Weekly Answers, Pt. 3

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Check out the latest batch of weekly answers after the jump…

1) Are we the first basketball program to go to 3 final fours and have 3 losing seasons in the same decade, assuming we finish under 500 this year? – AnonymousI have no idea, but that’s a fantastic trivia question and I’ll try to track it down. Keep asking me until I figure it out.

2) Jon since the next recruiting class is going to small due to scholarship numbers, Who are the names we should know for 2010. – AnonymousUCLA has 24 offers out according to Scout.com, and here’s the list: http://ucla.scout.com/a.z?s=12&p=9&c=4&yr=2011. Given specific needs, I’d say keep an eye out for QBs Kyle Boehm, Marquise Williams and Cody Kessler, though I am very intrigued by Trevor Gretzky, who I’m hearing has a better ceiling than Nick Montana. UCLA is also very high on several wideouts, including Kasen Williams, Devon Blackmon, George Farmer and Victor Blackwell. Offensive and defensive line are obviously a priority, too.

3) Where are we with the renovation of Pauley? – BibsUCLA just awarded the contract to PCL Construction as the low bidder, and work is planned to begin on the exterior in March.

4) Do you think Dragovic should be coming off the bench to allow room for the future starters to start now? Have you seen Bruinsnation posts about it and do you agree or disagree? Should a guy who is the main poster on a fan site be shaping opinion about whether Dragovic is a good enough player to start? – AnonymousYes, Dragovic should absolutely be starting, but I’ve said for months that he needs a shorter leash. Some of the shots he takes are inexcusable, and while I believe Brendan Lane is nowhere near ready to start, those shots are enough to warrant a few minutes on the bench. I understand where Bruins Nation comes from, and I can imagine it being very frustrating as a fan. But Howland truly believes Dragovic gives UCLA the best chance to win NOW, and with the Pac-10 a jumbled mess, he only recently started to concede that Lane might need more development.

5) What are Coach Linn and J. Franklin working on to improve his fumble-itis? any ball drills or strickly weight room? – 909BruinSo much of that has to do with inner core strength and arm strength, so they’re working on that – biceps, triceps and lats. Many of Franklin’s fumbles have to do with the ball being ripped from his grasp, and this addresses it. I expect big things out of Franklin in 2010.

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  • Bru1

    Jon, for a coach who constantly preaches defense, intensity and passion. Keeping Drago in the game is a complete paradox. If you are sending a message to the bench, how do you keep a player who looks pathetic on both ends of the court, all the while laughing when he bricks 3′s, in the game? It doesn’t make sense. Put the younger guys in, get them some experience for next year, or in the event of an injury have them be prepared to come in…Don’t you think?

  • Anonymous

    Don’t waste your time Jon, the decade’s over.

    Jan 1, 2000 – Dec 31, 2009 = 10 years

  • Anonymous

    Any suggestions on a UCLA blog that isn’t Bruin Nation? I’ve grown tired of the doom and gloom around BBALL and calling for Coach Howland’s head on a platter as if he’d never taken us to 3 straight final fours…it’s too much negativity and if it isn’t Nestor’s view, its banned or ridiculed.

    This one is a good source for information, but doesn’t have the dialouge/interaction I crave.

    Any thoughts? Anyone else feeling feed up with the “sky is falling” attitude at BN?

  • E Buzz Miller

    Try http://www.bruinville.com It’s a little slow over there these days given the state of the program, but in general it’s a much more down to earth site. BN is an utter disaster zone in an otherwise nifty package. Nestor is a one effete male rant machine whose diatribes are equal parts mindless vitriol and bellicose sophistry. He is the worst definition of a fan in that he is in fact a fanatic. He banned me a while back for having the temerity to challenge his qualifications for making the pronouncements he makes about the coach and the program. His views are those of the painfully young or the truly uninformed in the sense that it’s clear he’s never really been on the inside of a locker room other than to put away the hated jocks towels. You’re best off avoiding BN for more mature and thoughtful forums.

    ~EBuzz

  • Todd

    I thought it interesting, so I decided to look into the three final fours/three losing seasons thing. Turns out it’s quite a rarity for a team that goes to the final four three times in a decade to have even one losing season that decade, let alone three.

    UNC, UCLA, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio State, Indiana, Louisville, Michigan State, Arkansas, Cincinnati, Michigan, Oklahoma State, Georgetown, Houston, Illinois, Arizona, Florida, Kansas State, LSU, Oklahoma, Syracuse, UNLV, Utah, Villanova, California, Connecticut, Iowa, Marquette, Memphis, NC State, San Francisco and Texas are the teams with 3 or more final four appearances.

    Of those, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Kansas State, NC State, Memphis, Texas, LSU, Indiana, Marquette, UNLV, Utah, Syracuse, Michigan, Arizona, Oklahoma, Villanova and Iowa never had three final fours in the same decade.

    Georgetown had three final fours in the 80s and no losing seasons. Michigan State has had three final fours in the 00s and won’t have any losing seasons. Louisville had four final fours in the 80s and no losing seasons. Arkansas had three final fours in the 90s and no losing seasons. Kentucky had three final fours in the 40s and no losing seasons and four final fours in the 90s and no losing seasons. Oklahoma State (then Oklahoma A&M) had three final fours in the 40s and no losing seasons. Florida had three final fours in the 00s and will have no losing seasons. Kansas has three final fours in the 00s and will have no losing seasons. Houston had three final fours in the 80s and no losing seasons. Cincinnati had four final fours in the 60s and no losing seasons. UNC had 5 final fours in the 90s and no losing seasons. Duke had three final fours in the 60s and no losing seasons. UCLA had 6 final fours in the 60s and no losing seasons. UCLA had 7 final fours in the 70s and no losing seasons.

    That leaves 9 teams in college basketball history with three final fours in a decade and also at least one losing season. Of those, 5 had one losing season.

    Kansas had three final fours in the 50s and one losing season (11-14). UNC had three final fours in the 60s and one losing season (8-9). UNC has 4 final fours in the 00s and one losing season (8-20) (plus the potential for one more this year). Ohio State had 4 final fours during the 60s and one losing season (11-13). Duke had 4 final fours during the 90s and one losing season (13-18).

    Currently there are two teams with 3 final fours in a decade and 2 losing seasons, Duke in the 80s (10-17, 11-17) and us this decade (10-19, 11-17) with the potential for us to add a third.

    And finally there are two teams already with three final fours and at least three losing seasons in the same decade. Ohio State had three final fours and three losing seasons in the 40s (6-14, 8-9, 7-13). And San Francisco has the record with four losing seasons in a decade they also had three final fours (9-17, 11-13, 10-11, 6-20). Obviously things would have been a bit different if Bill Russell had more than four years of college eligibility.

  • Anonymous

    I tend to like http://www.bruingold.com. No UCLA site is clean from irrational ridicule of a struggling team, but bruingold has a fair number of rational and sometimes even irrational to the positive posters.

  • Anonymous

    bruingold.com is good, but I hate having to click individually on every message in a thread in order to read them. Why not get some forum software that displays the content of all messages in a thread at one time (or at least 20 messages per page) like most modern fora?

  • Anonymous

    Todd…thanks for the research, its nice to know we aren’t the only ones. Just the only ones in the past half a century. No matter, we’ll be back.

  • Anon

    Actually, on bruingold, you can just click on “[show all]” and it will show all the messages in a thread.

    Bruinzone seems to get decent traffic, but I have totally stopped checking because I can’t stand having to click on each message in a thread individually. Am I missing something? Is there a way to see all the messages in one view at bruinzone? Thanks

  • Anonymous

    Ya Nestor is insane. Hes threatened to ban me before for nothing more than disagreeing with his view on something. Hes insane.

  • Anonymous

    Wow, so i looked at all those blogs. Now I see why Bruin Nation has the traffic it has. Seems to me Nestor and his format win hands down. so sad.