SB Nation User Blog: Nestor

B Diddy Gives Ben Ball Warriors Another Shout Out

Nestor — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:44:32 -0000

Bumping this post up because would love to hear more feedback in what is turning out to be a very enjoyable thread re. all time favorite/great Bruin basketball legends among BN faithful. GO BRUINS. -N

While blue chip recruits keep lining up for Ben Howland to give their shot at stardom as Ben Ball warriors, Bruin alums in the NFL keep embellishing the brand of UCLA hoops. And the clutch assists in recent years keep coming from Boom Dizzle who is doing what he can to associate with Bruin glory, after losing out on it because of playing under Howland's predecessor.

Yes, B Diddy showing the love for blue and gold again:

Davis said he's tried to get a jump on the team bonding by working out with Mobley, Thornton and recently acquired Ricky Davis over the summer.

"I've spoken to everybody," Davis said. "I've seen a lot of the young guys, just tried to give them an opportunity to feel my personality and let them know we mean business, but at the same time, we're going to have some fun.

"We're chasing greatness, we're the second basketball team in the city, probably even the third behind the Lakers and UCLA, so we're chasing greatness."

I don't have a list of my five favorite all time UCLA basketball players. But if I were to make one, B Diddy is making it easy to get on that list.

So since I am on that topic why not open up the floor to discussion and share your lost of your top-5 (or may be to-10 since there are so many to chose from) UCLA basketball players of all time.

GO BRUINS.

Spaulding Roundup: Oregon (Road) Worries

Nestor — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:15:10 -0000

We will start this Monday by turning our attention to Oregon right away. I am not sure there is any use in reflecting too much on the win against Washington State, which might be one of the worst Pac-10 teams in recent years. Whatever can be taken away from the Wazzu game will turn out to be irrelevant, if the Bruins come up with another horrific showing on the road like it did against BYU in Provo.

Ducks are coming off their own tough outing against Southern Cal. But you can bet they are going to be chomping at the opportunity to put a hurting on UCLA (and not to mention on Rick Neuheisel because they have their own set of issues dating back to his Washington days). We have at least couple of reasons to be worried right off the bat. First, Bruin’s horrific record on the road:

Since the start of the 2003 season, UCLA is 10-18 (.357) in road games, but 26-9 (.743) in games at the Rose Bowl.

UCLA plays at Oregon on Saturday.

"Already has come up," Neuheisel said. "For us to get to where we want to go, we have to be a better team on the road, and we're going to work on that this week."

Neuheisel said Sunday he did not plan to alter the team's travel regimen. There could be tweaks in practice, but Neuheisel added he was not going to ignore UCLA's road woes.

"We have to talk about it," he said. "We have to come up with a strategy for how we're going to go in and be a better team in a different environment. We just have to play better than we did in Utah. There's just no question about that."

Well whatever strategy CRN and his coaches devise, reviving the running game will be a big part of it. That brings me to the second reason for concern this Monday. UCLA’s running game took a step back against Washington State:

UCLA still cannot run. Sometimes. Outside of a 31-yard gain near the end of the fourth quarter, the Bruins gained 69 rushing yards. Washington State came in allowing 269 a game.

Not coincidentally, UCLA passed for 225 yards, continuing its trend to ineffectively pass and run the ball at the same time.

UCLA looked primarily to Bell on Saturday after finding success in splitting carries between multiple backs the past two games. Bell had 21 of the team's 37 attempts yet gained just 43 yards, second to Derrick Coleman (Troy High), who had 49.

"There were nine or ten guys in the box at any given time, so we couldn't run," Bell said. "But we made plays when we had the opportunity."

UCLA might have been looking for a boost to the run game as it tried two direct snaps, but both of those both went for short yardage.

"We'd love to (do that more)," Neuheisel said. "If you watch college football across the country it's becoming a weapon."

If you take away Coleman’s 31 yard run in garbage time, Bruins rushed for 69 yards in 38 carries, averaging about 1.8 yards per carry. Bell averaged 2 yards per carry rushing for 43 yards in 21 attempts (against a defensive frontline that up until last Saturday wasn’t stopping anybody):

Photo Credit: Jack Rosenfeld

That was not encouraging. However, Wazzzu did stack the box throwing their entire kitchen sink to stop our run. And it could be that the UCLA coaches kept the scheme very basic against a bad Washington State team, not wanting to give away their full arsenal heading into more difficult matchups like the one coming up this weekend. Bell didn’t look very explosive against the Cougars and tweaked his ankle in the first half. More from the LA Times:

Another concern may be tailback Kahlil Bell, who had 43 yards in 21 carries. But Bell "tweaked" his injured left ankle in the first half.

Neuheisel said that Bell was "fine" and would practice Tuesday. Bell suffered a high-ankle sprain in the season opener. He is also only 10 months removed from surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.

"Hopefully, we're rounding the corner on the ankle and will be able to get more out of him," Neuheisel said. "He does still have lingering effects of the ankle. He also has lingering effects from the ACL injury."

Perhaps a solution would be lighten up the load for Bell (who had 21 carries) and increase that of Coleman? Coleman to date has rushed for 159 yards in 23 carries averaging about 6.9 yards per carry. That is not bad at all. Plus there is Dean lurking around with his speed and athleticism. If the light goes on for him during practices, it might be worth it to given him a decent look during the game as well.

Meanwhile, Oregon who has tried out 4 different QBs this season has their own injury issues:

Oregon coach Mike Bellotti told Oregon reporters it was uncertain if Justin Roper would be back at practice today. Roper injured his knee early in the season and was out last week because of an illness. But even if Roper is back, it may not matter. Bellotti told reporters Roper would likely begin the week as the backup to Jeremiah Masoli, but could compete for the starting job if his knee holds up.

Masoli’s numbers look more solid than Roper’s to this point of the season. This game is absolutely huge for DeWayne Walker. While the D put up some good numbers against Washington State, there are still reasons to be concerned. Our tackling was not great at all early in the game. If the Cougars had an explosive offense (like the one we are going to face against in Oregon), it could have gotten ugly early on. Bret Lockett was still missing a number of open field tackles, and our frontline was not putting a lot of pressure on Lobbestael, until Walker mixed up his blitz packages later in the game.

So it will be very interesting to see how the UCLA defense comes out on Saturday. Are they going to come out in a bend don’t break mode, sit back, and let the action come to them from an explosive Oregon attack or are they going to be aggressive and force the action early on? How the Bruin defense responds to the challenge (along with rest of the team) will tell us a lot about rest of the season on Saturday. Oregon will be the overwhelming favorite to win this game handily on Saturday, but it would bode really well for the CRN’s program if his team can bring the same kind of fire and aggressiveness, it has shown against Tennessee and during last two games at the Rose Bowl.

GO BRUINS.

CRN discusses the efficient win over WSU. More videos over at What's Bruin. GO BRUINS.

Nestor — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:01:07 -0000

CRN discusses the efficient win over WSU. More videos over at What's Bruin. GO BRUINS.

The Wacky UCLA Marketing Dept At It Again

Nestor — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 13:50:19 -0000

From the LA Times:

UCLA's marketing department, like the Bruins, is taking small steps forward. School officials were a little red-faced at the sight of so much red at the previous week's game -- the result of newspaper advertisements paid for by the UCLA marketing department urging Fresno State fans to turn out at the Rose Bowl.

This week, they knew what school they were marketing -- they just apparently didn't know what conference the Bruins play in.

A posting in "Bruins Locker Room," the athletic department's online newsletter, said that tickets were still available this week under the heading: "Bruins play final nonconference game."

That is not good to say the least.

I guess they can say that 65,000+ on a night Dodgers were taking care of business down the 110 is not a bad job after all.

Still as DG referenced last weeek the folks at Morgan Center's marketing department needs to step up. Paying attention to details would be a good start.

GO BRUINS.

An Efficient Night At The Rose Bowl

Nestor — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 13:39:34 -0000

The word for this Sunday is "efficient". That’s what the beat writers are using to describe Kevin Craft’s steady performance from last night. From the LA Times:

[Q]uarterback Kevin Craft was efficient enough and tailback Kahlil Bell repeatedly burrowed into the Cougars' defensive front. The Bruins defense, which spent the last three games back-peddling, pretty much smothered an anemic Washington State offense.

Kevin Pearson sounds off similar theme in the Press Enterprise:

Craft was efficient with his decisions, finishing the night 23 of 36 for 225 yards and a pair of touchdown passes to Moya. He connected with seven different receivers and helped direct an offense that was solid on third downs and overcame a run game that was effective though not dangerous.

As well as Brian Dohn from the Daily News:

Quarterback Kevin Craft wasn't spectacular, but was an efficient 23 of 36 for 225 yards and two touchdowns. And, almost as important, he did not turn the ball over.

UCLA's running game wasn't as explosive as the 200-plus yards it gained in last week's loss to Fresno State, but it was effective enough to rush the ball 37 times and get a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs from tailback Kahil Bell.

"It's good, but by no means are we satisfied," Craft said. "I think guys are still hungry. I definitely know I am."

Kevin’s attitude is very encouraging because that is pretty much the right mindset our players should have after pulling off an expected win against one of the worst teams in D-1.

Last night’s game against Washington State by no means was the most exhilarating or spectacular wins we have enjoyed as UCLA football fans. However, it was enjoyable and worthwhile staying up late here in the East Coast. We shouldn’t make too much out of a win against the Cougars team. However, there are certain trends, I think worth noting.

Kevin craft (as referenced above) continue to improve as Norm Chow’s latest project. From Jon Gold in the Daily News:

"It has been two weeks in a row where I thought he was really good," Neuheisel said. "He made some big plays, especially in the pocket as it was collapsing and looking downfield. Instead of looking claustrophobic in the pocket, he made some good plays. Washington State was very aggressive; it took a good job by the offensive line and Kevin hanging in there. A lot of progress has been made there."

It's the type of progress that offensive coordinator Norm Chow anticipated out of the redshirt junior quarterback. Chow said Craft, thrust into the starting lineup before the season after injuries to seniors Ben Olson and Pat Cowan, is beginning to come around.

"That's what we hope," Chow said. "He's managing the game well, and he has for two weeks in a row. I think we only have one turnover in those two weeks. He's getting more familiar with the offense, and making good throws."

Particularly to Moya.

His team-mates are certainly impressed by his development to date:

"Kevin played phenomenal," tailback Kahlil Bell said. "He made great decisions, hit the open man, hit the hot read, stepped up in the pocket and played great.

"He's young but he's learning on the fly. Before it's all said and done, he is going to be a good player."

What I loved about KC’s performance last night was his pocket presence (referenced by CRN above). He didn’t get rattled with the Cougar’s defensive linemen were barreling towards him (and on couple occasions had their arms around him). I love the way he distributed his 23 completions to his receivers (13), TEs (7) and backs (3). Overall he completed passes to 7 different receivers:

Photo Credit: Lori Shepler/LA Times

He has also emerged as one of the clear leaders in this team. He has developed a presence which one can see through his body language during the team huddle. When Bell dropped a pass (I believe it was in the second half) which could have been a TD, Craft didn’t waste seconds to point towards himself, smile at Bell and say "my bad." That kind of gesture/leadership from QBs taking responsibility doesn’t show up on box score, but makes unmistakable impression on team-mates (particular when he is producing results).

That said Craft I am sure will acknowledge that right now there is still lot of room for improvement. First, I think he is still a little too streaky. Once he throws a bad pass, it seems like it takes him a little while to get back in rhythm. We were seeing that in first quarter in the form of two straight ineffective drives. Also, he is getting a number of his passes tipped at LOS. I am sure that’s an issue Chow and CRN have noticed, and they will work with him to correct that in coming weeks. All in all, not a bad night for Craft.

Craft wasn’t the only with a decent night. It looks like Austin is slowly getting settled in this offense. He is also becoming a fearless weapon for KC. He is not showing any hesitation when coming down the middle (exposing his slight frame to opposing DBs). He did it few times last night after laying out for a spectacular reception against Fresno State last weekend. Taylor Embree also continues to shine as he is emerging as the most dependable (possession) receiver in this offense. As for Ryan Moya, he was already referenced above as the money receiver for Kevin Craft.

The running game was somewhat disconcerting last night as the Bruins managed 100 yards (in 37 carries) against a team that was allowing 269 yards rushing per game. Bell didn’t seem too worried about it after the game:

"I don't think there was anything wrong with the running game," Bell said.

"They had nine and 10 guys in the box a lot of times, so I'm not really worried about that."

I guess it worked out last night because Craft stayed poised and was able to manage the game by being efficient through his pass completions. Still I think we need more production out of our ball carriers.

One thing I want to note though: I really like Moline at FB. He provides lot more options at that position. He is very good in catching the ball out of the backfield and is a decent blocker (prolly the main reason he was getting PT over freshmen early on this season).

Speaking of disconcerting, the defense started off on a bad note (although not evident in box scores). We continue to see just too many mistackles out of this bunch. There were a lot of them early on and if we were playing a decent and experience offense, they would have made us pay.

But there were some good notes on defense. I liked what Walker did last night in terms of his blitz packages. He was mixing it up with Reginald Stokes and Chinonso Anyanwu at DE. I love the speed and intensity of Akeem Ayers at LB. More of him please.

Walker at times was subbing in 5-6 players in a play. It seemed like the speed and athleticism of these new kids and along with Walker blitzing from different angles, was allowing Price and Harwell to be even more forceful from the middle. Price is simply a monster. Also, as we heard during game week, Dye got a lot of reps in nickel situation.

Again, not sure how much we can take from this defensive performance against a dreadful football team. However, the signs were certainly positive and encouraging. If they can figure out a way to completely address their tackling issues, I think there will be reasons for optimism for this young team heading into rest of the Pac-10 season.

Hopefully the guys can use the efficient performance from last night as a motivation to get better this coming week. They are going to need to turn it up another notch (and then some) if they want to put together a competitive performance against what should be an angry Ducks team next weekend in Eugene.

GO BRUINS.

Bruins Take Care Of Cougars ... Methodically

Nestor — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 05:09:30 -0000

Going into tonight's game we were a little worried. This was the kind of game we have seen Bruin teams under previous regimes drop time after time.

This is kind of game we have seen Bruins come out in previous years and choke away, taking their opponents lightly, showing any kind of focus or killer instincts.

Instead tonight the Bruins came out with a purpose and took care of business. They started a little out of sync on offense and were having trouble tackling early in the game on defense. But they settled down and under Craft's leadership methodically sliced up the Cougars with help from Austin, Bell, Embree, Moline and Moya:

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Jeff Lewis (via ESPN)

Bruins take apart the Cougars by a score of 28-3 (boxscore). The final score was not indicative of how Bruins controlled the game as Cougars piled on a TD in garbage time and Bruins had CForce mopping late in the fourth quarter.

No doubt Bruins took a step forward tonight but still there is lot of room for improvement as they head into Oregon for a very difficult road game. We will have more thoughts on the game tomorrow and early next week.

For now ... enjoy a steady Bruin win featured by an efficient and enjoyable offensive performance we haven't seen in years. Let's hope the Bruins build on it to improve some more this upcoming game week ...methodically of course.

Oh and the Blue Crew just took care of the Cubbies at the Chavez Ravine officially making this a True Blue weekend in LA.

Thread it up in our post game victory thread.

GO BRUINS.

PB Unleashed: Washington State Open Thread

Nestor — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:35:27 -0000

Off we go.

Bruins need a win … badly. As do the Cougars who are coming into the Rose Bowl looking at UCLA as perhaps their only chance at a victory in their long season. Our recent history against the Cougars have been nothing short of nightmarish. As we have discussed all week, Paul Wulff’s team will have a shot in pulling off what some will consider as an upset against the Bruins.

Bruins will need to come out with aggression on both sides of the ball with stellar play from the special teams:

Photo Credit: dathomas9's photostream (flickr)

They will also need to stay focused and disciplined, eliminating the mistakes from previous weeks

The kickoff time is scheduled for 7:15 pm PST on FSN Prime Ticket. As always you can click on the links below under "Related Item" for updated game stats and track the game via UCLA's official site and WWL's game page.

Let’s hope the boys in blue can put it all together. With that said time to get started with another game thread filled with our passion buckets.

Fire away.

GO BRUINS.

PB Unleashed: Washington State Pre Game Thread

Nestor — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:27:44 -0000

We’ve got a long way till the kickoff and till our Bruins take the field:

Photo Credit: Jack Rosenfeld

I am sure many of friends are out there on the Rose Bowl living it up, tailgating away on that beautiful golf course. For rest of us (especially those not in the West Coast), we will be taking in number of games leading up to our kickoff around 7:15 pm PST.

Florida @ Arkansas (9:30 am PST), PSU at Purdue (9:00 am PST) Texas @ Colorado (4:00 pm PST), Oregon at Southern Cal (5:00 pm PST), tOSU at Wisconsin (5:00 pm PST) are just some of the games that might keep you entertained. You can keep tab of the scores via WWL.

If you need cram in some Washington State related notes check out out game page here.

If you are watching you can post your thoughts, comments, snap scouting reports (on any of our future opponents) right here in this as a pre-game thread. We will have the game thread up tonight about half an hour before our kickoff. So fire away.

GO BRUINS.

Game Day Roundup: Avoid The 110

Nestor — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 13:52:03 -0000

We will start this game day round up with a little public service annoucement from the UCLA athletics department (avoid the 110 when you are driving to the Rose Bowl):

Fans attending the UCLA-Washington State game at the Rose Bowl are encouraged to arrive at the Rose Bowl early to tailgate, visit the Fan Zone in Area H, which opens at 3:00 pm, and attend the men's water polo game against No. 2 UCLA and No. 7 Long Beach State at 4:00 pm at the Rose Bowl Aquatics Center.[...]

In addition to the UCLA game, which begins at 7:15 pm, USC is playing at the L.A. Coliseum at 5:00 pm, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are hosting the Chicago Cubs in the National League Division Series at Dodger Stadium at 7:00 pm. Fans going to the Rose Bowl should avoid the 110 Freeway if possible to avoid the traffic in the downtown area and plan on arriving early.

More details over here.

As for the game, we have discussed all week how tonight presents an opportunity for DeWayne Walker's unit to improve upon the effort from last three weeks. One of the things we are going to look for is what kind of pressure the D can put on WSU's QB. Dohn reports on the lack of pressure on opposing QBs so far in this young season:

The Bruins are tied for 102nd (out of 119 teams) in the nation in sacks per game (1.0). Losing all-American defensive end Bruce Davis to the NFL is a major reason for the lack of sacks, but missed assignments are also playing a significant role.

"It's been a lot of guys doing too much, and myself being one of those guys," Bosworth said as the Bruins prepared to host Washington State at the Rose Bowl tonight. "I try to over-think things. I just have to go out there and play football."

Getting pressure on Washington State quarterback Marshall Lobbestael is a goal for UCLA's defense, which not only isn't racking up sacks but is rarely pressuring opposing quarterbacks, who are completing 61.3 percent of their passes and have 12 touchdowns against just three interceptions.

Bosworth and defensive end Tom Blake each have one sack, as does reserve defensive tackle Nate Skaggs and linebacker Akeem Ayers.

"As long as we do our own techniques and handle our own assignments, and speed rush and use hand-to-hand movements and combat, I feel comfortable we're going to get some pressure on the quarterback this week," Bosworth said.

Hopefully Bosworth and all his team-mates will step up tonight and not take their opponents lightly. CRN has been preaching that message all week, while WSU coach Paul Wulff is chomping at this game as an opportunity to take a "step forward" for his beleaguered program. From the Seattle Press Intelligencer:

"We certainly are not in a place to be overlooking anybody," UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said. "Washington State may be looking at us as, 'Finally we get somebody that we can handle.' "

"I think the kids probably believe they can beat 'em," Wulff said. "They should. I think if we have enough competitors, we can do that.

"The thing about this team, and I said it at the beginning of the season: Our team wasn't going to be as good as it could be early on, and it was going to be a season of improvements that we need to make.

"We've played five games. We've had three different starting quarterbacks. We haven't had an offensive line (with the same starters consistently). We've had some kids out on defense.

"We're not a very deep team to begin with, then we've had a lot of issues on top of it. All the combinations kind of went against us. I do believe we can take a step this week."

We are not the only ones who think Bruins can't afford to look pass this Cougars team. Here is Ted Miller from WWL on the possibility of Cougars pulling out a win:

This is Washington State's best chance for a Pac-10 win, at least until the Apple Cup: UCLA should beat the Cougars. The Bruins also should have beaten the Cougars last year, but Washington State won 27-7, a game that became a significant nail in then-Bruins coach Karl Dorrell's coffin. UCLA is prone to distraction. It may look at the schedule and yawn. Moreover, the Rose Bowl is hardly a hostile environment these days, so redshirt freshman quarterback Marshall Lobbestael might not be overwhelmed in his first road start. The Cougars may, in fact, benefit from being on the road, considering they lost by an average of 56 points in their first two conference home games. This might not qualify as an upset alert, but it won't be written very often this season that Washington State actually has a shot to win.

Not sure what else can we do to hammer home the point that Bruins need to prepare for this game like they did for a high profile SEC opponent such as Tennessee. For more on today's game coverage check out the LA Times, the OC Register, and the Press Enterprise. All our games notes can be found here.

Since our game doesn't kick off till 7:15 pm PST, we will have a pre game thread up around 11:30 am PST (which you can use to comment on today's all other actions), which will be followed by our game thread that will go up about half an hour before kickoff. Let's hope our boys take care of business tonight at the Rose Bowl. Enjoy the Game Day.

GO BRUINS.

The Spirit Of AA

Nestor — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 20:39:59 -0000

I still miss this kid:

To show what it's like to scrap with Richard Hamilton every day, Arron Afflalo held out his arms.

"Look at this," he said. "I have the most scratches of all-time in Pistons history."

One of the highlights of the daily scrimmages is the physical and verbal jousting between the two shooting guards. On Wednesday, Afflalo knocked Hamilton hard to the floor and when Afflalo went to help him up, Hamilton angrily waved him away.

A few plays later, Hamilton aggressively forced Afflalo out of bounds, causing a turnover. What he said to Afflalo could not be printed in a family newspaper.

"I try to talk to him and I talk bad to him sometimes," Hamilton said. "But that motivates him. He never backs down. I love that from him. He ain't never going to back down and if he does, I am going to be disappointed in him. I tell him, 'In a game if somebody hits you, you hit him back. We all got your back.'

Where again did AA honed that ferocious mentality?

Afflalo, in his second year out of UCLA, figures to play a more consistent role off the bench this season. His rugged and fearless defensive play might be his calling card and his ticket to more playing time, but he has worked hard to improve both his ball-handling and shooting skills.

That is from a profile in the Detroit News, which starts with these two words: “Bruisin’ Bruin.” Just a little example of why blue chip recruits like Anthony Stover are flocking to Westwood and high profile alums are constantly working in that magical four letter word in their hoops discussion.

I have written this before … I don’t think Bruin Nation has felt this jazzed about our basketball program since the days of Coach. Okay 66, Fox 71, we will never get back to the level of hanging 10 Banners and the streak of 88 wins .. but right now … this is a pretty damn good feeling.

It feels even more special, when recalling the struggle and growing pains we all went through during Howland’s first two and half seasons in Westwood. Just something to keep in mind, when you take in all the football actions tonight and rest of this first season of CRN.

I hope all the talented football players in our football program such as Harwell, Bell, Carter, ATV, Ayers, Coleman, Moore, Baca, Dye, Dean and incoming recruits such as Brehaut and Todd Golper read up a little on AA, JF, RH, CB, DT (non bandwagoners should have no problem figuring out the last three initials). If those kids can capture the same spirit of the legacy AA and his team-mates left behind in Westwood after helping Howland rebuild this program in his first three seasons, we are going to be all right.

Even though AA et al. didn’t bring home a banner, I will always remember those kids with the same reverence I have for Ed O and Tyus Edney. They are the ones who formed the foundation of the Ben Ball in Westwood. Hopefully the kids who are now playing under CRN and his new staff will work to build this program with the same sense of passion, dedication, and fiery competitive spirit that facilitated Howland’s masterful rebuilding efforts at UCLA.

Anyway, sorry for getting a little sidetrack from the AA story. But reading about AA, BDiddy’s quote, and the news of our latest high profile commit just drove home the point for me how good it feels when everything starts clicking for our program, after going through the growing pains under a competent head coach. When everything starts clicking in the world of Bruin football in next few tears, it will feel better than more than I can write in any blogpost.

GO BRUINS.