Weekly Answers, Pt. 2

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Sorry for the delay on these, guys, it’s been a crazy week. I’m on Lakers for the next couple weeks, but if the UCLA softball team advances to the CWS, I’ll be sure to have a story.

Anyway, onto the answers…

1) Did Ben Olsen end up getting a shot as a free agent with an NFL team? – Ryan
Unfortunately, no.

2) I would think Ben Howland’s job security and the prospect of the BB program making a comeback are tied to his reputation among the recruits. What are his local and national reputations? Do you think they have been damaged beyond repair by this recent season and the exodus of players? – Anonymous
Given the recent events, and even before them, it’s ludicrous to say his reputation is beyond repair. He had a bad year, stemming from a bad year of recruiting. It happens.

3) Could you tell the people doubting us to get real? UCLA’s biggest–pun intended–problem the past 2 seasons was a lack of size. Well, we’re both 6’10 and can solve that problem for three years. And it’s not like we have to be all world. Howland took teams to the Final Four with the likes of Ryan Hollins and Lorenzo Mata starting at center. You think we’re better than those guys, right? – David and Travis Wear
Yes on all counts.

4) Why is the NCAA so feckless with regards to all the conference jockeying? Seems like the conferences can cherry pick whomever they want whenever they want. Isn’t the NCAA supposed to be the governing body? – Blue Bruin
I believe the conferences pick their own members, not the NCAA.

5) With only having scholarships available, why doesnt CRN just pick the best 15 players and go after them instead of wasting time and recruiting so many other players? – Jerome
Because that’s just not how recruiting works. You cast a lot of reels and hope for the best fish.

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  • Get Real

    The real answer to the Ben Olson question is, “Of course he didn’t get a tryout…are you freaking kidding me? The guy was a bum at the college level and ultimately cost Dorrell his job and set UCLA football back years and years. It’s laughable to think he’d even get a phone call from an NFL team. Any NFL GM worth his salt would ask, ‘Ben Olson?’ Never heard of him…Oh, the UCLA guy who broke, strained, tore, tweaked, sprained, and aggravated every bone/muscle/tendon/ligament in his feet every year and was never worth a darn? Now it’s coming back. He was also slow has molasses, too, right? And injury prone if I didn’t mention it.”

    There…I’m happy to have supplemented this Q&A. No need to thank me!

  • crgreen

    – but I saw Ryan Hollins do that several times for the Timberwolves. Travis showed us 3.5pts 2.2 rebs as a frosh, David 2.9pts 1.7 rebs as a frosh – That’s what we have to go on. Travis shot 41% from the floor, David 43%.

    Lorenzo Mata got us 2.2 pts and 2.9 rebs as a frosh at UCLA, hitting 57% from the field.

    And Ryan Hollins? There’s this weird perception that he didn’t show anything until his senior year (NCAA tourney Western Regional MVP). But Hollins gave us 6.5 pts (on 55% shooting!) and 4.3 rebs as a 17 year old frosh.

    I hope the Wears will be terrific for the Bruins – I’m thrilled we have them. But the two guys they knocked outperformed them at comparable points in their careers, so the conceit in that statement is a bit unwarrented….

    Right now, David should be aware he’s barely comparable to Mike Fey (2.3pts 1.6 rebs) as a frosh – except Mike was almost 60% from the field…

  • Getting Realer

    Nice reply, Get Real, it’s exactly what I was thinking.

    And does anyone else thing, as I do, that the question above that purports to be from the Wears is not really from them?

  • WHAT’S YOUR DEAL?

    I have personally met Ben Olsen a handful of times and he is a class act through and through. Yes he had injuries but it was all of KD’s recruiting and lack of charisma that put UCLA where it was. KD is also a class act, btw.

  • Mr. Ware

    Obviously not he redshirts — my boys are old enough to have their own e-mail addresses. Really, they don’t actually do everyhting together!

    Oh, and by the way…they hope they offer more to UCLA sports than did Ben Olson.

  • Get Real

    No one said Ben Olson isn’t a great guy. He just sucks as a football player.

  • Get Real

    As soon as each Wear Twin scores a basket they’ll have done far more for UCLA than Ben Olson.