UCLA BB recruiting

How could Holiday not make his decision until mid June. Isn't the deadline April?

If Holiday declares for the draft but does not hire an agent, he has until a week before the draft to pull his name out. Josh Shipp did it last year.

If Holiday doesn't come back and holds out his NBA intentions to the last minute UCLA will be so screwed. We need another combo guard.

This is one of those times where Jrue has to think about himself and not UCLA, as painful as it is for us. He's in a tough draft situation because of his mediocre play this year. We all want him to come back, but theres a good possibility that we will get the worse situation, he leaves at the last moment, and all of the recruits that could be offered will be re-committed.

I understand JH's dilemma in needing to test the waters and see if he's a first round pick or not, but in doing so he's essentially holding UCLA hostage until June. We should just proceed as if he's a goner and start recruiting those aforementioned names NOW...

Jure Holiday is UCLA's biggest bust in years. Let's hope he goes pro so we don't ever have see him stink up the court at Pauley again.

ESPN.com is reporting that Holiday will enter the draft but not hire an agent. I wonder if that will assist in our recruiting efforts.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2009/news/story?id=4056438

Underachieving Troy,

As a USC fan, I would have loved to have had Jrue Holiday on our team, if only for one year. How can someone be a bust when he is the fourth option on offense (seemingly, behind Collison, Shipp, and Aboya or one of the spot up shooters) and was often given the job of guarding the others team's top scorers and did that job with outstanding results, except for 10 minutes against Washington St? You saw his ability when the ball was placed in his hands when Collison was out of the game and created offense by driving to the basket and either scoring or dishing late in year. Your blame should be placed on Collison who often held onto the ball with pointless dribbling.

And don't give me any of this "blank stare" stuff I keep reading about. Just because you don't wear your emotions on your sleeve doesn't mean you don't care. It usually is a sign of self-control.

ESPN.com reports Jrue is declaring, hasn't hired an agent:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/draft2009/news/story?id=4056438

Unless the person is the missing link on a National Championship team or at least a Final 4 the one and done is a wasted scholarship in my opinion.

I agree with those who say Holiday has every right to take his time and decide what is best for him and his family. I also think that those people who say he was a bust are very harsh. However, I do wonder if Jrue does leave if Ben Howland in retrospect would think all the time and effort put into recruiting him and what was lost by not knowing when he comes back was worth it.

The NBA needs to go the way of baseball. If you want to go straight to the NBA go ahead but if you go to collage you need to stay for at least two years.

Sooo unfair. I agree with Bruingold82.

This cloud of indecision and uncertainty Jrue may potentially create by officially declaring for the draft and by *not* retaining an agent is totally selfish and is unfair for the current group of players on the squad, to Ben Howland, and to the future members of the program (c/o 2009).

For better or for worse, I hope Jrue makes a definitive decision sooner than later.

And that kind of begs the question on these dates to declare and pull out. I believe I recalled Ben Howland saying something to the effect of hoping those dates are made earlier so college basketball programs can plan better. Is there any dialog going on between College Head Coaches, NCAA, and the NBA to make the draft a bit more accomodating to HC's recruit planning?

I don't know that I'd call a freshman starting all year for a team coming off 3 straight final fours a "bust" but the expectations were larger than what he delivered for a variety of reasons.

I agree with some of the others that the dates need to align better or at least make it an acceptable practice to pull a scholie from someone like Jrue to make way in case he leaves - that way he shares some of the risk in declaring without an agent. Let us go get someone else and if he pulls out and wants to be a non-scholarship player next year, then so be it.

The real issue is that Jrue is looking to Howland for help, and Howland is giving it and doing his best to help Jrue get to where he wants to be. But if he waits too long to officially declare Pro, leaving Howland without the option of signing another quality player, what kind of thanks is that for your college coach? Yes, Holiday has every right to test the waters, try, etc., but there's a right way and a wrong way of doing it. Leaving your college coach hanging is not the right way of doing things.

So let's put this in real world perspective for you all.

You are in high level management. You think you may be able to get a CEO position at another company. You know that company is assigning that job in a month to start immediately.

Do you:

A.) Quit your job, telling them that you are pursuing another position. You know that you may not get the CEO job but you want to be fair to your company and allow them the time to find a replacement for you.

B.) Keep your job as you go through the interview process because you may not get the position and you don't want to be unemployed if you don't. Besides, if you do get the job, your current company has to understand what an opportunity this is for you. It may put them in a bind for a while but you need to do what is in your own best interests in such a critical life decision.

Which do you choose?
It's long past time we stopped changing our own standards for athletes due to our own self-interests.

Let's not kid ourselves...there isn't another player on the roster that wouldn't do the same thing given the way the rules are set up. It just makes too much sense. I also won't cry too much for Howland, because I'm sure if the right NBA team called at the end of the season he'd take that call (and I doubt he would resign from UCLA before that conversation).

Seeing as how ben has never gotten anyone east of Las Vegas(we got Bobo by circumstance), the chances are not only slim, but Ben should be able to find just who of the first three are TRULY interested in UCLA instead of wasting his time with all three,,,and if that one or two players would wait until the status of JH is clear.

If they were truly interested, they would wait. There's no rush for them.

Last time I checked luc richard recruited from Florida and aboya recruited from new hampshire are WAY further east than vegas and Ryan wright was recruited from Canada

A bust is someone/something that fails to meet expectations or potential. By that basic definition, I don't think anyone, including Jrue, can deny, with a straight face, that his frosh year was a bust.

And as for PLH55's stupid comment: of course a trOJan would want him on their team...he doesn't violate NCAA regulations and can speak in complete sentences!

Still, I think he would not have needed to "test the waters" had he played better this past season. He needs to make up his mind and do it in a manner that minimizes harm to the program that recruited him and gave him a stage on which to perform.

As for sigbruin's use of corporate CEO comparisons, aren't those the same people who wrecked our economy and are still demanding bonuses? Yeah, corporate culture really has a lot of credibility these days. Let's import their ways into every other walk of life...give me a GD break!

Peter, that is exactly the type of response I would expect from someone with no argument....Blame the economy!

I was asking YOU, if you were in that situation, or something similar in your line of work, whatever that may be, what would you do?

A.) Quit your job in hopes of a better position to be fair to your company

OR

B.) Keep your job while you wait to see if you get the promotion?

In this economy (since you are using that as an excuse to dodge the essence of the question) where jobs are scarce, I bet I know your answer