Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

I'll admit, I'm a bit torn at the moment.

On the one hand, it’s hard for me to be pessimistic (or realistic, depending on your view) about our basketball team. I want to want Howland to be the right man for the job, and to be frank, I’m willing to give him a mulligan this season. We were heavily invested in the wildly underperforming stock known as "The (Remedial) Class of 2008," so naturally, it’ll take us a bit of time to get our house back in order. That’s not excusing Howland, of course. He recruited those players; it doesn’t matter if the scouts ranked them highly or not, he should know what type of team he’s trying to build and what players fit that vision.

To me, this season constitutes Ben Howland’s inability to cope with the modern recruiting landscape. He recruited players who saw UCLA as a stepping stone, not as a destination, and I think we’re witnessing the effect of that clash of ideals right now. To succeed, Howland’s going to need go back to what he did before: that is, to recruit top-flight talent while while building around blue-collar grit (like Reeves, perhaps). Unless you’re recruiting Carmelo Anthony, it’s safer (and more stable) to build a college team around Tyler Hansborough (IMO). Hopefully, his brush with the prima donnas of ’08 has taught him a valuable lesson as a coach and as a recruiter. If it has, then our team will be better for it. If not, well — that hot seat will be getting quite a bit warmer.

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