January 2008 Archives

The Long Beach State men's basketball team is down a couple of members after the Saturday announcement that Coach Dan Monson has dismissed junior Artis Gant and redshirt freshman Darnell Porter from the squad.

I was just handed the athletic department press release (all one paragraph of it) from Sports Information Director Steve Janisch as I set down in my courtside seat in the Cal State Northridge gymnasium, an hour before the tipoff of the Big West Conference game and the host Matadors.

The only details in the release are that Gant (7.4 points per game, over nine games and four starts) and Porter (also 7.4, he played in all 17 games and started 11 of them) are that the players "have been dismissed from the team due to attitudes detrimental to the team."

Both played in the team's most recent game, an 80-77 overtime, non-conference loss to Cal State Bakersfield Wednesday night in the Walter Pyramid.

I'll endeavor to get more details from Monson after the game.

Lauren Heard, a walk-on guard from Jordan High who had been redshirting, is suited up (and warming up with the team right now). I'll find out soon enough if Monson plans to play him or just keep him available for "insurance" purposes. Long Beach has 10 other currently active players on the roster.

It's the Bruins vs. Trojans, Pauley Pavilion . . . Denzel Washington and Magic Johnson are supposed to be here . . . so are Kevin Love and O.J. Mayo.

Fire up!
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3:20
And now . . . on to Riverside (about 72 miles from here) and the 7 o'clock Long Beach State at UC Riverside game. I wonder how many other people in Pauley Pavilion today are joining me for that "doubleheader"?

2:35
Well, the look of the national ratings just took a big hit.
The Trojans dominated the final few minutes of play for a 72-63 victory -- roughly at the same time that Maryland stunned top-ranked North Carolina, 82-80, in Chapel Hill.
Freaky.
Back to the UCLA-USC game, for now . . .
Davon Jefferson had the game of his college career, scoring 25 points, including the final eight of the game after Taj Gibson blocked a floater by Darren Collison that would have put the Bruins in front with 1:11 to play.
Suddenly, Arizona State is playing at Stanford later this evening with the opportunity to grab sole possession of the Pac 10 lead . . . the same ASU team that was picked to finish ninth in the preseason.
2:20
It's tied at 57 with 5:19 to go . . . the Bruins were up six then fell apart on four consecutive possessions (blown layup, two bad 3's and a turnover) and USC has scored six in a row in transition. And Howland just took his final timeout.
O.J. Mayo scored only 16 points for the Trojans and I heard that Billy Packer was carving him up on the CBS broadcast. But I thought Mayo played very, very well.
USC Coach Tim Floyd did a tremendous job of letting his players create isolation situations, in which they could out-quick guys on drives. And Floyd's changing defenses were never really solved by the Bruins, who didn't play with the kind of patience and recognition on many possessions that would have led to higher quality attempts.
And now the Trojans, after an 0-3 start to conference play, are back in the Pac-10 hunt after picking up a big at-large bid bargaining chip.
So who is No. 1 now after the Tar Heels' first loss? Take your choice, Memphis or Kansas. I'll go with the Jayhawks, assuming they can beat Missouri in Columbia.
And, based on what happened in Westwood and in Chapel Hill, that isn't a given.

2:12
Timeout, UCLA 52-49 and Love will shoot two free throws when plays resumes. UCLA's defense is the difference right now . . . USC hasn't scored in almost four minutes.

2:00
The game is heating up . . . USC was up by eight and now the the Bruins are up by two.
Josh Shipp is bailing the Bruins out.

1:47
Ben Howland just called his third timeout and with good reason: USC is now in front, 44-37, with 15:32 to go. The Trojans are playing well, now, and the Bruins still aren't. It's as bad, offensively, as UCLA has played all season.

1:31
Didn't I tell you it was a sloppy half of basketball? Looking at the halftime stats: USC 13 turnovers, UCLA has nine. And UCLA is hitting just 33 percent from the field. How are the Bruins still in front? They've got 16 offensive rebounds (to USC's four).

1:22
Halftime, UCLA 32-31 . . . . very sloppy half for both clubs. The Bruins had about six turnovers in the last six or seven minutes.
Someone just said that Billy Packer or Vern Lundquist (doing the national CBS broadcast) referred to Trojan guard O.J. Mayo as "O.J SImpson" before quickly correcting himself. Well, they both play for the Trojans and wear (or wore) uniform No. 32 . . .

1:13
Timeout ... and UCLA dance team is performing to "Tainted Love" by . . . Soft Cell! UCLA up 29-27, 3:37 to go. Sloppy game . . .

1:10
UCLA 26, USC 25 and the Trojans are back in it.
Four turnovers on the last five UCLA possessions: Not surprisingly, Ben Howland called a timeout.

1:01
Taj Gibson will attempt to complete the 3-POINT-PLAY! after the timeout, which would cut UCLA's lead to 22-18 with 7:57 to play. UCLA is playing pretty good defense but, offensively, the Bruins still seem a bit out of sync against the Trojans' changing defenses.

12:52
It's tied at 11.
USC is back in a triangle-and-2. Mayo is playing with solid patience, offensively. He just made a nice penetration and, when help came, he found freshman Angelo Johnson in the left corner and he nailed a 3 to tie the score.

12:42
First TV timeout and it's UCLA 6, USC 4.
The Trojans came out in a triangle-and-2 defense for a few possessions, and have gone to a 2-3 now. Russell Westbrook penetrated it nicely and fed to Kevin Love for a dunk and the Bruins' 5th and 6th points. Westbrook is guarding O.J. Mayo straight up and he has yet to attempt a shot. He'll take a few before the game's over, though. Wink, wink.

If you don't have a ticket for Saturday's UCLA-USC Pac-10 tussle in Pauley Pavilion, not to worry:

You can still see some dynamite hoops action in the building later that evening, via the 14th Dominguez High/Pangos Dream Classic.

UCLA fans that are in the building earlier in the day for the game with the Trojans will be tempted to hang around Westwood Village a few hours before returning later in the evening to watch a kid who’ll be in a Bruin next season.

The triple-header begins with Cabrillo taking on L.A. Windward at 6, followed by Dominguez and Riverside Martin Luther King (which is 15-1, with that only loss coming to unbeaten Mater Dei) at approximately 7:30 and Campbell Hall and South Atlanta at about 9 or so.

Campbell Hall is led by Jrue Holiday, who finished atop the balloting for the Best in the West team in a November, a few days before he signed a letter of intent with UCLA.

South Atlanta has one of the two best junior center prospects in the country in 6-9 Derrick Favors who, a year from now, could easily be rated No. 1 overall prospect in the national class of 2009.

Admission is $15 for floor-level seats and $10 for general admission, upper-level seats. They’re available at UCLA’s ticket office, as well as the usual Ticketmaster outlets, including its website.

Pepperdine basketball coach Vance Walberg reportedly resigned Thursday morning, with his team holding a 6-12 record, including 0-2 in the West Coast Conference, in just his second season.

There had been a lot of speculation on the basketball grapevine in recent weeks that Walberg's relationship with his players and administration was hitting the rocky stage.

Don't be surprise to see UCLA assistant coach Donny Daniels surface as a candidate for the Waves' job. He was a finalist when Walberg was hired (from Fresno City College) two springs ago.

UCLA vs. Washington State, should be a good one . . . Bruins up 5-0 after first TV timeout . .
1:35
My, oh, my . . . UCLA won, 81-74. But "survive" is the better word. The freakin' WSU Cougars hit SEVEN consecutive 3's in 1:22 down the stretch to cut their deficit to three points with 13.6 seconds to go before Kevin Love's two free throws, and then a breakaway dunk by Josh Shipp after Derrick Low FINALLY missed from 3.
Wow . . . the Bruins looked so good defensively until the last five minutes or so. WSU scored 52 points after intermission, 24 of them by Low.
So it's a big victory over against previously unbeaten WSU (another unbeaten, Vanderbilt, just lost in double OT at Kentucky, by the way).
But Ben Howland can't be happy about all of the defensive breakdowns down the stretch. Of course, some sizzling shooting had a lot to do with those 3's as well!

1:02
The Cougars are rallying . . . 51-41, UCLA, with 9;10 to go ..

12:42
It's Bruins 42, Cougars 24 after Kevin Love's 3-point from the top of the key. And Ben Howland immediately called time out after the shot so he could get Westbrook into the game with 16:56 to go. He ain't waiting for no stinking TV timeout!

12:20
It's halftime, and UCLA is in front, 35-22.
And the Cougars are probably fortunate to be only trailing by 13, as Taylor Rochestie hit a contested 3 from deep in the left corner at the buzzer.
The Bruins, or anyone else, for that matter, can't play better half-court defense than they did in the first half.
But, as I said, WSU is fortunate to only trail by 13 points at intermission. It was 28-10 with 4:14 remaining after Russell Westbrook's pull-up jumper. The Cougars scored their final 12 points in the final 3:51 of the half.

12:02
Third TV timeout . . . Bruins 20, Cougars 8 . . . Defense is dominating this thing (no surprise) and there must be 16 turnovers between the teams. But UCLA is hitting shots, or, just enough of them to hold a 12-point lead with 7:15 remaining in the first half.

11:50
Gee, I barely got the last entry posted and the Bruins ran off a 6-1 run. Their defense is clicking.

11:45 a.m.
There have been six turnovers, and Josh Shipp has hit a 3 and Darren Collison a driving layup for the Bruins. And that's been it.

Seeing Tony Bennett in the Mater Dei Arena reminds me that I will be blogging from Pauley Pavilion during the Washington State-UCLA game.

You've been warned!

I'm courtside for one of the key high school basketball games of the season in Southern California. And I'm bloggin', baby!

8:55
Final: Mater Dei 74, Santa Margarita 61 .....the Monarchs looked very good indeed (it was my first in-person viewing of them this season). They definitely are in strong contention for the No. 1 seed in the Southern Section's IAA division after pushing record to 17-0. By the way, they are now getting ready to transport Zaragosa out of the building via ambulence. My guess it's some sort of concussion, as well as a nasty cut.

8:37
Lost my last entry for techical reasons.....5:53 to go in fourth quarter, Mater Dei 54, Santa Margarita 47. And Zack Zaragosa of the Eagles just went out with gash over eye. Still seven wtih 5:10 to go.

8:13
Coaches' report:
Head coaches Tony Bennett (Washington State; Klay Thompson is going there), Rodney Tention (Loyola Marymount) and Bill Grier (University of San Diego) are here, as are assistants Marty Wilson (Utah), Bill Carr (USD) and Calvin Byrd (LMU).

8:06 p.m.
The first half just ended and it was a good one: Mater Dei 35, Santa Margarita 32.
Klay Thompson scored a nifty drive to the left at the buzzer (he was fouled by two Monarchs; neither was called for it) for the Eagles' final points of the half.
David Wear (15 points) was tremendous for Mater Dei and the Monarchs probably need 30 out of him to win this one. Six-eight Jaime Serna picked up his third foul late in the second quarter for Santa Margarita. He had 11 points before going to the bench. Wear and sophomore guard Gary Franklin have 26 of their team's points.

7:12 p.m.
Bad news for the host Monarchs. Travis Wear, the 6-9 junior who, along with his twin brother, David, committed to North Carolina last week, is probably going to be sidelined for a month. I just talked to their dad, and Dave Wear said Travis suffered a deep bruise (of sorts) to his left shin in Mater Dei's win over JSerra Wednesday night. Yep, I see Travis now on crutches. Anyway, the earliest it seems that he could possibly be back in action is for the Feb. 2 Nike Extravaganza at Mater Dei.

Two of the elite juniors on the high school basketball scene have decided upon a college to enroll at in the late summer of 2009.

And twins David and Travis Wear of Mater Dei High say that North Carolina, and not UCLA or Arizona, is their school of choice.

Their father, Dave Wear, just informed me of his sons' decisions.

"The decision is a little abrupt and I thought they would wait until the end of this season (to make a college decision)," Wear said by telephone.

"But they came home from Las Vegas (the Monarchs played a game at Durango High Wednesday) and told me they knew where they wanted to go (to college) and wanted clear their minds and make their decision and get this over with."

The 6-foot-9 twins, who are standouts on Mater Dei's 14-0 team, have been national recruiting targets since enrolling at the Santa Ana high school.

Their father said his sons contacted UNC Coach Roy Williams by telephone earlier Friday with his decision "and I told them I'd call the other coaches," he said.

Wear said he told assistants Donny Daniels (UCLA) and Miles Simon (Arizona) of his sons' decision and was still trying to get in touch with those schools' head coaches (Ben Howland and Kevin O'Neill, respectively).