Morning, folks. It’s back to the answers. There will be five sets of them today, and here is the 19th set of answers overall:
What type of contribution do you expect from the freshmen for basketball this season? who do you expect to be impact players by end of the year?
I think guard Jrue Holiday will be the only impact player for the freshman. If any of the other freshmen are called upon to play a huge role, I think that is trouble for UCLA. I think Drew Gordon and J’mison Morgan need to give 15 to 18 minutes because of a thin front court.
Do you think that Holiday will have as big an impact as Love had last year?
No, because Love was able to impact so many different areas – scoring, rebounding, outside shooting, even defending (to a point) and he also could get opposing bigs in foul trouble. And this answer is no slight on Holiday.
Do you think UCLA has a fighting chance against Oregon this weekend?
Yes, because I heard Oregon did not have great practices early in the week, plus there could be a lull after the humbling loss to USC.
Do you have something against Forbath? He seems like a nice kid with a lot of talent. Lately you seem to be reporting negatively toward him. Today I read in many newspapers that he worked with the first-team kickoff yesterday and Neuheisel is considering having him kickoff. Why didn’t you report that?
I have nothing against Forbath, and the reason I didn’t report it is because I didn’t cover practice Wednesday. Jill Painter covered it and wrote the notebook, so if you want, you can email her to complain.
None of the RB’s seem to be able to bounce to the outside. Is there any expectation that Bell (never fast to start) or Carter (very fast) will recover their respective speed to be able to make the edge in the future? This has to be a big concern with Carter.
Not being able to get to the corner is a big issue, and I think you are on the money with your assessment of Carter. That was an element he was supposed to bring to the offense, but he doesn’t look like he has the speed or burst to get to the edge. I think it is one of the reasons UCLA went to the direct snap to the running back several times lately.
how was practice this week? that of a team prepared to pull an upset?
I don’t know about an upset, but I thought practice went well. If UCLA loses, I don’t think it will be because of a poor week of practice, or because the players weren’t putting forth the needed effort in preparation.
Can you load a soundbytes of the “Getting to Know” Q&A?
No, I prefer not to post the audio of my one-on-one interviews.
Did Reggie Carter and Brian Price crack up at the off the wall questions or did they look at like you’re a weirdo?
They laughed and had a good time with it. Keep in mind, I know these guys pretty well, and I joke around with them enough for them to expect some comic relief now and again.