Answers, Part VII

Thanks again for your work Mr. Dohn. Hope the vaycay was off the hook partying all night. Is Ben Howland putting in more of an effort to have a better offense? It is so BORING. Let the kids play.
Howland is a defensive coach who, by now, I do not believe will make major alterations to his coaching style.

Has Josh Shipp ever considered changing his shooting form? Putting his feet together is awkward and can be unbalanced. His outside shooting has really dropped off.
Actually, his outside shooting has not really dropped off. He is a 32 percent career 3-point shooter, and what he did last season isn't really that far off from how he shot throughout his career.

Do you think Collison is holding back a little in an effort to get more players involved in the early season?
Nope. I think that is Collison's style. He is not one to hold back for the sake of holding back. He knows one of the knocks on him is he needs to get his teammates more involved, so that is what he is doing.

Does Holiday's no-show against Texas end the one-and-done talk?
No way. One game doesn't mean an NBA team isn't going to take him. Again, the NBA drafts underclassmen on projections and potential more than current ability.

Do you think Howland has the guts to play the freshmen meaningful minutes in tight conference games to prepare them for next year?
There will be no thought of preparing players for next year. Howland is all about winning the next game in front of him.

Ever year I'm frustrated that Coach Howland shows so little faith in his freshman (with a few exceptions). Why is Howland so quick with the hook? It seems like Bobo and Gordon could use more significant minutes, before conference play, other than just mop up time.
I would like to see both of them play more, but I don't agree with Howland's decision not to play freshmen. He played Jordan Farmar, Arron Afflalo, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Josh Shipp huge minutes as freshman, same with Kevin Love and Jrue Holiday. And if memory serves correctly, he also played Darren Collison nearly 20 minutes a game as a freshman.

How does UCLA divide up time at Pauley, men's gym, and elsewhere for all the teams that need to practice? Does men's BB get priority?
There is no priority given, but the schedules are set up for the season and each team has its time slot.

You tend to stay away from the gossip and drama of recruiting. Is that because the gossip is not newsworthy?
I don't deal in gossip. I deal in fact, and information only from trusted and proven sources. I find it laughable when someone writes or says "reliable sources.'' Does that mean they use information from unreliable sources. If I publish something, you can bet it has been fact checked and researched well.