from Simers into todays Times:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-simers24-2008may24,0,3077744.column

 

THE PLAY of the night might have been Jordan Farmar's sky-high leap to block Ime Udoke's breakaway layup.

When asked if he had ever made such a play before, he said, "maybe in high school."

What about at UCLA.

"I was too tired playing defense," he said, and Ben Howland should get a good laugh out of that.

 

 

GO BRUINS

Bumped. Keep an eye on this today. If this is confirmed, this would be a blockbuster development. Welcome to UCLA Reeves!!!! GO BRUINS. -N

This is important with Wear Twins committing to North Carolina. No other site confirms at this point. We need bigs!! From RiseMag.com:

Coach Ben Howland snagged another top in-state prospect as junior forward Reeves Nelson of Modesto Christian (Modesto, Calif.) committed to the Bruins late last night.

Nelson had offers from the likes of North Carolina, Duke, USC and more, but decided UCLA for a number of reasons.

"They were really the first ones to recruit me and I really like coach Howland and all their other coaches," Nelson told RISE last night. "I know a bunch of the kids going there, like Jrue Holiday, Jerime Anderson and Drew Gordon. And obviously, they win a lot of games."

The 6-foot-7, 220-pound Nelson averaged 17 points and 12 boards per game last year while leading Modesto Christian to a 30-4 record and a berth in the Division V NorCal finals. He is rated the nation’s No. 25 junior by RISE.

Go Bruins!

UPDATE:From BruinBlitz (HT godblesstyus95 ):

Modesto Christian forward Reeves Nelson made it official last night, committing to UCLA. "The reason I committed to UCLA was because their style of play, and the way I feel about the coaching staff there. I know all the players coming in, like Jrue Holiday and Malcolm Lee, plus all the others. Coach Howland is a great coach and UCLA has everything I was looking for in a school." Nelson is a 5-star prospect, and the No. 23 overall ran ed player in the 2009 class. Nelson is a monster get for Coach Howland. In fact from what I have been hearing/reading pursuing Nelson was one of the reason, Howland and his staff cooled off on the Wear twins. Nelson is projected to be one of those prototypical Ben Ball warriors. Fundamentally sound, tough around the boards, and digs playing defense. Congrats to Reeves and Coach Howland and his staff. This is big news. GO BRUINS. -N

UPDATE II: Watch Reeves get nasty in the paint! -T

UPDATE III: Another confirmation from Brian Dohn. GO BRUINS. -N

UPDATE IV: -M. Not that you need it, but another confirmation from the PE.

CONFIRMED: Reeves Nelson to UCLA

Just got off the phone with Modesto Christian coach Gary Porter, and he confirmed that Reeves Nelson told Ben Howland last night that he intends to come to UCLA. "UCLA is a very good program," Porter said. "He wanted to stay on the West Coast and he felt comfortable with Coach Howland. It was just a good fit."

GO BRUINS.

Nothing makes me happier then realizing I haven't heard a word about SUC football during the week leading up the rose bowl. If we hired any other coach, we would not have received the media attention and all you would be hearing about is SUC. As it is now, we will hear about them tomorrow, and only after Wednesday if they lose.

I was a little concerned about hiring RN, but in listening to him, and looking at his history, I don't have the slightest bit of hesitation in saying he will be extremely successful, and will do so in an above the board way. He is clearly a mature, thoughtful person who learns from his life experiences, and has unmatched experience for a man his age.

I am most excited to hear RN talking about the importance of running the ball.  I know he can coach and develop qbs. I know he can develop an offense, but really glad to see he understands the importance of toughness, and that he has looked back, evaluated and adapted from his previous experience. I am very encouraged.

I am not surprised, but think his ability to recruit and deal with the media will be unsurpassed. We will have nothing but top 10 recruiting classes from here on out.  We will have a stronger program than SUC by RNs fifth year.

So, to all my fellow bruins, Happy Neu Year! Let's leave the divisiveness of the previous football season behind us in 2007 and look forward to a return to greatness starting in 2008.

Go Bruins!!!!

In Today's LA times.

USC's O.J. mess

The university still honor's Simpson's football career, sending players the wrong message.
By Scott Olin Schmidt
November 7, 2007
Heritage Hall, the athletic department building at the center of USC's campus, has seven Heisman Trophies and their recipients' jerseys on display. Each of the seven players is highlighted in the USC football media guide and game-day programs. Enormous replicas of the retired jerseys are displayed all football season long below the peristyle of the Los Angeles Coliseum.

That's right: USC still celebrates the football career of O.J. Simpson -- who was tried for a double murder, found liable in civil court for the death of his ex-wife and her friend, sued for pirating DirecTV and is scheduled to appear Thursday for a preliminary hearing in Las Vegas, where he is facing several felony charges in connection with an alleged assault on two sports memorabilia dealers.

It just gets better and better. One more paragraph: In recent years, Trojan football players have been arrested for or charged with soliciting a prostitute, spousal battery, sexual assault, simple assault and gun possession, while others have been punished by USC for drug possession and steroid use. And a lack of game-day discipline has been a factor in USC's disappointing season. A holding penalty cost freshman tailback Joe McKnight a touchdown -- and the Trojans the game -- when they played at the University of Oregon on Oct. 27, eliminating USC from the national-title discussion for the first time in five years. There are 119 teams playing Division I college football. Only nine have been penalized more yardage than USC this year. But I guess a personal foul is de minimis when compared with armed robbery and murder. I guess when you get outside of the sports page, its not the trOJan times after all. I was so excited to see this.

Sorry I'm too dumb to block quote, but please reformat. All Bruins should rejoice that the trOJan Times is telling the truth. Now, the times needs to take the next step and urge SUC to forfeit its 2004 and 2005 games as punishment for using paid players. That's what a real newspaper would do.

Bruce Davis deserves better than what he is getting here. Is anyone criticizing his effort? No. Do they criticize his play? Haven't seen much of that. Do they say he isn't a leader? Nope, haven't heard that.

What do they criticize? The fact he said ND OL couldn't block anyone, and guess what they didn't. Our D shut them down. They had 140 yards of total offense for the game.
They criticize him for supporting his coach. Well, what else is he supposed to do? demand he gets fired?  He gets criticized for saying UA is going to try to protect its QB because of his concussion history. True statement again.

I've never seen a group of people so excited to criticize and browbeat a student athlete like we are seeing here.  He is not getting attacked for cheating, or playing poorly, or hurting the team. People need to rethink their treatment of Bruce Davis.

He is a warrior. I am proud that he is a bruin.  I hope our future if filled with Bruce Davis type players.

Why is it okay to criticize Bruce Davis and not okay to criticize Ben Olson?  Criticism related to BOs play is considered off bounds because anything he is lacking in is KDs fault, but criticism of BDs public comments and telling him to "shut the fuck up" are welcome and apparantly his communication with the media is not the fault of KD, unlike BOs game play. It would seem to me a coach could control a players access to the media much more easily than his game performance.

I used to criticize players for their game performance, but realize now that is wrong. It is even more wrong what is currently being said and done to Bruce Davis by many who post here. He deserves better from the Bruin Nation.

at about 1:00 i was at the marriott downtown, and who would be in my elevator but two usc players (They looked samoan, but I don't know who they were) and Pete Carroll.

I had a brief conversation with them which went something like this:

Me: So, who do you guys play today?
Player: Oregon State
PC (to players) isn't interesting that there are people who don't know who we are playing today? It puts things in perspective, doesn't it? To us it seems like the most important thing in the world, but if you went to China, nobody would care.

At this point, I am wondering whether to say I am a bruin, and was pretty sure they were playing OSU, but just wanted to make sure. Instead I thought it was better just to be quiet and see if PC had anything else to say he might not say in front of someone intersted in football. I don't think he knew that I recognized him.

So, the two players get off, I wish them luck, they say thank you.  PC and I are on the elevator, and as he is about to leave, he tells me to have a blessed day, and I respond telling him to take care.

That was it. He was actually very nice, and I thought the way he interacted with his players was interesting, making the game less important rather than more important. He does look a lot older in person and is smaller than I thought.

This just goes to show you how out of touch KD is with his football program, particularly the offense:

Dorrell: "I like what we're doing right now"

UCLA head coach Karl Dorrell was pleased with Wednesday's spirited and intense practice, which included almost an hour of work accompanied by very loud crowd noise.

"I thought the offense looked sharp," he said. "I thought Ben [Olson] looked sharp, he operated pretty well with all of our game-planning things. I like what we're doing right now."

Offense looked great the first three quarters. LOL. Lucky for us we played a team that couldn't punt,  couldn't return a kick without fumbling, and had a worn down defense that was on the field the entire 4th quarter because the offense either fumbled or went 3 and out.

If I hear KD say again how great practice was, or how great such and such player plays and practice, I will scream. How come these great things that KD sees never seem to make it on to the field?  Why is the "execution" always there in pracice but never in game situations?

I'm not sure if he is just dumb, or a liar, but those seem like the two only explanations for so often misjudging your team and its abilities.

Being an optomist by nature, I would often view the UCLA football program as half full, and ignore the deficiencies I saw. Although I knew KD was not a good coach, and knew the WCO could never succeed in college, I would hope that KD would somehow find coordinators who would be able to do something, that his good character would somehow find a way to get it done.

Regardless of how we do in this Utah game (and it is not looking good) it is undeniable to anyone who knows football that KD, in his fifth year, is still not a competent coach. He still doesn not have his players prepared. He has a QB who is not accurate and doesn't make good decisions. He runs an offense that is not productive. He does not feature his best players. He does not adjust his offensive schemes to the strengths of his players.

In this game, the use of Markey instead of Bell, the total incompetency of Olson, getting faked on a fake field goal on 4th and 2 on the 30 AFTER A TIMEOUT!!!! is totally inexcusable, as is the flat play of the team, the excessive penalties, and the overall lack of enthusiasm.

He is Steve Lavin with a conscience.  There is no way KD will meet the requirements we have set for him. He must not coach beyond the 2007 season.

KD must go.

UCLA has issued the following press release:

UCLA fifth-year senior running back Derrick Williams' career has ended. Williams missed most of Spring Practice due to a concussion and has suffered multiple concussions during the past few seasons. Williams made the decision to take a 'medical retirement' and that decision was supported by his family, the UCLA coaches and the UCLA medical staff.

Williams will stay in school, on medical scholarship, and is on schedule to earn his degree in December.

Best wishes Derrick Williams and good luck. I always thought you had a world of talent and its sad to see injuries end a promising career. I was really looking forward to seeing Derrick carry the ball this year.

I haven't hit 200 words yet, but I do think this is important news. Hopefully some of the RB recruits will see the opportunity to play that exists here rather than being 6th on the depth chart at SUC. Ray Carter should get some carries next year.

I wish I were a more wordy writer. I don't have much more to say other than this news, but I must write more in order to get it published.  I could comment on the new Sopranos season, which I find depressing, or I could recommend Langers as the best Deli in SoCal, or I could talk about how I think we will not only win women's tennis, but one ofthe golf titles this year to finish at 102 in 2007.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2007/news/story?id=2874221

Pruitt to remain in NBA draft

ESPN.com news services

Updated: May 17, 2007, 10:49 PM ET

 USC guard Gabe Pruitt, who declared for the NBA draft in April, will hire an agent and remain in the draft, ESPN's Jim Gray has learned.

Pruitt had not hired an agent when he declared last month, meaning he could have returned to school for his senior season if he'd chosen to withdraw by June 18.

The 6-foot-4 Pruitt averaged 12.5 points and 4.2 assists for the Trojans last season, leading the team with 47 steals. USC went 25-12 last season, losing in the NCAA regional semifinals to North Carolina. He is the 25th-leading scorer in school history with 1,102 points.

Looks like Timmeh! might be looking at tough times next year. Pruitt has hired an agent, so is in the draft. With Pruitt, Young, and Stewart gone, It looks like the Trojans will be limited to Mayo's chucking the ball towards the basket 50 times a game. No wonder Mayo decided to commit.  The money he's getting paid, and the ability to shoot the ball all the time are golden to a "student" athlete like him.

Looks like SUC will never reach the "magical level" they got to under Henry Bibby again. Timmeh!'s sweet 16 meltdown will probably be the pinnacle of his career at SUC.