UCLA forward Mbah a Moute to enter draft, but hasn't hired agent

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is the latest UCLA player intending to leave early for the NBA.

The junior forward said Friday he will enter the draft. The 6-foot-8 Mbah a Moute won't hire an agent right away, keeping him eligible to return to UCLA for his senior year.

"I feel that it is in my best interest to see what the NBA has to offer," Mbah a Moute said. "I have had a wonderful experience at UCLA."

Personally, I think the Prince will be staying for another year. His below-average shooting and ballhandling skill will hinder him in the NBA no matter how good and versatile his defense may be.

Anyhow, I love how Coach Howland is handling Luc's announcement.

"Luc is a great rebounder and is an outstanding defender," Howland said. "He's the most versatile defensive player I've ever coached. He has been an integral part of the success that our program has achieved over the last three seasons. I fully support him exploring his opportunities to play in the NBA."

MOUTE KICKS BOUTE. MOUTE KICKS BOUTE. MOUTE KICKS BOUTE. MOUTE KICKS BOUTE. MOUTE KICKS BOUTE. MOUTE KICKS BOUTE. MOUTE KICKS BOUTE. MOUTE KICKS BOUTE. MOUTE KICKS BOUTE. MOUTE KICKS BOUTE. MOUTE KICKS BOUTE. MOUTE KICKS BOUTE.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2865999

Thanks to Steve-16, UCLA got one vote for the most underachieving basketball school for the past 10 years. Too bad we did not get in the final Top 10. I'd love to hear ESPN ripping into its own college basketball analyst. I would imagine it would go something like this.

UCLA

Despite having loads of high school McDonald All-Americans and future NBA ballers, UCLA is the one school that can be best summed as "doing the least with the most resources available". With the deepest and biggest college basketball legacy, one of the most beautiful campus/weather/co-eds in the entire nation, and an amazing opportunity of education, UCLA should've been in the Top 10 of the best school in the past decade. Instead, it is perennially stuck in the mud of mediocrity. Plagued by poor coaching and discipline, players would rarely improve during the years spent in Lavin's "motion[less] offense". Despite flash of brillance in the tournament where talent alone was enough to push them to the round of 16 multiple times, the not-so-mighty Bruins always get stopped short of the ultimate prize by better coached teams with far less talent. That by definition is under-achieving.

The bright side of this diary is that in 10 year, we will most likely be Top 10 on the opposite list! As said many times in this website, thank God for Coach Howland!

Yahoo Sports just posted an article from Olin Buchanan at Rivals.com regarding Marshall Lynch.

As I'm reading the article, I can't help to think how relevant it is to the "The Dive to Abyss" article. Cal used to average 38,000 in attendance at the beginning of the Tedford era but is now close to 61,000 per game this year without having played the "big" games yet.

I simply can't stand people who say UCLA is not a football school and no one will support an expensive coach or that we can't ever fill up the Rose Bowl on a regular basis. That's totally BS!

As proven by Cal, fans (bandwagon or not) will come when the product on the field warrants the interest. It's not the other way around. To think UCLA students/alumni/fans can't support a big-time program is simply loser talk.

It breaks my heart to see so many fans abandoning our team early fourth quarter this past Saturday at the Rose Bowl, despite the earnest plead from the student chant leader to reconsider staying. (I guess the quitting culture from Dorrell has now hit the fan sections too!) Unless there is a major shift in our program, I'm afraid this will continue to spiral downward.

Go Bruins!

LINK TO THE FULL ARTICLE

[excerpt]

But no matter how many games the Bears win or which championships they may claim, perhaps their greatest accomplishment is they've gained favor with the Berkeley students - who at times in the past have been at best apathetic regarding the football team.

Just three years ago Cal's average attendance for six home games was 38,305. This season Cal has averaged 60,966 fans in five home games and still has games with UCLA and Stanford at Memorial Stadium.

"Our fans have showed us a great amount of respect," Lynch said. "Even after a close win (over Washington) that they thought would be a pushover. Our fans have really gotten into the football thing here. They've showed us a lot of support."

First post for me!

According to Ford, LRMAM would've been the only Bruin drafted in the first round (ahead of JF and AA) in an imaginery draft where all prospects are allowed to be drafted (ie. Greg Oden and Joakim "Bagged by AA" Noah).

Insider Article
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft2006/insider/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=WhatIfMo ckDraft-060627