UCLA falls to Cal-State Fullerton in the opener, 68-65

The game was a horrible performance by both teams.

Fullerton missed like 15 lay ups.

ucla looks pretty bad.

There is NO WAY, ucla will finish in the TOP4.

Welcome to the bottom feeders of the PAC10.

JessieW.

Does Dragovic even care? Dragovic 2-14 and 1-9 from three and a dropped out of bounds pass on a sure breakaway dunk and Anderson, the point guard, 1-11 with 3 assists. Already time to start Reeves Nelson over Dragovic...Nelson 11 points and 6 rebounds in 12 minutes. Is Bobo injured or still in the doghouse?

SC football and ucla basketball have become mediocre. What is an L.A. person to do?-- Well, the deserts are great this time of year, the beaches are not crowded and the mountains are always beckoning.

yikes

Wow, if this is a sign of what's to come, I'm scared, VERY scared. Kansas on Dec 6--crap! I also think it's only the first game and the whole team practically was plagued by injury for a while, so maybe they just need to settle in. But still...that doesn't explain the abyssmal shooting, mental errors, and all around poor execution against a team that shouldv'e been taken care of. Jerime Anderson ain't no Collison, that's for sure. Can we bring back Collison, Love, Westbrook, and Afflalo? Drago--WTF? I'm really liking what Nelson is showing though. Ha, and UCLA wants me to shell out thousands in donations for mediocre seats in the new Pauley--yeah, good luck w/ that!

This game was just plain sickening to watch. it was just plain bad basketball by both teams. I cant say they dont have the potential to play better, because we have seen Roll and Drago shoot much better before. Both Roll and Drago are responsible for this loss. They are the seniors. They are supposed to be past the 1st game jitters. Their role is to play solid while the young kids jump all over the place and get rid of their jitters. Roll and Drago need to grow up and lead this team or it will look like it did last night...a monster without a head!

We are a bubble team this year. If we even make the tournament at all. Roll, Nelson and Lee were the only playmakers last night. I say sit Dragovic indefinitely and give Nelson a chance to have more minutes. He reminds me of Mbah a Moute in his freshman year. He wasn't expected to do much, but ended up being a stud.

As for this season, we will finish top 3 in the Pac10 because the conference is so weak. But Cal and Washington may sweep us, and there is no telling how horrible we are going to do against KanASS or BUTTler.

Give it a year. This will be like Farmar, Afflalo & Shipp's freshman year. We will do some good things, and we will struggle as well. Next year we'll be back in the Top10 for sure.

There's always football season!

Amen about the donations for the new pauley "I DON'T THINK SO TIM" its goin to be a long season for us in basketball. But then again it was bound to happen we are too young we don't have a go to guy... I want to see reeves nelson in the game the kid has a bright future ahead of him

Even with a lot of offensive talent in the past the Ben Howland teams struggled to put points on the board.

It may be time for coach to spend a little time shooting in practice.. LOL

Going to be an ugly year for BBall.. I would be pleased with a 5th place finish in the pac ten but 7th or 8th is probably more realistic.

can we get Josh Smith in school right now????

For once, I'm going to try looking at the bright side...

We were bound to have troubles early this season for many reasons:

First, we obviously lost a lot of talent and seniority from last year's team.

Second, we were expected to rely on a number of young players. In CBH's system, it's hard for a freshman to succeed unless that player is extremely skilled and buys into his system.

Third, we had so many injuries in the preseason that CBH has had very limited time coaching the players together. I expect that this will improve as the players get (and stay) healthy.

Finally, I think that losing this game might just give all of the players the push to work harder. There's nothing like an embarrassing performance and loss AT HOME to wake you up.

With that being said, I was disappointed most in the free throw shooting. Those are free points, and when two teams struggled to make 2s and 3s, one team made up for it on the line. Too bad it wasn't us.

I heard Josh Smith is signing with Cal-State Fullerton today.

Let's not overreact. It's one game, the first real game, and I'm not ready to bury them. Instead, I'll try to focus on the good.

Lee looks to be a stud. He showed flashes last year, and he showed even more last night, despite the missed layups and airballs.

I also agree with the Nelson comments above. I would have like to see more rotations period... get more guys into the game. It seemed that we stuck with the starters as much as possible. Let's see what these guys can do!

Bruin Basketball is Horrible. Ben has a lot of work to do.

Well, the Josh Smith thing has hit the national wire.

Has Josh Smith signed the LOI???

Yes or No.

being positive is the best approach after this game. Reeves Nelson reminded me of Brockman in a good way! He will be a force for us! The kind of player we needed. Lee looks good, but not yet ready to be 'the man'. That being said, they need to play as a unit! It's certainly not a one man show this year.
I dont think it's anywhere near panic mode though. Howland teams, especially the ones filled with young players take time to develop into hard nosed defenders. with the injuries etc..this one is going to take the season to improve.
I will say it now, the start to this season is going to ROUGH! With Notre Dame, KS, the early tourney is filled with solid teams. We will have a losing record, more than likely going into pac-10 play. Hopefully they will be battle tested coming out of it.
Winning the pac-10 should be the goal this season. Regardless of how good Wash and Cal look on paper, we are UCLA and need to defend the home court.
This is a work in progress this year. There is a ton of talent, just needs to be molded!
We all know Drago is a better shooter than 1-9 from 3pt-land! He had a bad game, he'll bounce back. if he goes 5-9 like he would have last year..we blow them out.
GO BRUINS!

Horrible shooting all around. Roll, Drago, Lee, Anderson, free throws in general - just terrible! These were open shots!

I liked the energy from Keefe and Reeves, but that's about the only bright spot I can think of. When/if Honeycutt gets back and we can field an entire team during practices for a few weeks hopefully some of the errors will decrease.

I haven't followed things closely the past few days - what is up with Bobo? Didn't see him at all...

I wondered about Bobo also. Especially when the dropped into the zone, we could have used his rebounding and size. Gordon is clearly a 4 not a 5.
let's be honest, there is a lot to live up to for UCLA players. Could be they were just pressing last night. I believe these guys are all better shooters than they showed last night...BUT free throws has been a area of concern for the Bruins in the past..no matter what the personnel. I am starting to think it's something Howland's system is creating? Tired legs possibly, but that wouldn't explain the first half missed FT's. These kids need to watch Hoosier's! Work harder in practice..because there is a lot to live up to here. We are UCLA but we didnt become the team we are by just rolling out there and the other teams laying down.
It's on the players to be working on FT's and shooting in the off season. No excuses there.

Re: Anonymous (November 17, 2009 9:46 AM)

If anything, we are a Men's Volleyball, with 23 championships (18 NCAA) and Al Scates, arguably the greatest coach in history.

I know you are making a (cowardly) joke, but obviously you have no idea about the joke you are making.

Lee needs to take better shots and generally play under more control. Anderson needs to drive to the hoop more and not settle for threes...he doesn't seem to have the range. Nelson needs to play more. I love his energy and intensity. Dragovic needs to take a seat on the bench. His shooting has been abysmal, he plays no defense, and lacks any sort of passion or intensity whatsoever.

And can we please get a look at Bobo and see if he will give us some sort of a post presence?

MattA..Not overreact..I wonder if thats what Mich fan said when they opened with a loss to App St or ND when they lost to Navy for the first time since they helments were invented?

You should not lose to a team thats barely D1 material! BH if you can coach it's time to show it! No more Defensive drills this season, how about we work on free throws, shooting, how to score against a zone, and how to feed the post. Dragovic looked like he belonged on their bench! BH couldn't score with a team of first round draft pics, what's he going to do with this bunch? We need some balance all D and no O = lots of L's!

why was everybody jacking up 3's like their lives depended on it? ridiculous

In the 39 years of NCAA Men's Volleyball, UCLA has won 19 championships and been runner-up 6 times. So, let's do some math, shall we?

10/27 = 37.0%, 17/27 = 62.9%
19/39 = 48.7%, 25/39 = 64.1%

Oh, look at that! The numbers show you are wrong, Annon. So, what is this pace you speak of? Is it that Men's Vollleyball has a championship more recently (2006) than Softball (2004)? Or is it that both sports have the same number of championships (2) in the 2000s?

I like both sports, and I went to many games of both as a student (1998-2002), in addition to many other sports, including about 25 games at the Rose Bowl and 100 Games in Pauly. I am a fan, and you are either 1) a troll or 2) a very misinformed fan, most likely a North-campus major. Please stop posting, or at least, man up and log in.

Mr. Gold:

There is no hyphen in Cal State Fullerton. Just like there is no hyphen in Cal State Northridge. If you want to get into that area, then lets refer to the Westwood campus of the University of California as UC Los Angeles or Cal-Los Angeles just like some media outlets do for the campuses in Irvine, Santa Barbara, Davis and Santa Cruz for example.

firebenhowland.com and .net are available. We are football school :)

Both teams played horribly. Regardless of his groin injury, Anderson hasn't improved at all since last year. In the stats he was listed as having 3 TOs but I counted 6 compared to his 2 legit assists (cutting Roll, and Gordon posting up). Without a performing point guard, we are doomed this year. I was one of the few fans at the game and the other thing that really bugged me about Anderson was he kept on yelling at the other players whenever he screwed up. If he is going to lead, he needs to lead by example.

I think people are being a little too hard on Dragovic. He has totally lost his short so far this year but remember Shipp's cold streaks the last two years? He did play decent defense and was the team's leader on the boards.

I've never seen so many air balls in my life. I think Lee, Nelson and Gordon are going to be studs as they get more PT. I can only hope they grow quickly.

Patients guys, it's gonna be a long season but I'm positive they will improve as the season wears on. The injuries were a set back for the team.

First off, each player needs to find their role on the team. I don't see a leader on the team. When the game was on the line, they didn't know who to go to. No Collison or Shipp to save them.

Anderson will get better but he has to take command of the offense and set up the plays, seemed like he wanted to get rid of the ball once he crossed half court. Lee and Drag were pretty bad. Lee's the only one who could create for himself, so he has to be the go to guy. I really liked how Nelson played, he played with good intensity and rebounded.

Oh yea, we shot 17% beyond the arc and 47% from the free throw line! Those percentages will not win many games.

Guys this is proof that the recruiting at UCLA has been terrible. Throw the rankings out the window and look at reality.

Cal State Fullerton had better athletes on the floor than the Bruins.

Talk about teamwork or young players or whatever, the above is fact.

UCLA has 1 PG on the team, no true SG, and doesn't have a Center they are comfortable playing.

I see a team in which the slow guys are SF, the slower guys are PF, and no one can shoot. Then, we have 1 PG on the whole team to distribute the ball, and he can't shoot either.

It is also highly alarming that we have yet another Howland-coached team that looks completely lost against a zone.

What about Brendan Lane? He is supposed to be pretty good, where was he last night? We need to get Honeycutt back too. And give Nelson MORE PLAYING TIME!!!!!

I dont think they looked lost against the zone. i thought they worked the ball around the perimeter and got lots of open shots. They just plain missed them!

#1: I HATE losing at Pauley. Just hate it! Simply no excuse for it in a non-conference game against CSUF.

#2: I HATE one-and-dones. Love and Jrue put us in this position. In the long run, we would have been better off without either of them. The NBA is creating this crap in college hoops. But, we'll save that for another discussion. [NO MORE one and dones, Ben. Pass them up!]

#3: Drago has no heart. Never has had one. (Except the passion to slap around his GF.) He hasn't had an off night, he has been off all pre-season. Way to start your senior campaign, Drago!

#4: Reeves has passion and desire. Give the boy more PT. Lee is good, but still inconsistent.

#5: NO FINISH! Plenty of shots in the paint, but plenty of misses, too. We have to finihs strong to the hoop!

#6: Anderson trying to do too much too fast. One step at a time son. Just take care of, and dish, the rock.

#7: Stop the Coach BH bashing. It is not his fault that Love and Jrue f@c-ed us! And not his fault his entire team (practically) has been injured -- so no real time to put things in. Given time, CBH will get this group plaing good -- but they will always be inconsistent this year. Can't avoid that!

I can't believe all the people already calling for Howland's head. Give the guy a break, it's one game in November.

This team lost 4 starters and is relying heavily on Freshmen and Sophomores (most of whom barely played last year). To top it off, the team was decimated by injuries in the pre-season and has barely had a chance to play together.

This is definitely a transition year, and there will be lots of frustrations I'm sure, but the optimist in me sees potential. I think the team will be much improved by the end of the season as they begin to gel and buy into Howland's system.

I really liked what I saw from Nelson, I think he'll be a good, hard-nosed Howland player for the next couple years. I also think that Lee will get more comfortable and continue to develop his dribble-drive/mid-range game instead of settling for 3's.

My biggest concern is the point guard play, Anderson looks timid out there and needs to focus on taking care of the ball and creating shots for his teammates until he gets some confidence.

I hope Howland allows the young guys to get some minutes as the season progresses. Moser, Morgan, Lane, Honeycutt, Nelson, etc are all going to be key players in the upcoming years and the experience now, while the team struggles, will only help us down the road.

Go Bruins!

Time to scrap Anderson and give the other freshman more playing time. They have nothing to lose and if things get worse the Alumni will want Ben's head on a block.

So, so sick of Howland's teams running down the shot clock to almost zero and heaving up a terrible shot on critical possessions. They've done it consistently for several years now and it is infuriating to watch time and time again. You can't tell me Lee's look at the end of the first OT was the best they could do. I admire Howland for instilling a defensive mindset but, for God's sake, attack the freaking rim. We are UCLA! Aren't we?

This is not a bash (because Howland has earned his accolades with 3 straight Final Fours). However, the one thing that stuck out the most to me was at the end of regulation. We had 1 TEAM FOUL. That means we could have fouled 4 TIMES (or is it 5?) before they had to shoot. Either way, it was their ball, down 1, with 12 seconds left. The CSUF player drove down the lane, flanked by Lee, who could have fouled him at any time, but did not do it until he was about to shoot. I don't know if Howland didn't make this known in that final timeout, or if Lee had a brainfart, but it would have made it much harder on CSUF knowing that we could have fouled them a bunch of times at the end of regulation.

I am not too concerned about shooting, because that is the kind of thing that is going to improve (I hope). Defense will come with more practice. But these mental errors are the kind that really cost games.

as crude as the above "unregistered ChuckBuck" is, there is definitely much concern about this B-Ball team. but if you are going to imitate ChuckBuck, please have the decency to make it charming and effortless, i mean, if it is not too much trouble...

I will take one and done, top 10 recruits every single year! Better than overrated and overhyped top 100 players! How can we not overreact? UCLA has no business losing to a Big West team!!! Ever!!! Not in scrimmage, not in pre-season, not in regular season, not in march madness!!!

We have no go-to guy. We have no one who is willing to attack the basket. When CSUF went to zone defense, we just stood around and shot and missed 3s. We had no heart and no desire to win last night!!!

Whether we're a women's softball school or men's volleyball school is a valid debate (an argument can be made we're a women's water polo school too), but one thing is clear: Nelson - as scrappy as he is - desperately needs a better haircut.

with last nights shooting performance i think there are enough bricks to start renovating pauly pavilion...

UCLA lost

USC won (without 3 starters)

Hmmmmmm

FIGHT ON!

Are there a bigger pair of d-bags than UB (Ugly Bruin) and his son VB (Vajayjay Bruin)?

Another EGG on a nationally televised game. Why do we ALWAYS seem to have poor performances when the country has access (granted it was at 3am EST)?

As a Cal State Fullerton graduate, I am deeply loving every minute of this blog. Even though we also shot terribly last night, when crunch time came, we ended up on top. This is a great win for the Titans who have never gotten any respect locally in B-Ball (save the 1978 season when a last second Sidney Moncrief shot sent Arkansas to the final four instead of Fullerton). But, we OWN So Calif when it comes to baseball. Unfortunately, we don't get the big press because college baseball is nowhere as big in the media as football or basketball, but nonetheless, we take great pride in our many College World Series appearances and titles.

To edmusic: Child please!

a W is a W. no matter what remember, UCLA is PAC10 CSUF is BIG WEST no matter what, it was a GREAT win for CSUF.