I think the UCLA basketball program has been having a pretty good off-season in general (knocking on wood here). At the end of the season both Tyler Honeycutt and Malcolm Lee decided to stay away from testing the NBA waters (they didn't bother even trying out). We have had some nagging injuries and surgeries, but it sounds like most of our guys have are on track to come back.
We added the Wear twins from North Carolina to our roster, who will be ready to contribute in about a year after getting fully adjusted to Ben Ball at Pauley. Josh Smith has been working hard on conditioning this off-season by all accounts. Now there is speculation about some amazing news that can give the entire UCLA basketball community a huge jolt. A JOLT like this:
Yes, there is intense speculation right now that Coach Howland might be thinking about adding one of our all time favorite Bruins of all time to the UCLA basketball staff. There might be something to it. Let's see if we can connect some dots after the jump.
Edney has been around UCLA a lot. He was prominent and high profile presence during the ground breaking ceremony for Pauley renovation (appearing in an official video with Howland). Of course he attended Coach's public memorial.
He has been reportedly looking to get back into coaching. Guess what, there might be a spot open in Ben Howland's staff for him. Let's see here. Joe Hillock has been our Director of Basketball Operations ("DBO") for last few years. He had applied for the job for the women's head coaching position at Cal State Northridge and he tweeted this on July 23rd:
Big News Coming... Stay Tuned!
Hmm. Today we find out Joe Hillock is no longer listed in Howland's staff as "Director of Basketball Operations." So we don't have a DBO anymore and there is a spot open in our staff. So something (good) might be moving on that front. I don't know. This seems to be the case of where there is smoke, there is fire.
Is Tyus coming home? Not sure. The signs are pretty strong though. If he does come home, not only this will be a huge jolt, but an emotional one for many alums like yours truly, who started UCLA at the same time and experienced that magical run in 1995. On a practical level, having Tyus in there would also be a huge boon to Howland because he could potential serve as the perfect mentor to our young point guards, communicating with them on a personal level on what it means to lead those four letters on John & Nell Wooden Court.
Having Edney back home would be awesome. It will be the kind of emotional experience we all felt, when CRN came home. Let's see what happens. Just thinking about it get me fired up.
GO BRUINS.