Weekly Answers, Pt. 6

1) Thanks for all the great coverage of UCLA sports, Jon. If he continues to improve, will Joshua Smith declare for the NBA draft after this season? What about Honeycutt? Do you think next year's basketball success rides on the decisions of those two? - hicalliber
Smith has told me directly he would not declare and does not feel he's ready. Honeycutt, meanwhile, has said he hasn't started the decision-making process and will wait until much later to do so. Regarding next season's success, yes, Honeycutt's decision will be crucial.

2) Hypothetical: let's say Chow gets hired at another major program and UCLA is off the hook for his 2011 salary. In that situation, how do you see our coordinator hirings going? I've heard that Chow's contract situation is leading to the delay in hiring a DC. Also, is the uncertainty at those positions scaring recruits away? - hilcalliber
I still think Neuheisel will run a deliberate process, and no, I don't really think the uncertainty is playing too much of a factor. The players who have decided to go elsewhere so far were long rumored to have been leaning to those schools, such as Wayne Lyons to Stanford and Colt Lyerla to Oregon.

3) Watching Brendan Lane this year, it is painfully obvious he is in for a lot of seasoning. I am ok with that (having watched Alfred Aboya, George Zidek, and many more struggle initially before becoming so valuable their senior years). However, with the glut of big guys next year, do you think it would be a good idea to redshirt Lane next year? Do you think Howland would entertain it? I know he doesn't have a good track record with that, but has he learned anything yet? - Derek Carlson
That's a great question, and really, I don't know what he'd do. Player so rarely redshirt in the middle of their careers aside from injury issues, so I wonder how Lane would feel about it. I'll try to ask around on this, but email me at jon.gold@dailynews.com in a couple weeks with this again.

4) Tyler Lamb was suppossed to be a great outside shooter. We have not seen that, and he seems to play a bit tentative. Coaches fault, players fault or just a freshman getting used to D1 competition? Will it get better this year or next? - Keith
I think it's just about gaining some confidence and rhythm. He has a pretty nice shot and a good release, so I don't think there's anything mechanically wrong. He just needs to learn how to pull the trigger quicker and better.

5) Shabazz Muhammad recently said UCLA was in his top three. How good of a shot do we have? - nacho
UCLA is in the top three but probably running third.