Bruins Nation: FanPosts

My two game season starts tonight

2009-11-20T21:31:41Z

Opening night for Lucia di Lammermoor. The chorus has lots and lots of music, and I am filled with lots and lots of antibiotics and dicongestants and inhalers and everything else. I've had colds before, but why did it have to hit me now? Anyway, I'll take all the leftover mojo that anyone has available.

Just remember, Per corriamo le spiage vicina. (That's our first line. I have no idea what it means.)

Have You Been Watching Darren?

2009-11-20T17:22:52Z

Have some (all?) been following DC as he's recently had to replace Chris Paul as Hornet starting PG? I have and its been something to watch and read about! DC has clearly proven all of the skeptics wrong. His performance, particularly last night versus Phoenix, has been, well, heart warming.

DC is, in my opinion, near the top of rookie PGs, and what he's been able to do shows how well he was trained at UCLA (a point made repeatedly by TNT announcers last night), the value of great defense, that speed and quickness can overcome size, and that he is just a great kid with a great attitude.

TNT broadcast last night's game, so I was able to see DC start to finish for the first time. I haven't seen the box score yet but I think its something like 13 points, 5 or 6 assists, 5 rebounds and a perfect 4/4 from the line (naturally). But the impact he makes and his overall presence goes beyond the numbers. He was all over the floor, playing and exuding confidence and energy.

He gave the great Nash fits on D. He was able to drive the lane and dish it off repeatedly to an open man. His shooting was off, I think it was 3 for 13 for the night, but get this: after going one for eleven, with three minutes to go and the game neck and neck he has the grit to take a 3 and HITS IT. That broke the Sun's back. Then he drives the lane and gets a sweet little finger tip roll lay in. And in the final minute, with ice water in his veins, he hits two freebies.

Anyway, it gave me goose bumps to watch, and when he hit that three I cheered more than I ever thought I would for a New Orlean's player. Conclusion: Chris Paul will have a hard time regaining his starting job (LOL of course).

Trying to Keep the Mojo Going

2009-11-20T14:56:23Z

One of my proudest parent moments has been posting pictures of Jonathan here on BN. I'm even more proud that my little guy has been helping to keep the mojo going with our team with a new picture each Saturday.

However, this week is going to be difficult. Mr. BB has a conference in Atlanta tomorrow and we might not be back home by game time. Now, being the incredibly superstitious person I am, I have already packed Jonathan's UCLA clothes and am planning on bringing the camera and USB cord. I need all of you to keep your fingers crossed that the hotel we are staying at has free wireless access (it is a major hotel chain in downtown Atlanta, so the chances are good).

But in case I can't upload a picture before the game, I need every man, woman and child here to keep the mojo going. This is a huge game and we want to be sure we do everything we can to keep the mojo going.

Ben Ball Roundup: Gameday Notes

2009-11-20T14:39:40Z

Not surprisingly Bruins are taking the loss from Monday pretty hard:

All of the Bruins had a share of the blame for Monday's loss but Anderson seems to be taking a bit more. As the point guard, he feels he should have done a better job shooting and distributing the ball.

"I put a lot of the blame on myself because I feel that for our team to be successful, I've got to be a little more successful on the floor individually," he said. "That's the pressure I put on myself, regardless of what anybody has to say about whose fault it was to lose the game.

"I know what I did in the game and I know what I didn't do well. I didn't do a lot of things well in that game. I've got to be a little bit more of a better player out there for us to be better."

Coach Howland though is sticking by his starter:

"He's still catching up conditioning-wise, skill level-wise from missing those five weeks," Howland said.

"If he's able to stay healthy and work hard, he's going to continue to improve throughout the year."

And working on getting his players to be more patient:

"The biggest thing was that offensively we took so many bad shots," Howland said Thursday. "That's the most shots a team of mine has taken since I've been here at UCLA, by 14. It was just way too many shots. Malcolm Lee took 23 shots. That's the most any player has taken since I've been the coach here at UCLA."

The 84 shots would not have been much of a problem had the Bruins been a little more accurate with them. The Bruins connected on 31 percent of their field-goal tries, which made the 84 shots stand out even more.

"We've got to be more patient," Howland said. "Instead of going 26 for 84, we need to go 32 for 60. We play less time on defense when we do that. The most important thing about offense is shot selection. I think I counted either six or seven air balls, or air banks. I don't remember seeing that many in my recent memory."

The statistical sheet backs Howland. Lee hit 7 of his 23 shots in Monday's game. Nikola Dragovic was 2 for 14, and Jerime Anderson was 1 for 11.

Howland attributed some of the offensive problems to his team being "anxious and amped up" but Cal State Fullerton's second-half zone defense deserves credit.

"Right now, early in the season, we've only had one play for that zone," said senior forward James Keefe, who scored two points off the bench. "They had a great zone. It was kind of hard to emulate the zone that they played (in practice). Our zone offense was tearing up our zone defense. They (Fullerton) played it well."

Our guys will need to be especially patient because we will probably see every opponent try to fluster us by throwing zone. LAT has more practice notes from this week:

The big men have vowed to work harder at setting screens and Howland said he would use his bench more freely to avoid another situation such as Monday's when starter Michael Roll played 49 of a possible 50 minutes.

Also, every player reported for 30 minutes of shooting before the regular practice on Thursday.

"You've always got to make some shots for a zone to get stretched out and then have more driving lanes and more post opportunities," point guard Jerime Anderson said. "I think we'll do a little bit better against the zone this game coming up."

Well I hope those guys are also putting in extra work at the FT line because at least according to the box score it cost us a victory. Speaking of stretching the bench, Howland talked about using the energy displayed by RN:

UCLA coach Ben Howland admitted that not playing freshman forward Reeves Nelson more in Monday's loss was his biggest regret.

Nelson had 11 points and sixrebounds in 12 minutes, making 4-of-6 shots, while playing in the first half.

"Reeves Nelson was really dominant (in that game)," Howland said. "The biggest mistake I made Monday night was not playing him more minutes."

Well that's one of the more endearing qualities about Coach Howland. He never hestitates from taking responsibility after tough losses. However, it will be interesting to see how his allocates his mins tonight against Bakersfield. Right now I still don't think we have a decent sampling of games to get an idea on where he is heading.

BTW I hear the usual whine about how come someone like JMM is not getting any mins. The fact that JMM didn't log a single minute during the game against Fullerton tells me one thing. It tells me that coach think JMM hasn't proved himself during practices to earn PT. If that is the case I hope JMM is working his rear end of and completely dedicating himself to learn how to play Ben Ball defense.

As for our opponents after our season opening loss, the Bruins are not in position to take anyone lightly. Cal State Bakersfield (Roadrunners) are coming into this game after beating Utah Valley by a score of 58-51 on Tuesday night. They have a record of 1-1 as their season opening loss was a heart breaker against Santa Clara (81-84) which BTW is coached by former Howland assistant (ace recruiter) Kerry Keating. If you want to pour through their numbers you can check out their stats on KenPom here.

The tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 pm tonight (FS West). I am looking forward to getting my first real look on Ben Ball warriors this season. We will have a game thread up. Hopefully JA, ML and rest of our guys will show off the results of a good week of practice and get this weeked started off on the right note.

GO BRUINS.

SI Poll: They Like Us, They Really Like Us ... sort of ...

2009-11-20T00:24:55Z

Sports Illustrated has a new poll out.

They polled college football fans in the different conferences on who their favorite rivals are, what their school's greatest traditions are and which stadiums they most like to visit.

You know, stuff like that.

According to the poll, the Rose Bowl is the stadium most fans like to visit and more than 25% of respondents consider UCLA their greatest rival. I wonder if this is because USC fans responded more often or because other schools consider us their greatest rival.

See the poll here.

Colorado Interviewing Karl Dorrell To Be Their Next Head Coach?

2009-11-19T14:19:56Z

From FootballCoachScoop.com:

Sources close to the situation tell us that Athletic Director Mike Bohn is interviewing former Colorado/UCLA coach and current Miami WR Coach Karl Dorrell this weekend. Our source also confirmed that Oklahoma Defensive Coordinator, Brent Venables, seems to be the best candidate in the search process so far.

Well there are few reactions for me when I read this blurb:

First, unlike Steve Lavin the more time goes by I think the mellower I am getting about Dorrell. Despite the brutal experience we had with him here in Westwood and how it was proven that he wasn't ready to be a head coach, as years go by I am going to lose the visceral emotional feeling that a sleazebag like Lavin conjures up. Dorrell is after all a Bruin.That doesn't mean that there will be no pushback if anyone attempts to revise history about what took place under him at UCLA.
On wishing him luck I would like to see Dorrell get a second chance as a head coach but not at a major D-I program. I think it will be cool if Dorrell coaches again in a mid major program and use the lessons he learned from his failed stint in Westwood. That would mean getting involved with the program, working and competing his rear end off on the recruiting trail, hiring the right coaches and then doing what he can to empower them accordingly.
Lastly, when I read this it came across as a leak story to create a perception that Colorado is doing what it can to keep their coaching search process diverse.

As bitter as I still am from what we had to go through with him as the head coach and what he did to our program, I hope he finds success by applying the lessons he learned from Westwood. I will have a hard time staying mad against someone who (unlike a fraud, scumbag, conartist like Lavin) also attended the greatest school in the world.

I am not going to be able to hold a grudge forever (no matter how painful those memories are) against another Bruin (although I realize he and his hardest of hardcore supporters might not feel the same way). Either way I'd like to wish Dorrell luck.

GO BRUINS.

Wildcat and the UCLA Running Game

2009-11-19T04:09:57Z

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

I meant to do this last week but I haven't been able to get my hands on a copy of the UCLA-Washington game until now. So here's a look at some of the plays UCLA ran against UW and earlier from the Wildcat package. I did not get to see the WSU game, and don't have a copy, but from what I heard they used it there as well. For some background see this article on the Power, Zone, and the Wildcat - what Cal did against USC is pretty much what UCLA has been doing the past month or so.

What the Wildcat Is and Is Not

Against UW UCLA lined up unbalanced - with a tackle uncovered.

QB.................................TE...T...G...C...G...T...................

...........WR.......................................................................................RB

.........................................FB

.........................................................RB

The right tackle is eligible, the TE is not as he is covered by the QB. Some teams will swap the RT for the TE, to hide the TE on the right side and two tackles on the left for extra muscle. From what I saw UCLA did not, as this way you are not committing 100% to running to the left.

Fly motion is the speed sweeper coming across, timed so that he crosses the man receiving the snap just before the ball gets there. He is the key to the Wildcat, as without this, you just have a back lined up in shotgun. With this player there is an immediate threat to the outside the moment the ball is snapped, and the defense has to respect that.

The most obvious trait is the running back behind center and the QB split wide. The reason why teams leave the QB on the field is that it doesn't tip off their hand until they line up. However I think that this is the least important aspect of the series. If you have an athletic QB, you can leave your QB behind center and run the Wildcat, or you can take him off the field completely and run the Wildcat - doesn't matter, he does not make the series go. You just need someone who can not only run but take a hit back there to receive the snap. On TV they will call Wildcat every time a back is lined up to receive the snap, but that doesn't automatically make it a Wildcat - for example, some teams just snap it to a back and let him run, that's just called getting the ball to an athlete and letting him work.

The least obvious trait, but the most important, in my opinion, is the series-based approach. You have plays that complement each other. The Wildcat is not a formation, play, or substitution package; it's a series. Much like you have the series of inside zone, outside zone, bootleg off a zone look, playaction rollout off a zone look - you have plays that begin with the same action (fly sweep across the formation) and several different options afterwards. The Wildcat works because you can run your base play of power up the middle a few times until the defense cheats in, give on a speed sweep to force them to respect the outside, run counter to force them to respect the backside, and then pound it up the middle on your base power play again. If you have a PA pass installed you can use that as well, but for a series like this I don't even think you need to go that far unless you plan to use it heavily.

The Wildcat is not a trick play or a gimmick - it is structurally sound, possibly moreso than a inside zone run play where you are bootlegging your QB out and counting on him being able to draw attention from the backside DE. It uses all the same basic schemes that teams use, like power and zone. I think that people who don't really understand what is going on are against it because they don't really understand it - but if you take a look it isn't really a giant shift from what teams have been doing the past decade. If you watch the Dolphins at all, they have almost brought the Wildcat series full-circle, and brought that 4th trait to what almost looks like a conventional NFL offense minus the personnel substitutions, and if/when Pat White takes over it basically will be a conventional NFL offense based on the speed sweep with an athlete at QB.

Power

UCLA's "base" Wildcat play seems to be their power. Again, take a look at this article for some background on power, which is one of the most basic running plays that is run by most teams around the country. Here is UCLA's first play from the Wildcat series, as Milton Knox has a big hole up the middle off power.

I think that the reason there is such a big hole is that UW was in a slant to the weak side and for some reason did not check out of it - the DL slants away from the run. They are in a 7-man front (the SS is lined up on the slot WR), and UCLA blocks down vs. the slant with 5 linemen for 5 defenders. The backside G pulls, the FB kicks out, taking care of the 2 frontside LBs, and there is a big hole.

S and B slide outside to respect the speed sweep and the rest of the defense conveniently slants the other way and are easily down blocked. Everyone is accounted for and the FS (the RB's counterpart) makes the tackle.

Notice that this isn't different from this except that there is only one unaccounted-for defender rather than both safeties - direct snap to the back gives the offense one more blocker. If you took the QB and put him under center, the strong safety would be hanging around somewhere.

One of UCLA's main running plays so far has been a power play where they use the FB to pull across and the guard to follow and lead through on a backer - here are two examples that show the play well. Notice in the first clip against Stanford, they even use an unbalanced line with twins to one side and run power that way - except for the speed sweeper and outside threat you have the QB under center handing off.

Here's another clip from the Wildcat where UCLA throws in a wrinkle, running the ball to the weakside - UW has in the box, 4 linebackers slanted towards the unbalanced side, and UCLA runs it the other way. Would've been a nice gain had Brehaut at the bottom lined up on the LOS, covering the TE.

Here are a few more clips of UCLA running power. Notice that in the second clip, the defense has 8 in the box again and is shifted towards the strong side, causing Milton Knox to cut back. In the third clip you can see the defense begin to play some games, it looks like the backside corner is not respecting the backside at all, and the LBs are playing some games and exchanging responsibilities to the strong side. Same kind of thing that you would see if you were running power from under center - you need to adjust as they do - although in this case you can just move onto the next play in the series.

Zone

Here's a breakdown of Oregon's inside and outside zone. Zone's a pretty big part of the UCLA run game, but from the games I have seen they haven't really incorporated it much into the Wildcat. I saw them run outside zone twice off of the Wildcat series, once against Oregon, and once vs. UW towards the end (resulted in a fumble). Here are both clips.

The call against UW looked like it would have worked well if not for that fumble - everyone was accounted for and there was an extra lead blocker to pick up the safety.

There are 9 defenders in the frame, one is being "blocked" by the threat of Milton Knox to the backside, and the other 8 are accounted for by 9 blockers. There are two defenders off-camera, backside corner is probably too far to make the play and the safety should get picked up by the extra blocker.

The Next Steps

I didn't see the WSU game, but from what I've seen I would like to see more zone off the Wildcat series, It became pretty apparent late in the UW game that the defense was playing power every time Knox was behind center. Power is the base play that makes it run but once they begin to squeeze the kickout block and play games up front I think you need to move on to keep them honest before you can return to the bread and butter.

The next steps in the series are probably a counter play, something with guards pulling backside with the same backfield action as in the freeze-frame above - Knox pulling the ball and taking off weakside. You can also run read off of the zone look although that is practice-intensive.

Everyone wants to see Knox throw but I like what we have right now as it is built on top of our base run plays - the only thing you need to practice is the snap and exchange (which we still need to work on). From what I have seen our Wildcat series (much like what Cal ran earlier this season) isn't a whole lot different than what we've been doing and probably hasn't taken up a lot of practice time. I think that there are a lot more important things than repping a playaction play and giving our backs reps in practice throwing the ball, and there are still other plays in the series to flesh out. I did notice UCLA using the speed sweep motion a few times against UW, with the QB under center. Once was off of a PA rollout look and the other was an inside zone play, where they used the speed sweep to force the backside DE to stay at home, allowing the RB to cut back and pick up a few yards.

NFL teams like the Miami Dolphins have a lot more practice time than NCAA teams due to NCAA regs (even HS teams, where the Wildcat originated, probably have more practice hours than NCAA teams) are able to install almost whatever they want and spend a lot of time on a change-up series such as this one. I don't think that it is worth it for an NCAA team to really go that deep into the series unless they plan to use it frequently, as there is not a lot of payoff unless you fully commit to it (ie, practice-intensive schemes such as the flexbone and the Airraid, or even teams that base out of the zone read).

That being said, though, I wouldn't mind seeing Knox pull it once, step back, and launch one deep in one of our last few games this year.

Bruins Find Bats As Blue-Gold World Series Game 2 Goes To The Blues

2009-11-19T02:36:14Z

After the Blue and Gold teams combined for just six hits and one run in the first game of the Blue-Gold World Series, game two's 15 hit, nine run output seemed like an explosion. A tightly contested game turned in the sixth inning of the seven inning contest with a little small ball and a big hit as the Blues were victorious over the White team (who wore Gold Monday), 6-3.

The Blues were first to strike, picking up a pair in the bottom of the first. A pair of walks to lead off the inning, issued by Scott Griggs put Beau Amaral and Tyler Rahmatulla on to behind the inning. Following a pair of pop ups, Cody Keefer singled through the left side to plate Amaral and put the Blues up, 1-0. Griggs then threw two balls to Matt Mosher and was pulled in the middle of the at-bat, having reached his pitch limit. This brought Chase Brewer, younger brother of former UCLA pitcher Charles, into the game and he balked in another run, giving the Blues ahead 2-0 after one.

Blue starter Garett Claypool who threw a perfect first inning, went the distance with one-out in the second to Justin Uribe, when Uribe hit a fly ball to right that just cleared the fence, cutting the Blue lead to 2-1. Ryan Deeter relieved Claypool after the home run and got the next two outs of the inning.

The bottom of the second saw a one-out double by Cody Regis, but he never made it to third. In the top of the third, Aaron Weimer hit a double to begin the inning, but he too never made it to third.

The bottom of the third saw the Blues put another run across as Amaral walked to begin the inning and scored two batters later on an error by the third baseman, Dean Espy.

The White team answered with a two-out rally in the fourth inning. After a strikeout and groundout got the inning off to an ominous start, Espy singled and Uribe doubled off of Deeter to score Espy and make the score 3-2. Dennis Holt followed that up with a single of his own off of Deeter, scoring Uribe and evening the game at threes.

Brandon Lodge came on for the Blue team to throw 1.2 scoreless innings and Allen Aguilar got an out to give the Blue bats a chance in the bottom of the sixth against White pitcher Derek Klena, who had thrown 2.2 scoreless innings to that point.

Marc Navarro reached on an error by shortstop Niko Gallego and Brett Krill singled to lead off the bottom half of the sixth. After a fly out, Mosher singled as well. With the bases loaded and only one man down, Steve Rodriguez executed a perfect squeeze bunt, scoring Navarro from third and moving the runners to second and third as well. Regis then belted one the other way, dropping it onto the warning track in left field to score two more on a double that made it a 6-3 ball game.

Mitchell Beacom, who picked up the save in game one, entered for the Blues in the top of the sixth, looking for his second save of the fall. After a strikeout to open the inning, Trevor Brown singled to give the White team some life, but the next two batters were retired with ease and the Blues picked up their second win in as many games of the Blue-Gold World Series. Aguilar was the winning pitcher and Beacom got the save, while Rodriguez's squeeze bunt produced the game-winning RBI. Klena picked up the loss for the White team, while the freshman Regis was the best on either side, going 3-3 with two doubles and two RBI for the Blues.

The third and final game of the Blue- Gold World Series will take place at Jackie Robinson Stadium on Friday. First pitch is at 3:30 pm PST and I will be there to recap it and provide instant information and analysis on my UCLA baseball twitter.

"Carroll and Kiffin and Sark"

2009-11-19T03:20:54Z

If Franklin Pierce Adams, who penned the baseball classic "Tinker to Evers to Chance" in 1910, were alive today and witnessing "non"-professional collegiate football, he might be writing the following:

These are the baddest of possible words:

"Carroll and Kiffin and Sark."

Trio of rule breakers, and cheaters of course,

Carroll and Kiffin and Sark.

Ruthlessly pricking other coaches' bubble,

Recruiting players who are felonious double --

Programs that are heavy with nothing but trouble,

"Carroll and Kiffin and Sark."

Of course he only needed one verse for the admirable infielders a century ago, but this disreputable trio would provide him plenty of material to add on (below the jump)...

These are the poorest of academic advancers,

"Carroll and Kiffin and Sark."

Keeping an eye out for transcript enhancers,

Carroll and Kiffin and Sark.

Their students' textbooks are gathering moss,

Library cards are invariably lost,

No problem, just send them to Senora Ross,

Say "Carroll and Kiffin and Sark."

These are so brazen with NCAA regs:

"Carroll and Kiffin and Sark."

Serial violators leave the rest with the dregs,

Carroll and Kiffin and Sark.

Sark: recruiting violations are misunderstandings,

Lame: busted six times means unfair profiling,

Cheat: paying Reggie Bush is just stimulus funding,

"Carroll and Kiffin and Sark."

With ill-gotten gains they must be the best,

"Carroll and Kiffin and Sark."

On top of the polls and dead-certain BCS,

Carroll and Kiffin and Sark.

Lame: thumped by Ole Miss and then by the cops,

Sark: a 3-3 start has appallingly dropped,

Cheat: 55 unto Stanford is his latest of flops,

"Carroll and Kiffin and Sark."

And of course the poem we are most waiting for: "Mighty Cheaty has struck out!"

A Note Re. Evoking CHP (Con Artist/Sleazebag) To Criticize Howland

2009-11-18T22:20:43Z

It is hardly surprising when we have idiots like Bill Splashme hurling criticisms towards Howland after one frustrating, double overtime loss against an undermatched opponent to start the season. Morons like him don't have the requisite amount of brain cells needed to have a grasp of the big picture. That is why people like him are relegated to the ~~Los Angeles~~ Trojan Times.

That doesn't mean we have to put up with Splashme like stupidity here on BN. For those who want to evoke Lavin after one freaking basketball game to criticize Howland, Here is a reminder on what Steve Lavin did while posing as UCLA basketball head coach here are some numbers. I have previously posted the content below here on BN. But given some of the nonsense I have seen around the internets and some isolated comments here and there in this community, it is worth reposting again.

Under Steve Lavin UCLA basketball suffered some of the most humiliating losses in its history. Here are blowout UCLA losses under Steve Lavin by 25 or more points:

Nov. 27 1997 North Carolina 68-109
Feb. 22 1998 @ Duke 84-120
Mar. 20 1998 Kentucky 64-98
Feb. 17 2000 @ ASU 75-104
Mar. 23 2000 Iowa State 56-80
Jan. 20 2001 @ Arizona 63-88
Feb. 1 2001 @ Cal 63-92
Jan. 31 2002 @ Oregon 62-91
Jan. 18 2003 Arizona 52-87
Feb. 13 2003 @ Arizona 70-106
Mar. 1 2003 @ Oregon 48-79

Yes UCLA was blown out of the gym by 25 or more points more than 10 times during Lavin's tenure in Westwood.

But wait there is more. There were also the following mind-numbing, humiliating losses we all had to experience when Lavin was roaming our sidelines:

Dec. 22 1999 Colorado St.
Nov. 21 2000 CSUN (@ Pauley)
Nov. 20 2001 Ball State
Nov. 28 2001 Pepperdine (@ Pauley)
Nov. 13 2002 Branch West (Ex. @ Pauley)
Nov. 19 2002 EA Sports (Ex. @ Pauley)
Nov. 26 2002 San Diego (@ Pauley)
Dec. 17 2002 Northern Arizona (@ Pauley)

The numbers above do not include numerous double digits losses during which UCLA was never really in the game.

If other folks want to forget all those nightmarish games, embarassing moments and the humiliation the UCLA basketball program suffered day after day on regular basis under this guy, they can go right ahead. But we are not going to let people forget the numbers and sweep all those memories under the carpet. It's important to remember these numbers and remember what we went through, when we read some the mindless whining we read from few handful so called UCLA fans who don't appreciate what we have done under Howland.

The numbers above also don't give is the story about how UCLA was never able to beat Stanford at Pauley after his first year turning Wooden's House into Maples South and how Arizona was able to lap UCLA after UCLA had closed the gap from the 80s and went ahead during later part of Harrick's tenure

Moreover, the numbers of course don't tell us the whole story about how underachieving those results were given the talent Lavin inherited from Harrick's classes and was able to lure in based on the charade of a succesful season in his first year. Meriones pointed out earlier about how Lavin wasted away NBA talents during his time masquerading as a basketball coach.

Oh and by the way we didn't include the numbers from his first season ending with an Elite Eight run because it was IMO done based on the leadership of Harrick recruited veterans. Even if we were to include the numbers from that season it would have to include the humiliating loss at Maples Pavillion (known as Maples Massacre) which turned out to be a good indication of the nightmare Bruin Nation was about to experience instead of an aberration.

The nightmare ended in March of 2003, when this joker was finally fired after UCLA suffered its first losing season in 55 years (10-19).

Of course till this day Lavin hasn't taken responsibility for what he did to program and whenever he gets the chance (like he does during UCLA broadcasts) continue to blame UCLA community for having unreasonable expectations and the former UCLA officials for not giving him an opportunity to success (which is of course LOL funny given how they were the ones paying him millions to pose as a basketball coach).

Coach Ben Howland is not perfect and is not above criticism. We will not shy away from questioning him and I am sure we will offer criticisms during the regular season. However, we are not going to tolerate baseless attacks and comparing him to a sleazebag like Lavin. That will never be acceptable here on BN.

GO BRUINS.

Alum Geoffrey Strand leads every man, woman and child in cheer at the Rose Bowl

2009-11-18T16:46:27Z

The Daily Bruin has a story on alumni cheerleader Geoff Strand in today's online and print issue.

via media.dailybruin.com

Geoffrey Strand’s popular punch-line developed in response to the turmoil that epitomized reality during his days as a student on the Westwood campus. At the time, protests and flag burnings were not uncommon, and power struggles both social and political pervaded the national and local scene.

As part of his campaign for head cheerleader, a student-elected office in those days, Strand created the trademark catchphrase to rouse memories of the good times. This imagery, epitomized by the Beach Boys’ “Happy Days” stereotype for optimism, was Strand’s attempt at a reversion to normalcy.

[UPDATE w/ note on LAT's shoddy reporting] Hasiak Returns To Practice

2009-11-13T02:14:33Z

Bumping this again. LAT has a new report on Hasiak today. I wanted to incorporate it in this post because it just shows again how irresponsible they were in their earlier reporting concocting nonsense about Hasiak leaving the program for an indefinite amount of time without any verification. GO BRUINS. - N

Bumped. GO BRUINS. - N

I wrote yesterday that I wasn't really all that worried about Hasiak and had full confidence in CRN that he will do whatever is necessary to help out a kid who sounds like is going through a tough freshman year (which is not unusual at a huge school like UCLA while being thousands of miles away from home).

Well Gold reports that Hasiak has returned to practice and he had his comment from CRN:

"All of these things require conversations between the head coach and the individual, and I'm just glad to have him back. He's on our team, he's in full participation mode now. I'm not worried about seeing much from Stanley. I want him just to be like everybody else on the team. Do what we're asking him to do, do it with a great attitude and enjoy that he's at a great university.
"The rest will take care of itself."

Amen. Again the best thing everyone can do here to stop the speculation and give the kid some space. If anything I'd suggest in situations like this we hope for the best and wish him luck.

Right now by all accounts it looks like CRN and the program is standing by the kid and working with him to help him through his freshman season. He will be just fine and I think he will be another great Bruin.

GO BRUINS.

UPDATE (N): The LA Times also has little bit more on Hasiak. Stanley is not going to be traveling to Palouse this weekend. He is going to take his time. CRN is excited to have him back:

"He's back in good stead and we're excited that he's back," Neuheisel said after Thursday's practice.

We will see him back on the field when he is ready and coaches think he is up to game speed. We should let the kid take as much time as he wants and get everything in place so that he can have total focus on both school work and football. GO BRUINS.

UPDATE II (N): Looks like the LAT did some really shoddy reporting on this early on which exacerbated a sense of crisis that really didn't exist. The paper ran a correction on its UCLA beat reporter's embarrassingly shoddy reporting on the story (emphasis added):

UCLA football: The UCLA football FYI in Friday's Sports section reported that freshman guard Stan Hasiak did not travel with the team for the Oct. 31 game against Oregon. That game was at Oregon State. Also, Wednesday's UCLA football FYI contained contradictory information on Hasiak's whereabouts after reporting that he had gone home to Hawaii for an indefinite period. One sentence said it was not known whether Hasiak had returned to Los Angeles as of Tuesday; a sentence two paragraphs later said he had returned to Los Angeles. Hasiak was in fact back in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

Nice work Chris Foster. Not

GO BRUINS.

UPDATE III (N): Hasiak has been back at practice with the scout team. Chris Foster finally caught up with him to close the loop on his shoddy reporting from previous week:

"I kind of expected to get playing time, and I was hoping to get it, but things didn't go my way," Hasiak said. "But it was never anything with my teammates.

"There are some things I can't talk about. I had to learn to deal with it and change my attitude about it. Going home and hearing what my dad and uncles had to say, I really took that to heart."

Hasiak returned to UCLA last week and, after meeting with coaches, was back at practice Thursday.

"Stan's in good graces," Coach Rick Neuheisel said. "We're just trying to take things slow with him. We want him to work hard and get himself going again."

For now, that means working on the scout team. There is a small chance that Hasiak could get a medical redshirt year, as he has had shoulder and ankle injuries this season.

"I'm going to be positive," Hasiak said. "The coaches want me to help out the defense by giving them a good look [on the scout team] and that's what I'm doing. I have to enjoy what I've got right now. It's my freshman year and I should be happy with things."

May be you will now drop your pursuit of non stories and actually write about - oh I don't know - matchups, game strategies and other team's storylines Chris.

GO BRUINS.

Remembering Gary Beban

2009-11-13T12:28:57Z

This post got a little buried late last week. Bumping it up because want to make sure no one missed it. GO BRUINS. - N

Seeing Gary Beban at the game last Saturday really brought back memories from my student years at UCLA. I was an undergrad from 1966-1971 which was really a great time to be at UCLA. We won the national championship in basketball all five years I was there, while in football we had Gary Beban my first two years and also had very good teams my last two years led by quarterback Dennis Dummit. (My last year at UCLA a freshman named Jimmy Connors won the NCAA tennis tournament).

At the game a few weeks ago there was on the seats a free Sports Illustrated magazine special on all the Heisman trophy winners which featured Gary Beban. It focused on the 1967 game against Tennessee when down 16-13 with four minutes to play in the fourth quarter and with 4th and 2 at the Tennessee 27 and the game on the line Beban moved right then cut into the line and then cut left towards the sideline for a touchdown run to win the game. I was at that game and vividly remember that play. I frankly can't remember much else about the game but will never forget Beban's great clutch run into the west end zone of the Coliseum. Beban was truly an all time great college quarterback. He was an extremely accurate passer, a really good running quarterback who ran for a lot of yardage, a great team leader, and maybe the best clutch player in UCLA football history. Of course in 1965 when I was still in high school and watching on TV he made those two great touchdown passes in the last four minutes including the game winning 50 yarder to Kurt Altenberg after trailing USC 16-6 with four minutes left in the game. That great comeback kept Mike Garrett from ever playing in the Rose Bowl. Beban of course then led UCLA to the historic upset of #1 Michigan St. in the Rose Bowl.

And of course I'll never forget the 1967 game against USC. While it was horrible to lose, it was still an amazing experience to be at that game which is considered one of the greatest in college football history. UCLA was #1 and USC #2 and the atmosphere was just unbelievably electric. In those days both sides got pretty much the same number of seats, and the south side of the coliseum was all UCLA fans and the north side was all USC fans. After many plays there would be a huge roar from either one side or the other. The student seats were all first come first serve, and I'll never forget what it was like a couple of hours before the gates opened with people crowded up to the gates hoping to get in first so as to get good seats. The crowd of UCLA students was so crammed together that people were fainting from the heat, and they were passing people who had fainted back over the crowd. We were so tightly packed in that I remember lifting up both my feet just to see that I could actually stand up without having either foot on the ground. Beban of course played great passing for over 300 yards while suffering from badly bruised ribs and sometimes having to be helped off the field. We really lost the game because of blocked and missed field goals and extra points.

(As an aside I was at the 1980 game when Freeman McNeil's deflected touchdown reception won the game. I was given free tickets by a doctor whom I worked with who had played for Howard Jones at USC. The seats were in about the 20th row on the 40 yard line. Unfortunately they were of course in the middle of the USC section. Boy was that weird! Thank God we won.)

Calling ALL Bruin Fans

2009-11-18T01:57:26Z

I can't think of a bigger game for UCLA. Everyone should be at the Rose Bowl this Saturday

(courtesy of UCLA Athletics)

via sportige.com

This could be the turning point for UCLA football... UCLA athletics, UCLA fans, UCLA everything.

Just how much does this mean? Well this is how much:

Let's look at the past few "Great Coaches"

Pete Carroll 6-6, next year 11-2
Bob Stoops 7-5 , next year 13-0 (National Champion)
Les Miles 7-5, next year 11-2

Bowl Eligibility is the best way to start off any "good" coach's tenure, and we are 1 game away from that. That 1 game can be the difference from another Dorrellian spinout, and a great "empire".

Don't you want to be there? It is senior day. It is the day of pivotal importance.

Be at the Rose Bowl on Saturday

Leave me a comment if you are going!

It's Cold In Boise In December -- I Won't Be There

2009-11-17T21:44:58Z

I'm nominating Ryan to go to Boise and live blog the Humanitarian Bowl.

According to Stewart Mandel's latest bowl game predictions, our Bruins will face off against Idaho on the Smurf Turf in Boise on December 30.We'll make it because the Mountain West Conference won't have enough bowl-eligible teams.

Maybe Ryan can stay over a couple more nights and live blog New Year's Eve. I bet that's a party.

Everyone needs to calm down about Ben Ball

2009-11-17T16:46:26Z

We played as bad as can be—We played one of the worst games of basketball a team can play. When you shoot 31, 17, and 41% on field goals, 3s, and free throws, you should be blown out regardless of who you are playing. Instead, we had two shots at the buzzer, JA at 2nd half and ML at 1st OT, they just didn’t go in. Kentucky struggled to beat Miami (OH) yesterday, the only difference is their shot went in and now everyone talks about how much character they showed and found a way to win while the narrative on UCLA is that we are young and rebuilding.

ND is in a slump—ND was not forcing shots last night. In fact, almost every single one was within the flow of the offense and shots that he has to shoot to keep the offense working and the defense honest. He simply is in a shooting slump like JS was last year. He is too good of a shooter to stay this bad for long, but it might be a week or two until he regains his old form. He did play well grabbing the 14 rebounds (something DG sure didn’t do well last night) and had a couple hassle plays that led to baskets.

RN is fools gold—I really like RN and think he will be a solid contributor, but all of the people thinking that he should be our star player is mistaken. At this point, RN is lost on defense and is a black hole on offense. If you throw the ball to him in the post, he is going up for a shot. Now this is a good thing to a point, but he forced some ugly shots in there. He was in the right place at the right time on the putback of the airball going into halftime, but its not like he was dominate. If he was quicker, I would love to see him develop into a LRMAM combo forward, but I dont’ think he has the lateral quickness to do that.

ML needs to be our point, not JA—This is the biggest thing, JA is not a starting point guard. I said it before and I’ll keep saying it all year, our best lineup is ML, MR, ND, JK, and DG. JA doesn’t play the same level of defense as previous Bruin guards as he is just not as quick as DC, RW, JH, or ML. Compounding matters, he does not have very good court vision (the inbound pass that he threw away was atrocious) compared to ML’s (such as when he found JA under the basket). Finally, JA has NO OUTSIDE SHOT. This was killing us when Fullerton went to the zone because JA wouldn’t even look for his shot, and when he finally did shoot because he was so wide open, he wasn’t shooting with confidence and his shots had no chance of going in. He can be a suitable backup, but he should not be our starting point guard.

I’m viewing this season like a locomotive, slow start but should get going pretty well—If you were expecting us to dominate from the start of the season, you need to get in touch with reality. We are playing players who have hardly any game experience. In fact, yesterday was probably the most minutes that any of our players have played since maybe a random AAU game. CBH’s defense looked good, but not yet great. ND’s shot will come back. DG will hopefully learn to boxout instead of just jumping. ML will get more comfortable and slow down. MR will continue to be solid. RN will be a sparkplug off the bench. As for the others, they are the wildcard. I have already stated my opinion of JA. MM looked very timid and lost in his minute of play. TH didnt show me much in the exhibition game to think he is going to have a major impact. JMM’s lack of aggression is going to keep him off the court. If one of these guys can put it together, then who knows. Otherwise, I think we will still be about the number 3 team in the Pac 10 at the end of the season.

This was the first of approximately 35 games, its a looooooooong season--It was also the first meaningful playing time for literally our entire team. Further, injuries all preaseason have severly limited practices and CBH's ability to implement his system fully. Things will get better. But, if you would rather make snap judgments about how bad CBH is and how bad our recruiting is and make a fool of yourself, go right ahead. Otherwise, enjoy the ride of watching CBH develop the next generation of Ben Ball Warriors.

Go Bruins!

Pre-Game Guesses: Washington Results

2009-11-17T06:37:48Z

I know I'm a week late on this, but it's been a crazy 2 weeks. Forgive me...I promise the Washington St. results are on the way.

For the Washington game I was lucky enough to fly out from Des Moines to attend this game, and much like last year's homecoming our Bruins pulled out a heart-stopper. Maybe I should go to more games.

One interesting note from my trip...I got a chance to meet another poster on BruinsNation...none other than the current leader in the pre-game guesses but Nars! Anyway, here were the questions and answers from the Washington game:

1. Who will rush for more yards...Jake Locker or Derrick Coleman? Coleman

2. Name a Bruin who will score a TD. Prince, Austin, Harkey, Moline, Craft

3. Which team will kickoff to start the 2nd half? Washington

Only PrincetonBruin got all 3 correct...good work! I will post the running leaderboard in my next post.

Navarro Blasts the Blue To Victory In Blue-Gold World Series Game 1

2009-11-17T02:24:56Z

Was the first game of UCLA's Blue-Gold World Series heavy on pitching or light on hitting? Probably a combination of the two. The seven inning game saw only one run, which came in the seventh and a total of six hits. On the bright side at the plate, the batters clearly bought into the coaches' philosophy as they crowded the plate and did anything possible to get on base. The pitch recognition was better than it was a year ago and the plate discipline was something the coaches will be happy with. The swings that the players put on the pitches? Not so great.

Dan Klein, the man the coaches hope will close, started for the Golds, who were the home team. Klein was dominant in his two innings of work, allowing nobody to teach base and registering two strikeout in the second inning. Klein ran a hard fastball in at righthanders at 89-91 mph and used it to set up his fantastic change-up, which made some batters look like fools.

Gerrit Cole got the nod for the Blue team and while his stuff was as good as it usually is (92-95 mph fastball, 83 mph slider), he had some issues with command. Because the pitchers don't throw an extraordinary amount in the fall, some wildness is to be expected, but it's not comforting. Cole hit the second batter he faced with a fastball and in his second inning, allowed a base hit. He got one out in the third before hitting his pitch count limit, totaling 2.1 innings pitches, one hit, one HBP and no runs.

Erik Goeddel relieved Klein for the Golds and had some issues with control, hitting one and walking another in the third inning, but was able to get out of the jam with a fantastic breaking ball. He then threw a perfect fourth inning.

Trevor Bauer took the ball from Cole and after walking the first batter he faced, induced a 5-4-3 double play to end the third. He allowed a two-out, infield single to Justin Uribe in the fourth, but Uribe never made it to second.

With Jordan Haver on the mound in the top of the fifth, the Blues came within inches of getting on the board. Cody Keefer led off the inning with a hard line drive dingle to center and a pair of ground outs moved the freshman to third. Matt Mosher then lined a ball to right center field, but Jeff Gelalich came on in a hurry to make a diving catch, ending the inning and robbing Mosher of a RBI.

The Golds mounted their best rally in the bottom fifth inning versus Bauer thanks to a pair of freshman hits. Aaron Weimer led off the inning with a clean single to left field, then after an out, Dennis Holt laced a double to the wall in right field. With runners on second and third, Bauer brought his best stuff and got Gelalich to strike out, then Niko Gallego to ground softly to third.

Haver threw a perfect sixth inning and Bauer did the same in the bottom half of the inning, setting up Marc Navarro to get the game's first run. With one out in the top of the seventh, Navarro laced a pitch from Haver deep to right center and over the fence for a solo homer to put the Blues up, 1-0.

Mitchell Beacom came in for the bottom of the seventh and threw a perfect inning to pick up the save in the Blues' 1-0 win.

Game two of the Blue- Gold World Series will take place at Jackie Robinson Stadium on Wednesday. First pitch is at 3:30 pm PST and I will be there to recap it and provide instant information and analysis on my UCLA baseball twitter.

Hidden danger of a Southern Cal football team in decline

2009-11-16T22:59:59Z

Nestor, I have to start this by saying that I mean no disrespect by putting the team we play on Thanksgiving weekend in this subject line, but the fact is that, although I haven't seen it discussed here on BN or anywhere else, my feeling is that a no-longer-as-scary Southern Cal team makes this weekend's game against the Sun Devils a little more dangerous.

A couple weeks - and a couple Bruin victories - ago, still trying to stay optimistic after not being there to see UCLA win a game in 63 days (couldn't travel to Tennessee, and went to a wedding at the last minute rather than the Kansas State game), a friend and I looked at the remaining schedule and discussed how it was still possible to become bowl eligible, because Washington, Wazzu, and Arizona State were all beatable teams, if the fourth quarter in Corvallis proved not to be a fluke. In order to not sound like we were being overly optimistic, we were indirectly ceding the biggest game of the year because Southern Cal, even after its two losses at that point, was perceived as so dominant that you couldn't realistically expect to come out of the Mausoleum with a win.

Now, don't get me wrong. I was there in 2006, the guy with blue hair running around in the parking lot after the game lighting red-and-yellow pom-poms on fire with lighter fluid. (I still don't know why their fans were letting me have them after I asked - maybe they were trying to jump off the bandwagon as quickly as they could?) UCLA never lost to the team across town during my years in college. I know instinctively that you don't write off this game under any circumstances. But it sounded more reasonable to say we could win those next three games than to say that we could beat what was at the time still a top-10 ranked team.

If we were to start that conversation today, though, I have to think that the last game of the regular season doesn't look as daunting as it did a few weeks ago. If Karl Dorrell and his staff could beat the Hated Ones in a year when they would go on to win the Rose Bowl, they look much less scary under the current regime, and with a UCLA team that's starting to show that it might be gelling. I'm starting to hear, more and more, about how UCLA has a decent chance to end the season 7-5, and I'm finding it harder to convince myself to think only of the game this weekend. Even if we don't win this weekend, after all, we can still fulfill Rick Neuheisel's promise to Dan Patrick.

Just a couple minutes ago, looking at the standings, I was reminded that we are playing a team that is 4-6 going into the game at the Rose Bowl. We have to assume that Arizona State also wants to finish the season bowl-eligible. Unfortunately for them, that means they can't lose any more games. Suddenly, if UCLA sees Southern Cal as a beatable team, Arizona State goes into the weekend needing this game more than UCLA does.

A couple weeks ago, watching Dennis Erickson pace the sideline as an ASU player was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after a sack that would have forced the Trojans to punt (on a drive that led to a Trojans score, arguably losing the game for Arizona State with that one stupid celebratory moment), I recalled the anger I felt watching a Toledo-coached UCLA playing against a Dennis Erickson-coached Oregon State years ago. The guy doesn't historically seem to bring out the strongest character traits in his players. (This was before he went on to continue the destruction of "my" 49ers, cementing Erickson as one of my least-favorite coaches.) Erickson and his players will be doing whatever they think they can to win. And UCLA had better be ready for it.

So now I'm torn. I want to be happy that the Trojan dynasty might be falling apart. I want to be happy that Pete Carroll is in a place where he's pissy that teams are running up the score on him. (OT - I want to see that halftime show; I've always been a fan of the Stanford band since they got into formation and spelled out "USC SUX" for us at homecoming and sent a contingent downtown in the middle of the week to play "Fight On" as OJ Simpson walked into the courtroom my second year at UCLA.) I want to be happy that I can feel like the game on November 28 is winnable.

But I want to be there when we win on November 21, first.

Lame discovers another difference between South Central and Knoxville

2009-11-16T22:22:35Z

According to Dienhart, some players got kicked off the Tennessee team for getting arrested for an armed robbery. (Here are a few "allegedly's" to be dumped into that sentence where politically necessary.) Lame read the PR person's speech perfectly, blah, blah, blah.

All this time, you know he's saying to himself, "Boy, that sure not the way we did things back at Inheritance Hall. What have I gottem myself into? The Vols self-report violations, and they don't own the police. Heck, if I wanted to live in a Bizarro World, I could have stayed in Oakland."