Will start with hoops today. Josh Shipp had hip surgery and he will be sidelined till December. Get well soon Josh. Josh is one of my favorite players in the Bruin squad. This surgery is a tough loss for the team early part of the season - but I think something really positive will come out of this as it will give Cedrick Bozeman a chance to fit in Jordan, Aaron et al, after having to sit out last season. Plus it will give the incoming frosh Michael Roll and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute opportunities to gel and to get used to Coach Howland's system. Shipp is tough kid. He will be back by the time conference season gets underway and be in full form by the time action really heats up starting in late January.
Ok ... on to football, staying with LA Times, Lonnie White follows Dohn from yesterday and reports on Wesley Walker returning to the LBing rotation. Speaking of Dohn, Brian has a profile on how the DO is leading "UCLA's resurgence":
UCLA quarterback Drew Olson was battered by defenses as a sophomore, and he was questioned last year whether he could lead the Bruins to a big win or back to national prominence.
Even during the offseason, while Olson was recovering from reconstructive knee surgery, fans clamored for heralded-but-unproven Ben Olson (Thousand Oaks High), or even Patrick Cowan, because they were convinced Drew Olson was not the answer.
Now, as Drew Olson leads the undefeated, 20th-ranked Bruins into their Pacific-10 Conference opener Saturday against Washington at the Rose Bowl, he is the sixth-most efficient passer in the nation. He also has a great presence in the huddle, the confidence of his coaches, and he is quieting the naysayers.
Let me add my 2 cents into this. I am a big DO fan. I always liked how this kid and his family handled themselves with so much class, when KD was f&cking up a messy QB competition between DO and Matt Moore. What frustrated me more than anything was that the coaches did not exhibit any kind of leadership in ameliorating the messy QB controversy leaving both of these kids unguarded in presence of LA media. DO handled the pressure well, but Moore didn't. So he left with a bad taste in his mouth. DO has done OK (stat wise) in last two seasons. He has stayed healthy getting injured just once. (knock on wood). But the fact remains that we still need to see whether he can win the big games down the stretch. We hope he will be able to show that he can win one of those crunch time games this season. Lot of people are saying he showed that he can do exactly that against OU, but I am still not sold on the Sooners being a decent football team, considering how a quarterback from the Tulsa football program sliced up their secondary. But I have my fingers crossed that DO is the answer. I am hoping he will get us that double digit wins and bust the insufferable streak against USC. However, just in case, I still believe KD should get the other Olson some legit playing time this Saturday so that we can be ready for any kind of disastrous scenario. KD says (according to Lonnie) that BO will play this Saturday. Let's hope he plays him even if the game is close (it shouldn't be). Because that will help the Bruin football program, without taking any glow off DO's spectacular start to this football season.
GO BRUINS.
