SB Nation - James Keefe

Ben Ball Roundup: Early Notre Dame Notes

Nestor — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:11:39 -0000

How do we stop the Beast? 6-foot-8, 246-pound Luke Harangody is averaging 24.6 points and 10.1 rebounds

Our friends over at Rakes Of Mallow are still too euphoric about their hiring of new football coach. So, can't blame them for not thinking too much about the 9-2 Fighting Irish's upcoming (gulp) nationally televised non conference game against our 3-6 Bruins. May be they will get fired up about it before Saturday but they are not yet.

We can expect the Irish hoops team to be fired up on Saturday because they are going to want revenge for what we did them to Pauley last year drubbing them by a score of 89-63. They have a record of 9-2 but they are coming into this game following a 2 point loss against LMU (may be they were already looking ahead to UCLA?). Their other loss this season came against in a 15 point defeat against North Western. The best team the Irish has beaten this year is St. Louis in the third-place game of the Chicago Invitational Challenge.

Obviously the center of attention on Saturday will be Luke Harangody. It will be interesting to see how the Bruins can defend him at Joyce Center. Perhaps they can use the same formula that allowed Nelson to contain Aldrich at Pauley. Then again, may be it's too much to ask our freshmen to show the kind of poise and maturity needed to get a win in a fired up, hostile, roald enviroment. Besdes Harangody, 5-11 guard Tory Jackson is the other dependable option returining from last season. Currently their rotation looks like this:

Usual Starters -- F Luke Harangody, F Tyrone Nash, G Jonathan Peoples, G Ben Hansbrough, G Tory Jackson. Key Subs -- F Tim Abromaitis, F Carleton Scott.

Ben Hansbrough, was hobbled a bit early in the season by a sprained right ankle, but he is rounding into form. He has been in double figures from the scoring line last 5 games and almost shooting 50 percent from the 3 point line.

Meanwhile, junior forward Tim Abromaitis, who played rarely as a freshman and missed the entire 2007-08 season, has emerged as the second leading scorer in the team as he begin this year with seven straight game in double figures. So, in other words, with injury to Keefe, Coach Howland is going to have his hands full dealing with the Irish front court. More on that after the jump.

Well here is the latest on Keefe. He is out at least 2-3 weeks with a dislocated shouler. It was the same shoulder that kept him out with a huge chunk of the season two years ago with a torn labrium. Thankfully though per Jon Gold the xrays this time were negative. I have to say again Keefe was an absolute warrior on Saturday. He got off to such a great start on the defensive end. When he got hurt it was pretty amazing to see how composed he was in dealing with the pain (when it was clear on camera (and to those who were at Pauley) what was happening to him). If there is a kid who deserves a happy ending at UCLA, who has done everything Coach Howland has asked him to do over the years without complaining one bit, it's James Keefe. I hope he can get fully healthy and can make a return to make some meaningful contributions before he is done.

Now without Keefe Bruins are going to be short handed against Harangody and Abromaitis in the front court. It will be all about playing team defense:

The 6-foot-8, 246-pound Harangody is averaging 24.6 points and 10.1 rebounds.

"He's a beast," UCLA guard Michael Roll said. "It's going to be a team defense."

That means double-teams, help-side defense and players scrambling to box out.

UCLA Coach Ben Howland plans to throw a bench-full of players at Harangody, including Nikola Dragovic, Reeves Nelson, J'mison Morgan and perhaps Brendan Lane.

"Obviously losing James is really, really a tough deal for us," Howland said.

Well perhaps one guy who might be ready to step a little more will be freshman point-forward Honeycutt. Tyler is feeling pretty good after his effortless performance on Saturday. As poncho fanshotted this is what TH had to say about starting off 3-6:

"It's been real hard. I didn't expect this at all when I came here. I knew we had a tough schedule, but I thought it'd be competitive, close games. It's kind of helped us actually, kind of set us in our place. Let us know we're not all that and still have room to improve."

I was even more encouraged by this:

"I'm still getting back into it. Obviously I've only had about three practices. Eventually it will come along. I can improve on a lot. Defense, on-ball defense. I'm not used to turning the ball over that much.

Having him talk about the need to cut down on TOs and improving his "on-ball defense" is music to my ears. Honeycutt is not the only underclassmen excited about building on Tuesday's confidence gaining blowout win:

"A win against anybody right now makes a difference," point guard Jerime Anderson said. "It helps our confidence a little bit. It helps us feel better about ourselves.

"We've been working hard. That's one thing you can't take away from us. It just hasn't been transferring into games. The main thing for us was to really work hard, and it finally transferred to a game. I think we should try and build from that win."

All of the comments from this week has been encouraging. However, right now for me the key is for these guys to maintain their composure when they are on the road this Saturday. I still can't take too much from the blowout win against a cupcake team on Tuesday night. I think that effort will win something if they can replicate it again on national TV by slugging it out with what I expect to be a hungry and angry Irish team on both ends of the court.

It means the Bruins will have to come into that game with a defensive mindset. They will have to think about getting their points by generating suffocating defensive pressure, going after lose balls and then playing smart ball on the offensive end. It will mean not jacking up hurried three pointers (and you know who I am especially thinking about here) and looking for that extra pass down low to find the team-mate with easiest shot. If the Bruins can come out and give another all out effort with intensity and passion, it might just might set them up to finish rest of the non-conference season in a positive note.

GO BRUINS.

UCLA – FINALLY – Cruises To an Easy Victory by Trashing New Mexico State

Nestor — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 05:40:40 -0000

More photos » by Chris Carlson - AP

Like an old school Ben Ball warrior Honeycutt dives on the floor to go after a loose ball

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Well looky here. The Bruins finally – FINALLY – cruise to an easy win during non conference season by blowing out a hapless New Mexico State (3-7) team in (sparse) Pauley. Bruins hit the century mark with a final score of 100-68, running up the Bruin record to 3-6. Here is the box score. Bruins got off to a great start with a huge run early on propelling them to a 21 point half time lead. They never looked back. Just as it was in the glory days of classic Ben Ball warriors, it was fueled by a tenacious defense (holding the Aggies to 38.9% shooting for the night).

The stat line was dominating for the Blue and Gold in all facets of the game, as Howland’s team flashed memories of good old days with a blistering pace of shooting (55.2%) while controlling the boards with a 39-28 edge in rebounding margin. The MVP of tonight’s game was Malcolm Lee with a team leading 20 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 stills and going 4 for 5 from the FT line. Lee finally had a night which lived up to some of the hype we were hearing about him before he arrived in Westwood and during this off-season. He looked sharp, smooth and CONFIDENT while driving to the bucket and creating his own shots. Lee’s effort was supplemented by Michael Roll who was in rhythm all night with 14 points and 3 assists. Reeves Nelson continued to solidify his early cult hero status by chipping in with 18 points, 8 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals (with an extra patch to cover up another fresh wound under his black eye).

As for the two players who have been in our cross hairs this week, Jerime Anderson had a solid night while Nikola Dragovic was average. Anderson’s performance was encouraging to say the least as he scored 13 points, dished out 7 assist, while turning over the rock just once. Dragovic wasn’t overwhelming as he scored 9 points, shooting a mediocre 3 for 9 from the field and pulled in 4 rebounds. Noting to write home about. I can only hope Anderson will build on this in his next game but then again don’t want to get my hopes up too high before seeing how next few games develop.

In general the Bruins did come out with a sense or energy we haven’t seen from them most of this season. They came out and showed tenacity and effort on both ends of the court getting out to a huge lead on. The entire team looked confident and seemed determined to answer the questions clouding the program for last few days. However, before everyone gets too jazzed about this victory, we should have a sense of reality check. That said, at least for a night during this early season there were some feelings of relief and confidence vibing through Howlandwood.

After all these are games that we should win by this kind of margin. We shouldn’t be jumping up and down right now with easy victories over cupcake programs that should be the norm in Westwood. Was tonight encouraging? Definitely. At the same time we were also encouraged after "lively" performances against Butler and Kansas that were followed up respectively with disgusting losses to Long Beach State and Mississippi State.

For the team’s sake, let’s hope they stay even keeled after this win and don’t get too comfortable. They will need to build on this and come out with higher level of intensity and focus, if they want to pull out a huge win this weekend against Notre Dame. Couple of other notes before I close out on my end late tonight/early morning here on the East Coast.

I am enjoying watching Tyler Honeycutt. He is a natural. Watching him glide around the court so effortlessly makes me think of him as a combination of DJ and LRMAM. He is still shaking the rust off his game and happy playing the role as a facilitator for his team-mates rather than a creator. Still he contributed tonight what seemed like an effortless 14 points, 4 rebounds and going 6 for 6 from the FT line. You can sense he has all the tools. He just needs more time to get stronger and also time on the court.

Lastly, it’s a shame that James Keefe left the game early on with a shoulder dislocation (that’s what we heard tonight) injury. He was playing solid – defensively – before he left the game. Hopefully, he gets healed up and can return at some point this season.

With that, I will leave the rest of analysis up to you. Fire away with your post game thoughts.

GO BRUINS.

Shaking Up The Core: Thoughts On Changing Up UCLA Basketball's Starting Lineup/Rotation

Nestor — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:06:09 -0000

More photos » by Chris Carlson - AP

Jerime Anderson is not getting it done with an A/T ratio of 1.18, shooting 50% (!) from the FT line, 23% from 3 point line (35 % overall), and yet averaging 29 mins per game

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So here I go.

I have seen 4 regular season games this year. 5 if I count the second exhibition game against Humboldt State, which I saw via the pathetic online feed from the official site. Based on what I have seen so far here is the starting lineup that seems to make sense:

I think for the short term Howland needs to make two critical moves:

Bench Dragovic for rest of the year (duh) limiting him not much more than 10-12 mins per game
Bench Anderson and limit his mins to not more than 15 mins per game.

More on these two points and other thoughts on how Howland needs to shake up the current core of starting rotation after the jump.

Let's start with the obvious problem, which is the crazy amount of minutes Howland keeps wasting on Dragovic. Nikola Dragovic might be the most startling enigma during Coach Ben Howland's 7 years in Westwood. It simply doesn't make any sense how Howland continues to give this kid special treatment despite his total failure (and no I couldn't care less about his meaningless rebounding statistics) on the court. Time after time we have seen Howland using a quick hook whenever dealing with an underclassmen. We have seen him inserting and then pulling a freshmen or sophomore for making simple defensive mistakes or turning the ball over on the offensive side. Yet, with Dragovic (and in some cases with Josh Shipp from last season), we have seen Howland giving special treatment to an upperclassmen, who clearly doesn't play up to the standards of a Ben Ball warrior on the court (I will not even touch Dragovic's off court issues).

The only explanation I can think behind Howland giving Dragovic mins is that he is hoping that he somehow regains his shooting touch like he did to a certain extent against Pac-10 teams last year. However, numbers don't lie. He is shooting less than 20 percent from the 3 point line this season. Last year, after he got hot during the Pac-10 games, he still shot less than 39 percent from the 3 point line. He is an atrocious defender and he has never shown anything that indicates that he has a natural feel for the game. Yet, he continues to get the mins.

At this point, after what he did against Mississippi State, Howland will send wrong message if he starts Dragovic tomorrow. To me it's a no brainer that Howland takes Dragovic out of the lineup. Now the guy I would start would be James Keefe and here is my explanation for it. I think Brandon Lane has more upside than Keefe. However, I would at least give Keefe the start, because Keefe despite being tentative has a better feel for the game than Dragovic. I think it might make sense to start him and then bring in Lane off the bench. Keefe is better than Dragovic when it comes to shot selection (he has better FG%) and he understands Howland's offense and defense much better than Dragovic. Keefe's problem has been on the FT line and just being too tentetive (which goes back to Howland having a quick hook for all the other players except for some one like Dragovic).

At least with Shipp, I understood a little why Howland let him get away with defensive relapses. Josh Shipp had courage and also a knack for making big shots when it mattered. He was fearless and I thought was a game. Dragovic? Well, I think Bellerophon was off the mark, when he called Dragovic a "scrub" for his effort (or lack there of) on the court. He has shown as much as guys like Ryan Walcott and Travis Reed, to merit starting mins on the court, which is nothing.

Moving on to the point guard situation. This one is obvious. Here is bruinponcho:

The biggest problem is that his lineup and rotations make no sense. As soon as I saw JA in the starting lineup with MR at small forward, I knew this was a loss. JA is not a starting point guard, period. MR is not a small forward. We have lots of big guys and only three guards, go with a bigger lineup.

ML and MR should each be playing 30 minutes a game with JA playing 10 minutes backing up ML and MM playing 10 minutes backing up MR. JA and ML should never be on the floor at the same time. Ever. Their games are too similar in that there only offense is driving and neither can shoot. Used appropriately and in conjunction with a shooter like MR, this can be effective. But you cant have both JA and ML out there together when JA’s game is just an inferior version of ML.

And Meriones called for this, well back in April:

Backcourt size — Can anyone remember when we started a both-6-5 backcourt? Didn’t think so. Malcolm’s hustle and length and Roll’s experience in CBH’s schemes should do wonders to negate any possible lack of waterbug quickness. Worse comes to worst, we bring in JA to check smaller guards and fight pace with pace, but at least we START with the size advantage, for a change.

Note Meriones did have Dragovic in the starting lineup but being the wiseman that he added this:

Caveat: this would hinge ENTIRELY on whether Drago can put in a full summer of workouts and improve his defensive rotations.

Uh, I think from what we have seen this year we don't have to discuss Drago's defensive rotations any further.

I have to say I was dumbfounded that Howland even started Anderson last game after seeing how much more effective and energetic we were against Kansas, when Lee got the start. It doesn't make any sense how this kid continues to get more than 20 mins per game, given he cannot shot, cannot drive, cannot make FTs (!!!), and most importantly cannot defend. Jerime might be working hard. However, given what we have seen from the court, we are not seeing the results. I think it is time for Howland to dramatically reduce his mins, so that Anderson can reflect on how he can be more efficient, smart in practice and focus on how he can improve game by game.

Going back to our rotation, Honeycutt needs to start next game. After watching two games, it seems like he probably has the most upside as the natural scorer in this team. He is also a rebounder (8 in last game, 6 against Kansas). I think it is time for Howland to ride Honeycutt and Nelson, just like he rode on the freshmen talents of JF and AA in their first two years of Westwood.

I get that Howland is trying to win every game. However, from what we have seen its clear that the current core which includes major mins for Dragovic and Anderson, is not the winning formula. It is time for Howland to shake up his current core. He needs to do that by starting Lee at the 1, user Moser's athleticism to back up the 2-3 spot behind Roll and Honeycutt, take out Dragovic from the lineup at the expense of increased mins for Lane and some Keefe. I have to say I have also been impressed with the effort Morgan has given in recent weeks. I think he has clearly earned some backup mins at the 5. I am hoping he can turn up the intensity even few more notches and he might be able to salvage his career in Westwood, just like Ryan Hollins did before he was done in Westwood.

Lastly, people who are feeling uncomfortable with the criticism of Coach Ben Howland on BN needs to chill out. None of us are even going anywhere close to calling for Howland to step aside. There is no discussion of "coaching candidates" that are actually happening on other UCLA online communities. All we are doing is offering our frank thoughts and analysis on what we see wrong with our program. We have been in Howland's corner all this time. We will give him all the benefits of doubt. However, don't expect us to stay quiet and be blind homers when we see something is wrong.

All we are doing is offering our analysis and thoughts. So with that said the thoughts above are my impressions on what Coach Howland needs to do address the current concerns with our hoops program. While the measures suggested are steps to address the short term concerns, I believe they can also help to steady the program, paying dividends for the long term, bringing back where Howland took us in recent history. We can get there again and it will require Coach Howland to adjust, adapt, recalibrate, just like Coach John Wooden did during his time in Westwood.

GO BRUINS.

Kansas Moves Past UCLA As Bruins Show Signs Of Progress

Nestor — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 01:06:39 -0000

More photos » by Jason Redmond - AP

ML drives by Kansas forward Markieff Morris (21) in the first half (AP Photo/Jason Redmond)

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The final score reads Kansas 73 UCLA 61. While many of us were expecting a huge blowout win for number 1 ranked Kansas this afternoon at Pauley, Ben Howland's Bruins hung in there for most of the game, they were ultimately out manned by an overpowering Jayhawks basketball team. Here is the boxscore.

The Bruins fell behind by double digits early due to familiar sloppy performance on both ends of the court. We were absolutely atrocious as we turned the ball over something like 10 times in first 11 mintues. JMM particularly looked out of place. He stood like a statute in the paint, looking helpless on defense and clueless on the offensive end. Luckily we settled down a bit with ML running the point, and thanks to the hustle and tenacity of freshman Reeves Nelson, they closed within 7 points by half time and got within 4 points in the second.

The complexion of the game totally changed when Reeves Nelson was fouled and essentially knocked out with a poke in the eye with 14:07 left in the second half. JA missed the FT (yes, Kansas picked our starting pg to shoot FTs when RN was knocked out) and our intensity and emotion never matched what it was with a healthy RN in the game. RN made a valiant effort by trying to return with PAA's orange goggles in the game but it simply wasn't enough. We didn't get the leadership, poise, composure and tenacity from our three seniors (particularly Dragovic and Keefe), as Kansas simply overpowered Bruins down the stretch for their first true road win of the season.

I guess I shouldn't be so harsh in my first few grafs. After all we kept it close when everyone expected a blow out. For a young team, I guess that is signs of progress. However, at the same time I think we should be careful about not getting comfortable with moral victories, because last time we did that we had our guys embarrassed by Long Beach State.

RN is obiously the story for our Bruins. He played like a classic Ben Ball warrior. He was playing like the tenacity we are used to seeing from forwards such as PAA, LMR, and LRMAM. He was gunning for every lose balls, playing defense with a passion, and serving as the emotional lynch pin for the entire team. He finished the game with 9 points and 7 rebounds (5 of which came on the offensive side). Clearly he has lot more room to improve. He needs to finish around the rim as he missed from what I counted 3 layups (which he probably should have dunked them on). He will get them sooner or later.

ML looks much smooter and effortless at pg than JA. JA had some encouraging moments today. However, he is still getting beaten on the lose balls and looking tentetive when the team needs him the most. Oh and speaking of tentetive, it's sad but I think we can officially be disappointed at Keefe's career at UCLA. It simply hasn't worked out for him in Westwood. I hope he makes the best out of his remaining games and get a degree which he will be able to use be successful in life. However, he is not getting it done on any facets of the game. He doesn't have the tenacity on defense. Neither is he aggressive on the offensive side. Meanwhile, the other senior forward Dragovic, who shows hustle and desire at certain moments, continue to hurt this team with hurried shots and vanilla defense.

I understand that Coach Howland values experience of his seniors. However, after what we saw today, now more than ever we need him to play young guys such as Honeycutt, Lane and Moser lot more so that they can learn through experiences.TH was rusty in his first regular season action as a Bruin. However, you can see and feel his potential. He finished the game with 3 points but he also had 6 rebounds, 3 of which came from the offensive glass.

In terms of raw numbers, I mentioned above how TOs killed us early on. We had 10 in the first 11 mintues. We did a good job of settling down later on as we ended up having a total of 15 for the game. Guess that is some kind of progress. We continued to be atrocious from the FT line making 11 out of 19. That's just not good and will probably us hurt lot more throughout the season. It's inexusable and kind of a joke when Kansas calls out our pointguard to the FT line.

At this point we have seen enough for our seniors to know that they simply don't have enough talent to lead this team to a winning record (again forget making the tournament for now). BTW the team is winless since Dragovic returned to our rotation. While we saw encouraging signs today, it will not matter if we suffer another loss in our next game, in which seniors burn up lot more availble mins, costing our freshmen valuable playing time to develop during the non-conference season.

We will have lot more on the game later. For now those are some of my intial thoughts. As I said, don't care much about moral victories. If there were signs of progress this afternoon, it will not matter much if we don't build on them in our next game.Thread away.

GO BRUINS.

Signs Of Improvement? Howland's Bruins Power Past Bakersfield For First Victory Of 2009-10

Nestor — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:56:27 -0000

More photos » by Lori Shepler - AP

Perhaps the play of the night: DG's emphatic rejection of Stephon Carter's dunk attempt from the first half against Bakersfield

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Let's start this by offering the thoughts and prayers of the Bruin Nation for former UCLA head coach Jim Harrick. Mrs. Sally Harrick (who I will always remember smiling away in Seattle) passed away today (per Billy Mac during the second half of tonight's broadcast). Again all of our thoughts and prayers are with Coach Harrick and his family tonight.

Now to the game. Bruins start the weekend on a great note by posting a classic Ben Ball like 75-64 win over Cal State Bakersfield. Bruins were up by as much as 17 late in the second half after having to make a furious (identity developing?) rally late in the first half to tie up the score at 35. Here is the box score. DG was the most valuable player of tonight's game (which I gather at least by the score was a definite improvement from Monday night) scoring 19 points (shooting 8 for 10), hauling in 6 rebounds and 3 blocks (which included a sick swipe of a dunk attempt). DG did have one of his classic "DG like moment" when he tried to hot dog a little too much by trying a behind back nonsense during a fast break.

There were few encouraging signs from tonight's game. Our ball movement looked servicebale after the apparent disaster against Cal State Fullerton. Especially starting towards the end of the first half we started moving the ball around, attacking the bucket, pounding it inside to go for easier shots. It almost looked like we developed somewhat of an indentity successfully taking advantage of the height and athlectism in our frontcourt. After taking 84 shots in our last game, tonight we made 32 out of 54 shots which included layups and dunks inside. More quick fire observations after the jump.

While DG was the MVP of tonight's game, RN I think stole the hearts and minds of Bruin Nation. The kid is showing all the signs of protype Ben Ball warrior. I know everyone wants to throw around the Jon Brockman comparison (and I keep thinking of Mark Madsen). But the way he is playing, he is showing the same motor and relentlessness we saw during the freshman season of a certain Prince from Cameroon.

Also, on the frontcourt I though JK had a solid game filling up the box score with 10 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks. He can get better but I thought he played the role of calming senior when team fell down early and helped bring a flow to our offense. In addition to JK, BL got his first significant mins as a freshman and also made meaninful contributions by playing solid mins on defense and not looking tentetive on the offensive side.

Now, let's not get carried away. Despite the improvement, Bruins still have issues. Our sophomores in the back court had another less than average night. JA scored 10 points but turned the ball over 4 times (looking very shaky) and record just 1 assist. ML wasn't all that hot either scoring 10 points, connecting in 3 of his 7 attempts. ML and JA went 4 from 9 at the FT line which is not going to get it done. These guys really need to work on their shooting and JA needs to develop more confidence in his ability to run the offense.

Speaking of issues, I am sure many have heard by now that ND was suspended for tonight's game after an arrest. From AP wire:

A statement distributed by a team spokesman just before tip-off said Dragovic was arrested earlier in the day and charged with felony assault by the Los Angeles district attorney's office.

The school said the 21-year-old senior from Belgrade, Serbia, was involved in an incident last month at a concert in Hollywood. Dragovic filed a report with campus police the following week.

After an investigation, the district attorney's office filed the felony charge against Dragovic, who found out about it Friday and turned himself into university and Los Angeles police. Dragovic was booked and released from the Hollywood station on $30,000 bail late Friday, Los Angeles police officer Julie Boyer said.

Coach Ben Howland said in the statement that Dragovic told him about the incident when it happened, but no one knew charges would be filed.

The school said Dragovic's status for future games will be decided as more information becomes available.

Let's hope ND gets his legal issues all worked out first. However, I wonder whether he is really focused on school and on Ben Ball in Westwood. Because if he is not it might better from him to take some time off and get his life back together. If he is not ready to go all in with Coach Howland's program, it was pretty clear tonight that there are many others who are chomping at the bit to step up. I am sure Coach Howland and his staff will do what necessary to help Dragovic navigate through the legal issues and make sure he is accountable depending on what the facts are. In the meantime, given what we saw today I hope Howland keeps going with the guys who are showing an all out commitment to Ben Ball.

Now we know that we can't get carried away by one win considering we were tied at 35-35 with freaking Cal State Bakersfield. That is not something to get giddy about. However, the goal at this point of the season is improving from game to game. From what we saw towards the later part of first half and the entire second half, it looks like the Ben Ball warriors have something positive to build on for the next game. That is encouraging. Let's hope they can keep it going in their next game against Pepperdine in three days (Nov. 23).

With that I will leave up to you to fire up quick takes, impressions in our post game thread. If you have extensive analysis to offer put them up in fanposts. On to football.

GO BRUINS.

Waking Up To A New Reality In Howlandwood

Nestor — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:59:54 -0000

More photos » by Danny Moloshok - AP

about 1 month ago: UCLA head coach Ben Howland yells directions at his team against Cal State Fullerton during the first half of their NCAA basketball game in Los Angeles on Monday, Nov. 16, 2009. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)

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There is not much I can offer in terms of game observations on last night's season opener since I didn't get to watch a minute of that travesty. The box score gives us a decent glimpse of how agonizing and ugly it must have been for those who were at the game or were watching it on WWL. Going into this year I was hoping for a 20 win season and making into the tournament. However, after a box score like last night, it seems like we all would be well advised to recalibrate our expectations and wake up to a new reality in the world of Ben Ball.

The report from the LAT predictably is not pretty:

When asked what happened, a dazed Malcolm Lee said: "To tell you the truth, I don't know."

The final statistics told much of the story. The Bruins suffered a terrible shooting night that only got worse when Fullerton shifted mainly to zone in the second half, packing the paint.

The result? UCLA rushed its way through 84 shots, making only 31%, including five of 29 from three-point range.

"I can't remember one of our teams taking 84 shots, even though it was a double-overtime game," Howland said.

Looking at the box score I see ND playing 40 minutes and making 2 out of his 14 shots. He did get 14 rebounds I guess but when you miss that many shots that number seems to be somewhat irrelevant. The question I have is why does this guy continue to get so many mins, especially since RN sounded like was doing ok off the bench.

It also sounds like the Bruins couldn't handle the zone:

UCLA's poor shooting did not start at the end - the Bruins shot 5 for 29 from 3-point line and 26 of 83 overall - but the problem was certainly exacerbated.

Against a Cal State Fullerton 1-2-2 zone that caved in the post, UCLA did not so much settle for the 3s as much as they were forced into them. And when the ball went up, it crashed back down, thudding off the rim and into the arms of the Titans (2-0).

"Our 1-2-2 zone is designed for shooters to think they have a wide-open shot, but they really don't," Cal State Fullerton point guard Jacques Streeter said. "We did a good job of talking in it and getting out on the shooters."

Again it's hard for me to make any observations without having watched the game. So I will leave it up to others who watched this mess. It sounds to me like ML, ND and JA must have been forcing their shots. I see ML going 1 for 8 from behind the arc while ND went 1 for 9 and JA didn't connect on his 3 attempts. Those are ugly numbers and I think we will probably see teams zone us all season until ML and ND can make those shots. The other option could be for coach to give more mins to JK, RN, and MM more mins in the front court if ND keeps throwing blanks from the long range.

Anyway I am not going to lose sleep over this right now. It is going to be a long season no doubt and as mentioned above we are now living in a new reality this season in which Coach Howland is essentially starting from scratch in trying to build a tournament caliber basketball team. Forget placing 3rd in the Pac-10. Given the data points we now have from three contests, it sounds like it will be a huge struggle to post a winning record in this conference (even during its down year). So let's hope the kids who are in this team right now work their rear ends off and fight like their predecessors such as AA, JF and JS did when they arrived in Westwood. If they give it everything they have, the journey is going to be fun to watch. In the mean time we just have to buckle up and get ready for a painful roller coaster ride through the entire season. Like I said, it's a new reality in the world of Ben Ball.

GO BRUINS.

Ben Ball Gameday Roundup: Opening Night At Pauley

Nestor — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:09:16 -0000

Per the official site our regular season opener against Cal State Fullerton actually starts tomorrow morning (for Bruins who live out in the East Coast) as the tipoff is scheduled for 12:04 am (so that we can get on WWL). Still I am sure there will be many BNers staying up across the nation to check out the first game of the season and find out whether our young guys have made defensive improvement since the first two exhibtions games of the pre season.

Coach Howland's cubs are still having problem with defending the dribble:

"We're still having a problem defending the dribble," he said Thursday after watching film of a recent victory over Humboldt State. "There were a number of times we were getting beat off dribble penetration."

This is a young team that has yet to adopt Howland's trademark pressure defense. He expressed concern about an athletic Cal State Fullerton visiting Pauley Pavilion on Monday night.

"A bunch of really good athletes who can really break you down on the dribble," he said. "So that's something we'll be working on."

The Bruins planned to install double teams -- something new for the freshmen -- at Thursday's practice.

"It'll take a little bit of time to develop," senior James Keefe said. "I think it's going to be a team defense that's going to make us go."

He was also not happy with the defensive performance of seniors such as ND:

"Obviously he hasn't shot it well," Howland said. "And I thought his defense left something to be desired in the second game against Humboldt."

With freshman Tyler Honeycutt injured, Dragovic has been asked to play more minutes at small forward, a change that pits him against smaller, quicker opponents.

It will be interesting to see how CBH allocates the mins between ND and JK in first few games. From what I have seen JK is playing a much more complete game from the 4 spot and giving us a better defensive presence than ND. If ND continues to struggle with his shot and doesn't play up to the standards of Ben Ball defense, I'd love to see coach go with the combination of DG and JK in the frontcourt. More after the jump.

Among the upperclassmen JK other than MR probably has the best understanding of Howland's team-defense:

The key, senior forward James Keefe said, is the team defense and how players come together early in the season despite limited floor time.

"Malcolm Lee and Jerime (Anderson) should provide really good ball pressure, they're able to stay in front of the ball pretty well," Keefe said. "But it's going to be a team defense that makes us go as far as we go. I don't think one man is going to be a lock-down defender like we've had in the past. It's going to be the whole team."

As for their opponents Gold has the following note on the Titans:

The Titans return four starters from a team that went 15-17, but they lost one big one in Josh Akognon, who averaged 23.9 points a game in his Big West Conference Player of the Year campaign last season.

Lee and Anderson should have to put some of that on-ball defense to good use against sophomore point guard Jacques Streeter, who averaged 10.4 points and 4.4 assists last season.

And if UCLA's performance against Humboldt State in the team's second exhibition game, a 74-57 win, is any indication, the Bruins guards will have their work cut out.

We get to find out how much ML and JR have improved since their first appearance together last week around midnight tonight. As mentioned above the game will be on WWL and we will have an open game thread to take in all the action.

GO BRUINS.

UCLA vs. Humboldt St.: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Ryan Rosenblatt — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 08:54:03 -0000

Mike Roll and Jerime Andersen did wonders for the UCLA backcourt in their return from injury, but Nikola Dragovic is still struggling to find his shooting stroke. (Photo Credit: J. Rosenfeld)

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While far from perfect, UCLA's performance versus Humboldt St. was infinitely better than the one they put on six days ago versus Concordia. It's a good thing too as the Bruins have only five days before the games start to count. With the team almost completely healthy (Tyler Honeycutt was the only Bruin not dressed to play tonight), UCLA can now go ahead full bore and begin to work out the kinks that are all too evident in their play.

The Good

Two New Guards- If anyone was questioning how important Michael Roll and Jerime Andersen are to the Bruins, they aren't anymore. While James Keefe played the role of stabilizer in the last game, Roll took on those duties versus Humboldt St. The senior led the Bruins with 17 points on 50% shooting, but most importantly, he was tenacious on defense and ball mover on offense. Roll threw some fantastic entry passes and was quick to get the ball out of his hands to stretch the Humboldt St. defense with ball movement. Meanwhile, Andersen took over the point and maintained complete control of the offense. He kept the pace of the game where the Bruins wanted it for the most part, applied the ball pressure on defense that is so key to Howland's offense and was deadly getting to the rim upon occasion. Surprisingly, he was even able to play 29 minutes despite being sidelined for much of the past few weeks.

Second Half Defense- After a dreadful defensive effort in the first half, UCLA came out in the second half ready to defend. Andersen increased his ball pressure, while Malcolm Lee did a much better job denying his man the ball. This kept the guards from being able to penetrate and forced the Humboldt St. guards from doing much. While poor outside shooting from Humboldt St. did help out the Bruins, the fact that 12 of the starting guards' 16 shots came from behind the arc says something. The Bruin big men also did a better job of working to keep the Humboldt St. bigs away from the rim and on the defensive boards as the Lumberjacks saw their offensive boards cut nearly in half in the second frame. In total, UCLA held Humboldt St. to just 23% shooting in the second half.

Ball Awareness- It appeared as if the UCLA defense had no idea where the ball was last week, but tonight they were on it from the opening tip. UCLA forced 19 Lumberjack turnovers, thanks to Drew Gordon's six steals and three blocks, both team highs. When the ball was on the block, help was coming from all over and hands were on the ball to knock it free. Players also did a good job of reading eyes and passing lanes to make things difficult on the Lumberlacks, forcing turnovers. The ball pressure up top by the guards and high hands forced a lot of lobbed entry passes, which the UCLA big men recognized and got hands to.

The Bad

Malcolm Lee- The guy who was supposed to be the Bruins' breakout star has struggled to this point, although it is still very early. Lee missed both of his three point attempts and shot just 33% from the field. He did well coming back to the boards to reel in six rebounds and he was five of seven from the free throw line, but he's yet to find his place in the offense. He is a dynamic and athletic player, but he's yet to show the improved jump shot we heard about over the offseason and three turnovers to go with it won't help. He did make a few nice passes, totaling four assists, but he needs to be better if this UCLA team is to thrive. Luckily, there's still plenty of time for him to find his place in the offense and he clearly knows that he's just getting going, as evidenced by the work he put in after the game.

Free Throw Shooting- I guess this is progress because free throw shooting was in the ugly column last week, but it's still not good enough. 22 of 33 from the line is not going to get it done against good teams in close games, especially when UCLA hits the road and has to deal with hostile crowds while toeing the line. This is an athletic team that when clicking offensively, should put pressure on defenses and force teams to foul. That won't mean much though if they can't knock their shots down from the charity stripe.

Nikola Dragovic- Dragovic's mindset was much better in this game than it was last game when he was jacking up a shot anytime he could see the rim. He was a part of the offense in tonight's game, instead of working outside of it, and he moved the ball better so he didn't spend as much time on the ball. That decreased the number of turnovers from Dragovic so overall, he was better today than he was a week ago. The mindset and attitude, especially with the intensity he showed defensively, were a plus. The problem for Dragovic is that he is a shooter first and foremost, but he's not shooting well. Just three for 10 tonight from the field and two of seven from behind the arc, Dragovic got good shots, but couldn't knock them down. Dragovic does have a sweet stroke though so you would have to assume that his shots start falling soon.

The Ugly

Rotations- Especially in the first half, UCLA's rotations were absolutely horrific. I would not want to be a player watching film of the defense's rotations with Howland. Too often, the Lumberjacks were able to turn a simple screen into an easy basket as the hedge forced a rotation that UCLA just did not execute. This was especially true of the screens the Humboldt St. big men were setting for cutting guards at the elbow, only to roll to the basket and get a pass from the wing for an easy bucket. The rotations were getting better as the game went on, but they were still late. The good thing for UCLA is that quick and efficient rotations are something that only comes with experience and practice so it is reasonable to assume they get better in the coming weeks.

Rebounding- Does anybody except for Gordon rebound? It sure didn't seem so tonight. Gordon brought in ten boards and Lee did well to bring in six, but nobody else got more than three. As a team, UCLA was outrebounded 46-38 despite Humboldt St. missing seven more shots than the Bruins. The Lumberjacks had 14 offensive rebounds on the game, eight of which were grabbed by the Humboldt St. center Brian Morris. While Gordon did have 10 rebounds of his own, he did not do well enough boxing out Morris and the eight offensive boards are an example of that. Howland's teams have been built on great defense, but great defense doesn't mean much if you allow offensive rebounds. It is understandable that UCLA struggle to find an offensive rhythm or communicate efficiently early in the season as they gain experience and learn to work together, but they should be able to rebound and tonight they didn't.

UCLA vs. Concordia: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Ryan Rosenblatt — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:34:57 -0000

More photos » by Mark J. Terrill - AP

Concordia's Ben Smith imitates each and every UCLA fan watching the Bruins' one-point win over the Eagles.

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Ouch. That was ugly. I think we were all braced for an up and down season with inconsistencies, poor performances and plays that make you scratch your head, but needing a late three to top Concordia by one in an exhibition game? I don't think anyone expected that. UCLA has a lot to fix, from the coaches on down to the players and getting Michael Roll, Jerime Andersen and Brendan Lane won't be enough, although it will most definitely help.

The Good

James Keefe- In my opinion, Keefe was the Bruins' best player on the night. He knocked down a couple threes, was sound on his rotations and was strong on the boards, not just getting rebounds himself, but also boxing people out so teammates could rebound. This senior came to play and while he wasn't spectacular, he was solid all the way around and was a stabilizing force on a team that clearly lacked stability. It was nice to see one guy out there that you knew what you were going to get from him and it was clear from the opening tip who the senior on the court was.

Drew Gordon- He led UCLA in scoring with 17 on 8-11 shooting and was also the Bruins' top rebounder with 11. Gordon showed a much improved outside shot and feel for the game, jumping some passing lanes and even delivering some outstanding passes. He was very active and was able to get a tip to some rebounds, keeping them alive for others. While Gordon still have moments where he is out of control, I think that he was better than he was last season. He will always be a bit out of control, but that is okay because it will play him into as many plays as it plays him out of.

Pac-10 Logo- The John and Nell Wooden Court now has a Pac-10 logo out of bounds along the baseline. I assume that this will be on the floor of every Pac-10 school and I'm glad. While I don't think it looks great, it's a step in the right direction for the conference. Having the logo on the court gives the conference some brand recognition and helps to promote the conference, something other conferences have been doing for years, but the Pac-10 has been well behind on. New commissioner Larry Scott has the right idea and is moving in the right direction, even if the look isn't the greatest.

The Bad

Coaching- Admittedly, this is a bit unfair because Ben Howland and Co. were coaching as much to teach and get a feel for the team as they were to win, but the coaching staff will have to adjust to this team. We've discussed Howland's offense in the past and I've defended it, but I think that he will have to change things up some this year. The offense is dependent on strong all-around players, good decisions and precision. Because of this team's youth, those things will be hard to come by and the athleticism on this team is unmatched by any past UCLA teams, making the offense not the best fit for the team. Too often tonight we saw players in the wrong spot and players in situations that don't suit their strengths. This team needs to create space all the way around and let the players' athleticism go to work, not create room in specific areas and put all players in all places, as is the case in Howland's offense. Howland's offense is effective, just not as well suited to this team as past teams. Using it some, but add and change some things up as well.

Communication- It wasn't a rare sight for a Concordia player to get a bucket, then see the UCLA players looking at each other pointing at things as they tried to figure out what happened. The switches were sloppy and too often players were surprised by screens because no teammate called out the pick. Many, although not all, of the defensive miscues could be traced to a lack of communication. Meanwhile, on the offensive end, UCLA threw a number of passes to a player who wasn't looking for the ball. They threw passes to expected cuts that weren't being made and they set screens that went unused. Now, you could attribute all of this lack of communication on both ends of the floor to the injuries that kept players from practicing together, nerves or the youth, but it needs to get better.

The Ugly

Mustafa Abdul-Hamid- I don't want to pick on a walk-on who has worked his tail off, but there's no way to possibly overlook the game Abdul-Hamid had tonight. Sure, he hit the game-winning three pointer, but the fact that he easily makes the ugly list despite that big shot gives you an idea just how poor he was. He finished with seven turnovers and had the Bruins not been such a superior athletic team, it would have easily been double digits. Abdul-Hamid spent an inordinate amount of time on the ball and was beaten badly on some cuts, including one late that allowed Concordia to stop a Bruin run. Jerime Andersen and Mike Roll better get healthy soon and those two, along with Malcolm Lee need to stay healthy all year long because Abdul-Hamid, for all his effort and pluck, will not cut it against decent teams.

Tentative Offense- I've already mentioned that I think the coaching staff will have to adjust their offense to this team, but that doesn't account for all of the offense's struggles. Even running an offense that they aren't perfectly suited for and routinely struggling to execute the offense, there were openings to be aggressive within the offense and the players were too tentative to take advantage. Tyler Honeycutt showed promise and vision going to the rim, but he passed up three openings to take it to the middle. Lee finally showed aggressiveness late, but early on he passed up a couple open shots, while Mike Moser passed up a wide open lane to the rim and an open 12 foot jumper. The inexperience showed as the players were thinking so much out there that they were overly tentative. Loosening up and getting aggressive will be key next Tuesday.

Nikola Dragovic- While Keefe was doing a good job playing the role of senior, Dragovic did not look the part. He tried to take the lead, launching 13 shots, but he made only three. He didn't show any aggressiveness going up in the paint and he had five turnovers. Yeah, Abdul-Hamid had seven, but he was on the ball for huge chunks of time. Dragovic has no such excuse. Trying to take the lead is nice from the senior, but you've gotta follow through and Dragovic did not do that. He looked like an over-eager freshman out there.

Free Throw Shooting- Dragovic did one thing well on the night and that was convert from the charity stripe, where he hit five of six. Despite his five of six effort, the team finished just 9-19 on the night. Reeves Nelson was poorest on the team, going 0-4, although he did show some promise and great tenacity when not at the line. Keefe missed a free throw, Honeycutt missed his only chance and Abdul-Hamid missed both of his chances. This team isn't what we've gotten used to at UCLA and they will be in their share of close games so free throwing shooting will be paramount. 9-19 won't get it done.

Ben Ball Roundup: 2009 Pac-10 Media Day Notes

Nestor — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:00:01 -0000

More photos » by Reed Saxon - AP

about 1 month ago: UCLA head basketball coach Ben Howland talks to reporters at the Pac-10 NCAA college basketball media day in Los Angeles, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)

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Lets pile on some more Ben Ball notes to add to the fanpost bruinponcho put up earlier today. Poncho posted some injury updates (all good news) and info on the first ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll of the season. Bruins are ranked number 29 which I don't think is too far off. If I were to rank us in a pre-season poll, I think even without the injuries I would have had us somewhere in the top-30 because of the obvious lack of experience in our roster. So our ranking sounds just about right.

Meanwhile, the Pac-10 held its annual pre-season media day today at the LAX Hilton. Nothing earth shattering came out of that gathering of conference coaches. Coach Howland went to the shindig and took MR along with him to represent the four letters. To no one's surprise media covering the conference picked California to finish first in the conference. Cal got 25 of 37 first-place votes. Washington, the defending conference champion was picked to finish second, receiving 7 first-place votes. UCLA came in 3rd as the Ben Ball warriors received the remaining five first-place votes in the preseason poll. For more on the media day check the notes on the official site.

The most exciting thing about the Pac-10 media day means our first game is less than a week away. Our guys take on Concordia University (guess it is somewhere in Irvine) in an exhibition game game on Wednesday, Nov. 4. Game time in UCLA's Pauley Pavilion is set for 7:30 p.m. Those of you who are lucky enough to go down to Howlandwood, will get to check out RN and rest of the freshmen for the first time in UCLA uniform. I have some more notes on those guys after the jump.

It looks like RN is already making his presence felt during practices:

Forward Reeves Nelson continues to lead the team in rebounding but must improve his defense, especially on the perimeter. Tyler Honeycutt and Mike Moser also have performed well enough to warrant consideration for playing time.

Lane and Anthony Stover have played tough defense but need to develop in other areas.

"There's going to be a lot of competing within the team for playing time," Howland said. "That's where teams get better."

Very interesting that RN is leading the team in rebounds over DG. More from Coach Howland on the youth in our team this season:

"We've had seven players leave early in my six years. There's no way of really being able to project what's going to happen. We have 13 scholarships, and I have yet to have 13 scholarships. I'm looking forward to that day. Jerime is going to be an outstanding point guard for us, and he has yet to practice. Malcolm Lee will back him up. It's tough. We've had four point guards in the last four years drafted in the first round. That's a real key to why we've had a fair amount of success. You've got to have a good leader and someone who can make good decisions. I'll be praying every night for our good health. Malcolm Lee is going to play a fair amount of time, 8-to-10 minutes a game as the backup point guard."

As poncho noted ML is back at practices after his concussion which is great news. For those who are getting too worried about bumps and bruises, Howland had this to say about dealing with injury setbacks:

"Definitely it's not fun. In '06, our first real good year, we had a number of injuries. That's when Ced Bozeman went down. Josh Shipp filled in for four games. Lorenzo Mata was in and out with a broken leg. We had so many injuries that year. But we somehow found a way."

We remember that year very well coach. That also happened to be the first year of BN's existence as this whole community slowly started to take shape following the development and progression of that incredible team. I am not expecting the same kind of magic from this year's bunch. However, I am very excited to see how the chemistry between all our freshmen and sophomores develop as they work to emerge with seniors such as MR, JK and ND. It's going to be another fun season in Howlandwood.

GO BRUINS.