First a quick football note. Newport Harbor's Trevor Theriot, who will be a walking on to the Bruin football team this program, shined during past weekend's Shrine game, which is an all-star game matching up the best between public highschools v. the private ones. Public side won, and Theriot was the defensive MVP. Congrats to him, and we look forward to seeing him running all over the Rose Bowl sometime in the near future.
We are going to get back to more football stuff later, but right now we are on a roll with hoops because of lots of fresh new information. Let's start with Mav. He has some fresh goods over at Maverickbruin.com on our hoops program for the off season. Here is the teaser he posted on Bruinzone:
On the Basketball page, we now have the entire roster for each Pac-10 team set forth in chart form by class, so you can see at a glance not only who each team has coming back this season, but where and at what positions they look to be strong or weak in the years to come. Also provided are RSCI (Recruiting Services Consensus Index) rankings and star rankings (Rivals and Scout) for each player, as well as last year's point/rebounds/assists stats for each.
The good news is, UCLA looks to be as talented as anyone in the Pac-10 and has as much returning talent as anyone as well. Although Arizona will (and should be) favored, there is no reason the Bruins can't win the Pac-10 this season, and we ought to be able to beat Stanford at least once.
Make sure to check it out. Also, staying with the hoops theme, found this neat article which has the Coach's thoughts on San Antonio Spur's Tim Duncan. More including excerpts from that article, which appeared in the San Antonio Express-News (subscrip. req'd), after the flip.
The good news is, UCLA looks to be as talented as anyone in the Pac-10 and has as much returning talent as anyone as well. Although Arizona will (and should be) favored, there is no reason the Bruins can't win the Pac-10 this season, and we ought to be able to beat Stanford at least once.
The Coach digs the "Big-Fundamental":
"I like Tim Duncan very much," Wooden said Friday in a telephone interview from his home in Encino, Calif., near Los Angeles. "He's always been one of my favorite players. I saw him play at Wake Forest and met him when he received the college player of the year award."
Duncan received the Wooden Award as a senior in 1997, and was selected by the Spurs with the first pick of the NBA Draft. He and center David Robinson, who received the Wooden Award in 1987, won NBA titles together in 1999 and 2003.
[...]
From the soft touch on his signature bank shot to his footwork and variety of post moves to his temperament, Duncan plays the game the way Wooden coached it.
"I love the bank shot and Tim probably uses the board more than any other player in the NBA today," Wooden said.
Wooden said he admires Duncan's cool demeanor.
"One writer in a story I read referred to him as stoic," Wooden said. "But that's Tim Duncan. He's into the game. I never wanted my players to get too excited. For every peak, there's a valley."
Wooden compared Duncan to former UCLA forward Keith Wilkes, who played on two national-championship teams with Bill Walton in the early 1970s.
"You never noticed how much Keith was getting done because he was so smooth that he made what he was doing look effortless," Wooden said. "I never saw him lose his temper.
"Tim reminds me of Keith. He doesn't let adversity get to him. He plays his game and is very consistent."
"I love the bank shot and Tim probably uses the board more than any other player in the NBA today," Wooden said.
Wooden said he admires Duncan's cool demeanor.
"One writer in a story I read referred to him as stoic," Wooden said. "But that's Tim Duncan. He's into the game. I never wanted my players to get too excited. For every peak, there's a valley."
Wooden compared Duncan to former UCLA forward Keith Wilkes, who played on two national-championship teams with Bill Walton in the early 1970s.
"You never noticed how much Keith was getting done because he was so smooth that he made what he was doing look effortless," Wooden said. "I never saw him lose his temper.
"Tim reminds me of Keith. He doesn't let adversity get to him. He plays his game and is very consistent."
The Coach is class. Personally I didn't watch any of the NBA finals - just don't get into the Association, when the Lakeshow is not involved. We are certainly hoping we are going to see lot of the same intangibles Duncans and Spurs apparently showed in the Finals (hey I did watch the Sportscenter highlights, and I will take the Coach's word on Duncan) will show up in the play of our basketball team this year and beyond, now that we have a coach like Howland whose bread and butter is featuring teams playing tough and fundamental defense. From all the scouting reports of recruits high school senior year games, off season scrimmages, and the way we made the tourney last year, we have lots to be excited about. Off to starting my work week. Will be back later today or sometime soon.Duncan received the Wooden Award as a senior in 1997, and was selected by the Spurs with the first pick of the NBA Draft. He and center David Robinson, who received the Wooden Award in 1987, won NBA titles together in 1999 and 2003.
[...]
From the soft touch on his signature bank shot to his footwork and variety of post moves to his temperament, Duncan plays the game the way Wooden coached it.
"I love the bank shot and Tim probably uses the board more than any other player in the NBA today," Wooden said.
Wooden said he admires Duncan's cool demeanor.
"One writer in a story I read referred to him as stoic," Wooden said. "But that's Tim Duncan. He's into the game. I never wanted my players to get too excited. For every peak, there's a valley."
Wooden compared Duncan to former UCLA forward Keith Wilkes, who played on two national-championship teams with Bill Walton in the early 1970s.
"You never noticed how much Keith was getting done because he was so smooth that he made what he was doing look effortless," Wooden said. "I never saw him lose his temper.
"Tim reminds me of Keith. He doesn't let adversity get to him. He plays his game and is very consistent."
"I love the bank shot and Tim probably uses the board more than any other player in the NBA today," Wooden said.
Wooden said he admires Duncan's cool demeanor.
"One writer in a story I read referred to him as stoic," Wooden said. "But that's Tim Duncan. He's into the game. I never wanted my players to get too excited. For every peak, there's a valley."
Wooden compared Duncan to former UCLA forward Keith Wilkes, who played on two national-championship teams with Bill Walton in the early 1970s.
"You never noticed how much Keith was getting done because he was so smooth that he made what he was doing look effortless," Wooden said. "I never saw him lose his temper.
"Tim reminds me of Keith. He doesn't let adversity get to him. He plays his game and is very consistent."
GO BRUINS.