SB Nation - Malcolm Lee

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

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.

Ben Ball Gameday Roundup: Howland Staying The Course (Sticking With Failed Starting Lineup)

Nestor — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:07:12 -0000

Ben Howland and his basketball team (I think we can stop calling these guys "Ben Ball warriors") take on New Mexico State Aggies today to follow up on the debacle against Mississippi State. Honestly, I don't feel the normal excitement and sense of anticipation around UCLA basketball I have felt in recent years. I don't feel it because once again heading into the game I am left with the same questions we all have been asking in pretty much every game: 1) will Howland hold his staters accountable for not playing defense, 2) will we get better at FT line, 3) will we should better effort on the defensive front with better double teams, on ball pressure from our guards, and 4) will we play with any kind of passion and intensity.

It will be increasingly hard to get excited about these games if Ben Howland continues to waste huge chunks of mins on Nikola Dragovic and Jerime Anderson, dispirting the Bruin faithful, and probably discouraging the freshme who can see their coach not holding players accountable who don't live up to the standards of defense and sound fundamental basketball on both ends of the court. Howland for his part didn't indicate of any dramatic changes in the near future:

"He (Dragovic) really knows he played an all-around poor game," said Howland, whose Bruins face New Mexico State tonight at Pauley Pavilion.

"His defense, his rebounding against Mississippi State were definitely sub-par. If he continues to play at this pace, obviously he's going to play less minutes."

We will see Howland actually decreases Dragovic's mins if he continues to play like ... well how he has played his entire career at UCLA (except for a brief spurt in couple of Pac-10 games last season). It is mindboggling how Howland continues to play this guy just for his cheap 3 pointers, while he has consistently hurt the team with his mental lapses on both end of the court. Laugably though, per Jon Gold in the Daily News, Dragovic thinks that his only problem is with his shooting technique:

At issue for Howland is not Dragovic's form or his follow-through or his shot selection, but his eyes. Dragovic was in the gym an hour before his teammates working on his shot, trying to focus on the target - that metal circle with the net - rather than the ball.

Howland has tried to get Dragovic to address the issue for four years, though his fantastic shooting late last season curbed the talk.

"I'm having shooting problems, but I'm doing everything I can," Dragovic said. "I feel more comfortable. I talked to coach and he wants me to keep my eyes on the rim as I'm shooting, and I'm thinking it will work out."

Uh, yeah ok. It's just that he is having "shooting" problems. Our frustration has nothing to do with his inability to defend or just looking clueless on both ends of the court. It has nothing to do with playing without any heart and playing with an unreal sense of entitlement and no sense of accountability. Whatever. If Howland continues to waste away his mins on this guy, he will not only lose his team (which he did against Mississippi State), but he will also lose the base of support he has built at UCLA in last few years - quickly. More of "more of the same" from Howland after the jump.

It also looks like Anderson will get the start again. The LAT's printed the "point of view" of Howland's "point"guard:

From where point guard Jerime Anderson stands, the Bruins' offensive production is suffering for a couple of reasons.

First, it seems, the shots that fall in practice keep bouncing away when game time comes around.

"People are a little bit more comfortable in practice and have more of a feel for what's going on," he said.

Also, Anderson wants to do more to create opportunities, which means penetrating to break down defenses, then either scoring or feeding teammates.

"I need to try to get to the hole a little more," he said, "and be a little more aggressive."

I wonder if the 50 percent FT shooter is also more "comfortable" at the FT line during practices. I was hoping Howland would use tonight's game against New Mexico State to start Malcolm Lee getting him ready for the regular season at pg, but looks like it is not happening as the stubborn head coach will continue to stay on the path which has led to one disaster after another early this season.

OH BTW we are playing New Mexico State tonight. Here are Howland's thoughts on the Aggies:

Watching film of tonight's opponent, New Mexico State, Howland came away impressed by the backcourt of Jahmar Young and Jonathan Gibson.

"Those two guys are very dangerous," he said. "They can really score."

The Aggies also have center Hamidu Rahman, who is averaging 13.3 points and 9.1 rebounds.

Howland expects them to play a 2-3 zone for much of the game, switching to man-to-man occasionally.

Again, I don't feel the motivation to look up the information on these guys. Why should I when it looks like I will be staying up to watch Anderson running the "point" and Chokola Dragovic chucking up more ill advised shots.

Still after all that we will have a game thread up around 7:00 pm PST. We will be around either getting excited for a new beginning or just going through the motions. Honestly I am not optimistic about the the former. Hard to get motivated to watch ugly basketball tarnishing the legacy of actual Ben Ball warriors in Westwood.

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.

Ben Ball Roundup: Update On Nelson/Honeycutt, Howland's Thoughts On Bulldogs & Other Notes

Nestor — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:53:13 -0000

So just two more days to go till the Finals weeks come to and end. Bruins will get back to practices tonight to prepare for Saturday's game against Mississippi State Bulldogs. I believe they are heading out to Anaheim on Friday. Hopefully the focus on finals and taking couple of days off from practices will allow freshmen such as RN more time to heal up and TH to get stronger as he works his way back to the rotation. Coach Howland gave updates on the status of his two key freshmen and his impressions on the Bulldogs yesterday.

Howland is optimistic that Nelson will be able to play on Saturday:

Nelson hasn’t missed any practice time because it’s finals week at UCLA and the Bruins didn’t practice on Monday or Tuesday. The Bruins are optimistic that he’ll be able to play Saturday against Mississippi State at the Wooden Classic in Anaheim.

"The main thing is there’s no significant damage to the eye," Howland said. "It could have been a lot of potential for bad things in a situation like that but everything seems pretty good."

Given how tough this kid has proven to be in early going, I will be surprised if he is not available on Saturday. Speaking of being available, Howland is hoping to get more mins for TH on Saturday. TH had a rough start on offense (shooting 1 for 6) in his first regular season game as a Bruin, however, he showed glimpses of his athleticism grabbing 6 boards in just 19 mins. From the LA Times:

Howland chalked up some of the rough play to jitters and said that he would have to use Honeycutt judiciously until the underclassman worked himself back into top shape.

But the Bruins need another body in the rotation, someone to take the load off Michael Roll, Malcolm Lee and Jerime Anderson, so Honeycutt may have to push himself in Anaheim this weekend.

"We're hoping he will be able to get more playing time," Howland said.

TH himself is focusing on getting back into the flow of the game:

"I felt like I did pretty good," he said. "I've just got to get back into the flow of the game."

It's not just TH. The entire team still has a lot of work to do in terms of having a flow and rhythm in offense. More on that and other notes after the jump.

Coach Howland talked about the need for the team to eliminate taking rush/hurried shots:

Of the 61 field goals that UCLA attempted in the 73-61 loss to Kansas, Howland counted 14 that were ill-advised. That might explain why the Bruins rank last in the Pac-10 in field-goal percentage.The Bruins have connected on 42.5 percent of their field-goal attempts - that includes a 27.1 clip on 3-point shots - through seven games."We got way too anxious on a number of occasions, even in the first half, and early in the second half were we took bad shots," Howland said. "I think we’re going to have to really understand that we have to be more patient."When we can get Michael Roll and Nikola (Dragovic) and Malcolm (Lee) open for wide-open shots, they’re going to make them. But when they’re rushed and they’re hurried, it’s going to be much the same."

It is going to be interesting to see just how long Howland can remain patient with Dragovic. He had two airballs last game in addition to all the instances when he just seemed to forget the need for boxing out on the defensive side of the court. I am hoping somehow Honeycutt will find his scoring rhythm in the coming weeks. If that happens and Dragovic is still shooting less than 20 percent from behind the arc, I would have to think Howland will have no choice but to reduce his mins during the conference games.

Coach Howland also offered the following thoughts on Bulldogs:

On Mississippi State's offense:
"They have a very good point guard, Dee Bost, he's a smart player. Shoots almost 53 percent from threes thus far. They're a pretty good shooting team. They have another kid (Ravern Johnson), he's long athletic and a starting three-man, really a good athlete."

On Mississippi State's defense:
"They pressure you and try to get after you defensively. They can really get out and get after the ball. They're athletic. They're a very good rebounding team and obviously they block shots with the big guy inside."

It sounds like we can't expect much zone defense from the Bruins this weekend in Anaheim:

"You know what? Old Dominion, who's a really good team this year, tried to zone them and actually it didn't work. They do a lot more zoning that we do. We'll look at it but they're a good shooting team. It's a thing where we'll have to see how we do as the game progresses. At some point, we're going to use it. It's not going to be...I feel like our young guys, like Reeves Nelson and Tyler, they need to learn how to play man-to-man. We have to keep working on getting them better."

Given how good of the shooting team the Bulldogs are it makes sense. I think the key for our guys is going to be putting pressure with our on ball defense and then hustling around the rim to make sure we are not getting out-rebounded. This means our frontcourt (cough*Nikola*cough) can't take time off from boxing out and giving up easy rebounds to Jarvis Varnado.

I think we will have a good shot in winning the game if we can win the turnover margin, hold our own on the rebounding numbers, and play a smart and patient offense. It sounds so easy but has proven to be incredibily difficult with our team in the early going. Hopefully a somewhat healed up Nelson, healthier Honeycutt and a rested team will be difference for our guys on Saturday.

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.

Challenges For The Caretaker Of Westwood: Will Howland Adapt & Adjust?

Nestor — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:30:00 -0000

More photos » by Lori Shepler - AP

Time for youth movement in Howlandwood

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I am an eternal optimist when it comes to talking about Coach Howland's basketball program in Westwood. For good reasons he is loved around this community and has earned the moniker "the Caretaker of Westwood" as the heir apparent of the greatest Coach ever to lead any American sports team. That said it doesn't mean we cannot be honest about about concerns and questions when they arise about his program on and off court. Right now there are few of them and we have legitimate reasons to wonder about where Howland is taking the UCLA basketball program both in the short and long term. We wonder that because right now we think UCLA basketball is in a very precarious position and how Howland react, adjust and navigate through it in the coming weeks will have ramifications for our program in next few years.

I don't really want to go over the details of last night's game too much. The scoreboard tells the story and frankly the blowout was even worse. I want to focus on few of the big issues that I think will determine what kind of season we end up having in Westwood. BTW after last night we need lower our expectation even more. Forget about making the Big Dance. Right now I am not sure whether we can qualify for the NIT with a winning record at the end of this season. Chew on that for a minute. We are that bad (and it is not going to feel any better tonight after we get done being handled by Butler). So what's our deal (as Jim Harbaugh said last time he left the Mosoluem). Come with me after the flip.

First, the obvious problem starts at our pg. The PG position at PointGuarU is a clusterf**k. It's a mess. I don't want to reach a conclusion on JA. I still think he has a shot of emerging as a credible Pac-10 pg by the time he is done in Westwood. I think it is unfair to make long term conclusion about his game given the fact that he has bee dealing with injuries this season and just doesn't have enough experience as the starting pg of this program. That said, right now he is not a Pac-10 level pg. He certainly wouldn't start for a good team and he is playing for a very bad one right now.

How did we get into this situation? Well the blame lies with Coach Howland, his staff and the primadonna we all know as Jrue Holiday. Obviously Holiday was supposed to be our starting pg this year, but apparently (from what we have heard) he couldn't handle Howland's tough coaching style in Westwood, so he bailed early. Well that is fine. That leads me ask two questions: 1) why didn't Coach Howland have a contingency plan when he knew the brat was going to leave at the end of the season (especially when recruits such as Donte Medder might have been open to coming to Westwood) and 2) why didn't Howland bench Holiday's primadonna a$$ more last season and give more time in favor of someone like ML (who during the second half brought lot more defensive energy and urgency in the game, See i.e. games against ASU and WSU)?

The second question, leads me to my second issue with out team: minute allocation. We find a number of our young players such as JA and ML so inexperience because Howland was too stubborn not to give them enough mins last year. He did the same with RW in his freshman season as well. His stubbornness worked out fine earlier in Westwood because he had enough experience (NBA level at that) on his roster but not this time around. We are seeing that issue again playing out with the minutes given to Nikola Dragovic (and JK).

Nikola Dragovic ate up 22 worthless mintues last night in Anaheim. When he came into the game the score I believe was tied up at 7-7. As soon as he came in his total lack of defensive instincts and intensity, change the complexion of the entire game. The Pilots went on a 9-2 run with him on the court and never looked back. Before Dragovic came in we were not doing too well offensively, but at least we were showing a defensive pulse. We lost all of it after he stepped on the court. The issue is when Dragovic comes on the court, the team loses its classic Howland identity. Ben Ball is predicated upon tough inside-the jersey defense, rebounding, and a solid fundamentals on offense that depends on selective high percentage shots. Well Dragovic doesn't help with any of that (and I don't care much for padded rebounding stats accumulated due to clankers on the offensive end).

Dragovic has no idea how to hedge. He can't really box out. He never finds himself in the right position and he usually sees eithe his man blowing right by him or leaving him wide open. He seeminly has defensive brain cramps in ever possession showing no clue on how to play team-defense. It is a pathetic site to watch him play "Ben Ball". I have no idea why Howland is so obssessed with giving him so many minutes and sitting down players like BL and RN. He didn't do it in his second year when he had no problem sitting down certain Lavin (btw how comical was it it listen to him talk about an "anemic offense" last night?) recruited players so that he could go with AA, JF, JS and LMR. I don't understand why he can't do the same this year. Last night Dragovic shouldn't have been alllowed back on the court after his intial mins. I also though BL played with much more passion and intensity than JK who showed zero signs of urgency and senior leadership on the court.

Third, I am not seeing any signs of Howland holding his young team accountable. Last night was the second game in a row when DG chucked a 3 pointer with lots of time left on the clock? I mean WTF is up with that? DG shooting 3 pointers? I don't understand why Howland didn't bench him immediately after pulling moronic stunts like that. It wasn't just DG who was pulling idiotic and poorly coached "stunts" on the court. Perhaps Howland could have sent a statement if he stated ML at the 1 during second half to send a message to JA.

As for Howland's style of offense, I am not sure he needs to make wholesale changes. The numbers from last few years back him up interms of effectiveness of his offense. However, during last few years he also had college superstars such as JF, RW and DC running it. He doesn't have anyone close to their calliber in his backcourt right now. So he does need to make adjustments, which might entail loosening up the reigns or shifting around his personnel, going with talent and potential over "experience," to make sure he gets the most athletic combination (i.e. more mins for MM) on the court. Right now I rather have Howland struggle with an athletic team that he teaches through taking its lump on the court, than an experienced core, which hasn't proven itself after 3-4 years in Westwood. In other words, Howland needs to do IMHO what he did in his second year in Westwood: go with the youth movement.

This is an interesting moment for Howland. If you think about it he is the ultimate builder/rebuilder of programs. He has done it at three different schools. However, he has never been in a situation where he had to maintain and build on success. This is a first for him. It will mean he will need to make adjustments and some changes to continue the incredible success he has blessed us with in Westwood. It is clear the opponents (and the currrent landscape of basketball with the way draft works) have adjusted to him. It will be up to Howland to make some moves to counter so that he can continue the incredible job of caretaking he has done so far in Westwood.

We will have our game thread up late tonight when we take on Butler. We are all rooting for him.

GO BRUINS.

UCLA Beats Up Pepperdine 71-52, Takes Another Step Forward

Nestor — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:25:02 -0000

More photos » by Gus Ruelas - AP

Pepperdine's Taylor Darby getting a little taste of Ben Ball

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So the Ben Ball warriors did exactly what they needed to get done tonight against Pepperdine Waves. Coming into this game they need to play a game in which they got off to a decent start in the first half, played solid defense for the entire game, hit their FTs, and be selective with their shots in a classic Ben Ball game. Well they did just that against an inspired Wave bunch (who must have been reading press thinking our guys are vulnerable) by putting together their most improved performance of the season to date.

Bruins win by a final score of 71-52. Here is the box score. The player of the game tonight was MR, who had his best game as a senior with 17 pts, 5 assists, 2 rebounts, 1 block and 1 steal. Hopefully this is just the beginning for MR in what was his most fluid performance of the season. In addition to MR, Coach Howland got another solid effort from DG who led all scorers with 18 points, 9 boards and 3 blocks. I wrote in the comment thread how DG has been bringing it with his sheer tenacity and hustle every game (emerging as early candidate to claim himself to be the heart and soul of the team). ML also looked good today as he contributed with 13 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals and an assist.

The Bruins throttled Pepperdine to 19 of 46 shooting (41.3%) giving us glimpses of the Ben Ball warriors we have seen in previous years. Our on ball defense looked a little better and our rotation has certainly improved from our previous outings. We also shot better making 54.3% of our shots (25 of 46) as we did a decent job of with our shot selection and also benefitd from some great interior passing (MR gets a lot of credit for that). Oh and we were solid from the FT line today making 13 out of our 15 freebies. So can't really complain there. Of course as always, we have to keep this performance in perspective. More on that after the jump.

We after all just beat Pepperdine who haven't done much this season that's worth noting. We will have a better idea of our team when they take on Portland Pilots, a team that has started the season 3-0 which includes a victory over Oregon Ducks. We will have to wait to get updates on JA who went out with cramps and wasn't able to return in the game. Replacing JA, Abdul Hamid did all right, scoring 10 points (4 of 6 shooting including 2-4 from the 3), 3 assists and 2 TOs. However, I don't think he is the long term answer when we take on tougher competition. I really hope Coach Howland thinks about using more of MM, who I thought looked comfortable out there, even though he is still a raw freshman.

Bruins also have to do a better job of rebounding. The final stat sheet showed a tie in the rebounding department (26 a piece). I don't think that's good enough given the size we have in our front court. We also need to cut down on sloppy possessions. JK had two really bad possessions on back to back occasions turning the ball over with lazy passing. We can't afford that kind of plays from our senior starter. As a team though we turned the ball over 11 times, which wasn't too shabby.

Still I would consider tonight's game a positive step forward. It will give our guys something more to build on after getting encouraging results against Bakersfield the game before. Now if we can get JA fully healthy and come back out on Thursday and show the same hustle and intensity on both ends of the court to get us another victory, we will be in decent shape given where we were at to star the season. This is all part of the growing process with this young team. Lot of us are enjoying it because we knew it was going to be a long journey. If you don't want to be on our trip right now, don't try to jump back on the bandwagon when the engine starts clicking on all cylinders.

With that ... I will turn this court back to you. Fire 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.