UCLA hoops coach Ben Howland was asked about the chemistry between the seniors and freshmen this season.
“I think it was okay,” he said. “Our freshmen came in with, obviously, high expectations. Now, you are talking about each guy individually as well as our team, what we have accomplished the last previous three years, leading up to this year, but yet we lost an enormous amount from teams before. It is always hard when you are in your first year of college for just about any player. It is very rare that you have a guy that has an exceptional freshman year, the way Kevin Love did for an example.
“You go back and think about Jordan Farmar, Arron Afflalo and Russell Westbrook and Trevor Ariza, and the guys that have gone off to the next level. They had a solid freshman year, but no one was like Kevin. Luc (Richard Mbah Moute) had a very good freshman year, he was solid, but it’s hard. …I expect for our freshmen to take a big jump between this summer and next year.
“Russell (Westbrook) was a classic example of that. He was the ultimate in that.”