Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

I'm still trying to collect my thoughts from watching our Bruins completely fall apart in Berkeley in the last quarter.  The UCLA section was having a high ol' time most of the game, and it really felt, that going into the fourth quarter, we were into the fight.  Then everything fell apart.  So to distract me from yesterday's disappointment, I'm talking about Lute's complete unraveling at the Standard.

WWL's Pat Forde, who normally I think is an idiot (who usually puts drivel out there), managed to put out a decent article on Lute's rather ungraceful exit from the Standard, contrasting Lute's erratic behavior with the cool grace and dignity of the greatest coach of all, John Wooden.

He starts by praising Wooden for the way he retired gracefully:

Where have you gone, John Wooden?  

Actually, we know good and well where he's gone. Into retirement with his dignity and legacy intact.  

John Wooden was an expert at many things, including when to leave the sidelines. 

Some 33½ years ago Wooden retired, at the age of 64, at the top of his profession. He rode away from UCLA in 1975 after winning his 10th national title, timing impeccable as always.

He could have coached longer. He could have continued winning games, chasing titles, milking UCLA for glory and money and fame. Instead, Wooden walked away on his own terms, a clean break, nothing but good feelings on all sides.

Why can't anyone else do that these days? What has happened to the graceful exit?

Forde follows up by wondering what has happened to his boy Lute:

Lute Olson is the latest college coaching legend to thoroughly bollix his closing act. The Arizona basketball coach's retirement was announced Thursday, ending a 12-month saga that did considerable damage to his remarkable rep. 

The hope is that this exit has not been forced by a previously undisclosed physical or mental illness or family trauma. Ideally, Olson will now enjoy his retirement in good health. Yet at the same time, a serious ailment would be the most palatable reason for a succession of bizarre, puzzling and poorly explained actions that did a disservice to the school and the players he purported to care about.

Forde then goes on to discuss what we here at BN have been discussing for two years now:

For the second straight season, Olson pulled the rug out from under his program at the worst possible time. For the second straight season, the school was left squirming to explain the erratic actions of a legend -- at times seemingly compelled to fib on Olson's behalf. For the second straight season, Arizona basketball has been thrown into turmoil by the very man who breathed life into it.

Sadly, a guy who projected an aura of control and composure has turned his exit from basketball into an absolute mess. Even sadder is the fact that Olson is merely the latest in a line of college coaching legends who don't seem to know when or how to walk away.

Folks on the Standard bandwagon have been talking about Olson deserves to be mentioned alongside Wooden (especially when Lute broke Wooden's record for Pac-10 victories).  Never mind, that Olson has one title to Wooden's ten.

I think the rest of the nation is beginning to see what we've seen for a while: ol' Viagra Lute was a real good coach who took Arizona from nothing into a nice regional power, but he still doesn't belong in the same breath as John Wooden.

Not only did Wooden set the standard for excellence, he did it with the dignity and class that other coaching "legends" (Lute, Bobby Knight, and Eddie Sutton) have failed to demonstrate, or as Forde finished:

[T]he sad part is what the legends lose when they can't find the right exit strategy. 

John Wooden was an expert on many things. Leaving included.

As Fox noted, on December 5, 2008, O.J. will be sentenced for his role in an armed robbery at a Las Vegas casino/hotel.  Since Fox asked, attached to this post is a poll.

O.J. faces a term anywhere between 15 years to life.  I'm not at all familar with Nevada sentencing law, so if anyone out there has any information to share, by all means, please do so.

That said, vote away.

A little over a week ago, there was some discussion here (also see here and here) on BN regarding the Shareece Wright situation at U$C, in particular, the minor matter of Wright resisting arrest.

While most resisting arrest charges are filed as a misdemeanor violation of Penal Code Section 148(a)(1), it appears Wright was charged with felony resisting arrest, in violation of Penal Code Section 69.

Well, WWL is reporting that Wright suffered a vertebrae hairline fracture and will be out a "number of weeks."  What's particular interesting is that the quotes from the ol' Humanitarian give some insight as to why, despite being charged with a felony, Wright wasn't suspended for a single play.

It appears Koach Karl I was right on the money afterall; according to WWL:

Trojan coaches have been raving about Wright's ability for weeks, suggesting he might emerge as the best corner USC has had in the Carroll era.

Hmm, important player getting in trouble while the Humanitarian does nothing.  Why does this feel like deja vu?

The Humanitarian claims Wright wasn't suspended because it was a perfect "teaching moment" for Wright.  You sure there isn't another reason there Pete?

The injury hinders the Trojans' depth. USC's four-man rotation at corner likely becomes a three-man platoon with Kevin Thomas becoming the first guy off the bench. Blue-chip freshman T.J. Bryant will be available, but the coaches would prefer not to burn his redshirt season if they don't have to.

Hmm, makes one wonder. "Teachable moment" or necessary measure to mask depth problems at corner and not burn a freshman's redshirt season?

Well, don't worry fellow law-abiding Bruins.  The Humanitarian has, despite his usual practice, taken action:

Carroll has said Wright was being disciplined internally for that situation.

And by "disciplined internally" he means sleeping with one of U$C's rather, umm, physically-lacking Song Girls.  Because, seriously, that's about as much punishment as anyone can expect from the Humanitarian.

Despite this, the short-sighted supporters of U$C can't seem to wrap their brains around this:

More puzzling is the fact that he was detained, interviewed and the released only to have the D.A. come back and charge him with resisting. I mean come on you had him detained, you interviewed him and then you released him. If truly resisted why was he not arrested at the time of detention? These guys can't be serious. What new information did they obtain after the fact that made them decide to charge him?

Well, I'm sure the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office will make sure they run all of their charging decisions by you first whenever it involves a U$C player.  I suppose the entire concept of arrest and cite is lost on the folks across town.  I mean, one would think they'd understand given the fact so many of their fellow trOJans find themselves on the police blotter and criminal court docket.

But, rather than trust prosecutors who are sworn to uphold the law, they're going to rely on the word of an accused criminal (Wright) and his defense attorney:

Carlos J. Juarez, Wright's attorney, said would start interviewing eye witnesses and expected the charges to be dropped before the Oct. 29 hearing.

Well, if a defense attorney said it, it must be true!  Because a defense attorney would never mislead the media to gain a perceived tacital advantage.

Although they have nothing to go by but the self-serving statements by Wright's attorneys, trOJans have already begun to serve up the spin

Now, Wright isn't necessarily squeaky clean here as he has two failure to appear on his record for two traffic violations and while one has nothing to do with the other the perception is one of a player who doesn't respect the legal process.

The "perception" of a player who doesn't respect the legal process?  Umm, where I come from, two FTAs don't create the "perception" of someone who doesn't respect the legal process, it is pretty convincing evidence of someone who thinks they can break the law and then blow off court.

To me, just like his fellow trOJans, that pattern of behavior by Wright indicates a complete disregard for the law and our system of justice.

The best part of all of this, though, is that trOJans are placing their blind faith in the Humanitarian to do whatever is "appropriate":

I trust Pete Carroll and Mike Garrett will handle it as they see fit.

Does "as they see fit" mean do absolutely nothing and look the other way as they do with the long, well-known, laundry list of criminal conduct by U$C players?

Or maybe if they tell themselves that OJ didn't do it, that the Humanitarian isn't running a dirty program, that OJ2 didn't take any improper benefits, that Bu$h didn't get any pay-off, and that Wright is innocent, they'll actually believe it's all true.

Delusion is something of a particular favorite over there at the University of Second Choice.

Finally, changing gears from trOJan delusion to amusing quotes, I found this to be of particular amusement:

In addition to Wright having great quickness, Carroll has gushed about Wright's toughness and his knack for making plays.

Apparently, Wright thinks he's tough enough to take on police officers with guns, batons, and tasers.  But, as we now know, he wasn't fast enough to elude the police and apparently U$C playmaking ability doesn't translate into skating on criminal charges.

Wasn't he paying attention when the Humanitarian brought favorite U$C alum OJ1 to practice?  Or has even "slashing the competition" become a Senora Ross course?

U$C: win at all costs. Even if that involves fighting with police officers, sexually assaulting young women, or committing double murder.

Right now, the MSM is just loving the whole "gutty little Bruins upseting big, bad, heavily favored SEC powerhouse Tennessee to start the Rick Neuheisel returning home era" story.  WWL, Fox Sports, SI, etc. are all running some variation of this story (which you can check out here, here, here, here, here, here, and here)

Got to love the national exposure.  Hopefully it translates into better recruiting returns, which in turn, hopefully leads to this program returning to its rightful place of national prominence.

But, what I find particularly amusing isn't the MSM exposure and hype after our big win over the Vols.  What I find really amusing is that so many of the haters out there can't seem to stop talking about UCLA and our Bruins.  Now, I'll admit I was a bit curious to see what our fellow SBN blogs were saying in the wake of the MSM love-fest for our upset win.  I started over at Rocky Top Talk (by the way, Vols fans, you have been a class act in defeat, which, unfortunately UCLA fans don't get to see very often, having to play certain teams with a**hole fanbases) to see what they saw from their side (I like to get a balanced look at a game when possible).  I eventually made by way to some of the haters' blogs, and boy, was I bit shocked by what I found.

The folks over at California Golden Blogs just can't get enough of UCLA.  And, well, many of them are so taken with our good looks, beautiful blue jerseys, etc. that they couldn't wait for us to upset the Vols: they had to talk about us before the game.

In sum, you can catch our cocky (yet secretly envious) 'big brothers' discussing UCLA, the Bruins, or our program here, here, here, and here.  Sure, they take their shots at Neuheisel or our Bruins, but it makes one wonder, why so much talk about a team they dismiss out of hand, hmm?  Perhaps a few Bears, while loathe to admit it, secretly house a secret crush on UCLA.

No worries CGB guys.  I don't blame you.  After all, you guys have to look at this:

Image Credit: KTVU

Meanwhile, those of us who are fortunate enough to be Bruins, get to see this on a regular basis:

Image Credit: UCLA Dance Team

The folks over at Conquest Chronicles, on the other hand, don't share the Bears' envy of UCLA.  Which isn't too much of a surprise, because, while I hate to admit it, the trOJans actually win once and a while.  But, while they don't share the Bears' figurative penis envy of the Bruins, they, like the folks in the People's Republic of Berkeley, can't help but talk about the Bruins, as in here, here, and here.

Not that I mind the chatter.  We hear a lot of snide jibes about the recent LA Times ad where a picture of Neuheisel bodly declares the football monopoly in LA is over.  Yet, despite U$C jumping Georgia in the polls to take the top spot, everyone can't stop talking about the "gutty little Bruins."

Monopolies aren't just measured in wins and losses, folks, and CRN is already showing how these Bruins are going to start loosening the absolute stranglehold U$C had on LA the last few years. 

Love the coverage from all corners of the interwebs, even from those out there who proclaim to not have any love for the greatest university in the world.

Bumped. GO BRUINS. - N

Fox Sports has posted CollegeFootballNews.com's preseason coaching rankings for this upcoming season.  While I'm not a big fan of preseason polls, especially ones like this, I do appreciate that CFN isn't just bowing to the company line and putting legends like Bowden (#38) and Paterno (#31) near the top based on their reputation alone.  So, since it looks like they're willing to knock coaches down to how they think they'll perform this season, I thought I'd do a quick run-through of the rankings for those interested.

First, CRN came in at #29, sandwiched between Dan Hawkins of Colorado (#30) and Butch Davis of UNC (#28). 

29. Rick Neuheisel, UCLA: Say what you will about Neuheisel's off-field shenanigans, but the guy knows how to produce results. At both Colorado and Washington, he won twice as many games as he lost and three times finished in the top 10. How he handles this next gig after a six-year absence will define him as a coach.

Given the MSM's line on CRN, I did not expect him to finish so high, but I'm glad someone out there recognizes CRN, despite the "Slick Rick" rep., can flat-out coach.  Never mind the allusion to "shenanigans" that CRN was often not guilty of, it's nice to see they recognize the coaching talent we have in Westwood.

Second, I thought I'd compare where some of the names we all tossed around during the coaching search ended up.  Those that finished behind CRN included Al Golden of Temple (#78), June Jones of SMU (#55), Todd Graham of Tulsa (#44), Gary Patterson of TCU (#37), Bronco Mendenhall of BYU (#32).  A bit of a shock to see Mendenhall down in the 30s.  Personally, I'd have him in the low-20s or high teens, but definitely within the top 25.  The guy is young and BYU is going to be a damn good team as long as he's at the helm in Provo.  CFN seemed to agree, but still went in the low-30s:

32. Bronco Mendenhall, BYU: It took a few years, but BYU has found its man to build a bridge back to the program's golden years. In successive seasons, the Cougars have swept the Mountain West and finished ranked in the polls. If Mendenhall keeps this up, his name will replace Lavell Edwards' outside the stadium.

The guys from our coaching search coming in ahead of CRN include Mike Leach of Texas Tech (#25), Chris Petersen of Boise State (#22), Brian Kelly of Cincinnati (#18), Paul Johnson of Georgia Tech (#17), Mike Bellotti of Oregon (#15), and Jim Grobe of Wake Forest (#6).  No real shock here.  All very solid coaches, although I'd rather have CRN given his energy, his passion, and the fact, as a fellow Bruin, he understands how important beating U$C, winning the Pac-10, and playing in the Rose Bowl in January is.

Now, CRN isn't going to have it easy.  The Pac-10 boasts some of college football's best coaches (rivaling the coaching talent in any conference, including the SEC, but more on that in a bit).  Within our conference, we do have Mike Stoops of Arizona (#82) and Tyrone Wilingham of Washington (#70).  Now that I've mentioned the scrubs, we do have Paul Wulff of Washington State (#90), Jim Harbaugh of Stanford (#66), Mike Riley of Oregon State (#25), Jeff Tedford of Cal (#16), Mike Bellotti of Oregon (#15), Dennis Erickson of Arizona State (#14), and ol' Cheaty Peety of U$C (#2).

Personally, I think Wulff and Harbaugh are going to climb that ladder.  Both guys don't have easy jobs (how do you convince a kid to come to Pullman and getting through Stanford admissions can't be an easy task), but I suspect both teams , in a few years, will regularly contend for bowl games and be tough away games for our Bruins.  I don't expect Stoops or Willingham to be around much longer.  As for the talent part, Riley has done a great job with the Beavers despite not having the elite talent, Tedford made Cal relevant (before Tedford, Cal football flat out sucked), Erickson, despite his shady recruiting and reputation, wins wherever he goes (unless it's the NFL), and as much as we hate Pom Pom, he's made the trOJans a force.

While we're in the business of arbitrarily ranking coaches, let's arbitrarily compare the Pac-10 with the other BCS conferences.  If you take each coaches' ranking, add them together, and divide by the number of teams in each conference, you end up with the following average coaching rank: SEC (28.92), ACC (36.08), Pac-10 (40.9), Big-10 (43.45), Big-12 (44.92), Big East (51.5).  The Pac-10 isn't doing too bad, especially considering we're saddled with Stoops and Willingham and Harbaugh and Wulff are young up-and-comers.  The ACC got a huge boost from landing Paul Johnson at GT (#17).

Finally, some other coaches of note.  Bob Toledo, now at Tulane, came in at #88.  CFN had this to say about the man who came before the Doofus:

88. Bob Toledo, Tulane: Best known for a seven-year stint at UCLA, Toledo has largely had an inconsistent career on the sidelines. Always an offensive innovator, his teams rarely play much defense or with any degree of sustained excellence.

Sounds about right.  Moving on, Charlie Weis of Notre Dame finished at #48.  Pat Hill, the man in charge at Fresno State, a team that will give our Bruins a tough game, was ranked #41:

41. Pat Hill, Fresno State: Hill's "anybody, anytime, anywhere" attitude resonates throughout a program that's had considerable success against larger schools. His teams are always tough, physical, and built on a solid running game. The Bulldogs have been to eight bowl games in nine years, but a WAC title has escaped them since Boise State joined the league.

As for the season opener, Phil Fulmer of Tennessee took the #33 slot:

33. Phil Fulmer, Tennessee: Whether Fulmer's glass is half full or half empty probably depends on your geography. While there's no denying he's been very successful over the last 16 years, folks in Knoxville point to a 10-year stretch without an SEC title and zero top 10 finishes since 2001.

CRN will be facing some tough teams with good coaching.  In fact, when you look at our schedule, the only two coaching rejects we'll see are Stoops in Arizona and Willingham at Washington.  Yet, despite the fact these guys have been total busts at both schools, they have a tendency to play us tough, especially when they're home.

If CRN puts together a bowl-eligible season with a banged-up OL, big questions at QB, a inexperienced secondary, and one of the nation's toughest schedules, there's no way he won't slide into the top 25.

But hey, according to some people, we were being totally unreasonable in our predictions for this season.  What a bunch of clowns.

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

Earlier today, Nestor gave us a good update on Neuheisel and Carroll's plan to bring back the home and home uniform tradition for our rivalry game.  I had some thoughts on the topic (which ran a bit long), and per N's request, those comments are now this full-blown post.

And it looks like I'm not the only one at BN with a bit of an interest in uniforms (it's an aesthetics thing).  So, first, I'm going to begin with this picture:

Image credit: Los Angeles Times

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John Denton, over at the WWL, had a quick run-through of the best and worst of the NBA's Orlando Summer League.  And of no surprise to all of BN, RW was dubbed the league's best player.

As Denton says:

BEST PLAYER: Russell Westbrook, Oklahoma City

Ask the GMs who attended the five-day camp in Orlando, and they unanimously pick Westbrook as the week's top performer. Everyone knew he was a defensive ace with his long arms and burly shoulders, but he was far more effective offensively this week than most expected. 

He used his size and burst off the dribble to get anywhere on the floor he wanted. Because of injuries, he never got to play against Rose in what would have been one of the marquee matchups of the week, but he had his way with Chalmers and the other guards in the camp.

Kevin Durant, the NBA's reigning Rookie of the Year, left highly impressed, and confident that the young core of himself, Jeff Green, White and Westbrook means that OKC will have a winner sooner rather than later.

On the flip side, Denton dubbed Rose the summer league's "biggest disappointment" due to his knee issues and frustration with the structured offense the Bulls were running.

Denton kept with the Pac-10 love, going with Brook Lopez as the best big man of the Orlando summer league (with Beasley coming in second).

While it's nice to see the Pac-10 get some love, this news re: RW comes as no surprise to those of us who got to watch him week in and week out doing all kinds of incredible things, both on offense and defense.

Here's to seeing some more signature high-flying nasty in-your-face dunks (coupled with in-your-face defense) from RW in OKC this year.

While there are some people intent on claiming BN is part of a pro-Neuheisel conspiracy to lower expectations in Westwood, it appears the WWL has joined BN with a rather paltry assessment of the state of UCLA football:

In fact, in Ted Miller's Pac-10 preseason rankings, he doesn't just put UCLA in the bottom half of the Pac-10, he puts us at 8, ahead of only Stanford (9) and Washington St. (10).

On the Bruins, Miller says:

8. UCLA: The schedule is brutal (Tennessee, BYU and Fresno State are the nonconference games). The offensive line may be brutalized. New coach Rick Neuheisel didn't inherit much talent, and that figures to show on the field, no matter how good the coaching staff is.

So, either BN is paying the WWL to get on board with the same conspiracy that Rivals and other MSM sources have joined, or, well, believing that despite CRN, NC, and DW running the show, the lack of talent and tough schedule means it'll be a long season for the Bruins isn't unreasonable after all.

Despite the lack of experience and talent, I'm really hoping this team can surprise a few people and pull out a 7-5 record and get CRN a bowl game his first year at the helm.  But, that kind of finish is a hope, rather than a probable prediction.  Hope for the best, but let's not be too surprised if things don't pan out so well this year.

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

As part of my two-part series on looking forward at our football team's depth this season and the two following seasons, this is the section for those wanting a break-down of the offensive side of the ball (which will include our kicker/punter situation simply because a whole special teams section would be kind of dumb, and they technically step on the field on offense).

Anyway, again I think having this kind of information broken down will give us some perspective to gauge how our recruiting efforts are shaping up, see where we're going to need to get help down the line, and touch off a bit of discussion.

Also, this run-through is a bit more broken down than the defensive run-through simply because the offense doesn’t lend itself to a neat, three-part grouping as the defense does.

And once again, to make it a bit easier to sort, I've broke each group up into separate block quote sections:

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