A few thoughts
A few weeks back, someone asked Ben Howland if he was surprised that UCLA was hosting one of the preseason NIT regionals after the Bruins went 14-18 last season, and his response went something like this: "No. We're UCLA."
My ears perked up a bit.
He went on to talk about how the team doesn't need "gimmicks" to attract opponents and how people want to play UCLA, etc.
And that's true.
To an extent.
UCLA is still UCLA, but that might mean more to Howland than it does to others.
The world has a short attention span these days. A decade might as well be a century. Last week? Who cares. Reputations can crumble in a day.
I couldn't help but think back to the last two recruiting periods, when the Bruins whiffed on some guys who a lot of people thought they had little chance with in the first place. Some chance, for sure, on guys like Ray McCallum and Trey Zeigler, but definitely not "favorite" status. I always got the impression that Coach Howland was shocked that a top player could deign not sign with UCLA.
Then in last night's press conference, Zeke Jones and Malcolm Lee talked about taking Montana lightly, and the team not giving full effort.
I think it's all related.
Of all the major sports, college basketball in 2010 is the most "what-have-you-done-for-me-lately?" Why? Because in no other sport can a superstar player decide to opt-out after only one year with an organization.
NFL rookies are usually inked for several years. NBA rookies usually sign for three years. MLB players get long contracts, even as first-year players. NCAA football players have a mandatory three-year period.
But the one-and-done rule - and this isn't a memorandum on that rule, which is a joke, but a joke for another time - has the ability to drastically change the landscape of a team in one season.
That sounds so obvious, and in recruiting, it is.
UCLA's three-year run of Final Four appearances is absolutely amazing in today's day and age. For that alone, Howland must be lauded. Forget that UCLA didn't get over the hump, though I know that's a lasting disappointment. Just getting to three straight Final Fours is stunning.
But the Bruins are in their third year removed from that. The hottest prospects, the college-bound superstars, were 12 when that started. They're 17-18 now. I'm not saying they've forgotten - obviously they haven't forgotten - but there have been some other very successful teams across the country over the last five years, too. Duke, North Carolina, Michigan State, Kansas, Memphis, the list goes on and on and on. And lets not pretend that UCLA hasn't still had some very good classes, the 2008 class notwithstanding.
But college basketball is more than just recruiting. They have to play the games, too, and a coach must be accountable and self-reflective about his success.
UCLA had a bad, bad season last year, after a good season the year before. Goliath isn't dead. Nowhere near dead. But the smallest trickle of blood is dripping from his arm. David can see that. A few years ago, there was no blood. Now there is. Not a ton, again, but there doesn't need to be a ton to give a decent team - like a VCU or a Montana - the extra confidence to get over the hump against the Bruins.
* "We weren't star struck by Pauley Pavilion."
* "Yesterday in practice Coach told us, 'You know the Bruins, they're not unbeatable.'"
* "We could see it in their eyes after stop after stop, layup after layup, foul after foul. It looked like they were ready to give up."
* "All in all, they were trying to come together, but once we were getting stops and making shots, we could see it in there faces, they were ready to break. That just told us: keep our foot on their necks."
That was Montana guard Will Cherry, who led all scorers with 18 points.
That was a message, from David to Goliath that it ain't 2007 any more, and that Goliath can't mail in a game like it did last night.
For the UCLA basketball team to get to where it was - heck, not even all the way there, because I think just relatively consistent Sweet 16 runs mixed in with a Final Four or title game every handful of years - I think the Bruins need to realize that while "those four letters" were absolutely terrifying a few years ago, they just aren't anymore.
I agree with you 100 %. It looks to me like CBH is losing this team. There is no way a team with this supposed talent should play a game like they did last night. Pride should atleast be a part of the equation when getting beat like they did. Poor shooting has nothing to do with playing defense. Tell it like it is. This team is going nowhere again this season. Opposing teams this year will just zone the Bruins the rest of the year with no pure shooters on this present squad. If CBH has back to back losing seasons a change has to be made. Show some backbone Coach. He should have benched all scholarship players and played the walkons to prove a point. Get the message across. Apparently, those guys didn't want to play in the first place.
Talent? The word talent must be inclusive of mental discipline. A player with raw physical ability with no mental toughness is not a talented player.
Maybe this year Kansas basketball = Texas football and what we saw at Kansas was not a breakout game.
Thanks. Somebody had to say it.
I just have a few comments...
I am a Howland fan and think he is one of the best coaches out there. I appreciate that Howland will stand up for UCLA until the end.
Also, perhaps teams may not fear playing UCLA at Pauley anymore but I think teams respect UCLA and Pauley...there is a difference.
I do think the lack of success lately has been due to mis-steps in recruiting. Gordon was a huge miss and from what I hear Moser was a total miss...I heard that the staff thought he was an incredible athlete but once he got to westwood he was slow and had no athletc abilities. But I do see some improvement and do like a lot of the kids on the team now. For example, Stover reminds me of Aboya...hustles, plays defense, not much offensive game. I think Lamb plays great defense and will get better as the year goes on...although, he needs to hit the gym every night to get that shot going. I like Jones and can see how he is trying to be a leader and I think he has the ability to do that but has taken a couple steps back the last few games...don't know why.
With that said, there are also lots I don't like about this team. I don't like the attitude of some of the players like Honeycutt or Nelson. I think Honeycutt is the type of guy who is only there for himself...sort of how I felt for Trevor Ariza. Nelson, I love his effort and like his game but just feel like he is a ticking timebomb...you can see how quickly he angers or gets down on himself...I don't really like how he carries himself. Malcolm Lee? In my opinion he is the biggest bust on the team so far...Jerime Anderson is as well but at least I've seen some improvement from Anderson...Malcom is supposed to be one of the stars but he is far from it. I don't know how anyone can think this guy is a draft pick. Athletic? Define athletic? I see someone that is often slow, out of control, and has no hops. He looks lost out there often times.
Anyways...those are just my thoughts after a disappointing UCLA weekend.
My hats off to Nikki Caldwell though and the lady Bruins...looks like they are shaping up to have a great season.
Nelson has proven that against players that are taller than him or better athletes than him, he can't rebound and can't score. All he succeeds in doing is getting his shot blocked and he doesn't play defense against anyone. Lee thinks he is going to the NBA. Maybe the development league. The next time Honeycutt sprints back on defense will be the first time. Anderson has no place on a D1 team. No one on this team seems to have any heart or passion for the game. Lavin was awful when he coached at UCLA. But one thing he did during a game when his starters were playing like the starters did last night (meaning they stood around and watched) was he pulled his starters and replaced them all with 5 bench players for a long stretch. That may have been the way to go last night. Seriously, could the reserves have done any worse? At least they would have put some effort into it and been happy to see the court as a member of a UCLA team. Howland - either needs to teach a zone offense, find an assistant who can, or be fired. Passing the ball around the perimeter 35 feet from the basket until there are 7 seconds left on the shot clock isn't an offense.
I agree with much of what Ed said. First of all, anyone who doubts Coach Howland has a very short memory. This program was in the dumps when he took over from Lavin, and in his third year he had us back in the Final Four, the first of three straight. The significance of the ineffectual 2008 recruiting class cannot be underestimated. Remember this was supposed to be the top recruiting class in the nation especially with the addition of J'mison Morgan. But as it turns out only two players are even left from that class and have not performed nearly to expectation, especially Anderson (although I don't fault his effort). I like Jones and think he will be a fine 2-year point guard, but Lee is not really a shooting guard. We are suffering greatly from not having a consistent zone-busting outside scoring threat at the 2 position.
I agree with anonymous that talent must include mental discipline. It appears Nelson drifts in and out depending on how frustrated he becomes. Honeycutt is the most talented but can become very sloppy with the ball, which breeds a somewhat lackadaisical attitude on the court among the team. Although he is far from being the most talented, the one player who appears to me to bring the consistent intensity I would like to see at all times from each player is Lane. If every player brought that intensity to the defensive side of the ball, the results would be dramatic because we would be able to run much more and not rely primarily on a half court set offense to score.
There is still time to turn this season around. Remember just a little over a week ago we were heading into the NIT seminfinals 3-0 and hopeful. We lost three tough games on the road and came back home overconfident after a good showing at Kansas and not mentally ready. I am certain that Coach Howland will have the team ready for the next game and beyond. In the longer term, we will be deep in the front court with the addition of the Wear twins and the development of Smith, Lane, and Nelson, so more consistent guard play will be pivotal. Honeycutt is the only one with a shot at leaving for the NBA next year, so if he stays and the shooting guard recruit for next year turns out to be strong, I anticipate a strong showing next year if we can increase our mental toughness and discipline. I am still hopeful for this year that we will right the ship and contend for the Pac-10 championship and build a strong foundation for next year.
Man this showing sickend me. I watch a team like Arizona going 10 players deep and keeping the pressure on other teams offenses. This has created many fast break (easy buckets) for them.
We have the same talent here (maybe not 10 but at least 8 deep) and can apply the same pressure.
Speaking of Arizona, Anybody know why S. Hill and D. Williams went to Arizona instead of comming here after USC's epic breakdown last year?
Montana was simply the better team. Period.
Hill wanted to go to UA all along, they had a coaching quandary so he verballed to USC. Hell ESPN asked him point blank during a game they televised(Sidney vs Tyler) and he said "I'm verballed to USC for now." While committed to USC he apparently became friends with Williams so when they bolted the cheaters, they went together. Also remember UCLA signed FOUR forwards in that class already, Lane, Nelson, Honeycutt and Moser. I would love Williams though.
On the not over the hump, people forget we lost 2 years in a row to the champs(Florida) and then we lost to a team that we now know had an ineligible player as its best player(Derrick Rose) can't fault ben for that. Even if we beat Memphis we're playing at team that had TWO ineligible player in Kansas(Arthur and Rush both should have been ineligible we know now). It takes luck to win an NC, I think we beat KU that year even with those 2, but Memphis was a bad matchup mainly because of Rose.
Ben needs to right the ship but the whole problem is connected to one recruiting class, 08. Instead of getting 4 starters and a pro for 2 years(Holiday) out of that we got 1 year out of Holiday and one starter(Lee) who plays hard but just isn't a very good shooter. 09 and 10 classes would be looked at MUCH better if the 08 class wasn't so short of expectations.
People blame Ben for recruiting but the whole problem was the result of supposedly great recruiting not working out.
Why not try Honeycutt at SG alongside Zeke and insert Lane to SF.
I am a very big and dedicated UCLA basketball fan, but after watching this game it makes me feel like I put more energy into the team then they did playing the game and that makes me loose interest. Sad.
A bit capricious don't you think, Jon?