SB Nation - Alfred Aboya

[UPDATE] More Thoughts On Drew Gordon's Departure From Howlandwood

Nestor — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:36:21 -0000

Well looks like we have a lot on our minds tonight. The first thread on Drew Gordon's departure is all filled up. Instead of updating that post, thought it would make more sense to throw up a fresh post, where folks can continue the discussion.

LAT's David Wharton posted excerpts of Gordon's tweeter messages today:

This morning, he told his Twitter followers: "waking up early.. sleeples night.. man its tough.. lots on the mind."

That was followed by a message in the early afternoon.

"to all my supporters and fans i apreciate all you done and im sorry but i set back is a set up for a great come back!!" he wrote.

I am all for student athletes taking advantage of the tools available by social media outlets, but I just don't see the utility of posting that information on twitter.

John Wilner from the San Jose Mercury News offered up the following quotes from Gordon's family:

"The UCLA system is very methodical, and Drew is better as a transition player,'' said Gordon's mother, Shelly. "When you spend that much time and effort on something, you have to feel some gratification.

"We wanted to make the change now rather than wait and hope the situation gets better. The timing is terrible: It looks like he's leaving because they lost a bunch of games. But that's not what happened.''

Gordon told UCLA Coach Ben Howland on Monday morning, 12 hours after he scored two points and grabbed one rebound in a loss to Long Beach State. But he had been pondering the decision for weeks.

Not exactly sure what she means by "situation." [UPDATE: it looks like we now have a little better understanding of the situation, discussed more after the flip] That could only lead to more baseless speculation. Anyway, wherever Gordon ends up, we should all wish him luck tonight.

As for us, I think we are going to be all right. This is going to be a very rough season. I know we are UCLA and the sentiment is we can't have rough seasons. However, in my book Howland has earned a lot of room given what he has accomplished in Westwood.

I had a gut feeling something wasn't right with Gordon's time at UCLA. I remember two years ago when JS did a reverse dunk on a break away and then did a little showboating. Howland immediately took him out after that play and chewed him out. He didn't do much of that rest of his time at UCLA (okay he slipped a little here and there but he really cut it out a lot). He seemed to make an earnest effort to do what Coach Howland asked him to do and in return he got the mins on the court.

There is reason why Howland got emotional on senior days for DC, JS, and PAA. Those three might not have been the most athletic players Howland had in his six+ years in Westwood, but they (at least from what I was watching) seemed to give everything they had to get on the same page as their head coach. Not sure if I can say the same about Gordon after what I have seen in his appearances in a UCLA uniform

As much as I enjoyed watching Gordon's active energy on the court, I never really got the sense that he was a Howland kind of player. Something didn't seem to fit amidst all the constant yelling and screaming after every dunks, blocks, getting out of position on defense, taking wild shots not within the flow of the offense. Perhaps Howland is just too old school for kids like him or perhaps some of us are too old school to appreciate today's athletes such as Gordon (Man, am I sounding like a geezer?).

Anyway, we will wait to see more news come out on this story. My gut tells me this didn't happen all on a sudden. This had to be building up and I have to think Howland had taken all the steps internally (i.e. disciplining if necessary by having him sit out at practices) before getting to this step. Either way, I really hope the remaining sophomores from Gordon's class gets the message. It is way too early to form any kind of impression on this year's freshmen class. However, given what we have seen from Holiday, Gordon, and rest of their entering class, something seems to be off. I hope they will make an earnest effort now to learn from the examples classic Ben Ball warriors such as DC, JS, PAA, AA, LRMAM, RW set before they left Westwood. They will get their due mins on the court during games, if they listen to Ben Howland, D up, rebound, and play within their limitations on offense during practices.

For now, I believe Howland will do everything he can to get this right. He might not get it all resolved by the end of this season. However, for the long term I think he will get the program back on track. Given what he has given to UCLA for last six years, I am going to keep my faith and keep traveling with him until we finally get to our desire destination (banner number 12). As I said, it might take a while, but I am more than willing to be patient after the job Howland has done last few years in Westwood.

GO BRUINS.

UPDATE (N): As pointed by number of posters in previous thread, it looks Howland indeed tried to make it work with Gordon. He suspended him for two days from practices this week:

UCLA center Drew Gordon decided to leave the team after Coach Ben Howland quietly suspended him for two days of practice this week, his parents said.

Yet instead of trying to learn his lessons, it looks like Gordon wanted to move on. The quotes from his parents as noted by poncho are telling:

"It came from the frustration of being with UCLA and losing to the teams they were losing to," Gordon's father, Ed, said. "With the talent that's on the UCLA team, there's absolutely no reason for that to happen."

Uh, really? Were these guys watching the same team as we all have been last few weeks? Ed Gordon goes on:

"His athleticism always has shined more in an up-and-down tempo," Ed Gordon said. "That's not exactly what the UCLA system is about."

Uh, yeah. He didn't really show much in terms of ability to shoot consistently beyond 5 feet. He also played frequently out of control. Anyway, whatever works for the Gordons. We wish them luck.

However, now I feel even better about the decision Howland made today. GO BRUINS.

Monday Merges Into Tuesday, Thanks To A Marathon

Chris Dobbertean — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:00:14 -0000

by Mark J. Terrill - AP

Drew Gordon and UCLA start the ESPN Tip-Off Marathon at midnight Eastern Tuesday..(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

View full size photo »

Starting at midnight Eastern with Cal State Fullerton at UCLA, ESPN will run more than 24 straight hours of college hoops. Since I'm nuts for this stuff, I'm going to try to follow the bulk of the marathon over at SBNation.com. However, since I'll be sleeping from the time I get home from work until some point in the Titans-Bruins tilt, I won't be able to catch any of Monday's action. Expect to see a Monday night recap at some point on Tuesday morning.

After the jump, I'll provide a comprehensive look at the marathon, culled from my earlier piece about it (with some updated information). I'll also have a brief rundown of the other games on the Tuesday slate.

ESPN has the bulk of the action overnight and during the day. Right after the clock strikes midnight on the East Coast (a perfectly reasonable 9 p.m. Pacific time tip), UCLA hosts Cal-State Fullerton. It will be the first chance for most of America to see how the Bruins cope after losing Jrue Holiday, Alfred Aboya, Darren Collison, and Josh Shipp. The Titans meanwhile lost Big West POY Josh Akognon and his 24 points per game and have six new faces (including 3 D1 transfers) on the roster.

In the 2 a.m. Eastern slot, St. Mary's, without Paddy Mills but with fellow Aussie Andrew Dellavedova attempting to fill the void, faces San Diego State, a team that will again challenge in the Mountain West, even though they only return one starter, F Billy White. The Aztecs knocked the Gaels out of the NIT at the end of last year.

Hawai'i again gets a 4 a.m. Eastern game. Last year, the Warriors defeated Idaho State in a game that was in overtime when I woke up at 6 Eastern. This year, it's another Big Sky opponent for UH, Northern Colorado.

According to Andy Katz's Daily Word, this will be the first time ESPN has ever carried games at 6 and 8 a.m. Eastern. The 6 a.m. offering, features a rising St. Peter's squad hosting a Monmouth side that's been down of late. My quibble with this matchup is the location, as the Hawks are opening up a new arena this year, yet they're on the road for this one. Go figure.

The 8 a.m. game could be a real donnybrook, however, and it takes place just a couple of miles from where I spent my first few years. Niagara, who finished behind Siena in the MAAC last year and is ready to challenge them again hosts Drexel, the team I foolishly picked to take the CAA's auto bid late last year. The Dragons problem then was scoring (61.7 ppg), an issue that won't get better as they lost their only double-digit scorer, Scott Rodgers, to graduation.

At 10, Clemson visits Liberty, a game that would've been more attractive had Seth Curry not transferred to Duke. The Tigers lost Terrence Oglesby to Europe, but gained Trevor Booker's younger brother Devin. He and 6-9 frosh Milton Jennings (a McDonald's All-American) give Clemson a significant post presence.

There is a nice little matchup in the East Coast lunch hour, as CAA contender Northeastern visits MAAC power Siena. Even though the Saints lost Kenny Hasbrouck to graduation, they return their other four starters (watch Edwin Ubiles closely). Bill Coen's Huskies also return four starters, including G/F Matt Janning.

At 2 p.m., Arkansas-Little Rock visits Tulsa, the team many think will usurp Memphis as the standard bearer for Conference USA.

Temple-Georgetown game, follows at 4 p.m. The Owls will be challenged this season without Deonte Christmas, while the Hoyas look to improve on last season's disappointment.

ESPN2 gives viewers a second option at 5:30 Eastern. Pitt hosts Binghamton in a preliminary game in the CBE Classic, where the Panthers are already guaranteed a trip to the finals in Kansas City. This game won't be quite as competitive as originally thought, thanks to the scandal that decimated the Bearcats' roster.

The 6 p.m. offering is the East regional final of the NIT Season Tip-Off. Barring a huge upset, Duke will take on Charlotte or Elon.

At 7:30 on ESPN2, it will be the first of two from the Hall of Fame Classic in St. Louis. (Save yourself $200 and watch this doubleheader at home.) Arkansas, a program that's been in a bit of turmoil during the offseason, takes on Louisville, another team that's been the focus of a lot of offseason news.

At 8 on ESPN, Gonzaga visits Michigan State. The Spartans are among the favorites to make it to Indy, while the Bulldogs will be good, even with the loss of four starters and a boatload of new recruits. This may not be the time to watch them, however.

If the TV action isn't enough, you can also see Northern Illinois-Illinois online at 8.

ESPNU picks up another CBE Classic preliminary that's not really a preliminary at 9. Duquesne, who--don't laugh--will build on last year and be a serious challenger in the A-10 this year--even without the services of leading scorer (and only loss) Aaron Jackson, visits Iowa. The Hawkeyes, just like they every year under Todd Lickliter, have personnel issues. Leading scorer Jake Kelly transferred to Indiana State and PG Jeff Peterson, the no. 3 scorer on the roster, transferred to Arkansas.

ESPN has the second Hall of Fame Showcase game at 10 p.m. It's a rematch of that 2008 National Championship game that the NCAA wants to wipe from our collective memories. Preseason No. 1 Kansas takes on Memphis in one we can only hope is as memorable as the game that didn't happen (but really did).

If you're still conscious at 11:30 Eastern, you can watch the final of the West regional of the NIT Season Tip-Off. Arizona State--presuming they knock off Texas State--will take on Cal State-Northridge or TCU in the final game of the day.

Here's a quick look at the non-marathon games slated for TV.

UConn should feature in the NIT North Region final which will air at 7 on the Big East Network and Full Court.
UNC Asheville at Tennessee (select FSN outlets/Full Court, 7)
Bowling Green at Xavier (FS Ohio [outside of Cavaliers' territory, 7:30)
Fairfield at Maryland (CSN Washington, 8)
UT-Martin at Missouri (FS Midwest/Full Court, 8)
Louisiana-Monroe at Oklahoma (Full Court, 8)
Fresno State at Northern Arizona in the West Coast Classic (UniversityHouse/FS Arizona/FCS Pacific, 8:30)
Columbia at DePaul (Lakeshore/SNY/Full Court, 9)
New Mexico at New Mexico State (Full Court, 9)

Visit Matt Sarz's College Sports on TV site for games telecast only locally or online.

More Thoughts (And Questions) On The Upcoming Ben Ball Season

Nestor — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:00:49 -0000

More photos » by Jae C. Hong - AP

ND, MR, MM & JA signing autographs on media day. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

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Let's continue with the story lines on the Ben Ball warriors coming out of Media Day. One thing I am already liking about this upcoming season is the absence of incessant chatter from the local (and national media) driving the narrative that UCLA basketball season is a bust if there is no Pac-10 championship or drive towards the Final-4. Don't get me wrong. I want the Bruins to win the Pac-10 title every season and make a hard charge to the Final 4 (and banner number 12 and beyond) in every post season. However, the reality - especially in today's world of one and done ballers - it is not going to happen every year and there will be times when the Bruins will be in semi-rebuilding and reloading mode.

Well this is one of those years during which observers both inside and outside the BN are not going to expect a lot out of UCLA in terms of conference championships or deep run in the Dance, but we do have a team that has the potential to develop into something fun to watch and achieve a result somewhere in between what Howland accomplished between his second and third season at UCLA (something beyond just a 1st round tourney team but not necessarily a Final-4/Pac-10 championship team). Where the Bruins end up will depend on number of factors.

We will have to find out what kind of transition JA makes as the full time floor general replacing DC (who made a fantastic transition taking over for JF). From the LA Times:

Anderson expected to be a factor last season but got boxed out by Collison's decision to remain in school one more year. As a result, he played only 8.6 minutes a game.

The sophomore is eager to make up for lost time. "I definitely know how to run a team," he said. "This year, I'm going to be allowed to do that."

From what I saw in JA last year I saw a kid who certainly has the tools to become a good floor general and get the ball to his talented team-mates. However, the question I have in mind is his defensive mindset. How good and aggressive will he be defensively and generate pressure on the opposing guard. He did struggle at times during last season. For some reason I have bad memories from the Wasington game at Pauley (even though we won that game) of moments when DC left the court. I am hopeful that JA is going to grow into his new role and get to work out the kinks during the non conference. He will get to do that against very tough competition which will include dates with the Jayhawks at Pauley and a solid Mississippi State team in the Wooden Class. JA is not the only question mark around this team though. More after the jump.

I am also wondering who will emerge as the go to guy in this team in terms of when we really need a key bucket. Last year it was all about DC, JS and PAA. The year before ... well we had options such as KL, RW, LRMAM along with DC and JS. Of course we had the AA/JF core in preceding years. Who are going to be the scorers this year? JMM thinks everyone is ready to step up:

"It makes it a lot easier - we don't have to just look for 'that' guy," Morgan said, after the team serenaded legendary coach John Wooden on video, celebrating his 99th birthday. "Last year it was, 'We're in trouble, we need to go to Darren, we need to go to Jrue, we need to go to Josh.' Now I feel like we can go to anybody on the team and they can take care of business."

I love his enthusiasm but we will have to see. It will be interesting to see how ML emerges this season. Part of me still wishes he got more time last season, especially given JH's tendency to take time off on defense. I think ML has the natural ability to one of those guards who will be able to create offense with his athleticism (within the frame work of Howland's scheme) by attacking the basket and also connecting from the outside. I also like the energy he brings on defense (at least based on what I saw from last year. In addition to ML, another kid who could provide some scoring punch right off the bat is TH who is thankfully allright and was cleared to practice. From Jon Gold in the Daily News:

Honeycutt enters the season as the hottest ticket in the group (of freshmen), rated the No. 3 small forward by Scout.com, a double-double force from nearby Sylmar High. He was cleared to practice on Wednesday after re-aggravating a stress fracture in his back during the summer.

"I'm going to have that mentality that I have to go in there and do whatever I can for the team," Honeycutt said. "Whether it's score the most or lock up the best player. A lot of people say there's not really a go-to-guy - I'm going to try to be that guy this year."

The combination of TH and other highly regarded freshman - MM from Oregon - is going to be fun to watch. From what I have heard and seen (from his couple of games on television) he strikes me as a little more polished version of LRMAM when he came into college. However, I have no expectation that MM will produce the same way as LRMAM who was just an athletic FREAK in his first year at UCLA. However, if MM can bring that defensive energy and we can combine that with TH and ML's athleticism, it could be something really fun to watch.

We will also probably get long range bombs from MR and ND. However, we will reall need MR to step up in big conference games and ND to toughen up his defense (and build on his tangible improvement he demonstrated last season.

We also have quesitons at the 5 spot and who is going to fill the big shoes left behind by PAA. From the LA Times:

As the heart of last season's team, Aboya brought grit and tenacity to the middle.

"It's a very tough thing to match," Howland said. "Especially on the defensive end of the floor where he made up for other people's mistakes because he drew so many charges."

Sophomores Drew Gordon and J'mison Morgan will compete to replace him, along with senior James Keefe, who started at power forward for part of last season. Freshman Anthony Stover is in the mix.

Injuries hit Keefe (shoulder) and Gordon (knee) this summer; both are working to get back to full strength. Morgan, looking trim after an out-of-shape freshman year, still has much to prove.

Well there are lot of questions here. We will have to see what kind of shape JK and DG are in early in the season. Coaches have to be careful about how they work them in early on. We have talked anough about JMM's footwork and need to play better defense. The report in terms of how hard he worked off season to get in better shape is certainly encouraging.

AS is a definite curiosity. Have heard great things about his athletic ability but I think we can expect him to be pretty raw and unpolished early on. We will also have couple of other freshman forwards in BL and RN (who MR described as a "bull" in the LAT report linked above). I think those guys will definitely get a chance to compete early on but it will all depend on how they pick up on how to play Ben Ball D. So the whole team is going to be a collective work in progress to say the least and they are going to need every out of conference game to develop chemistry among themselve and get accustomed to Coach Howland's style and demand of playing basketball. What we do know is that Coach Howland is going to have some pure athletes to work with.

The group of freshman and sophomore he has now are collectively more athletic than the group he had when the freshman group of DC/LRMAM/PAA/MR/Ryan Wright joined up with AA/JF/LMR/JS. So that said here is the biggest question I will leave everyone with. Will the current batch of Ben Ball warriors play with the same passion, desire, determination and intensity we saw from the crew led by AA and JF in their second year in Westwood? I think the answer to that question will have a lot to do with what kind of season we have this year in Howland.

GO BRUINS.

Aboya & Shipp's Next Adventures

Nestor — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 12:07:51 -0000

Remember Coach Howland told us not to worry too much about PAA and JS. Looks like they already have some nice options lining up from them. First, Dohn gives us the news on PAA. He is looking to try out with Mavs. If that doesn't work out, it looks like he will end in Europe making some decent change:

The agent for Alfred Aboya said the former UCLA center will play for the Dallas Mavericks in the Las Vegas summer league, which begins July 10.
Bouna Ndiaye said during the summer league he will meet with representatives from at least five European teams, and he expects Aboya to agree to terms with one of them by the end of the month,
"We'll do something were there is an out in the contract to play in the NBA," Ndiaye said.

PAA could make as much $200,000 annually playing for a European team either in Spain, Turkey or France. Speaking of decent amount of change, JS apparently already has an offer to play in Italy and a summer camp invitation from the Bulls. Per Dohn:

While I am told UCLA wing Josh Shipp has an offer of more than $200,000 to play in Italy, I am also being told he really wants to give the NBA a shot and may go that direction. A source told me Shipp has an invitation to play for the Chicago Bulls in a summer league.

Either way, best of luck to both PAA and JS from Bruins Nation.

GO BRUINS.

[UPDATED] Special Ben Ball Open Thread: 2009 NBA Draft Party

Nestor — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:00:20 -0000

Another NBA draft night. Hopefully it will be another night to celebrate the ever expanding NBA family of Ben Ball warriors here on Bruins Nation.

We know the NBA markets itself as the place "where amazing happens" but there is not much doubt about UCLA being the college basketball program where amazing begins. In case anyone needs a reminder per the datapoints our friends at Rush The Court looked up last July, UCLA has been the number 1 college basketball program in America since 1949 among schools with the most NBA draft picks.

We had an incredible draft night last year with KL, RW and LRMAM. Expectations are a little mellower this year. However, that shouldn't dampen the enthusiams to celebrate the contibutions of three incredibles seniors one more time here on Bruins Nation:

Graphic Credit: A Huge Thank You To Erkki Corpuz

The spotlight is obviously on DC, our floor general for last three years. If it all goes well it could be great night for him culminating after four incredible years in Westwood. We know JS and PAA are longest of long shots. However, as mentioned above it shouldn't by any means diminish the gratitude we all feel for the impact they have had on UCLA basketball helping Coach Howland rebuild our program.

The draft festivities get started tonight at 4 pm PST. WWL is all over it and you can follow ESPN's coverage online over here.

So best of luck to DC, JS and PAA tonight. They will have the whole Bruin Nation pulling for them. On that note fire away in our 2009 NBA Draft Party thread.

GO BRUINS.

UPDATE (N): Congrats to DC!!! He goes to New Orleans Hornets at number 21 spot. Earlier in the night Jrue Holiday despite the relentelss hype of being a lotter pick dropped down to number 17, going to Philly. Some early tidbits from UCLA athletics tweeter feed:

UCLA now has six first-round draft picks in the last four years. No one in the nation has more (pending the end of tonight's first round).

Coach Howland is classy and incredibly proud:

What a great day for UCLA Bruin players again! 2 more 1st round picks. Congras to Darren and Jrue. The whole team watched it in my office.

And we are all watched right here on BN. Now here is to wishing JS and PAA luck rest of the way and congrats one against to DC! GO BRUINS.

BN Roundup: NBA Draft Night & Football Recruiting Updates

Nestor — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:13:41 -0000

This should be a big day on Bruins Nation. We are getting set for the NBA draft night. We will have an open thread up around 3 pm PST to follow all the festivities from NYC. We are hoping it will be a good night for DC and who knows perhaps there will be a miracle and JS will get picked in the second. While PAA is the longest of long shot, we will still use the thread to pay one more tribute to him and our other two seniors. Also, later today around noon PST, rye will be posting something very special concerning about our baseball team. I think you will want to come back for that.

Now let's get to some of our news and notes for today. Greg Biggins fom ESPN had a nice write up on the two commitments Neuheisel picked up earlier this week. Wesley Flowers told Biggins how staying close to his family was an important factor in his decision:

"My grandmother has raised me since I was three years old," Flowers said. "She wanted me to stay close by and her sister lives in Los Angeles. I have a lot of other family in Los Angeles as well so it's cool to have a nice support group. Plus Tevin will be with me and like I said, we're real close and always wanted to play together.

"I still want to take my trips, just to have my fun but my commitment is solid. I know I want to check out Washington and a few others. I've only been outside of California one time so I want to see what's out there but I'm solid with UCLA and excited to be a Bruin for sure."

Flowers is also willing to be flexible in terms of where UCLA coaches plug him in:

"So I camped on Sunday and did my thing and they liked me a lot. I worked out at both end and tackle and they asked me where I wanted to play in college. I said I'll play wherever helps the team win. I told them they were the experts and I trusted they would put me in the best place to maximize my ability. I have a frame for defensive end but could easily put on 40 pounds and play tackle so we'll just see how it goes."

Per Biggins Flowers will be playing "all over the line" in his senior year at Edison. So he is on track to develop as multidimensional lineman before coming into UCLA. As for Nottingham the word Biggins used is "polished":

He's very polished and will have a short learning curve when he gets to college, compared to most high school signal callers, because of the coaching he has already received and the pro-style offense he plays in.

As he continues to work out his mechanics, look for Nottingham's arm strength to improve as well. He has a college frame right now, is very accurate and understands where to go with the football.

As I said yesterday it is going to fun to find out what he can do when he is ready to compete for the starting job in about 2-3 years at UCLA. Staying on the topic of recruiting, look who was camping at UCLA:

The youngsters began their camps at UCLA today, and proud papa and former USC star Keyshawn Johnson was there to watch his son, Keyshawn Jr., participate.

LOL. One of my best college sports memories was to see our football team repeatedly beating up Meshawn's bunch from South Central. Of course now if his son wants to come over to the good side we will gladly welcome him just like we did with Tevin McDonald. Still it will be especially hilarious to see Meshawn having to put on a UCLA polo (just like Bill Walton had to out on those ugly red polos during Arizona games few years ago) if Keyshawn Jr. ends up in Westwood. Either way best of luck to the kid.

Speaking of athletes who are all about "me" Jrue Holiday opened his mouth again about life being not "fair" under Coach Howland:

Holiday is a viable option for the Knicks at No. 8. Holiday said Howland initially told him he would be the backup point guard when Collison was out of the game, but that didn't happen. "I didn't complain about it,'' Holiday said. "I asked him if I could play point a bit. But life isn't always fair."

Well few points here to add context for poor poor Mr. Holiday.

Many of us here including yours truly suggested earlier this past season perhaps Howland should have plugged in Holiday a little more at the 1 spot since he seemed to be a natural at him. However, Coach Howland used JA to back up DC for one major reason: he knew Holiday was going to leave after one year in Westwood. He didn't want UCLA to be in a situation going into next season where the roster wouldn't have anyone with legit college experience at the 1 spot. Coach Howland used JA as the backup because he wanted to get him a little seasoned before his sophomore year. In other words, Coach Howland used JA at the 1 spot over Holiday because he had his team's best interest in mind.

So for Holiday to mouth off to the press that "life isn't fair" because he didn't get to play pg at UCLA is just selfish and obnoxious. Yeah, like we are going to sit around and feel sorry for a primadonna who is about to make millions based on sheer hype without ever proving himself at the college game. Whatever.

Anyway, we will see how the NBA draft unfolds tonight. As mentioned up top we will have an open thread up starting around 3 pm PST. Here is to a good night for Ben Ball warriors who always put the team and the four letters above their own interests.

GO BRUINS.

Philly Wrap

Nestor — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 11:00:10 -0000

So wanted to share with you some of my extended notes and thoughts from the weekend trip to Philly. The game wasn’t fun but we are more than glad to make that trip to see one of the best senior classes in the history of UCLA basketball to play their last game. Plus the rush of hearing our band, getting to do eight claps with hundreds (if not about a thousand) of fellow Bruin alums all decked out in UCLA blue, three thousand miles away from home is always more than worth it. As I said in my immediate post after the game the loss yesterday had a different feeling. It wasn’t the sense of shock, disgust and outrage we felt after losses in certain first round games in post-Wooden era. Saturday’s loss wasn’t the kind of loss we experienced against Penn State (91), Tulsa (94), Princeton (96) or Detroit-Mercy (98). We lost to a better team with a Bruin squad which was imperfect (more on that below). And after the loss instead of feeling angered, I am looking forward to next season given the players we have coming back and joining us next season.

I don’t feel like we have to do a lot of analysis on what went wrong on Saturday afternoon. It was clear Villanova was the better team. As Coach Howland said himself in his post game comments we were out played and outcoached. I think Jay Wright’s team would probably beat UCLA 6 out of 10 times in a neutral court. There is no shame and no reason to apologize for a "rebuilding" season featuring 25+ wins. That is a successful season in our book despite what you hear from people who didn't graduate from UCLA. If people want to denigrate what this group of players did by posting outlandish, nonsensical takes, they need to find another venue.

Our regular season record was just about what I expected with three seniors and upperclassmen who were role players in Final-4 teams and the freshman class of this season. As mentioned in the post game thread, I think Coach Howland built a team for this season with the expectation that he was going to lose KL and probably RW and DC at the end of last season. The dynamic changed when LRMAM decided to leave (which created a huge hole defensively and also in the front court) but DC decided to come back. With the return of DC, Howland had to move JH over to 2 (even though he is a natural pg) which shaped the dynamic of this year’s team.

DC did a great job this season and he will always be one of my favorite Bruins of all time. However, with him at the pg I think our offense at times (especially when the game was on the line) was predictable. DC as good as a shooter as he is and as fearless he has been in crunch times, doesn’t have the instincts and natural ability to pass as JH and create more options for the team. Again, I am writing this by no means to diminish what this kid has done for UCLA. No way. No how. I am just writing this because that is what my eyes saw through this season. That is all.

Moreover, I think the fate of our team’s post season run was also impacted by this:
Photo Credit: J Rosenfeld

Simply put our offense hasn’t been the same (with DC) ever since he went down against Oregon. He didn’t look himself last night or against VCU and during the Pac-10 tournament. He looked tentative from the free throw line. Not to mention he was bloodied up early in the game.

We all got glimpses of what JH can do from the 1 spot towards late in the season (during the Pac-10 and NCAA tournament). That leads to the question why didn’t we see Howland use JH at the spot lot more this season with ML at the 2? Here is my theory. Given all the hype and speculation about JH being a "one and done" player this season, my gut feeling is that Howland wanted prepare JA as much as he could to take over the 1 spot this upcoming season. JA by all account needed lot more seasoning his freshman season than JH. So I think Howland wanted to make sure he got JA as much experience as possible for next season.

As I mentioned yesterday following the game the two players who come closest to matching the gumption of AA and JF are DG and ML. I think it is difficult to sense the intensity and emotion DG and ML brings to the game just by watching TV or looking at cool shots like this:

Photo Credit: E. Corpuz

To me when we are going through tough times we usually get two different kind body languages from our players. First there is the kind of expression in which players look frustrated, dejected. There is also the second kind of emotion when things are not going to well. It’s the sense of anger we were so used to seeing in Ed O’Bannon and AA (again for those who followed Yankees during the 90s can remember the emotions of Paul O’Neil). DG was not a happy camper on Saturday. He was the only Bruin player that seemed to be upset (at least externally) with the way events were unfolding inside the Wachovia Center. I was really zeroing in on the bench. To me it seemed like all the emotion of the entire team was exploding out of DG. We have seen this kid's explosion all season long:

Photo Credit: E. Corpuz

I think once Coach Howland refines his defensive skills and he develops a consistent low post move the sky is the limit for him at UCLA:

Photo Credit: E. Corpuz

Speaking of taking things in personally, it’s clear to me at least the guy who takes playing defense personally is ML:

Photo Credit: E. Corpuz

At the beginning of the season Howland wanted JH to take on the mantle of defensive stopper of this team (in the mold of AA and RW). While JH made some noticeable impression throughout the season (as evident in the way he defended Derozan at Galen and Klay Thompson during the Pac-10 tournament), I think ML is the best defender among freshman. Again, I don't think one can really get a sense of how active this kid is on unless you see him defending in person:

Photo Credit: E. Corpuz

He has that grean wingspand and he is lightning quick in the way he rotates on defense. In fact he rotates much faster than JH (at least he did on Saturday). He also gets all over his player just like AA and RW used to execute their defensive assignments. If anyone wants to get a sense of how ML defensively impacts a game go back and watch the first half against ASU (in Tempe) from few weeks ago. Go back and see how our defensive intensity changes when Howland brought in ML. I simply love this kid’s game. He is fearless:

Photo Credit: E. Corpuz

He still has to develop physically. He also had the offensive tools which I think will come through once he gets the mins like RW did in his second year at UCLA. Still to me he has the best potential of emerging as the true leader of this team.

I also don’t see any reason to get down on JA. He had a tough game yesterday like he did on some other occasions against more physical guards (ala Washington). But he will get there. After a year or two in Howlandwood and going through off season workouts, he will be ready. Same goes for JMM. Obviously JMM wasn’t ready to contribute this season in Howland’s defensive scheme but his comments from this weekend were more than encouraging. Moreover, if anyone wants to question the possibility of the kind of leap a player can make in Howland’s program, just think back to where ND was just last year. Sure ND has lot more room to improve but two years ago he couldn’t even manage to stay on the floor because he had no clue how to play defense and would just chuck up bad shots. Now ND is playing within himself offensively lot more. He still needs to get quicker on his rotations. We can always hope for that to happen next year. What I am hoping for next year is Coach Howland trusting his bench a little more. I think it could help if he allows kids like MM and TH extended mins in early season, if our current guys at the 4 spot are not stepping up. We can always hope that the switch will go on for JK next year like it did for PAA this season. However, in case it doesn’t I hope Howland is not afraid to trust his freshmen.

BTW, yes the refs were terrible on Saturday. No doubt about it. But at the same time, we have to be honest with ourselves and can’t blame what took place against Nova on the refs. From my pov, we didn’t get the calls on Saturday and frankly throughout this season, because we haven’t been as aggressive on defense as we had been in previous years. The rebounding numbers speak for themselves (you guys pointed to it all day during the game thread and aftermath). Couple of instances stood out to me. I think they both occurred in the second half. In one sequence the Wildcats pulled down three consecutive offensive rebounds and break our back with a three pointer. Then another time, a Nova player pulled down an offensive board with four Bruins in the paint. Pretty inexcusable.

I think the talk of Villanova having a home court advantage is somewhat overblown. No doubt the crowd inside got loud when the Wildcats were making their runs. However, I didn’t think it was anything overwhelming. The arena seemed like a typical NBA arena which is kind of cavernous and built to amplify the acoustics, however it doesn’t give the sense of kind of intimidating atmosphere of a college arena ala Mac Court in Eugene (where the rafter shakes) or Cameron Indoors down in Durham. Besides as mentioned yesterday, the Bruin contingent was loud. And I have to say our band did a great job as much as they could to fire us all up in the early going:

BTW here was another sign when we knew we were going to be in trouble. Our camera battery ran out right after we took that picture and we realized that we had left extra batteries back at our hotel. Yikes. That was a bummer because we had fantastic seats in the lower section (4th row) right behind Plaschke and rest of the MSM haters from Southern Cal. lol We are sorry about that guys because we could have gotten some great shots of the Bruin contingent who did a great job rooting on our Ben Ball warriors.

Speaking about being at the game, let me share something about Don McLean. We have talked all year about Donnie Mac is our favorite announcer during Bruin broadcast. He does his best to sound impartial without trying to do too much and sound completely fake (and annoying in the process) ala Marques Johnson. He was sitting in just few rows ahead of us. And I wish I could describe the anguish in his face as the game was unfolding in front of our eyes. Donnie was in pain. I also loved how Coach Garson came over to him right before the tip off and did a little fist bump. McLean is clearly a big part of this program and I love it.

Going back to Coach Howland and what he would have, could have, and should have done. I think the tone 98 percent of this community has struck is the right one. Sure it is all right to express frustrations or disappointment with some of his strategic decisions (i.e. the way he decided to shape his backcourt mins this season) this season. However, some of the washed up and recycled second guessing we have seen on other boards and sporadically on here about his scheduling decisions, the way he uses TOs etc, are LOL funny. All on a sudden the coach who has reestablished this program as one of the best in this country, and taken to three straight Final-4s has to make whole sale changes because he lost a second round game with an imperfect team, despite winning 25+ games in a rebuilding season. Again as mentioned above, we just have a simple suggestion for these people: call in the local radio show or write to the dying LA Times to get off your cheap thrills but please keep that nonsense out of Bruin Nation.

Lastly, I wanted to end with a plug for Philadelphia. It’s a fun town. Sure it doesn’t have the name recognition of Boston or NYC out in the West. I get the sense many people have the notion that Philly is a gloomy and a depressing city. It’s anything but. There are tons of fun stuff to do in this cool sports town with great bars, restaurants and parks. We didn’t get to stay in the team hotel because we planned our trip at the very last second in late Friday afternoon. Still we ended up having a great time. We stayed in the Warwick, near Rittenhouse Square (around downtown I think). It was right in the middle of tons of cool places to hang out. Despite the tough afternoon, we decided to make the best out of it and enjoy a great weekend.

This trip was very different than my last trip to Philadelphia to see UCLA lose to Nova (in 2002). After that game we went out with other alums from East Coast at a local bar, and commiserated about a lost program being conned by a head coach in name only, who now poses as an "analyst" on ESPN. This time around we left the arena knowing that we still have one of the best coaches in the country, who will bring us back next season with another edition of Ben Ball season, contending for a Pac-10 championship, ginning us up and getting excited for March Madness. The fun will never stop in Howlandwood ...

... as long as we have the Caretaker leading our program.

GO BRUINS.

Playing With Fire

Nestor — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:58:23 -0000

So where to begin? During Coach Howland era usually it's the second round when we get to unpack the emotions from the kind of tough, heart stopping win we were able to eek out last night. The kind of win we experienced yesterday was pretty much identical to the ones against Alabama, Indiana and Texas A&M from last three years. Those are the kind of games when you need days to recover from. We don't have that luxury today.

As Tydides said below (in a post which struck the perfect tone) we cannot afford to do in our next game what we did yesterday: playing not to lose. Before I get more into it I don't think I have lay out exactly how much we adore Coach Ben Howland here on BN. It is also worth mentioning he is now officially the first UCLA Coach since Coach John R. Wooden to win four straight first round tournament games. He is our guy and he is going to be with us as long as he wants (and we don't want him to even think about going anywhere else besides Howlandwood). However, that said I have to say I was scratching my head last night number of time watching last night's game.

I still don't understand why Howland didn't use ML for last night's game. Here is Dohn from the Daily News:

Freshman guard Malcolm Lee said he did not play because of a coach's decision, but freshman center Drew Gordon said he was not used because he suffered a concussion during Tuesday's practice in Los Angeles.
Gordon said he fell while dunking the ball, and banged his head on the court.

"This is like my sixth or seventh concussion," Gordon said. "I would say I'm 75, 80 percent for Saturday."

Before the game Gordon said his status for VCU was in question because of a knee injury, which he suffered last week against USC, but the concussion was not divulged to the media until after the game.

Well we sure hope DG is feeling better and can contribute somewhat tomorrow afternoon but I want to get back to ML. Can anyone here provide a good explanation for what Coach Howland was thinking for not putting ML in the game?

At various stretches of the second half DC was looking clearly gassed bringing up painful reminders of the ASU game. Let me bring up the quotes from Howland following the devastating ASU loss at home earlier in the season. Following the ASU game at Pauley here is what Howland said about his substitution pattern:

"It's really my fault, my responsibility, I didn't use our bench well enough in this game," Howland said. "We got a little tired, a little worn down. Should have played Jerime Anderson minutes, should have looked to get Alfred a little more rest in there. We got a little worn down."

Howland said it was mismanagement.

"It was just the flow of the game," Howland said. "I went with our veteran guys. I've got to do a better job substituting. Again, that's my responsibility."

An about not playing ML:

"I probably should have played Malcolm," Howland said. "Again, that's my call."

So tell me how things were different (in terms of dynamics/complexion of the game) last night?

Second, while our defensive numbers were good, our defensive assignments didn't make a lot of sense. DC did a good job in that last possession against Maynor and Maynor for sure was getting the benefit of the doubt with lots of "Jordan Calls" from SPTR like refs. Still I didn't get why Howland stuck with DC as the primary defender against Maynor. I thought Maynor was repeatedly getting around DC throughout the game who was being forced to reach in desperate attempts to stop him. Why not go with more athletic JH and ML (who has proven his defensive ability this season) to guard Maynor or throw a combination at him?

Third, I am getting weary of this season's trend in which we repeatedly find our team in a mentality of playing not to lose, desperately trying to hold on to the lead. What was happening last night was nothing new to any of us. What I felt inside last night when we were up by 11 points (following PAA's monster mash) was the same exact feeling I had after MR sank a 3 point to go up by same margin against ASU with about 10 mins to go in Pauley. I knew in the back of mine we were playing with fire. Here is what Anthony Grant, VCU's head coach said following last night's heartstopper:

"We didn't play to keep close," Grant said. "We played to win."

And Howland?

"We didn't do a good job of closing them out when we had that lead," Howland said.

No kidding Coach.

Again last night was also reminding me of our game against ASU in Tempe when time and time and time again we failed to extend a 4 point lead in the second half through sloppy play on offense, turnovers, blown layups, and last second breakdown on defense. We played with fire and got incredibly lucky. If we take the approach on Saturday afternoon we are going to get blown out of Philly and Coach Howland once again will have only himself to blame.

BTW I know we were getting lot of bad calls. I also share the same frustrations about the BS touch fouls and inconsistent calls that really ruined the game watching experience (I am sure Cal fans feel the same way as the Bears got absolutely hosed in the earlier game yesterday v. Maryland). However, at the same time we have to convert on our freaking layups. By my count we blew 5 layup opportunities last night. If we had executed on those, the game would have a different complexion.

Now, I don't want to dwell on the negatives. They were number of bright spots in a game in which our Ben Ball warriors did after pull out a stomach churning win:

JH certainly flashed his potential as a natural pg last night which of course leads to the question/wish of wanting to see lot more of him playing at the 1. Just dig up our old posts from earlier in the season when we were clamoring for Howland to try out JH at 1 and DC at 2. Oh well ... not much we can do at this point except hope that on Saturday when we are going up against a guard heavy team, Howland wouldn't hesitate to run the point with JH to give DC a breather and also use ML's athleticism at the 2 spot.
ND had one of his better games as a Bruin hauling down 13 boards. He still was slow at times on rotating out on doubles, but he gave an all out effort.
JS was an absolute warrior. The way he was playing last night picking up offensive rebounds, scoring on putbacks, showing an uncanny nose for the ball, he reminded me of the JS from his freshman season. He was all over the court.
What can you say about PAA? He played for 37 mins last night knowing that DG was not going to be available to back him up. More amazing was his poise in crunch time, getting the roll on those huge FTs. He was simply clutch going 5 for 5 from the FT line in such a close game.

So where do go from here v. Villanova? From the LA Times:

By holding on, the Bruins proceed to a second-round game against a Villanova team that looks like a cross between Washington and California, athletic, under control.

Not only are the Wildcats a higher seed, they also have the geographical edge, their campus a short drive from downtown Philadelphia.

They looked less than invincible struggling against 14th-seeded American, trailing for much of the second half before pulling away. But if Thursday night was any measure, a great majority of the crowd will be rooting for them Saturday. At great volume.

"When we step on the floor and we hear the crowd," Wildcats swingman Dwayne Anderson said, "it's definitely a homecourt advantage."

And here is Coach Howland on our next opponent:

"This is going to be a true road game in the NCAA Tournament because they actually played here multiple times," UCLA coach Ben Howland said of Villanova. "They're a very, very good team, very well-coached, a team that really has a lot of athletic guards that can all shoot. They'll play four (guards) around one (big guy), so there's gonna be some matchup issues."

Well I think as concerned as we all are about Nova and playing on their home court, my biggest concern right now is how we are going to come out and play? Last night didn't convince me that we have the ability to focus for entire 40 mins and lock down on defense. I still haven't seen our team zone in and execute on all the easy opportunities. And I also want to see our head coach (who as mentioned above we all adore here on Bruin Nation) be a little less stubborn, by trusting his bench and have his team attack down the stretch by playing not to lose.

We are going to be huge underdogs tomorrow afternoon. No doubt about that. However, I also believe we have the ability to win the game. We have the athleticism and talent on our team to win. I just hope Howland has the team in a mindset in which they play feeling no pressure (they shouldn't because 90 percent of the nation except the ones bleeding UCLA blue and gold believe they are going to lose) and unleash their athleticism on Nova.

Make no mistake about it. If the team somehow escapes out of Philadelphia tomorrow afternoon with a victory, it will make this season an outright success. It will be an upset and frankly a pleasent surprise to this Bruin (even though I believe we can win). I just hope we don't get ourselves in a situation in which instead of playing with fire, we are playing to win.

GO BRUINS.

4-Shadowing: Pre-Tournament Analysis

Meriones — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:19:15 -0000

Back in October, I posted a way-too-early, "On the Horizon" view of what I thought a problem area for us might be, focusing mainly on our ability to cover the perimeter. (We've already discussed our recent concerns over our ability to consistently cover and rotate out to shooters, ever since Rochestie and Thompson carpet-bombed us at Pauley.)

My concern today, however, is linked to this disclaimer I mentioned at the very beginning of my On the Horizon post:

Sincere and honest disclaimer -- if LMRAM had come back for his senior year, along with everyone else we've got on the roster right now, I’d already have $50 down on us in Vegas to bring home Banner 12. Yep, d*** serious.

And that's the point of my analysis today: the 4-spot. The power forward position, one of the unfailing linchpins of our success in recent years.

ND has improved his game, no question about that. On the year, ND has averaged 9.3 points in 23.7 minutes per game (mpg), and gone for career-highs at least twice, IIRC. Most would say ND has been giving us an added offensive threat at the PF spot... but has he?

I looked back at our team's offensive stats in 2006 and 2007. I omitted 2008 because our overall team makeup is more similar to the 2006 and 2007 teams, IMO, unless CBH is hinding a double-double player on our bench that we don't know about.

Anyway, I looked at our production at the 4 from our beloved LMRAM, and here's what I saw:

2006 -- 29.5 mpg, 9.1 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 1.3 apg (LMRAM)
2007 -- 29.9 mpg, 8.2 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 1.9 apg (LMRAM)
2009 -- 23.7 mpg, 9.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.4 apg (ND)

Thus, in about 4/5 the time, ND's offensive output is already comparable to what LMRAM did for us in the past, albeit at considerably longer-range. The rebounding, though, is considerably LOWER. In our last 5 games, in particular, ND has given us the following stats:

(A) ND (last 5 gms):
149 minutes, 59 points, 29 rebounds, 12 fouls.
29.8 mpg, 0.396 ppm, 0.195 rpm, 0.080 fpm.

Now, take a look at THIS stat line during the same 5 games:

(B) ?? (last 5 gms):
41 minutes, 15 points, 14 rebounds, 4 fouls.
8.2 mpg, 0.366 ppm, 0.341 rpm, 0.098 fpm

If you take the stats of Player (B) and project them out to the same 29.8 mpg (or just 0.5 mpg more than LMRAM in 2007), you get the following: 10.90 ppg, 10.16 rpg, and 2.92 fpg.

In the same 5 games, ND has produced the following stats: 11.80 ppg, 5.8 rpg, and 2.3 fpg.

Even at ND's average of 23.7 mpg this year, Player (B)'s per-minute projections from the last 5 games would still come out to some very LMRAM-like numbers: 8.67 ppg, 8.08 rpg, and 2.3 fpg.

Granted, no single player can replace all the Swiss-Army-knife contributions LMRAM gave to us the past 3 years, but I'm sure many of us would like to have a PF who can give us 8 and 8 or 9 and 9 while riding shotgun with PAA. My point today is this: we already DO have such a player. And his name is James Keefe.

It may be unlikely, it may be too late, but I sincerely think that for us to regain our defense, our toughness, our CORE, we should get JK back in the starting lineup asap. At a minimum, I think JK needs to earn/ play/ get as many minutes as possible.

Keefe could be the KEY for us in three areas where we've been having trouble all year:

(1) Defensive rotation -- Next to Aboya, Keefe is our physically strongest AND most experienced big-man defender. Simply put, he knows how to work the double-team AND the hedge better than ND. We need our PFs to close the lane from penetrators, and crowd post-players without getting burned by being a step too slow or not properly sealing off an exit lane for a pass-out. Drago's been having a lot of problems on exactly these kinds of rotations and shifts for the past 2 weeks. If Keefe can take ND's minutes away by providing solid D, I have no doubt that our prospects will improve.

(2) Rebounding -- Pat Riley said, "No rebounds, no rings." Around here, we can easily say, "No boards, no banners." We all know that rebounding is a BIG part of CBH's overall team philosophy. If you outrebound your opponents (either on our misses or theirs), they get less possessions, we get more, and we can control pace WITH our possessions (either by running more breaks or slowing down the game with grind-out plays. The first rule of any ball-control offense is, by definition, GET THE BALL.

The Huskies rightfully took the Pac-10 season crown by having the kind of rebounding margin WE used to bury opponents with. If we end up brain-locking and settling for outside jumpers at any time during the Tournament, the only way we may be able to generate points for mintues at a time may be on putbacks and garbage points. Aboya has greatly improved for us this year, but he can't clean the glass alone.

Possessions will undoubtedly be at a premium in the Tourney. He may not be able to maintain the same pace at 8 mpg over a more healthy 29mpg, but Keefe has been averaging half as many rebounds as ND in barely more than one-quarter the time. With Josh's shooting touch restored, I think we need more force and less finesse at the 4 spot. No boards, no banners.

(3) Inside scoring -- I know, I know, JK is no Tim Duncan. Shoot, he may not even be Mark Madsen. However, while Drago has certainly improved his footwork in the post, when Darren and Jrue drive and are unable to connect, they need someone who can muscle in a basket. If a thin, but athletic shotblocker like Gibson can flummox us, what will the bigger, wider, bulkier trees from the East region do to us?

At present, our starting lineup lacks the traditional Howland-type bangers, aside from PAA. If Keefe can draw fouls inside just by showing the toughness to get IN there, that helps us down the stretch by fouling out or slowing down enemy bigs, or by simply getting us to 1-and-1s a lot faster. As the $C game and the UW games have proven, if you're looking to draw fouls on an enemy big, ND is not EXACTLY the guy to do it.

I BELIEVE IN THIS TEAM.

I BELIEVE IN COACH BEN HOWLAND.

I BELIEVE IN THE BRUINS.

AND, I also believe, based on the last 3 years running, that the TOUGHEST teams are the one who go farthest in the Tournament.

As I've said before, toughness is a choice. It's a decision. It's what the CORE of this team under CBH is all about.

With that in mind, how about we throw a big man pairing of the 6-9, 245-lb. Aboya and the 6-8, 235-lb. Keefe at people and play Howland's defense again from the opening tip, rather than hit the boards 20 pounds lighter than we used to do?

What would we rather have? ND giving us 12 and 6 like he has the past 3 weeks; or Keefe giving us 9 and 9?

OK, enough from me. Feedback is welcome.

CougCenter's All Pacific Ten Awards

Dancing Football — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 03:22:56 -0000

It's what you've all been waiting for. The much anticipated CougCenter Pac 10 conference awards! Grady, Nuss, and myself all spent way more time than we anticipated on this (If you haven't, try doing it, it is a lot harder than it would seem initially). Twelve pots of coffee, two fist-fights, one trip to the emergency room, and an apology ice cream cake later, we were able to hash out our differences and come up our selections for the best of the best during the Pac 10 season.

We decided to toss away the official format (a ten man first team, why?) and go with first, second, and third teams. Additionally we doled out awards for Coach of the Year, Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, All-Defensive Team, and the All-Freshman Team.

EDIT 9:40 p.m.: You can see how each of the bloggers voted at this link.

We'll start with the individual awards.

Coach of the Year- Craig Robinson

Grady and I were in agreement on this one. Nuss went with Lorenzo Romar initially, but after a satellite phone call from a certain brother-in-law who pointed out that the Beavs probably should have won ZERO Pac 10 games this year, Nuss works for CougCenter and Romar coaches the Huskies, and that Robinson offered hope and change for all agricultural/engineering colleges across the country, Nuss was convinced.

Player of the Year - James Harden

There is really no debate on this one. Harden also takes home the gold in the "beard of the year" category.

Defensive Player of the Year - Taj Gibson

We didn't disagree on this one, but none of us really felt great about it. He led the conference in block% and was 6th in defensive rebounding%. Still, it seems there was no guy you could point to this year and say, "he is the best lock down defender in the Pac 10," like Kyle Weaver last year. Oh yeah, he didn't win the award.

Most Improved Player - Jerome Randle

He no longer had Ryan Anderson to attract the attention of defenses so it was hard for him to find open looks right? Wrong. He improved leaps and bounds in nearly every statistical category. Someone pull some strings and get this guy into the NBA next year, so the pack defense no longer has to deal with him.

Freshman of the Year - Isaiah Thomas

Thanks to johnnycougar for pointing out the ommission. He did a great job with the voting across SBN. You can see his poll results here. We are tired of talking about this guy on this site.

The Best of the Second Best (When ranked by Ken Pomeroy)

The hardest thing about putting together these teams is making them into a group of players that would actually be a viable combination for a coach during a game. The first team (which consists of five players, you know, because that's how many play on the court for a team) is full of guys who played well and were key reasons why their respective teams will be dancing come tourney time.

James Harden	G/So.	The most dynamic offensive player in the conference. No one is more important to his team's success. Top five pick in the NBA draft come April.
Darren Collison	G/Sr.	Fantastic player of both ends of the floor. Top 10 during conference play in offensive rating, assist percentage, and steal percentage.
Jerome Randle	G/Jr.	He's 5-10 and third during conference play in eFG%. Also in the top 10 in assist%. The biggest reason that Cal will be in the field of 64/65
Jordan Hill	F/Jr.	A freak athlete. Added some post skills and a short range jumper this year. Tough to deal handle defensively and offensively. Lottery pick for sure.
Jon Brockman	F/Sr.	Best rebounder in the conference on both ends of the floor. Took a hit in his own personal statistics this year to benefit the team as a whole.

For the rest of the awards, click the link to make the jump. Don't worry, we are all smarter than Pac 10 coaches, and Aron Baynes will not be left out!

The Second Best of the Second Best

Taylor Rochestie	G/Sr.	He. Is. Awesome.
Justin Dentmon	G/Sr.	Close second for most improved player. One of the best shooters in the Pac 10. That's enough about him.
Chase Budinger	G/Jr.	Pretty unstoppable when he gets it going. Tough to match up with at the guard position with his length.
Taj Gibson	F/Jr.	Your aforementioned Defensive Player of the year and USC's most effective offensive option. Tough matchup because of his quickness.
Aron Baynes	C/Sr.	Best part about Baynes this year, those twenty pounds he lost. So much quicker off his feet making him a terror down low for the Cougs opposition.

The Third Best of the Second Best

Josh Shipp	G/Sr.	Seems like he has been around forever. Dangerous shooter from the outside.
Calvin Haynes	G/So.	Easily the scariest scoring threat on the Beavs offense.
Alfred Aboya	F/Sr.	Good offensive numbers. Only a 17.4 shot % though.
Jeff Pendergraph	F/Sr.	Led the conference in eFG%. Making layups is harder than it looks (ask the Cougs)
Roeland Schaftenaar	C/Jr.	Have to love a center who has the #8 assist rate in the conference.

Honorable Mention (guys who received votes, but didn't make the cut):

Anthony Goods, Isaiah Thomas, Quincy Pondexter, Patrick Christopher

The Defenders

Venoy Overton	G/So.	He grabs and pulls, but he knows how to get away with it.
Darren Collison	G/Sr.	The closest thing to a lock-down defender the conference had this year. (can't wait for Casto and Capers next year!)
Jordan Hill	F/Jr.	Gets off the floor quick, can block shots and bother offensive players with his long arms.
Taj Gibson	F/Jr.	I think we've said enough about him.
Aron Baynes	C/Sr.	He. Is. Awesome.

Honorable Mention: James Harden's Beard, James Harden

The New Guys

Isaiah Thomas	G	See past articles. No more needs to be written about this guy on this site.
Klay Thompson	G	Ask Mitch Johnson how awesome Klay is.
Jrue Holiday	G	Didn't quite live up to his billing, but UCLA will probably benefit from that having him stick around for a few more years.
DeMar DeRozan	F	A guy so good he's worth two scholarships and four capital letters.
Michael Dunigan	F	Dunigan is such a fun name to say. Also, solid rebounder and shot blocker. Played more minutes and took more shots than Casto, that's the main reason he is on here.

Honarable Mention: DeAngelo Casto

There you have it. Blood, sweat, and tears went in to creating this. Please feel free now to tear us apart and tell us why we are wrong, we can take it, as long as there is ice cream cake.