While I really wish we could move along from this, the obvious is happening and it is what some of us having been saying all along. It seems like Dohrmann exaggerated many facets of his infamous Sports Illustrated article. Dohrmann wanted to "get UCLA" for recruting violations and found none. He then went after Reeves Nelson and Drew Gordon for their bad antics which he proceeded to exaggerate to justify the many months he spent investigating UCLA.

This all goes back to his early failure to get UCLA as explained by AHMB here and discussed by Reeves in his suit:

The lawsuit further claims the S.I. writer has a longstanding beef with UCLA because he "publicly attacked UCLA's Baron Davis for driving a black 1991 Chevy Blazer, which Dohrmann publicly claimed had been purchased in violation of NCAA rules." NCAA investigators later shot down those allegations.

Reeves, like Gordon recently, is not claiming to be an angel. But is raising serious questions about the journalism used by Dohrmann. Remember Dohrmann had few named sources in the article other than an embittered fired former student manager (emphasis mine).

But Nelson's high-powered entertainment lawyer Keith Fink says they can prove Dohrmann "recklessly and negligently failed to investigate the claims in the article." The lawsuit includes declarations from 18 UCLA players and ex-players who deny every allegation about Nelson.

In fact, former teammate Tyler Honeycutt says, "Nelson did not pile my clothes on my bed, and he certainly did not urinate on my clothes." According to the suit, most of the players say Dohrmann never contacted them -- and the 2 who were contacted denied the allegations.

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Every Wednesday for the spring and summer we will do a basketball post and analysis. The first is here and the second here. This Wednesday we will address a few of the topics on everyone's mind or at least what has been on ours. Today Tydides joins me to talk UCLA hoops in a little back and forth by two UCLA fans who can't wait for the season to start. Feel free to add your thoughts in the comments.

Topic 1: What will the starting line-up be?

TYDIDES: I'm going to go with Anderson, Shabazz, Powell, TWear, Smith.

Anderson has to start. Howland hasn't had a true offensive playmaker in forever, and the addition of Kyle Anderson gives him one. Given what I assume is going to be a very offensively oriented team, PG play is going to be of more importance than it has ever been in the Howland era. Defensively, we are going to have to hide him, because he can't guard 1s or 2s. He may be able to guard a 3 and I guess that's where I'd put him at the start of the season

Shabazz is Shabazz. He starts.

I'm going to put some faith in Powell that he has developed his game and made the sophomore leap. Our biggest frustration with him last year was his not just tendency, but obsession with settling for jump shots. It's nice that he's a good rebounder but that's not enough to justify having him in the game. Even without the best first step in the world, he still could have beaten at least half of his defenders in the Pac-12 off the dribble. Sending him to the 3 on offense puts him against a player who is almost guaranteed to be slower than him. I want Powell in the lane, making people pay for paying too much attention to Shabazz. Defensively, he guards whomever Anderson cannot.

Travis Wear is my 4. He just seems better than his brother in every aspect. It's not by much, but I suppose that's a good thing, since we won't lose much subbing him in for his brother. Yes, subbing in. A double Wear lineup will not be acceptable in any way, shape, or form.

I'm crossing every finger and toe that I have that Smith comes in to practice under 300 pounds. As big as Shabazz's commitment was, he only makes this team potentially elite. The only way to fulfill that potential is for Joshua Smith to be the dominating force that he showed flashes of in his freshman year and up in Seattle and Pullman last year. Other teams will have talents comparable to, but probably not as good as Shabazz. There is no other team that has a Josh Smith.

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There is an article in the Mecury News about Drew Gordon and his time at UCLA. The article is entitled "Drew Gordon works to repair reputation for NBA draft." In other words, Drew a marginal NBA prospect (second round) wants to repair his reputation after the infamous Sports Illustrated article in which he was a key player. It is interesting foremost for what he does not say:

Even now, Gordon is careful not to speak ill of Howland.

"There are people who you just butt heads with, and I'm sure everyone reading this can relate to that in their own lives," Gordon said. "It's not about someone being right or someone being wrong. It's just a difference of personalities and opinions."

Gordon was the leader of the terrible freshman class that started the downfall of the last four years. Whether it was the bad blood on the 2008-9 team which started with them being angry Collison came back or the hangover team of 2009-10 that had a losing record when Gordon quit. Gordon was the leader and his bad reputation was well deserved.

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Last week I wrote about the positive side of UCLA Basketball, the incoming freshman class and recruiting generally (More good news, UCLA is officially leading on Zach Lavine.) Let me add, I also feel good about Norman Powell. I think he is poised to make a sophomore leap, the year when many players improve the most. But now let me turn to my concerns, the upperclassman.

Let me emphasize I am not against the players (although I have qualms about two of them), but rather how Howland will handle them. For when I think of Howland’s problems the last few years, only one is of right now looking to be fixed (recruiting). The other three are: looking only to "win the next game", playing favorites, and dealing with problem attitudes. All three can be seen by playing upperclassman instead of more talented youth.

Let me say I have no doubt that Shabazz Muhammad will start and play. Howland is not stupid. But how will he use a 6’8" Point Guard (on offense at least) Kyle Anderson ? How will he handle the talented but raw underclassman is where the concerns abound. As some might say, how stubborn is Howland?

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ESPN has a nice little interview of Travis Wear. Travis says all the right things and confirms what Stover has said earlier. The returning players are happy to have the #1 recruiting class and anxious for the competition.

That's how you get better. You come and out compete every day for minutes. That's what makes teams great, being able to compete in practice. Then in the games you execute what you've been practicing all along. With Josh and my brother and Tony Parker and(Anthony) Stover ... we'll have some battles. It should be fun.

Stover previously tweeted something similar.

But to me the biggest news is confirmation of what we have rumored about UCLA's too big man Josh Smith.

Josh has been working out every day. He hasn't missed any workouts. He's grinding every day with us. It's nice just to see how hard he's been working. He has an opportunity to be great. To see him embracing that now is awesome.

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Every Wednesday for the spring and summer, we will do a Wednesday hoops story. The first two (I think) will be a bit different. For right now few things divide UCLA fans like the Basketball team. It seems that some people have jumped back on the Ben Howland band wagon as if 2009-12 did not happen. While others are so demoralized by the last four seasons that they are refusing to believe that the other shoe is not about to drop and certain the program will fall apart. It seems difficult to find a middle ground.

For this week I will focus more with a glass is half full approach, next week half empty. Right now seems like one of the problems of Ben Howland in recent years has had MAY be fixed and that of course is recruiting. For years Bruins Nation has bemoaned the loss of Kerry Keating, an ace recruiter who helped key UCLA's recent last set of final fours. Achilles put it strongest writing a while back:

And I think this staff is particularly lacking.

In Pittsburgh, Howland had Jaime Dixon. At UCLA, he thought he'd have Dixon, until Dixon was retained by Pitt and so he brought in Kerry Keating . These two are not just "any" assistant coaches. There were recruiting specialists and that quality made them or someone like them absolutely essential to Howland's chance of success.

. . . Both were excellent scouts, not only of the obvious, star players, but also of the ninth and tenth grade players who were up and coming. They both had the ability to project where a 15 year old would be in a couple of years. It's not easy as some 15 year olds are fully formed both physically and skill wise and they stand out. But they aren't going to get any better. The trick is spotting the baby-faced kid who's still growing and developing.

. . . The recruiting failures, IMO, get mostly laid at the feet of Garson and Duncan. After asking a lot of questions of people who know and who follow this stuff more closely than I do, I've concluded that these two lack the vision, the organization and the people skills to effectively recruit players and they lack the guts and balls to direct Howland towards the right recruits, even if they could identify them and form the necessary relationships. Duncan in particular is a disappointment because he was thought to be Oregon's great recruiter and he was brought in to replace Kerry Keating.

As of right now, it seems that problem has been fixed. I say seems because one class does not a good recruiter make and we have not even seen this class play yet, but it does seem that Assistant Coaches Phil Matthews and Korey McCray did their jobs very well. But let me start by saying Matthews did not get Shabazz Muhammad this year, he worked on it since the day he started:

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Tony Parker completes the most outstanding UCLA class in years. Although he does not officially count, if you include North Carolina Transfer Larry Drew, UCLA could field a very good team with incoming/new players:

Larry Drew, Jordan Adams, Shabazz Muhammad, Kyle Anderson, and Tony Parker

Those five alone should be good enough to compete for a title in the Pac-12. Add in the returning players from last year and as Andy Katz wrote:

UCLA has no excuses now. Bruins should be an elite team next season.

Fire away with your thoughts. Go Bruins!

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Tony Parker, who stands at 6'9", may be the most conflicted recruit in a long time. He seems to be legitimately torn on where to attend college. At UCLA, with his friends such as Shabazz Muhammad and Kyle Anderson or staying home in Georgia near his family, and particularly his Mom. A tough choice for any kid to make but Tony Parker seems to be having a harder time then any recruit in memory.

Well supposedly we will know for sure today at 1 p.m. PST. You can follow it live online here.

Why is Tony Parker so highly sought after? First from ESPN:

With his combination of size and skill level, Parker is one of the elite big men in the 2012 class. He is a space eater in the post who can carve out position on the block. When watching him play you quickly see the skill he possesses; once he catches

And then from Scout:

A wide low post prospect, Parker is a guy that makes an impact in the paint. Blessed with a pair of soft hands that catch virtually everything thrown his way, Parker is a talented scorer on the block and has good touch when looking to score. Parker has had some issues with staying in shape, but when he's conditioned he's a heck of basketball player.

Tony would further improve UCLA's already outstanding recruiting class. For some videos of Tony Parker go:

Tony Parker Miller Grove Basketball Highlights - Top 20 Class of 2012 - Flyin To The Hoop (via CLHTV2)

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This afternoon at 4 p.m. PST on ESPN, the Jordan Brand Classic, will take place featuring UCLA's recruits Kyle Anderson and Shabazz Muhammad, for one of the last times on different teams. The recruit Bruin fans are now waiting for, Tony Parker, will also be playing with Anderson's East team. Although Parker is no closer to a decision, you know Shabazz and Kyle will be lobbying him hard and that can't hurt. Anderson in particular has been great recruiting throughout the process.

If you have not seen Shabazz play yet, you are in for a treat. He can score, like few others. I think he will score more than Kevin Love's 17.5 points per game. As Howland said:

"He's going to definitely score," Howland said. "What numbers? I don't know, but he's definitely going to have the ability to put the ball in the basket."

The test of Howland as a teacher will be on display as well though. Shabazz will likely show that he needs some work on defense. This is why his dad said he is coming to UCLA:

Known for his defensive mind, Howland believes Muhammad can become an elite defender, a selling point in the recruiting process.

"I think potentially he can be a monster (defensively)," Howland said. "That's one of the things I know his dad (Ron Holmes) and he and I have talked about a lot. One of the reasons our players have gone from this level at UCLA and gone to the NBA and done so well is that, the difference between the NBA and college is there is less help-side defense in the pros because of the rules.

Shabazz is very close to a lock for success but more important than his individual abilities it is how these guys (including Jordan Adams who is not in the game this afternoon) are "winners."

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Decision Day is tomorrow. During the ESPNU "Signing Day Special" at 4:30 p.m. PST time slot Shabazz Muhammad will announce where he is going to college next year. This could be the biggest signing day for UCLA in many years as there are conflicting signals on whether Tony Parker will also decide.

First on Shabazz: signs are looking positive for Shabazz Muhammad to UCLA but Kentucky is trying hard as well. Shabazz is so good he is NBA ready now and without a doubt the best high school player in the country.

"Shabazz is by far the best player here," one Western Conference scout said of the senior swingman from Las Vegas Bishop Gorman High. "It's not even close. He's the only one who can play in the NBA tomorrow."

Said one Eastern Conference general manager: "He's a much better shooter than I thought."

Shabazz is even a very good rebounder for his size. That does not mean he is perfect, as his defense needs work. But whoever gets Shabazz is instantly a contender, he is that good.

Some are asking why Shabazz would want to come to UCLA and why he is really a good fit? The reasons are numerous and despite what people may think UCLA has some serious advantages over other schools as I wrote about here. Also, Ben Howland may be the best teacher of defense which is the part of his game Shabazz most needs to work on. Also BruinEngy writes some reasons here. chrissorr has a good point here . While some Kentucky and Duke guys have underachieved in the pros, I think almost all Ben Howland UCLA players have overachieved in the NBA. And this includes not only the under-the-radar in high school to NBA superstars like Russell Westbrook but even top rated high school guys like Kevin Love. Howland can coach the willing.

There is one other reason which should excite all UCLA fans as this Kentucky blog writes (emphasis mine):

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I just watched the Nike Hoop Summit game. One could see why Shabazz Muhammad is the best high school player in the country right now. He is not Arron Afflalo. He is Kobe Bryant. He set the scoring record for the Nike Hoop game with 35 points. He is a monster going to the hoop. Kyle Anderson is as good passer as advertised. It was beautiful watching him feed Shabazz and he has a nice stroke. He also rebounded his size and looked good on the boards.

But it was the third possible UCLA recruit who summed up why these guys need to come to UCLA and play for Ben Howland. Tony Parker, said in an in game interview (paraphrasing because I did not record it): "We can score. We just need to work on the Defense. " Truer words were never spoken.

Shabazz got burned by some Canadian and some European young pro players. A couple times on crossovers he was faked out of the building. A big Chinese kid pwned Parker a couple times and all he could do was foul. Anderson was forced to reach and had to sit at one point with three fouls. These guys did not know how to play Defense against skilled players.

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While I tend to agree with gbruin, who said it is only a matter of time before Kansas is champ as the Kentucky title may be vacated by the NCAA; the vacater-in-chief, John Calipari said in a blog posting entitled "Don't let anyone steal our joy":

We're trying to catch UCLA, folks.

He said this in the context of leading Kentucky to try to match UCLA's national title count, but he may be trying to catch UCLA in another respect right now: the Shabazz Muhammad sweepstakes, as Rivals' scout Jerry Meyer writes:

Just hearing from good sources that its UCLA. Don't know that I'd ever say Kentucky is completely out

Jerry is confirming what others have been writing for a while. He is significant because he is not a UCLA based scout like the guys at Bruin Report Online. Speaking of which one of those guys at BRO helps explain why Shabazz Muhammad is so good:

"He's a guy who could change the program," said Greg Hicks, Scout.com's West Coast recruiting analyst.

Or how about ESPN:

"Shabazz Muhammad is the guy they have to get," said Joel Francisco, ESPN.com's West Coast recruiting coordinator. "He would be such an impact player and possibly a conference player of the year as a freshman."

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Just wanted to quickly post as there is a lot going on recruiting wise. First tonight is the McDonald's All American Basketball game at 9:30 on ESPN. As sbnation reports:

Mar 28, 2012 - The McDonald's All American Game has become a historic event over the years and the UCLA Bruins will be represented well on Wednesday evening.

Five-star forward Kyle Anderson has already given his pledge to join Ben Howland in Westwood next season, while there is a solid possibility that Shabazz Muhammad, arguably the nation's No. 1 prospect, could be joining him as well.

While Shabazz will be playing against Kyle Anderson (hopefully for the last time), Tony Parker will be playing with him. The rosters are here.

For those of you who are concerned about Shabazz's status or his likely "one and done" status. Here are a couple paragraphs on why so many want him so badly (hint it is not because he won the dunk contest):

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UCLA has suffered through four years that should never happen at UCLA: a losing record, missing the NCAA tournament twice, and not even a Sweet Sixteen appearance As we enter the second week of March Madness, UCLA should be in the discussion. As one person who knows said:

"This is UCLA," he said. "The expectations are higher here than anywhere. The amount of success both in terms of championships and wins as well as success off the floor has been second to none in college basketball.

That person, of course, was Ben Howland. But why are the expectations so high? Inevitably someone says something to the effect of Coach Wooden has been gone for 37 years. While Coach is the foundation, UCLA basketball is more than just him.

It is why Shabazz Muhammad will likely come to UCLA. It is why UCLA is still thought of (wrongly) as a basketball school. UCLA is a premiere place to play basketball and will be again.

Here are some reasons in no particular order, after the jump.

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Those who defend Howland based on the fact that he has not had the recruits the last few years will be hard pressed to use that excuse next year. Why? Well UCLA recruits have not lost a game in their last 100.

Jordan Adams, a UCLA signee from Oak Hill Academy, went 44-0 this season and his team is ranked No. 1 by USA Today and ESPN.

. . .

And [Kyle] Anderson will take a 64-game winning streak into Tuesday's New Jersey Tournament of Champions final against Plainfield at the Izod Center. He is 98-1 in his last three seasons, including one at Paterson Catholic.. . ..

"[Anderson] is about winning," Hurley added. "He's lost one game since the beginning of his sophomore year of high school."

That's right Adams and Anderson have not lost a game this year. And they are not the biggest prize.

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A lot of things have been written about Howland and Guerrero and why they need to go, recently here by Tydides and Ryan. I tend toward the Ryan argument that this is not about an SI article but that no UCLA coach should have four years like Ben Howland has had and still have a job. But for this post I will try to objectively show why this year in particular shows why UCLA needs a new coach. I will focus on the four CBS UCLA award winners and what that shows for Ben Howland.

1. The Defensive MVP

C Anthony Stover. Primarily a backup to fellow post player, Joshua Smith, Stover made the most of his minutes when given the opportunity. Despite playing eight minutes per game, he still led the team with 39 blocks this season. Stover also averaged nearly two rebounds a night, a number that would have ballooned with more playing time.

Okay, first I disagree with the last statement. Stover averaged 1.5 rebounds which is not that close to 2 and he averaged a rebound every 5.6 minutes, which is less than Travis Wear's rebound every 4.4 and Josh Smith's every 3.5. In other words he was the worst rebounder per minute of any of the Centers.

But putting that aside, before the season who thought a player named "Defensive MVP" for Ben Howland would average 8 minutes a game? Ben Howland, the king of constricting defense only plays his best defender 8 minutes a game?!?

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There will be plenty of time to discuss the season as we go forward. This roundup will focus on the immediate news and the last game. Of course all the stories are trying to make the loss last night to Arizona into some kind of allegory for the season:

In many ways, UCLA's 66-58 loss to Arizona in the Pac-12 Tournament's second round Thursday afternoon was a dead-on reflection of the Bruins' season from hell that preceded it.

The Bruins dug themselves an early hole, continued to reel from self-inflicted wounds, rallied, then just when it appeared they finally had found daylight, they collapsed. They finally were buried for good beneath the wreckage of a season that was a disaster from opening night.

The reality of the game is lost. The Bruins did play outstanding team defense, holding Arizona to under 35% shooting and keep them scoreless from the field for long periods of time. UCLA ended the game without Josh Smith (no surprise) and without Travis Wear (big surprise as he had not really been in foul trouble all year.) But the game was decided in part by three other people:

Instead, it came down to defense and free throws -- lots and lots of 'em by the Wildcats, who won 66-58 in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals Thursday despite going 8 1/2 minutes without a field goal in the second half.

The fourth-seeded Wildcats (22-10) were 24 of 27 from the free-throw line in the second half, and they needed those when their shooting dipped to 30 percent over the final 20 minutes and the Bruins briefly took the lead.

Solomon Hill scored 25 points, Jesse Perry added 16 points and Kyle Foggscored 13. Arizona went 31 of 36 from the line, with Perry making 12 of 13 and Hill 12 of 14. Hill and Perry had 12 rebounds each. "As often is the case in March, you ride the coattails of the individual players playing better than they've played before," Wildcats coach Sean Miller said. "The only thing you have to do is look at the stat sheet and the meaning of Jesse, Solomon and Kyle is immense. These three guys are the heart and soul of our team.". . .

UCLA played the final 11:03 without big man Joshua Smith, who fouled out in nine minutes after totaling seven points and three rebounds. Travis Wear, who had 10 points and six rebounds, fouled out for the first time this season with 2:52 remaining.

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That may have been the ugliest game of the year. As the usually biting Vincent Bonsignore wrote:

The Bruins sleep-walked through most of the afternoon, their ultimate survival in a 55-40 win relying more on the Trojans' ineptness than anything they did.

When is the last time you saw a team win by 15 points while making just 19 of 56 shots from the field?

Heck, when is the last time a team won by any margin while shooting 33.9 percent?

Hint: When the other team makes an even more absurdly low percentage of shots, that's when.

Like, for instance, the 28.8 percent the Trojans shot while connecting on an embarrassing 15 of 52 attempts.

But at least UCLA won this and beat USC three times this year. However keep in mind that this is a real bad SUC team.

The Trojans had won their first game of the tournament the four previous times they had played in it, including last year, when they reached the semifinals. But injuries that decimated the lineup and poor shooting doomed them throughout the season. They went 1-19 in their final 20 games, with their lone Pac-12 win coming against new league member Utah.

"This season was definitely tough," Wesley said. "Despite all these injuries we've had, today's game really hurt. Now we just have to start moving on.

"We lost to our rival UCLA three times. That can't happen."

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