Not that we didn't already know it to be inevitable, but Kevin Love has been named to the AP All America team:

The 6-10 Love led the Bruins to their third straight Final Four appearance, averaging a double-double in their tournament run after getting 17.1 points and 10.6 rebounds and shooting 55.7 percent in the regular season.

Love received 52 first-team votes and 318 points to become UCLA's second All-America in as many seasons as Arron Afflalo was chosen last year. Love said he followed Beasley closely this season.

No seniors made this year's team, for the first time ever. Love follows AA as the Bruin representative, and we're proud to put those two in the same sentence.

Darren Collison is not in that top 5, though he is listed on the Second Team. Of course, we all know that he's the best college point guard in the country, but hey they can't just put all 5 starting Bruins on that list...right? In any case, he is recognized and I believe would be first team if not for the fact that we've got Love on that list already and they don't want 2 Bruins there.

I'd like to reiterate one thing that I'm sure has been stated on BN before, but is just driving me nuts. You watch the "expert" analysis on WWL, and all you hear about is how K-Love is the only reason we're any good. We could never be here without him. Umm, yes he is a great player, but did anyone notice our trips to the final four and to the championship without him? Perhaps a guy like Luc should be getting some credit? Or 2-straight-years starting PG, clutch performer, and final four leader Darren Collison? I'm glad to see that Love hasn't bought into that garbage. I only hope that it's motivation for all our guys to come out with some extra fire and passion on Saturday, not that any extra motivation will be necessary.

Sidebar:
I went to class today, but man....it is TOUGH to have any focus at all. I also saw some players around campus, so I guess they're getting their new schedules before they head out to San Anton. Tension, excitement--good to be a Bruin.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=3312457&sportCa t=ncb

The article is a must-read. To be honest, the thought of calling Coach Howland the "Best Coach Never To Have Won A National Championship" is not something that really had crossed my mind. I mean--he's only been at UCLA for 5 years. Usually guys with that title have been at it for a long time. Like Phil Mickelson in golf, or Kevin Garnett in the NBA. But I think what puts him on that list is that first word--"Best." He is such a GREAT coach, that despite the fact that he hasn't actually been at it for that long (on the Div I championship level at least) he merits consideration for that list. I see it as a positive thing. Basically it's this--he's such a great coach, that people EXPECT a championship w/ in 5 years. Which is of course a RIDICULOUS expectation--that of course he might achieve!

What does all this mean? Nothing really. He's a great coach and has no national championship, but of course we already knew that. And we're all hoping he'll be off that list in a few weeks here. Nevertheless, the article is worth a look, as it describes the intricacies of our great CBH (like the water bottle) and the path that brought him to the well, almost, top.

I am completely out of my mind right now w/ excitement for tomorrow's game. I know our Bruins are feeling confident and ready to show the nation that against a flying team with a funny mascot, we can still play our style of ball and come out w/ a win. GO BRUINS!

I've always been amazed by the ability of student-athletes to maintain a high level of athletic performance while navigating the curriculum. Certainly they have help--tutoring, scholarship, coaching, trainers, etc.--but it is a difficult path despite this help, especially at a top-notch academic/athletic university like UCLA. Now take our international athletes. They travel thousands of miles from their homes to a place most of them have never even seen before, and then deal with the stresses mentioned above. The movement from home to college is difficult for many students--even those from nearby cities with family and high school friends only a few hours' drive away. Frankly, I can't imagine how our inter. athletes adjust as quickly and as well as they do.

I try to keep up on politics, but I know only as much about this story as is shown in the brief NYTimes article (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/29/world/africa/29briefs-protestsmount.html?_r=1&ref=world&or ef=slogin). I saw it and it brought to mind our fan-faves, the Cameroonian duo. Apparently there have been some fairly widespread and violent protests on the streets of Yaounde, causing businesses city-wide to be forced to close doors until things calm down. The President has made a movement to alter the constitution in order to extend his presidency: not the type of thing we like to hear, and this is part of the motivation for the protest. I have no idea if/how this affects AA2 and LRMAM, but I certainly hope it is not something they or their families will be affected by. It's hard enough to move to a new country and be a top-level student-athlete--I imagine it's even harder when you hear of problems back at home. Hopefully the situation will improve in the coming days and weeks.

After watching this afternoon's basketball game, if that is what you will call it, I found myself unable to get these words out of my head:

Luc
Richard
Mbah
A
Moute

At first, I was not sure why they were pinballing around in my brain. Yes he's a player on this basketball (really?) team. Yes he's out with injury today. But so is Mike Roll. He could help out too. Heck, if we could just drop in a couple threes, we'd be ahead in this game.

Post-gametime came and the words just wouldn't leave. So I started to search around for what they meant. Here's what I've come up with:

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute = UCLA Basketball
(Keep in mind this is not meant at ALL as a slight against any other player on this team. And I also do not feel that effort had ANYTHING to do with our loss today. These guys try hard every single day.)

Reasoning:

1. Hard-working.
   
2. Solid, rather than flashy.
   
3. Winner. Let me expand on this one. UCLA has 3 losses this year. One came when UCLA was down late and Luc Richard brought us all the way back, then missed two vital FT's that cost us the game. Or wait, not really cost us the game, because we would not have been in it had he not brought us back there first. Another loss came to U$C when Luc was KO-ed and missed most of the game w/ a concussion. Our final loss came today in a game that he missed with an ankle injury. Yes there are other reasons we can go into. Look at some close victories too. Clutch shooting in the preseason tourney down to the wire, from a guy who's not even mainly a shooter. How about some past games against, say, Gonzaga?

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is UCLA Basketball.

As of now, I am willing to simplify my notion about how far this team can go. This team can go all the way: provided that Luc plays every game of the NCAA tourney.

As a graduating senior I have been regularly attending UCLA sporting events for four years. This has truly been one of the greatest aspects of being a Bruin.

But fans, I have a bone to pick.

As mentioned in today's LA Times, the Oregon fans at Thursday's game were spitting out some rather awful chants that went far beyond basketball. Cheering and booing I have no problem with. Calling players fat or ugly--this has no place in the stands or on the court. If fans are part of the game, they should be expected to behave as such.

I am proud to be a Bruin, and one of many reasons for this is that I believe we hold ourselves to a higher standard. Yes we're college students, yes we get carried away sometimes. I'm not going to say I've never blurted out expletives at a football/bball game. But more and more I am realizing that chants like "F*CK SC!" in place of "Fight, fight, fight!" do nothing but reflect badly on our students, our university, and our teams. I am certain that the venerable Coach Wooden would agree. And I know for a fact that Howland has brought up this issue a number of times.

Attending games, I do not get the sense that many fans agree, especially students. There is a level of enjoyment acquired through being obnoxious. Chanting "Bullsh*t!" repeatedly after every slightly questionable call seems to be a real winner among fans.

I want to know the following:

1. What's your outlook, BNers?
   
2. Should we hold ourselves to a higher standard as fans?
   
3. Can we?

Perhaps someone can get a more complete version of this story, but I did want to get the note up here: Lakers announcer Joel Myers mentioned the "Passion Bucket" today during the 3rd quarter of the Lakers-Mavs game. He was speaking about Kobe's great effort, and was making a reference to Kobe's comment described in an earlier BN post. What I found interesting though was that when Joel said it, he did not quote Kobe, he simply said something about Kobe's PB being full, knowing exactly what a PB was, treating it like a common phrase.

Articles are now being posted on Google News about PB. Joe Buck has also reportedly made a mention, and there are a few national articles mentioning PB, including one in USAToday.

To be honest, I find this whole PB craze to be very entertaining and funny. The phrase itself doesn't exactly make sense, but we get what it means anyways, and apparently it expresses something that was previously difficult to express.

Here's my question for my fellow BNers though: IS NEXT SEASON, THE SEASON OF THE PASSION BUCKET?

A final note--
I am going to personally adopt the phrase into conversation and posts if I can. So let me say that my passion bucket is full for tomorrow's game. All games matter in the ferocious Pac10.

ESPN is reporting that KD has signed on as the WR coach for the Miami Dolphins. Congratulations and good luck, Karl.

Now for a few questions/comments:

1)
KD was a successful WR coach at Denver, but was obviously in over his head here at UCLA. Leaving what we think of KD aside for the moment, does it shock anyone else that The Tuna brought him onto staff? I, personally, am quite shocked. I realize that KD had success as an NFL WR coach, but he just doesn't seem like the typical Parcells-type guy. Obviously, I am wrong.

2)
Many BNers had responded to the incorrect leaked news of KD going to KC with very positive and congratulatory remarks. It's good to see this. But let me also say that if I were KD, I would DESPISE bruinsnation and dumpdorrell. Let's face it: we absolutely reamed him. Yes we gave him time--5 years--but when the flood gates broke, boy did they break. Viscious ads in the newspaper, hundreds of ferocious blogs...we made his life pretty darn rough. What I really want to mention is that the attacks were NOT limited to his coaching ability. There were numerous posts containing attacks against his character, his passion, and his effort. It was personal, and I don't think we can just brush this aside and wish him luck. I have not fully forgiven his mistakes as coach, and I would not expect him to have forgiven our attacks. I hope the wounds heal in the future--but for now, all I can really say is that I hope he fits in at Miami, and that I hope UCLA football is better off without him.

3)
Despite the above, I do not believe that KD was a terrible head coach--mediocre I think is a better term. I felt that for the most part his players stayed out of trouble and his teams were not bottom-feeders, but middle-of-the-pack. Unacceptable for UCLA, yes, but other quality schools have been there before (or worse, case in point LSU in the '90s). Also, given the level of criticism he received throughout his time here, I felt he conducted himself very well.

KD will always be a very touchy subject, especially here at BN. I just hope that the results of all the hirings and firings will be good in the long-run for both sides.

Ben Howland is one of the premiere coaches in college basketball, and is a star representative of our beloved UCLA. His players work hard, are humble and well-spoken in interviews, and don't get in trouble off the court. He prepares his team well, and he's a great in-game coach. More importantly, he has made visible improvement during his time here.

There's always room for more.

Now I realize that this comes after a depressing loss, and it's always easy to point out flaws in poorly played games. But the following has been consistent throughout Howland's time here, and I'd like to open it up for discussion.

When UCLA is ahead, UCLA's timeout strategy is pretty standard: save them if possible, use them to stop opponent team runs.

When UCLA is behind, Howland uses his timeouts as quickly as possible. Often they are gone with 5 or more minutes left. I am not at all sure that this is a poor strategy--UCLA has had some quality comebacks (eg. Gonzaga) with this method. Great coaches do sometimes use rather unorthodox timeout strategies. Consider Phil Jackson's concept of letting his team play through opponent runs in order to gain experience and confidence. Very unorthodox, but apparently very successful.

At worst it's a topic of discussion.

I personally think an effort to save 1-2 timeouts by design in close games could prove valuable. Obviously there is no reasonable way to determine the efficacy of this strategy, but it seemed to me that having 1 timeout at the end of each of our losses this year would have given us a greater opportunities to win. Maybe not. Maybe it would not have been close (we were down big in both) if we had not used our timeouts to slow things down. I don't know. But again, I would like to see a few timeouts left at the end of close games. Obviously Howland's use of rapid succession timeouts is by design, and maybe it's the right way to go.

This will certainly come up again before this season is through, probably on multiple occasions. Hopefully, whatever strategy is utilized, we come out on top from here on in.

Bumped from the diaries. GO BRUINS. -N

News and notes:

1) Kevin Love has essentially been cleared by the NCAA after investigation into possible violation of recruiting regulations in June 2006. Andy Katz at ESPN reports that the NCAA determined the contact between Love and our Great John Wooden "was perfectly legal because Wooden is on the UCLA payroll and the meeting took place on campus." As much as we knew this whole thing was ridiculous when it came out, it's still good to see that Love's name will be cleared. I do not fault the NCAA for investigating the matter, as illegal contact is a serious issue, and I applaud them for making the right decision. Link

2) Some Howlandwood gems that haven't been shown here at BN:

From ESPN--

About the win over WSU...

"If you saw him when we won the game, he was screaming in the locker room," Love said. Just watch Coach Howland next time UCLA's playing some D, and you get a good glimpse of what it must be like in the locker room when he's amped up. Gotta love the enthusiasm. And more... Howland has told his team recently that every game matters on the road to becoming a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. He has mentioned the sites and points to Anaheim (first and second round) and Phoenix (regional semifinals and finals), which would give UCLA a potentially friendly and short trek to the Final Four in San Antonio.

"It's early to talk about that publicly," Howland said. "But I do talk about that with my team. It was huge." Howland is running this team with one goal in mind--a national title. Exactly how it should be. All is right in Westwood.

UCLA CANNOT AND SHOULD NOT HIRE ANY COACH TO A LONG-TERM DEAL, UNLESS THAT COACH IS A PROVEN CHAMPION.

This is my belief. Give me a chance to explain.

I personally am not thrilled with any of the current candidates out there, including Bellotti who everyone is going absolutely bonkers over. Count the number of championships the current candidates have won as head coaches...0. Now, if you tell me that UCLA has the opportunity to hire a Spurrier, Erickson, etc., I'm all for throwing a long-term big-money deal. But that is not what we are dealing with. Even Bellotti is a decent choice at best. Four straight bowl losses, a .614% WP (good, not stellar), and don't forget he lost to KARL this year and he recruited a boy from the Leaf family--okay, none of this worth crying over, but it's also not completely meaningless. He has 0 championships and has had what is really an up-and-down career. He could potentially be good, but he's not the caliber I'm looking for at this point in his career.

I'm NOT saying not to hire him. Just this: no matter who UCLA hires, it should be a 2-year deal at the longest. Even if this means losing out on a few of these characters. Here's what I will not stand--signing one of them to a big 7 year deal (as recommended by some of my fellow BN'ers) in blind hope for a real winner. Bottom line is, no one great is available right now. I would rather go with a risky, short-term hire and hope for a great coach becoming available next year than to choose one from this marginal pile and give him half a decade to become a champ.

I know I'll take some flak for this but here goes: I would rather have Walker in a 1-year deal than Bellotti for 5+. Bellotti has proven to be a good, solid head coach, but nothing more. If we take him and he struggles for 2 years (look at his career, this is not impossible), we'll be stuck with 3 on his contract and we'll be even worse off than we are now. If we take someone else (or Bellotti, but I can't imagine he'd accept it) for a short deal and it doesn't work out, so what! During that time we can find a real head coach and we will not have lost out because we will have no long-term dedication to someone.

I'm just afraid that as Bruin fans we are preparing ourselves to settle with what we get. Bellotti is interesting, but not godly. Neuheisel is pretty scummy. Another BN fave, Mariucci, has proven in his long career that he knows how to lose. Golden is a joke.

You may say I'm naive. Very few coaches have won championships. But you know what, count how many in our own division have won one, and you'll see my head isn't entirely in the clouds.

My vote goes to a 1-2 year deal, and I don't care who it is. If we can ink Bellotti for 2 years, I'm right behind it. But if it's going to take a long deal, I'm not interested.

Still hoping for the best,
GO BRUINS!