The LA Times had what started out being an inspirational piece about TH's work ethic. Then, everything fell apart in one sentence from TH's mom:

"He has been frustrated," Stazel said. "He feels he can contribute more offensively. He would really like for Ben [Howland, UCLA's coach] to cut him loose a little more on offense."

I really don't want to read too much into this because every parent thinks their kid can do more and she might not be the most media savvy person in doing this interview, so I could see her being easily baited into this soundbite. But damn. Its bad enough that ML is likely to declare for the draft in a couple of months (enjoy your non-guaranteed second round contract ML), but to have someone around TH, who was one of the few brightspots of this season and the lynchpin for CBH turning this program around, to publicly make the same complaints we've heard about CBH for forever is not a good sign. I don't see TH leaving this year (next year is a different story), so I hope this isn't NBA draft posturing, but it very well could be.

The strange thing about this to me is that TH is not personally very aggressive on offense. He isn't someone who looks for his own shots which is often quite frustrating because he should. I don't agree with it, but I can at least understand ML, Holiday or Gordon complaining about the offense because they are gunners, not facilitators, but TH's game is the complete opposite. Like I said, I hope this was more of a unsavvy mom getting baited into a question than a true expression of TH's mindset. For CBH's future, it better be.

The most hilarious thing about this is how badly informed/insecure every one of these (not necessarily TH yet) primadonnas are in trying to put themselves in the best light for NBA scouts. Hello!!! Everyone in the NBA already knows that CBH coached players are going to have depressed offensive numbers. They draft them and play them though because they know that they can play defensively at the NBA level. If TH does make the misguided decision to declare for the draft, he will get drafted based on his defense and playmaking, not for his scoring ability. Too many young players think that the way to the NBA is by being a good scorer when the exact opposite is actually true. Unless you are an elite scorer, you need to be a specialist at something (defense, rebounding, playmaking, 3 pointers). The old saying around the NBA goes "A player who is great at one thing will make it into the rotation, a player who is good at a lot of things will be the twelfth man or playing in the D-league."

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

In the latest round of disgrace from this current group of players attending UCLA on scholarship to play basketball, RN let loose this dandy:

"People who don't play with heart and don't play with balls don't register with me," Nelson said. "I'm not going to bad-mouth my teammates, obviously, but today was a gut-check and we got checked pretty hard, and that showed."

Thankfully, RN didn't publicly name teammates (I'm sure Nestor has an inkling on who RN was referring to). But wow. To be fair, RN has played with the most energy all season, but his 9 points, 5 of 9 free throws, 2 rebounds, 0 blocks, 2 turnovers, and 4 fouls isn't exactly bringing it either.

And it looks like ML wasn't the only one thinking that his coach got outcoached. RN took some blame for the players saying that the blame should go

"Maybe 60-40."

Unreal. Not only is this team not fun to watch or cheer for on the court, they are becoming increasingly dislikeable off the court as well.

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Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

After the disappointing loss to Portland this week, I promised not to make any judgments about CBH's team until the end of the tournament. I had hoped that there would be encouraging developments in the next two games, unfortunately, it has just been more frustration (sandwiched between the gut punch that was the $C football game).

1. The biggest problem plaguing this team is JA. I know what apologists will say: he is only a sophomore, he has been injured, he didn't get to play much last year (which is untrue). The fact of the matter is he is absolutely destroying this program. On offense, he dribbles far too much, then will pick up his dribble in a position where he has no angle to shoot or pass. Making matters worse, he never looks to get the ball inside effectively taking whoever our post player is out of the game. However, his lack of offensive ability pales in comparison to his defensive shortcomings. He has terrible footspeed and has been burned all season so far by inferior players. Finally, I'll take heat for this, but JA has no heart and doesn't hold himself accountable. Anytime he gets burned or something goes bad, he looks at his teammates as if they did something wrong instead of getting mad with himself and doing a better job the next time. What JA should realize is that his teammates really should be looking at him every time their guy scores because they had to slide over to stop the penetration that JA allowed, leaving their guy open. The thing that scares me the most about JA is that we could be forced to watch his dissapointing play for the next three years.
   
2. JK is an 8th man at best. I have been a big supporter of JK because I know that he has talent because I have seen it. Sadly, whether its from early injuries or CBH getting in his head, he has not improved at all since he was a freshman. He plays way too passively and with him on the court with JA, its impossible for MR and ML to ever get easy shots since the opposing defenses are playing 5 on 3. JK would be fine for 10 minutes a game backing up DG, RN, BL, and ND, but he can not continue to be a starter if this team is going to be respectable.
   
3. RN and BL should be starters. As mentioned, JK is not a starter. I've also never been sold on DG who plays incredibly dumb on the court. DG commits way too many unnecessary fouls, gambles for steals and blocks instead of playing solid position defense, and has a highly inflated ego compared to what he actually has proven. Conversely, RN and BL have been solid contributors in the minutes they have been given. Sure they have made their fair share of mistakes, but RN has shown more heart than anyone on this team and BL is already the most skilled of the bigmen on this team.
   
   

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ND's arrest on Friday has made for a great weekend for everyone who enjoys speculating and making up different situations (I won't call them strawmen arguments, since they are at least partially valid) with which they can support their view. Some people have both intentionally or unconsciously linked their dislike for ND's basketball performance with what they felt should be the proper response to ND's legal situation. 

Thankfully, now we finally have some concrete facts to evaluate and move forward on. The LA Times reported today the district attorney's view of the event:

According to prosecutors, Stanisic [ND's friend] began arguing with another man and his girlfriend during the concert by Daniel Johnston. Afterward, Dragovic allegedly rushed the victim and pushed him into the case, prosecutors said. As the two men were on the ground, Stanisic allegedly began punching the victim until security and bystanders broke up the fight, prosecutors said.

Unsurprisingly, ND's attorney has a different view of the event:

Telling another side to the story, Artz said the man followed Dragovic out of the Henry Fonda Theater and allegedly claimed to have a knife.

"He was the aggressor," Artz said. "He was drinking heavily. He slapped Dragovic's roommate."

Now, I'm not a criminal defense attorney or a prosecutor (and don't really want to go on westlaw to look it up, but if someone does, by all means go for it), but if I remember Crim Law correctly, it would appear that the reason that ND was charged with a felony here was because of the glass case (which shattered) is an instrumentality that could cause substantial bodily harm. If ND had merely pushed the other guy (I'm not using victim or assailant for anyone involved in this situation purposefully) into a wall or to the floor, this would likely have just been seen as a bar fight where both sides were told to go home and that would have been the end of it. I also think it is a strong possibility that the whole "athletes are targets" situation could have arisen here with the other guy realizing after the fight who ND was, although the other guy have just been a drunk who wanted to start a fight with anyone.

My early suspicions that ND was not the aggressor or was a 50-50 participant stemming from his coming to CBH afterward and filing a police report seem to have been confirmed.  So anyone had the more outlandish stories about ND going around beating people up and stealing their lunch money, I'm sorry to say you may have lost the office pool.

I think what CBH has done so far in suspending ND for these first two games is appropriate. However, a case like this can take a long time (basketball season wise) and I do not think it warrants an indefinite suspension. If ND is convicted, then by all means, kick him off the team (I don't think there is a need to revoke his scholarship when he is in his senior year). This case seems pretty weak from the sparce facts that we know, and I would hate to see a kid (yes, he is still a kid in college who make mistakes) lose out on his senior year of school and basketball because he defended a friend. True, maybe he shouldn't be hanging out with friends who get in fights, but for any of the holyer-than-thou people who were quick to bash ND, be honest with yourself and I'm sure you either have been in that situation before or know of people who have, before villifying ND. CBH has never given me a reason to doubt his character, so whatever he decides to do with the situation, I will support.

Anyways, off to Pauley. Hoping that JK, RN, and BL all make the most of the opportunity they have been given and make the possiblity of ND coming back a luxury and not a necessity, much like LaMychel James did for Oregon football with LeGarrette Blount.

Go Bruins!

We played as bad as can be—We played one of the worst games of basketball a team can play. When you shoot 31, 17, and 41% on field goals, 3s, and free throws, you should be blown out regardless of who you are playing. Instead, we had two shots at the buzzer, JA at 2nd half and ML at 1st OT, they just didn’t go in. Kentucky struggled to beat Miami (OH) yesterday, the only difference is their shot went in and now everyone talks about how much character they showed and found a way to win while the narrative on UCLA is that we are young and rebuilding.

ND is in a slump—ND was not forcing shots last night. In fact, almost every single one was within the flow of the offense and shots that he has to shoot to keep the offense working and the defense honest. He simply is in a shooting slump like JS was last year. He is too good of a shooter to stay this bad for long, but it might be a week or two until he regains his old form. He did play well grabbing the 14 rebounds (something DG sure didn’t do well last night) and had a couple hassle plays that led to baskets.

RN is fools gold—I really like RN and think he will be a solid contributor, but all of the people thinking that he should be our star player is mistaken. At this point, RN is lost on defense and is a black hole on offense. If you throw the ball to him in the post, he is going up for a shot. Now this is a good thing to a point, but he forced some ugly shots in there. He was in the right place at the right time on the putback of the airball going into halftime, but its not like he was dominate. If he was quicker, I would love to see him develop into a LRMAM combo forward, but I dont’ think he has the lateral quickness to do that.

ML needs to be our point, not JA—This is the biggest thing, JA is not a starting point guard. I said it before and I’ll keep saying it all year, our best lineup is ML, MR, ND, JK, and DG. JA doesn’t play the same level of defense as previous Bruin guards as he is just not as quick as DC, RW, JH, or ML. Compounding matters, he does not have very good court vision (the inbound pass that he threw away was atrocious) compared to ML’s (such as when he found JA under the basket). Finally, JA has NO OUTSIDE SHOT. This was killing us when Fullerton went to the zone because JA wouldn’t even look for his shot, and when he finally did shoot because he was so wide open, he wasn’t shooting with confidence and his shots had no chance of going in. He can be a suitable backup, but he should not be our starting point guard.

I’m viewing this season like a locomotive, slow start but should get going pretty well—If you were expecting us to dominate from the start of the season, you need to get in touch with reality. We are playing players who have hardly any game experience. In fact, yesterday was probably the most minutes that any of our players have played since maybe a random AAU game. CBH’s defense looked good, but not yet great. ND’s shot will come back. DG will hopefully learn to boxout instead of just jumping. ML will get more comfortable and slow down. MR will continue to be solid. RN will be a sparkplug off the bench. As for the others, they are the wildcard. I have already stated my opinion of JA. MM looked very timid and lost in his minute of play. TH didnt show me much in the exhibition game to think he is going to have a major impact. JMM’s lack of aggression is going to keep him off the court. If one of these guys can put it together, then who knows. Otherwise, I think we will still be about the number 3 team in the Pac 10 at the end of the season.

This was the first of approximately 35 games, its a looooooooong season--It was also the first meaningful playing time for literally our entire team. Further, injuries all preaseason have severly limited practices and CBH's ability to implement his system fully. Things will get better. But, if you would rather make snap judgments about how bad CBH is and how bad our recruiting is and make a fool of yourself, go right ahead. Otherwise, enjoy the ride of watching CBH develop the next generation of Ben Ball Warriors.

Well that was fun way to start the season. Everyone's blood going?!? Good. I was going to wait until tomorrow morning to do this, but I had all these thoughts in my head and I figured I might as well get them out now. They are a little scatterbrained, but so was the play tonight, so I think it works. I'm sure Nestor will have a writeup with the stats, which are available here, but I don't think the stats are too important from a game like this.

• DC will be sorely missed. I know JA wasn’t in the game, but without ball pressure, CBH’s defensive scheme becomes much weaker. Also, the lack of a definitive leader to throw the ball to at the end of a shot clock is something that will have to be worked out through the course of the season. 
• JA's groin cant get healed soon enough. Mustafa Abdul-Hamid played as good as can be expected and nailed that clutch 3, but a Pac 10 starting point guard he is not. 
• ML showed flashes of what we all are hoping for. ML showed off an improved jumper and did a fantastic job penetrating, however he needs to add some more muscle to allow him to finish around the rim better. He still has a tendency to pay out of control and doesn't have the best handle in the world, but with more playing time, I'm sure he will get more comfortable on the floor and play more under control as the season progresses.
• DG will be the heart and soul of this team and that is a very good thing. DG showed off an improved offensive repretoire and seemed to gobble up every rebound, especially in the closing minutes. He had an embarassing moment when he got hung up on a dunk, but other than that, he was by far the player of the game.
• I was very pleased with JK. Its hard to describe, but he just looks less "stiff" this year than he has in past. He was active on both offensive and defense and played with a confidence that has escaped him in his three previous years. Let's hope JK finally puts it together and becomes the McDonald's All American he was in high school.
• JMM walked off the court with a trainer in the second half and it looked like he was holding his lower back. Hopefully there will be more news on this (or no news at all, would be the best news) tomorrow morning. JMM showed off his new body, but he needs to gain some weight now in the form of muscle as he looks a like a middle school kid who lost all his baby fat and now is kinda lanky. He did show a few good post moves and a soft touch which were promising. JMM got the start today, but I fully expect DG to be the starting center once the season starts with JMM being a very capable backup.
• ND didn't have a great shooting night, but I still feel like every time he shoots the ball it is going in. What I was very impressed with was his improved playmaking. ND helped bring the ball up the court to break the Concordia press which was killing us and made some good semi-drives and passes in the half court offense that showed signs that ND is finally becoming a complete player.

More thoughts and an analysis of the freshmen, after the jump.

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The ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll came out this morning with Kansas at number 1. After the loss of DC, PAA, JS, and JH, CBH's team is unranked. Based on the number of votes, we came in at number 29. I'm not sure what the official number is, but off hand I feel like this is the first time in about 4 years that CBH's team isn't ranked.

As I've stated before, as much potential that this team has, they are devoid of players who have proven anything yet. I am fully confident that by the end of the season, we will definitely be ranked. I think it is really a credit to CBH that this team has gotten as many votes as it has based merely on other coaches' faith in his coaching and recruiting skills.

Injury updates after the jump...

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Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

Just saw this in the LA Times blog.  Just as CRN handled the Carroll-twitter incident, it appears that he is handling this situation well. Here is the statement from CRN:

"We studied the tape, and I talked with Norm, and we decided that Kevin would be the starter this week," Neuheisel said. "But I asked that Richard get some playing time the final five weeks. He has merited getting playing time."

Adding some fuel to those who see CNC (not me) as one of the problems our uninspired offense, it appears that the decision to stick with Prince has been from CNC.

As for the decision to start Prince, Neuheisel said, "Norm has been in the meetings with those kids, and he believes Kevin is the best bet for us as it stands currently. I don’t disagree."

I remember in the summer there was a quote from CNC alluding to his belief that Prince could challenge for a Heisman by the time he is done at UCLA.  I know CNC prides himself and his built his reputation on grooming high quality quarterbacks, but I hope his commitment to Prince is truly because Prince is, in Chow's eyes, significantly better than Brehaut and not because Chow doesn't want to look wrong on his prediction. Meanwhile, it looks like CRN is going to look for using Brehaut during the game next week. More after the jump.

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The worst development yesterday wasn't on the field but in the press conference after. There, CRN decided to channel the beloved Steve Lavin and say something so stupid to alienate the fanbase that it defies comprehension.

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Bumped. 27 more days to go. GO BRUINS. -N

Rivals.com has been doing a countdown of college basketball teams. Today they got to number 30. And the 30th best team according to them is our very own UCLA Bruins. The projection:

This season, UCLA coaches might say the one word they haven't had much use for over the past few seasons: "rebuilding." Of course, rebuilding for UCLA might mean a third- or fourth-place finish in the Pac-10 and a low NCAA tournament seed, but it's a changing of the guard nonetheless.

This projection is pretty consistent with the national opinion on CBH's upcoming team. Gary Parrish of cbssports has us outside of his top 26. It is really tough to quibble about this since our team is really a complete question mark. We could wind up being a top 10 team or we could be a middle of the pack Pac-10 team. 

Rivals predicts a starting lineup of ND, DG, TH, ML, and JA. There was no mention of TH's health, but even if he is healthy I doubt he will start. I think JM will have a breakthrough year since he has slimmed down and will be our starting center allowing DG and ND to slide down to the 4 and 3 respectively. I expect TH, MM, and RN to get action this year since they appear to be the most capable of contributing defensively. If TH and MM can play the 2, they will get a lot more time since we are so thin in the backcourt.

Rivals outlook seems about right to me:

UCLA is in transition, but the Bruins have too much talent and too good a coach to take a steep tumble down the Pac-10 standings; it helps that the league will be down this season. UCLA is one of the few teams in the conference that has its strength up front. That could be a major advantage, provided the guards don't get overwhelmed.

For once, we will have a big lineup with plenty of size on the bench. JA and ML may not be able to apply the same level of full court ball pressure that DC provided, especially since it will be important for them to not get fatigued and in foul trouble given our lack of backcourt depth. Having all that size inside should make it difficult for teams to go inside on us and be forced to beat us by shooting 3s and jumpers.

More info on ML, DG, JA, and TH below the jump.

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While CRN continues to lead our football team in the right direction, CBH and our basketball team could be in for a tough year. At least that is what ESPN thinks (Insider protected). I don't necessarily disagree with them that expectations this year should be more subdued than previous years, but I don't think that the situation is as dire as predicted.

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Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

Chad Ford has an article on ESPN's NBA draft page analyzing DC and his pluses and minuses. Unfortunately it is premium content, so I will give you guys a recap of it without quoting it.

Ford says that DC was "unconscious shooting from anywhere on the court." Ford says that DC was making NBA 3s, midrange jumpers, and drives with perfection. We all know about DC's legendary shooting percentages and I am happy to see that he is carrying that forward to the NBA game.

Ford's only real knock on DC is his size. However, DC's trainer (former Hornets Assistant Coach Dave Miller) says that DC has put on extra strength without losing any speed. In fact, Ford says DC is the fastest player in the draft and DC agrees with him.

The thing that might be helping DC's stock the most has nothing to do with DC and everything to do with what Aaron Brooks has done in the playoffs for Houston. Ford compares DC to Brooks and NBA GMs are notorious copycats with quick point guards being the in vogue thing. Ford states that DC isn't the scorer that Brooks is, but is a better playmaker.

Ford references the popular sentiment that CBH's system held down DC's stats which is likely true (Ford comments that DC's stats would have been more impressive if he played for UNC, a program notorious under Roy Williams for producing "great" college players but terrible pros), but not necessarily a bad thing. Ford notes that playing under CBH has led to DC being a top defensive guard and learning how to play half court. Both of these things will help him flourish in the NBA.

Ford concludes by saying that DC is competing with other guards like Lawson, Flynn, and Mills for a spot in the late lottery or mid first round (much better than the late 20s that some draft "experts" who never attend workouts have DC). Ford also states that DC is best shooter and defender of that bunch. As for DC's mentality going into this, he says he is going to be a "special player" for whoever picks him.

It is great to see such a good review of DC and that he seems to be impressing people through his hard work, career development, and good attitude. Talk about doing things the "right way" as opposed to a certain other UCLA guard.

In other news, Josh Shipp has signed with Bob Meyers (who played at UCLA under Harrick) from Wasserman Media Group (one of the biggest sports agencies) who also represents Jordan Farmar. A lot of the draft sites seem to be down or ignoring JS, but look for some team to take a chance on him late in the second round IMHO.