SB Nation User Blog: billyknight

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COACH!

billyknight — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 04:14:18 -0000

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COACH!

The Savior Class

billyknight — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 07:12:39 -0000

UPDATED & BUMPED: The post was timed for moments before the tip-off but the sentiments expressed here are timeless. JS responded with another career high in his last game at Pauley. GO BRUINS. -N

Photo Credit: E. Corpuz

With Josh Shipp's senior day upon us (also DC's and PAA's) I think it's time we revisit Bruin basketball the season before Josh got here. Coach Howland was going through some pretty severe growing pains with a bunch of players not his own, and trying to implement an entirely new system that was not necessarily agreeing with his personell. That was a tough year for all of us, no doubt. But there seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel. A couple guys named Farmar, Afflalo, Shipp, and Mata (-Real). Ben Howland's first recruiting class at UCLA.

Farmar was the most highly touted of the bunch (rightfully so). Shipp and Afflalo were both LA products with great high school careers. And Lorenzo was the "project" of the bunch. Needless to say we were on pins and needles in Westwood waiting on the young men we hoped would lead us out of the long darkness created by the coach who shall not be named.

Much can be said about each of Howland's first four recruits. Farmar, an instrumental piece in the rebuilding project, was the first to leave Westwood, but we thank him for all his contributions, particularly his role in establishing the toughness and physicality that we so commonly associate with Ben Howland basketball. Arron was the second to leave and I don't think I need to say much about him. He was the consummate "Ben Ball Warrior" who never took so much as a single posession off. Lorenzo stayed his full four years making massive strides on both ends of the court and also living up to the perfect example of a student athlete.

But today we honor the last member of that class. Josh is a redshirt senior. He's been with the team through all its final four runs (though he was in street clothes for the first one). He's had his ups and downs as a player and has stirred up QUITE the controversy on the UCLA message boards. But at the end of the day (particularly TODAY) Josh is a Bruin. A Bruin who played all four years for his alma mater and who has most certainly shed his blood, sweat, and tears for the Blue and Gold.

So today I suggest, humbly, that we dub the recruiting class of Jordan Farmar, Arron Afflalo, Josh Shipp, and Lorenzo Mata-Real "The Savior Class." Because they absolutely were. They were the first guys to come to Westwood FOR coach Howland and completely buy into his system. They changed the culture of UCLA basketball within one season and although it ended in a disappointing loss to Texas Tech, anyone who watched that year knew good things were coming.

I know DC and PAA will get their due praise here on BN and all about the internets, and to be fair, Shipp will too. But I just thought it was necessary to remind us all how far we've come and who's been there every step of the way. Today we celebrate the last member of "The Savior Class." Here's to you, Josh Shipp:

Photo Credit: J. Rosenfeld

Thanks for everything.

Happy Birthday Coach! (Photo Source: UCLA History Project)

billyknight — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:57:51 -0000

Happy Birthday Coach!

(Photo Source: UCLA History Project)

Thoughts on Washington

billyknight — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 08:24:31 -0000

Tonight our Bruins extended their undefeated Pac 10 season (thus far) against a talented and well coached Washington team. And the best part was that we continued our winning with our whatever-it-takes-to-win approach. By that I mean that we've won in very different ways the past three games. Shipp had a very hot hand in Palo Alto. Love was both a stud and a workhorse at Haas. And tonight featured big points from both Russel and Luc. And through it all the team was anchored by that tough, frustrating, smothering, and suffocating defense that is the trademark of our great coach and even greater program.
What's encouraging about this is that we aren't relying on just one guy for our wins. And in the unlikely circumstance in which EVERYONE is having an off night, our defense will still be there to keep us in contention for a W. We are really hitting our stride and I am KEEPING MY FINGERS CROSSED that Darren's ok.
I don't think there's much need for player-by-player analysis of tonight's game. Josh's shot was off a bit. Alfred fouled WAY too much (couple questionable calls, though). Everyone looked shitty in the last five minutes (we were tired and the game was over).
I will say that I am very pleased with the minutes we've been getting out of James Keefe. Obviously, he's still shaking the rust the rest of the team got rid of a month ago, but he's doing exactly what's asked of him and bringing major physical intensity on the defensive end. That's not to say that he doesn't have his share of kinks to work out on both ends, but Christ, two weeks ago the guy thought he'd be in street clothes for the duration of the year. Keefe's minutes are CRUCIAL for us if we want to play with the defensive intensity that Howland demands of his team. I will also say that what James is doing is INCREDIBLY unselfish. All things considered it might be better for James personally to redshirt this year, but like all Howland players, James is a team-first guy. So a big thank you to JK from me. And the rest of BN owes him one too.
Also, one of my biggest concerns earlier in the season was the quality of Love's defensive play. In his first couple games, his defense was definitely below Ben Howland caliber. But Kevin has proved quite how coachable he is by improving MASSIVELY on the defensive end since the season opener. I was never that concerned with his ability to play defense, it was just that he hadn't figured out our defensive system yet and I personally don't think Kevin realized quite how intense and taxing it is to play defense in our system. But the guy's got an Einstein-esque bball IQ and it's really showing on the defensive end. He's now banged with some of the best bigs in the conference and come out on top each time. I love having this guy.
If tonight showed us anything, it's that we need minutes out of our bench guys badly. The guys looked particularly gassed there at the end. With Collison out for a lot of the second half and Aboya in foul trouble seemingly from the opening tip, we were asking a lot of minutes from our other starters and Westy also. And despite our excellent conditioning, we still looked tired as the game wound down. So here's to hoping that Darren and Luc are both 100% against Wazzu this Saturday because we'll be needing all the minutes we can get.
In terms of being at the game, it was great to see Coach Neuheisel there high-fiving with the student section and generally enjoying his life back in Westwood. My only complaint: why didn't we put the guy up on the Jumbotron? I was seriously eager to give him a Standing O, but, the opportunity never came.
Also, the whole BRUIN spellout/unusually slow 8-clap right before the game is starting to really bother me. It's not particularly intimidating or inspiring. The student section has a great pregame repertoire as it is and the whole thing just isn't really necessary (just my opinion). I mean, every time it happens I just find myself asking why we feel the need to do this in THE YANKEE STADIUM OF COLLEGE BASKETBALL.
One more thing. For the first time under Howland, we have an affirmatively good free throw shooting team. A lot of this is due, again, to the big man, Kevin Love. Whatever it is, it creates for significantly less stress during the course of a normal game. And for people like us, that's a HUGE luxury.
Biggest game of the year on Saturday. Who's ready?

GO BRUINS.

Thoughts on Stanford

billyknight — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 06:40:42 -0000

I'm not going to go too deep into game analysis here because it looks like everyone else in BN is already all over that. And while I drove back down from the Bay Area in god-awful weather today, the blogosphere was abuzz putting most of my thoughts on the game on to paper (well, onto a computer screen).
So I'm just going to add few brief things that I haven't seen mentioned and give a bit of a write-up of the Maples experience. Firstly, Alfred's three (first ever?) was just awesome-- I don't even think we need to get into it. Amazing. Secondly, it seems like the epitome of a Ben Howland player is that he does twice as much as what shows up in the score sheet. This is particularly true of our "blue collar" guys in Alfred, LoMaRe, Luc et al. But it is also true of our freshman phenom, Kevin Love. Not only was he an offensive force (that's in the score sheet), he forced the Lopezes to follow him out to the free throw line and beyond which created for a lot easier looks at the basket once we penetrated. After having had to watch us lose to Florida two years in a row (remember how they were swatting Collison last year?), this is an amazing luxury to have. And I'm sure our guards appreciate it way more than any of us.
Also, to the Howland doubters, what "issue" with our team didn't seem completely addressed tonight? The zone attack? Solid. Love's touches? Plenty. Slow start? I guess you could call 6-0 a "slow start", but we were never in a serious hole. The guys looked pumped and ready to go for Pac 10 play and I can't help but imagine that has a lot to do with the big guy in charge. That's not to say there aren't plenty of issues to be worked out, but it's clear that he sees them before any of us do, and fixes them better than any of us could. I'm over the whole timeout thing also. Yes, it's unorthodox. Whatever-- he's the guy in charge and given his results, I'll let him do whatever he goddamn pleases.
As someone who was at the game I have to say that our fans kicked ass last night. I just got done watching the game (tivo'd) and could definitely hear us for large portions of the game. Wish I could go to the Cal game but I'm sure we'll be well represented there too.
I'd never been to Maples and it's a pretty cool little gym. Made me really anxious for the Pauley renovation. Stanford fans seemed like good people, and we thanked them for beating sc after the game.
Now it's all about the Bears. Game on. Go Bruins.

Thoughts on Michigan

billyknight — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 03:22:10 -0000

This was just one of those games. I have to say I was not particularly pleasant to be around near the 15 minute mark in the second half. It was one of those games that was so frustrating to watch that you started bickering with the people you were watching with-- AND THEY'RE BRUIN FANS.
The horrendous officiating did not make it any easier to watch either. Obviously, bad officiating always seems worse when you're not playing well and that's exactly what happened today. However, that does not change the fact that the officiating was, in fact, horrendous. Kevin Love deserves a Purple Heart for the pounding he took out there today.
Given how awful we looked during stretches today, I was still relatively pleased with most of the guys' performances.
Like the rest of us, I'm worried about DC. He was largely ineffective today and still looks hesitant out there. I don't know if it's still a little rust or if he's getting used to the brace or if he just had a terrible game. He is a major factor in our success and we will need a lot more out of him once conference play starts. I'm interested to see what both Darren and Coach Howland have to say about Darren's performance today.
The other guy I'm worried about is Mike Roll. Every game I tell myself that this will be the one where Mike finds his rhythm early and shoots the lights out. It still hasn't happened. He IS an excellent interior passer and helps with our zone offense, but we positively MUST get a better 3 pt. shooting percentage out of him. I'm not going to start pulling out the Brandon Lloyd (I cringe even saying the name) comparisons right now, but I can certainly say that he is not yet living up to my expectations of him this year.
Saying that I'm worried about LoMaRe is a given. Obviously, I hope he's not too injured. (Knocking on wood).
On a more positive note, Kevin Love was an absolute beast out there today. Given the fact that all of Michigan's bigs should have been fouled out in the first 12 minutes of the game and Love hardly even got a free throw out of it, Kevin's performance today seems that much better. He is getting tougher both physically and mentally and is shaping into the monster we were all hoping he'd be. Major props to Kevin-- he's my player of the game.
Luc looked solid again today making some nice moves to the hole and picking up a couple excellent blocks on the defensive end. I know a lot of us wanted "Freshman Year Luc" back after a slight regression last year, but he's playing the best he's ever played as a Bruin right now.
Westy sorta disappeared there for a while-- which is slightly disconcerting, but he found himself again later in the game and was more-or-less effective in attacking the basket. I'm certainly not doubting his aggressiveness and I'm sure he'll be back attacking next game.
Alfred looked fine if you forget about him throwing one of the worst passes ever thrown in the history of basketball. It was so bad of a pass that it didn't even frustrate me-- all I could do was laugh.
And Josh was absolutely lethal in the last ten minutes. His entire game performance was solid, but he was absolutely on fire there near the end and was really the one to put them away with some big 3's. I have no problem with the 360 dunk there at the end. In fact, I thought it was awesome. I'll let all the old guys on BRO bitch and moan about how "classless" it was blah blah blah. Newsflash: the game isn't going to get any "classier" so learn to enjoy it or you're in for constant disappointment.
As a team, I thought the zone attack was improved somewhat, though, it still has room for improvement. The announcers seemed to think that our execution against the zone today did not reflect what we practiced yesterday, but they proved themselves to be thorough idiots anyway, so you'll have to take everything they said today with a grain of salt. Or five.
The reason I think this game was so frustrating to watch is because we all know the true potential of this team and had to watch them play well below that level for a majority of the game. We finished strong which, again, really speaks to the never-give-up-attitude that has been so ingrained in this program since the Gonzaga game and is a direct result of the toughness that Ben Howland constantly exudes. But we aren't going to win many games only playing 8 minutes of good basketball. Maybe we got a little cocky with our early lead. Maybe we were still on West Coast time. Maybe Belein made some excellent adjustments. Maybe it was a little bit of all of that, but we need to start finding our rhythm in both halves, not just the second.
The play that really reminded me of what we are capable of came late in the game when Alfred harassed the PG well above the 3 pt. line, got help with the double team, and we forced a jump ball. That was us turning the defensive intensity up like a million notches. That showed us all quite how good we can be and thusly, it is frustrating to watch us play at any level below that. This is good frustration. The kind of frustration you feel after a 15 point win on the road.
So no, I don't think we played all that well today. Yes, we have PLENTY to work on. But for those of you who are going to let one game make you Howland-doubters I am kindly asking you to take your complaints elsewhere. That being said, I NEVER want to face a Belein team in the tourney. EVER. IN BEN I TRUST.

Thoughts on Davidson...

billyknight — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 04:24:21 -0000

Bumped from the diaries. GO BRUINS. -N

Obviously, the beginning couldn't have been worse for us. Looking back on it, I'm not sure how much of it was us sucking and how much was them shooting the lights out. It's true that we weren't in rhythm for a good while, but they were also ridiculous from behind the arc. And as trivial as it sounds, they lived by the three and died by it. As their 3 pt. shooting percentage decreased to a more reasonable number we systematically took over the game and never really looked back.
As soon as we turned it on, our defense looked as good as anyone's in the country. Yes, it is slightly disconcerting that we've come out lethargic (particularly defensively) in two games consecutively and it is something that we cannot continue to do if we want to compete and succeed at the level at which we have set our expectations (reasonably so, I might add). However, once we put things together and stepped up the intensity A TON we showed why we are ranked where we are and what we are truly capable of. Strangely, I was more confident going into the second half than I would have been if we had just played a tight half and been down by 4. Seriously, with the way we ended the half, and Howland calling the shots in the locker room at halftime, were any of us really fretting?
And as we expected, we came out firing in the second half. Davidson managed to keep things from getting out of hand, but we still thoroughly outplayed them and imposed our will on every aspect of the game. This was Ben Howland at his finest (then again, he's at his finest just about every day).
As far as the individual players went, I was pleased with everyone. Darren is still not quite back to the Darren of last year but he still looks excellent and it's clear the the pieces of our offense are falling into place.
Russell Westbrook has established himself as quite possibly the most exciting player on the team. Not only is his offensive game explosive, but his defense is just as good if not better. I know the comparisons to AA are already being made, but they are completely accurate. He is proving that he can be our go-to, lock-down defender game by game particularly with the way he handled Curry tonight (NOT an easy task). He has clearly made the huge leap from freshman to sophomore year which is so common under Howland-coached players (Farmar and Afflalo particularly).
It was good to see Roll get some substantive minutes tonight. He too is fresh off an injury and not really playing at his full potential. However, it is very encouraging to see how much he has incorporated 2-pointers into his overall game. I know the floaters weren't falling for him tonight, but Mike is learning that a dribble or two can do him a lot of good and those shots should start falling for us as soon as Mike gets in a little better rhythm.
There seem to be an inexplicable amount of Josh-haters in the diehard UCLA community (myself not included). He played excellently again tonight and continues to be consistent scorer and defensive presence (he DOES get burned too much, but he also leads the team in steals). I really think that he is a big part of what makes our offense work and when he is hitting the open shots created for him by DC and Westy we are nearly unbeatable.
Aboya and Mata both looked good. I was particularly pleased with Alfred's play at the five while Luc was at the four and we went on our major first half run to get ourselves right back into the game.
Love continued to struggle on defense early (though the fouls were a little BS, I thought, but we'll have more on the officiating later). However, once the entire team effort was intensified he stepped up as well. We got a glance in the second half of just how good our offense can be when we get the ball into Love. He is just an amazing passer (the behind-the-back to Luc would have made ESPN Top 10 if Luc could've finished). Again, I need to remind myself often that he's just a freshman, has a lot to learn, and he will still make mistakes. Whatever-- he's fucking awesome.
Finally, Luc is playing better than he has ever played as a Bruin. Though his shot isn't lights out or anything, his offensive game has certainly been taken to another level and he is extremely crucial to our defensive approach. I still can't say enough about his wingspan and how much it adds to his defensive abilities.
There is still plenty to work on. First and foremost, we need to avoid falling down by double digits 10 minutes into the game. This just seems to be a matter of intensity given the fact that our defensive effort magically became 10x better halfway through the first half. And again, In Howland I Trust.
For those of you claiming that there were "chemistry issues" between Shipp and Love I refer you to the Shipp to Love to Shipp to Love to Shipp fastbreak (or was Kevin the one who finished? I'm not sure) in the second half where each guy was one-upping the other's unselfishness with an even MORE unselfish pass. It was excellently executed and spoke to BOTH players' selflessness. Josh also did a nice job finding Love in the post a couple times in the second half and the two were laughing at half court during some free throws once the game was out of hand. These guys want to win and completely understand that winning comes easier when they help each other out.
Also, this team is the first team I can really remember (I was 8 in '95 and tell myself I remember that team better than I actually do) that fast breaks well. Even in the Farmar and AA days we struggled to execute our fast breaks. However, this team seems to always get the ball to the middle of the court and make the extra pass. It is really enjoyable to watch especially given how good our guys can be when it comes to finishing.
The officiating was pretty bad tonight particularly the no-call when Davidson's big guy scissor-kicked LoMaRe to the floor quite intentionally. I could bring up a million examples but there's no need for us to get all riled up about the officiating in a game we won by double digits anyway.
Lastly, the announcing was shameful. Granted, Luc's last name is probably an announcer's nightmare but it was more than just his egregious mispronunciation (on which he was never corrected). The announcers clearly didn't know much about the team at all which was evidenced by their claims that our early struggles were due to James Keefe's absence. Right. Keefe, that's it. Cuz he's been so huge in our previous games this season. Also, their zealous approval of every call and no-call was both ridiculous and a downright bizarre, no? Shameful, just shameful.
Ok, that's it from me. Good game.
I'll be interested to hear what big Ben has to say about today's W...

Go. Bruins.

Thoughts on losing, humility, and the state of Texas...

billyknight — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:04:33 -0000

One of the things I remember most about the HBO special "The UCLA Dynasty" was one fan saying that it was like "losing a family member" for all of LA when the Bruins dropped a game. Then there's the email I got last night from a buddy after the game. "Sorry about UCLA bro. I talked to your brother--he sounded like you guys had lost a family member."
And while I like that fact that we EXPECT victory, it does create for even more painful losses (example: what were you more upset about, the SC loss on Sat. or the UT loss yesterday?). The point is, we are INCRDEDIBLY lucky to even be at a point where losing by two to the #8 team in the land is this disappointing. And it is disappointing. Extremely so.
There are plenty of things I could sit and complain about. Our zone attack (non existent for much of the game), Josh and Luc's outside shooting, Darren's rust, Love's D/lack of incorporation on O, etc. However, there's a guy named Ben Howland who's already on it. There's no doubt in my mind that he'll have seen this game at least a couple more times by nightfall. We are going to keep introducing more sets into our offense as the season continues and our offense evolves. We are going to keep getting healthier, which means Darren will play more like the All-American that he is. Mike Roll will be in significantly better game shape and will be feeding Love more as our best interior passer. And Love will mature and improve on defense (and hopefully get in a little better shape-- is that too much to ask?)
It's hard to beat any team when you play 9 minutes of the worst basketball you've played all season. And we almost did it. In fact (and this is what stings the most), we should have won it. Four point lead, under two to go, AT PAULEY. This one was ours and we let it slip away from us. Hats off to Texas, they would not miss there down the stretch.
But if you want an inspiring loss this was it. We came back from a sixteen point deficit in the first half (yet ANOTHER tribute to Howland's ability to adjust and motivate at halftime) and very nearly won it against a talented and well-coached team that was shooting extremely well.
Some people seem to be worried about our general approach to zones under Howland. Granted, we looked awful and stagnant against the zone in the first half but we made some adjustments at halftime and really improved in the second half. I'm going to wait for Darren to recover a little bit and Mike to get fully reincorporated before I seriously start to worry about every zone we see. Plus our offense always seems to improve over the course of the year.
Honestly, if there's one thing I'm worried about it's Love's defense. His lack of speed is proving to be costlier than I might have initially anticipated. He doesn't hedge nearly as well as LoMaRe or Alfred. He's occasionally a little late rotating. And he got burned by not getting back fast enough a few times last night. I need to remind myself that it took Afflalo, Farmar, Bozeman et al almost two years before they really bought into AND executed the Ben Howland balls-to-the-wall-for-40-minutes defensive approach. We can't expect him to be quite as effective on defense as Luc, Alfred, or LoMaRe quite yet. The good thing is he's not afraid to bang out there-- so that's step one. Now he just needs more experience so that he can play with the same defensive intensity and effectiveness that has gotten us through the toughest games of the Howland era (the Memphis rematch, the KU game, the MSU game, etc.)
So for those of you out there that think that Josh hates Kevin, the team has chemistry issues, and Howland can't teach scoring-- calm down. It's just a loss.
I am grateful for this great team. I am grateful for our amazing coach. And I am really grateful that I don't have to be at practice today. Can't imagine that'll be much fun.

"In life you will be dealt crushing blows of humility. Take them in stride, and getcha swagger back, son."
-- John R. Wooden

Kidding.