"I got it coach. Rewind. I got it. I got it, coach. Rewind. We'll just watch this one more time. Rewind. Actually, you know what? Rewind. All right coach. We're good. It's tough. You definitely know what you did wrong."

And I am sure this constant drilling down of details will be relentless on CBH’s part through rest of this season with his young warriors.

Hope our kids are paying attention and focused with a sense of urgency because if they aren’t ready, they will be playing for third place after Thursday night is over. Hey, it won’t be the end of the world because it’s the same experience we went though in 2005-06. We took it in the chin against Memphis at MSG and then barely got out alive against Drexel courtesy of last second free throws from Jordan Farmar. We went through few more ups and downs during that regular season with a team featuring a mix of veterans and young players who gelled later in the season culminating in a memorable run. I expect us to go through same growing pains this season and will not be surprised at all if we run into a massive challenge this Thursday night.

Let’s just hope our guys are taking in all the lessons Howland is relentlessly teaching this early in the season.

GO BRUINS.

Spaulding Roundup: Building Blocks

2008-11-18T11:00:04Z

Couple of notes to pass on during this Tuesday of a bye week.

Since this is a bye week coaches will be filtering out in their respective high school beats to check out recruits this weekend. They are all working on setting up two huge recruiting weekends in Westwood over next couple of months. Here is Dohn:

The first will be largely for out-of-state recruits to visit the weekend of Dec. 6, when UCLA hosts USC at the Rose Bowl.

"The 'SC weekend, the kids get to see what kind of atmosphere that game is played in," Bruins coach Rick Neuheisel said. "Hopefully, we play terrifically and it becomes one of the great wins in UCLA history. If we fall short, we can definitely point to the future. But it's about people that can see the future.

"And UCLA has always attracted kids that can see the future, see opportunity and value and all that is Westwood and all that stuff."

UCLA's other big weekend on the recruiting calendar will be the weekend of Jan. 9-10, and will consist largely of players already committed to UCLA and other Southern California prospects. The coaching staff will also use Friday as one of its evaluation days and go on the road to watch high school playoff games.

Among recruits who will be coming in for the “Beat ’SC” weekend are kids who are committed players to other big time programs. Also from Dohn:

Ohio State commit James Jackson, a receiver out of Grand Ledge (Mich.) High, defensive tackle and Notre Dame commit Tyler Stockton of the Hun School (Princeton, N.J.) and tight end and Miami commit Billy Sanders of Lake City High (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) are set to visit, sources said.

Also, defensive tackle Siosaia Tuipulotu of Trinity High (Euless, Tex.) and receiver Marcus Wheaton of Chandler (Ariz.) High are scheduled to visit, sources added.

While coaches are working on to setting up these visits, CRN is also working with kids like Tevaga to assess commitment to playing football at UCLA:

UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel planned to meet today with Sonny Tevaga to discuss the offensive lineman's future with the team.

Though Tevaga played extensively against Oregon State just 10 days ago, he was left behind on last weekend's trip to Washington to ponder his future in the game.

Neuheisel has refused to discuss the situation in detail other than to say Tevaga is not being disciplined for violation of team or university rules.

"He just needs to be committed," the coach said. "I want to make sure that every player on the team understands that any lack of commitment . . . does deprive you of team membership."

Tevaga's status is important to an offensive line already worn thin by injury and inexperience.

Hopefully the weekend allowed Tevaga to reflect on what he wants to do. He certainly has the physical tools to become a good football player. However, this is a question of having the passion to play the game. If he finds it and commits himself to playing the game with full of desire and intensity, he will fit in well with the type of program CRN is working to build in Westwood.

GO BRUINS.

Pac 10 Champs Men's Soccer Move Onto NCAA's

2008-11-18T09:36:57Z

The Bruins had an extremely rough season in 2007 as they fell far short of expectations and as a result they entered 2008 with head coach Jorge Salcedo's job on the line. The 2008 season didn't get off to a good start either, but once conference play began the Bruins caught fire and won the Pac 10 rather comfortably. While their poor beginning to the season cost the Bruins a chance at a seed in the NCAA tournament and the first round bye that goes with it, they did earn themselves a home match in the first round. UCLA will begin their quest for the program's fifth national title on Friday versus Cal Poly, but before we get into some tournament talk, let's take a look back at the regular season.

UCLA opened the 2008 season as the nation's #14 team with a season opening match at the Home Depot Center versus Maryland, who was ranked #8. The Bruins got off to a good start as senior Maxwell Griffin scored to give the Bruins a lead, but the Terps scored with only a minute left in the game to even the score and then scored again in overtime to down the Bruins 2-1. The Bruins followed that up with a 3-0 win over UC Riverside and then traveled to North Carolina for the Wake Forest Tournament where they played two excellent teams. First, the Bruins lost 3-0 to Wake Forest, a team that started and finished the year as the nation's top team. In their last game of the tournament the Bruins played to a 1-1 tie with North Carolina, a team that earned the #13 seed in the NCAA tournament. At 1-1-1, the Bruins came back to the west coast where they would remain for the rest of the year.

The Bruins took on an Indiana team that is the #6 seed in the tournament in their first game back home and were dealt yet another 3-0 defeat. They followed that up with a 2-0 win over Santa Clara before they went on a rather remarkable, if not impressive streak. The Bruins went on to tie their next four matches, three of which were non-conference matches and the final of which was their first conference match of the year. The Bruins ended their pre-conference season with a 2-3-4 record and Salcedo was beginning to feel serious heat from fans. The Bruins were in an unimaginable position for such a storied program. They were on the outside of the NCAA tournament bubble looking in.

Their first conference match was their fourth consecutive tie as they fought San Diego St. to a 3-3 draw. The season looked lost, especially with a trip to Berkeley on tap where they would play the defending conference champions Golden Bears, who were widely regarded as the conference's top team. The match went into overtime, where UCLA junior Michael Stephens converted a penalty kick after a foul in the box to give the Bruins a 3-2 win. The Bruins lost their next match to Stanford, but that would be their final defeat of the season.

The Bruins were at a crossroads in their season. They were 3-4-5 overall and 1-1-1 in Pac 10 play. They were on the outside of the NCAA tournament bubble and needed to go on a run to qualify for the postseason. A run is exactly what they got and it began with a match versus Washington that the Bruins won 2-0. UCLA then took down Oregon St. 3-0. The next weekend the same two teams were on the schedule, but this time up in the northwest. The scores weren't as impressive the second time around, but the results was the same as the Bruins beat the Huskies 2-0 in Seattle and the Beavers 1-0 in Corvallis. All of a sudden the Bruins were atop the Pac 10 with a chance to put a stranglehold on the conference title with a win over Cal the next weekend at Drake Stadium.

The match with the Bears lacked goals, but not excitement. The two teams combined for 43 shots, but none of them found the net as the two teams played to a 0-0 draw. The Bruins maintained their lead in the Pac 10 and needed a win in their next game and a Cal loss to clinch the conference crown. The Bruins got their wish as the Bears finished up a loss to San Diego St. moments after the Bruins kicked off their match with Stanford. 90 minutes and two Bruin goals later the Bruins had themselves not only a 2-0 victory, but a conference title as well. UCLA rounded out the season with a 2-1 win over Cal Poly in a non-conference match and a 6-1 win in their season finale versus San Diego St.

The Bruins ended the season with a 10-4-6 overall record and 7-1-2 conference record, but the numbers from the second half of the season are truly mind-boggling. The Bruins went 8-1-1 in their final 10 games, were unbeaten in 14 of their last 15 and were unbeaten in their final eight games in which they outscored opponents 18-2. Needless to say, the Bruins found their groove late and put together a run of play comparable to nearly any other team in the nation.

Photo Credit: UCLA Athletics Official Site

Maxwell Griffin led the Bruins in goals with, but Michael Stephens led the Bruins in points. The midfielder finished with 23 points (seven goals and nine assists), one more than Griffin. Stephens' nine assists earned him the team lead along with senior Jason Leopoldo who had nine as well. Stephens and Leopoldo were joined by junior Danny Suits as the leaders in starts as the three were the only Bruins to start all 20 matches. In goal for the Bruins was US U-20 national team standout junior Brian Perk. Perk started all 18 games he played in and finished the year with a 0.96 goals against average, .798 save percentage and seven shutouts.

The men's NCAA soccer tournament will take place for the 50th time this year and will have 48 teams in competition. The top 16 teams were seeded by the selection committee and received byes to the second round where they will host matches. The 32 other teams must play in the first round at campus sites around the country on Saturday. Second round matches will take place on Tuesday and third round matches will be played at campus sites again, either on November 29 or 30. The quarterfinals will again be at campus sites, this time on the weekend of December 5. The College Cup, which is composed of both the semifinals and finals will take place at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. The semifinals will take place on December 12 with the national title game on the 14th. You can check out the bracket for yourself here.

The Bruins drew Cal Poly in their first round match. Cal Poly was one of the last teams to get into the tournament and the Bruins appear to be one of he higher thought of non-seeded teams so UCLA will host the match on Friday at 7 pm PST. The Bruins and Mustangs played earlier this season; a match the Bruins won 2-1. UCLA got off to a 2-0 start, but a dubious penalty call gave the Mustangs a goal late in the match to give it its final score. The Mustangs have not qualified for the NCAA tournament since 1995 and as a result have no tournament experience. Just because Cal Poly appears to be one of the weaker teams in the tournament does not mean they're a pushover. The Mustangs finished third in an ultra competitive Big West and are led by an offense that uses the width of the field well to open up space for clever balls that create scoring chances.

Should the Bruins advance past Cal Poly they will take a short bus ride to UC Irvine to take on the Anteaters on Tuesday. Irvine earned the #14 seed in the tournament after winning the Big West conference. The Bruins and Anteaters have not played each other since 2001, a match won by Irvine.

The Bruins would most likely play St. Johns, the tournament's #3 seed, should they advance past Irvine. The Johnnies have put together an extremely impressive record this season with some high quality talent, but their schedule left much to be desired so we may not have a good barometer of how good they really are. The last time the Bruins and Red Storm played was in 2004 when St. Johns beat the Bruins 2-1 in the third round of the NCAA's.

If UCLA advances to the quarterfinals they could see the same Indiana team that beat them 3-0 early in the season; however trying to predict who the Bruins will play that far into a one and done tournament is useless. The top four seeds in the tournament are #1 Wake Forest, #2 Maryland, #3 St. Johns and #4 Michigan St. so the smart money is on those four to advance to the College Cup, but we all know that anything can happen.

The Bruins are likely to only host one NCAA tournament match so hopefully we can make it count. That's to both the team and fans as Bruins throughout Southern California should make their way out to Drake Stadium for Fridays 7 pm PST kickoff. Tickets are $9 for adults and $7 for children/students.

This is more of a informational post about the season, but if you've followed the team or just have something to say about it go at it in the comments. Talk strategy, personnel or anything else on your mind. GO BRUINS!!!

Non-Revenue Sports Bruin Review and Calendar

2008-11-17T20:46:37Z

Women's Soccer

The NCAA tournament is supposed to pit the nation's best teams against eachother and provide teams with their toughest challenges to date. That wasn't so for the Bruins though when they took on Fresno St. in their first round tournament match. The #1 seeded Bruins cruised as McCall Zerboni scored in the second minute to put the Bruins ahead 1-0. Then she added two more to pick up the hat trick in UCLA's 5-0 first round victory. The Bruins were scheduled to play UC San Diego in their second round match at Drake Stadium yesterday, but the fires left Westwood with poor air quality and the match was postponed until today. The two teams will kick off at 6 pm PST at Drake Stadium for the right to play USC, who needed penalty kicks to beat BYU in their second round. Should the Bruins defeat San Diego, they will host the Trojans this weekend at Drake Stadium. For more information on UCLA's season, the NCAA tournament format or draw, check this out. I will provide updates on tonight's match in the comments below.

Men's Soccer

Talk about finishing strong. # 19 UCLA was red hot in the second half of the season and put an exclamation point on it with a dominating 6-1 victory over San Diego St. in the season finale. David Estrada found the net twice and added an assit while Michael Stephens tied a school record with four assists in the match. The Bruins finished the regular season with a 10-4-6 record and 7-1-2 record in Pac 10 play that earned them the conference crown. Next up for the Bruins is the selection show, which will be televised live on ESPNEWS at 5:30 pm PST. The Bruins are hoping to earn a first round bye and a game or two at home, but whether or not they do get it is up in the air. I'll post the results of the bracket revealing in the comments below and will take a look back at the regular season, as well as a look at the tournament in a post tomorrow afternoon.

Men's Water Polo

The #2 Bruins had a relatively easy week with only one match on the docket, but they made it count. After falling behind 2-1 in the first quarter, the Bruins outscored #7 UC Santa Barbara 7-0 in the middle two frames as they rolled to a 11-4 win. Ben Hohl scored four times for the Bruins and Scott Davidson chipped in three of his own as the Bruins stretched their record to 15-5 overall and 5-2 in MPSF play. In a tie for second in the conference, the Bruins will travel to Malibu to take on #5 Pepperdine in their regular season finale.

Women's Volleyball

#9 UCLA hosted the Arizona schools this weekend at Pauley Pavilion and sent both home unhappy. First the Bruins dispatched Arizona St. in three sets, 25-20, 25-12, 25-11. Next the Bruins took down Arizona just as easily with a three set victory, 25-17, 25-18 and 25-22. The weekend was not only good for two wins, but two individual accomplishments as Nellie Spicer moved into second place on the UCLA all-time assists list on Friday and Ali Daley notched her 1,000th kill on Saturday so congratulations to them. The Bruins will go north to the Bay Area this week to take on #2 Stanford and #7 Cal.

Swimming and Diving

The #16 Bruins picked up a nice win on Friday, but dropped their meet on Saturday. On Friday, the Bruins dominated fellow top 20 team Arizona St. as they won 13 of the 16 events contested en route to a 195-105 win. On Saturday the Bruins welcomed the fourth ranked and defending national champion Arizona Wildcats to Westwood and the Wildcats defeated the Bruins 157-121. The swimmers are off for the rest of the month, but the divers will head to College Station, Texas this week for the Texas A&M Invitational.

Women's Basketball

The Nikki Caldwell era officially got underway on Sunday at Pauley Pavilion and it began in grand fashion as the Bruins defeated Cal St. Fullerton 78-63. The Bruins employed a balanced scoring attack as no Bruins scored more than Moniquee Alexander's 12. UCLA held the Titans to 32% shooting in the second half as they turned the one point halftime game into a laugher in front of 871 people. Next up for the Bruins is a visit from Pepperdine on Tuesday and a trip to #11 Maryland Sunday.

Cross Country

The women finished off their season with a 17th place finish at this week's West Regionals, but the men put on a strong enough showing to earn a spot in the NCAA Championships. Six Bruins finished in the top 51 overall and the Bruins finished in sixth place as a team. That was good enough to earn the Bruins an at-large berth in the NCAA's, which takes place in two weeks.

Softball

The Bruins played the first three of their six fall scrimmages this week and didn't allow a hit in any of them. UCLA has three scrimmages left, all of which will be played this week at Easton Stadium.

Men's Volleyball

When is winning an alumni game impressive? When you're at UCLA and your alumni is a who's who of the sport. The current Bruins defeated the alumni in this weekend's almuni game at Pauley Pavilion. UCLA will play host to the four team SAC Tournament on Friday and Saturday at the Men's Gym.

Baseball

The Bruins host their annual Blue-Gold World Series this week, a series of interquad scrimmages that conclude the team's fall practices. The Bruins also announced their Alumni Game will take place February 7 at Jackie Robinson Stadium. All former players are encoouraged to participate so e-mail PC Shaw at pshaw@athletics.ucla.edu to RSVP. Because it's just so easy to take shots at the NCAA, let's do it again. The Alumni Game will feature two alumni teams playing eachother instead of the current Bruins against the alumni because the NCAA feels that provides too much of advantage for program's with better alumni. At that point it's like a real game and must be counted against the schedule limit of 56 games. Keep on taking care of the important things guys.

Calendar (all times pacific)
Monday, November 17 Women's Soccer vs. UC San Diego (NCAA Tournament), 2:00 pm- Drake Stadium
Tuesday November 18
Softball vs. Cerritos JC (scrimmage), 2:00 pm- Easton Stadium
Women's Basketball vs Pepperdine, 7:00 pm- Pauley Pavilion
Thursday, November 20
Softball vs. College of the Canyons (scrimmage), 2:00 pm- Easton Stadium
Diving, Texas A&M Invitational, All Day- College Station, TX
Friday, November 21
Softball vs. Mt. San Antonio (scrimmage), 2:00 pm- Easton Stadium
Men's Volleyball vs. Long Beach St. (SAC Tournament), 4:00 pm- Men's Gym
Women's Volleyball at California, 5:00 pm- Berkeley, CA
Diving, Texas A&M Invitational, All Day- College Station, TX
Saturday, November 22
Men's Volleyball vs. UCSB (SAC Tournament), 10:00 am- Men's Gym
Men's Water Polo at Pepperdine, 12:00 pm- Malibu, CA
Men's Volleyball vs. Northride(SAC Tournament), 3:00 pm- Men's Gym
Women's Volleyball at Stanford, 7:00 pm- Palo Alto, CA
Diving, Texas A&M Invitational, All Day- College Station, TX
Women's Basketball at Maryland, 11:00 am- College Park, MD

Ticket information for all sports can be found here while facility information and directions for all sports can be found here. GO BRUINS!!!