Tuesday UCLA Basketball Press Conference Notes

The press conference today was all about the rotations.  Steve Alford is still searching for the best combinations and team.

First the wild card. Tony Parker turned his ankle. He will miss practice but should play on Thursday. UCLA has other options here but again, Tony seems likely to play.

On GG. Alford made the point that GG minutes are not a change in the rotation but rather coming back to what was planned before his injury. GG was supposed to be our starting four.  Big-Big was a response to GG's injury seemingly.

On Noah Allen. Alford gets a bizarre smile on his face as he discusses Noah's toughness and experience. He later praises Noah for accepting his role as the guy who may or may not play.

On Prince Ali. It sounds like Ali has been put on the deep bench. Alford says its hard to get Alex Olesinski and Ali in the game this time of year. Reading between the lines, it is about next year for these two.

He goes on to compare Ali to a young Norman Powell. Not ready yet but great potential from an elite athlete.

Which brings us to the last part of the presser, UW. Again Alford understands the problem. He says that UCLA has struggled with athletic teams like UW.

Alford gets the problem. But who is UCLA's least athletic and worst guard defender? Hint it is also the player who leads us in minutes . Not sure there is a solution until Steve acknowledges Bryce's limitations.

That said Ali has looked raw and even more so than Bryce he drives to the hoop with little finesse . I get what Steve is saying is that Ali has had his chance and now you have to go with the best now, not future potential. Noah gives us some D and Ali is not ready yet.  But that should not mean 37 minutes of Bryce a night.

Fire away below with your thoughts on how the minutes and rotation should work.

Go Bruins!