Weekly Answers, Pt. 7

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1) If you could change one aspect of UCLA to improve the football program, what would be it? – Fan4Life
A better blogger?

2) As of right now, long-term success headed for bb team or fb team? I think it’s great that Howland manned up and said it is his fault for how poor bb team is right now, do you think more criticism from fans is justified? This is his team, his recruits, so it’s a joke that team is this bad while Pac-10 is down. I’m confused, didn’t UCLA recruit better players than USC, and maybe I’m wrong but I thought first yr coach USC too. Do you feel ucla really has no excuse for playing this poorly? Aside from how bb team is playing this year, who do you feel has better value to purchase tickets, bb or fb team? Why is bb team not as fan friendly compared to fb team? Do you feel bb program caters to high donors more then the regular joe? Why doesn’t bb program try to go after younger fans like the fb team? Clearly I have season football tickets, and feel as a whole, past and current, they care more about their fans. Even when bb team was winning, I still think bb program and how they market it to fans is a big bore, and seem indifferent to their core fans…unlike the fb team. Thoughts? – JoeBRuin
Umm…
Well, UCLA basketball has a much bigger cache in the sports world, and that will always translate to more long-term success. With the youth of the team, I think yes, fans are being too harsh. As to the rest of your answer: Yes, UCLA football fans are a passionate bunch. But the hardcore basketball guys care just as much.

3) It’s my understanding that football recruits get 5 official visits. For Owa, the link you provided showed 5 visits, but not visits to Oregon and Oregon State. How can they be in the mix if he hasn’t even made an official visit? – Recruit
He can take unofficial visits. Officials aren’t a requirement.

4) What is the long-term impact of losing Nottingham, and what does the coaching staff think about it? – Flipper
Losing Nottingham is not anywhere near as serious as people think. If anything, it opens up a spot for an elite recruit next season, particularly because of the two-year gap and what I expect to be an improved season next year.

5) If UCLA brings in a class of 25 recruits, does that mean Neuheisal himself has personally visited each of the recruits’ homes? – Proud Parent
Not necessarily.

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  • Anonymous

    I miss Dohn’s 50 word limit on questions

  • Big Woof!

    Why is it that seemingly half the people on this blog think Neuheisel’s name is Neuheisal? I don’t think they’re all trojangles.

  • ev

    Thinking UCLA can bring in an “elite” QB in 2011 would seem to contradict your answer #1 in part #1 where you say it will be a weak class. On top of that, Rick has missed out on his top 3-4 QB targets in both the 2009 and 2010 classes. There is little reason to think he will start landing them now.

  • Anonymous

    Uhm, didn’t you recently post that the QB pool next year is quite thin? May not be as great as you thought it would be, especially if Crissman (worst case scenario, but possible) can’t recover from the shoulder issues and Brehaut find out that he can pass up Prince on the depth chart….then we are in deep deep doo doo, no?

  • UCLABZ

    WTF? I thought you were enforcing a word limit Jon? Those questions need to be left on the cutting room floor.

  • BigDbruin

    Just Serious!

    BH is a joke and he’s taking most of you for the ride!

    1)I’ve seen players leave a program for several reasons..Playing time, Family issues, Coaching change..etc. But I’ve never heard players leaving because they didn’t get along with the coach who recruited them. The same coach they decided to commit to after being recruited by several other programs and coaches! 2) How do you have enough talent to advance to 3 straight final fours and not come away with at least 1 championship. 3) We don’t have a legit PG, Ok. But the top 3 pg’s in 2010 are still unsigned…And you can’t get one of them to come to UCLA!The only player you can get is the “top Juco PG” LOL! 4) Since Kerry Keating left 3 years ago the recruiting has been bad and the player development has been non-existent. J. Anderson and M. Lee and J. Morgan look like true freshman…not top 50 recruits in their soph year or players who practiced against Collison, Holliday and Aboya last year. 5) The Starting lineup is horrible why:

    PG – J. Anderson/M. Lee. Anderson??? Lee out of Pos
    SG – M. Lee…trying to hard..due to team struggles
    SF – M. Roll..can’t finish,can’t create,can’t defend
    PF – N. Dragovic.. Can’t rebound, can’t finish,can’t
    can’t defend other 4′s
    C – R. Nelson. Great Heart..Undersized at 5 should be 4

    Should be:

    PG J Anderson/Abdul Hamid..Hamid Knows the offense
    SG M. Lee/M. Roll..Roll would have better success
    against smaller 2′s
    SF T Honycutt/N. Dragovic..Drago’s natural position
    PF J Keefe/R. Nelson..Either would have success
    against other 4′s
    C. J Morgan/A Stover..both 6’10 size matters, and
    you don’t get better by
    siting the bench.

    Could have been

    PG Adbul Gaddy/Jerime Anderson
    SG Malcom Lee/M Roll
    SF Chase Stanback/Tyler Honnycutt
    PF Drew Gordon/Reeves Nelson
    C J’mison Morgan/Anthony Stover

    We should have been able to get Gaddy once Holliday left. Stanback and Gordon big losses, you can’t complain about how the 1 and done players have affected your program when you continue to loose your other top recruits because of your ego and inability to manage egos. This story has already been written, Please see Bob Knight/Indiana for reference…Yea you’ll get some recruits because of the prestige and lure of the program. But you will never get kids to choose you over Uconn,Kentucky,NC,Duke,Kansas…etc with a hard headed dictator at the helm.

  • Mike H class of 90

    Of the 2011 QBs that Scout has looked at so far, 4 of them reside in California – including one that has already committed to Stanford (maybe the Nottingham flip will open him back up). One of them is named Gretzky, btw! …and hey, one of QBs available next year is named Neuheisel.

  • Anonymous

    1) If you could change one aspect of UCLA to improve the football program, what would be it? – Fan4Life
    A better blogger?

    Amen.

  • MaltBaa

    i saw gretzky in the summer at a restaurant with his dad. He was wearing all ucla gear. we def have a major shot at him.

  • H8T USuC

    BigDBruin….the truth hurts!

  • HurtingBB

    Jon
    is there a chance Howland lands Trey Zeigler ?

  • anon

    This is becoming like the wolf blog. most of the comments are about bashing our poor blogger. Dont kill the messenger

  • UCLAVES
  • H8T USuC

    Barr????….gotta confirm UCLAVES!

  • Anonymous
  • Bruin
  • Anonymous

    Wall of text!