Some postgame hoops analysis
* The best thing about UCLA's 62-61 win over Concordia last night happened in the player's post-game press conference. Someone asked Mustafa Abdul-Hamid if Concordia was actually a good team, and the four players on stage - Abdul-Hamid, Drew Gordon, Malcolm Lee and James Keefe - each chuckled. While Ben Howland tried to say that the Eagles were a worthy opponent, the players knew better. They knew they played awful basketball and have a lot of work to do. Keefe said as much. It's important that UCLA knows that there wasn't much to be proud about.
* Abdul-Hamid may be an adequate replacement for scarce minutes, but Jerime Anderson is needed. Badly. Abdul-Hamid had seven turnovers, and while showing the resolve to hit the game-winning shot, they were bad, bad turnovers. On a young team, a steady presence at point guard will be crucial.
* Against good defenses and stronger, taller, faster defensive players, the Bruins can't rely on the outside game nearly as much. The team didn't shoot badly from distance, hitting 5-of-11 shots, but only 2-for-7 in the first half.
* Reeves Nelson is a good player, but he'll have his freshman flaws, as he shot 0-for-4 on free throws last night.
* Until the team gets in sync offensively, I think Nikola Dragovic is going to struggle. He thrives on set plays and working to get open, and the lack of team practice time wreaked havoc with UCLA's screens and picks.
John,
I think this has been one of your best posts to date. I know taking over for Dohn has been no small feat, but one of the things I enjoyed most about him was his unbiased analysis of our play and where we were as a team. Quotes are great, but after reading a lot of them, you realize that everyone is kind of saying the same things. I really hope you do more of these kinds of analysis posts in the future.
SnailOfWestwood
UCLA C/O 2008
unless that particular question about Concordia being good wasn't shown on the clip posted on scout or the question the players may have chuckled to was when mustafa was asked "what surprised you most about that team?" not sure why he was chuckling but he did answer that nothing surprised him and that coach told the team Concordia was good but we just didn't execute.