From Diane Pucin in the LAT:
"I'm so excited," said Love who was flying home to Lake Oswego, Ore. "I love Los Angeles, don't get me wrong. But I'm happy to be getting to go back home to Oregon. I didn't expect it. This will be my first time home since I got here."
Shipp is always home in Los Angeles, but the UCLA junior said this would be the first time in almost two years that he, his younger brother Jerren (who is a sophomore basketball player at Arizona State) and his older brother Joe (who is playing for a professional team in Spain) are all home at the same time.
Juniors Mbah a Moute and Alfred Aboya will be spending their third straight Christmas in Los Angeles instead of home in Cameroon.
Mbah a Moute said if he were at home it would be much like Christmas in the United States. "You do food. The family gets together, you get presents, everybody opens up their presents, you eat food."
Aboya said his family would go to church, come home and have a family dinner. And presents? "I'm too old for presents," Aboya said. And there wouldn't be a Christmas tree either. "We light up the house," Aboya said, "but no Christmas tree."
Both Mbah a Moute and Aboya said they had no plans for Christmas in Los Angeles though Howland said he wasn't worried the two would be alone. "They have a lot of friends they've made. Cameroonians, girlfriends," Howland said.
Also far from home is Serbian sophomore forward Nikola Dragovic. He said the Serbian Christmas is Jan. 7 and that his mother will come to Los Angeles next month to celebrate the holiday.
Here is rest of the report which has DC quotes insisting his knee is "not an issue," and Coach Howland saying despite Love getting lot of touches on Sat, there is still room for improvement when it comes to feeding the post.Shipp is always home in Los Angeles, but the UCLA junior said this would be the first time in almost two years that he, his younger brother Jerren (who is a sophomore basketball player at Arizona State) and his older brother Joe (who is playing for a professional team in Spain) are all home at the same time.
Juniors Mbah a Moute and Alfred Aboya will be spending their third straight Christmas in Los Angeles instead of home in Cameroon.
Mbah a Moute said if he were at home it would be much like Christmas in the United States. "You do food. The family gets together, you get presents, everybody opens up their presents, you eat food."
Aboya said his family would go to church, come home and have a family dinner. And presents? "I'm too old for presents," Aboya said. And there wouldn't be a Christmas tree either. "We light up the house," Aboya said, "but no Christmas tree."
Both Mbah a Moute and Aboya said they had no plans for Christmas in Los Angeles though Howland said he wasn't worried the two would be alone. "They have a lot of friends they've made. Cameroonians, girlfriends," Howland said.
Also far from home is Serbian sophomore forward Nikola Dragovic. He said the Serbian Christmas is Jan. 7 and that his mother will come to Los Angeles next month to celebrate the holiday.
I also noted rye's (as usual) excellent diary on who will step up for AA. I will have more thoughts on that topic later. All I can say right now based on the first eleven games it seems like its RW, who is emerging as the natural/emotional leader of this team with his attacking mentality on both sides of the court. While Shipp will have his share of money bombs during the course of the season and DC will round into form, I think it will be RW, who will step up and provide that AA like fiery spark of leadership.
For now though let the boys enjoy their X-Mas break and then come back to provide more fun memories of yet another season of Ben Ball warriors. On that note I am out till Wed. am. Menelaus should have something on behalf of all of us later tonight or early tomorrow am.
Merry X-Mas to all of you.
I am out.
GO BRUINS.