Can't say I am too surprised given the events of this past season. Mike is leaving UCLA after spring quarter:
"Mike is a good kid, a great student and a very hard worker," Howland said. "I have enjoyed having him in our program. He has a great attitude and I'm supportive of him finding a program where he will have a chance to play more minutes than we envision he will have here."
Moser averaged 0.6 points and 0.5 rebounds per game while appearing in 15 of the 32 contests without making a start during the 2009-10 season. He played in 70 minutes (4.7 minutes per game) while shooting 20.0 percent (4-for-20) from the field and 9.1 percent (1-for-11) from three-point range on the year. His season high of three points (came on his only three-pointer of the year), was in the 69-67 loss to then No. 12 Butler on Nov. 27, 2009.
"The way the season worked out for me this year, I feel it is necessary for me personally, to make a move somewhere else so I can play," Moser said. "I have enjoyed my time here at UCLA and have built great relationships with my coaches and teammates. I'm going to stay in Division I and haven't spoken to anyone at all about playing. I won't rush into a decision. I'll just wait and see what happens in the next few weeks."
Tough news. I really wish we had a chance to see Moser develop in this program but we can't blame him for this decision. Also, clearly it was not an issue of his attitude as noted in the difference in the tone of Howland's comments in this case compared to the "dismissal" press release for Bobo Morgan.
These are interesting times for UCLA basketball. I think it is a reasonable to speculate that this will not be the last "news" (in terms of departures) coming out of UCLA basketball program during this off-season. We will see how Ben Howland handles all of it in the coming weeks.
GO BRUINS.
UPDATE (N): Let's pick up on the "reset" we did less than a week ago. We now have just 6 scholarship guys left in the program and 3 earmarked for signed/committed recruits:
In School:
1. Malcolm Lee
2. Tyler Honeycutt
3. Jerime Anderson
4. Reeves Nelson
5. Anthony Stover
6. Brendan Lane (just had surgery)
Committed:
7. Josh Smith
8. Tyler Lamb
9. Lazeric Jones
Actually we just have 5 healthy scholarship players on the roster now since Lane will probably be out at least 5 months or so due to his surgery. He might even be a candidate for medical red-shirt next season. As mentioned above we might even see more attrition before we are done this season. Not to mention we are probably looking at additional coaching turnover in the coming weeks. GO BRUINS.