SB Nation User Blog: royobruin

The monopoly is over

royobruin — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 02:40:08 -0000

Really, I think it is. We're competing for recruits as we should because the four letters UCLA recruit themselves so long as the program isn't being run into the ground or at best left to sputter in circles. Players didn't want to play for Lavin because they knew they wouldn't get better. Dorrell's program, as we all know, wasn't a legitimate option for upper level talent that had the option to go to sc. We're competing for recruits with sc and other top level D1 programs after a 4-8 campaign. Also, Neuheisel's recruiting an attitude and toughness that's been lacking.

Is this Richard Brehaut kid ready to step in and provide a spark right away? He's already on campus and I've heard good things ... sc is so high on Matt Barkley and he very well might be their guy next year. Either way sc has a complete newcomer behind center - and this will be the first time in a long time we've been on even footing with them at the qb. Since #18. Whoever we'll have in the backfield must be able to take a 7 step drop occasionally, and must also be capable of delivering the ball downfield. I don't think NC is going anywhere until he gets a chance to unleash his game where he actually has all his weapons at his disposal. So this is a good thing - and I do think that in 2 years our offense will be dynamite ... I've just got this feeling.

Next year sc will definitely still be better than us at most positions on the field, but I feel as if our program is weaving a solid foundation built upon good principles while the other one is just starting to show some cracks in the foundation and a bit of unravelling. We've just got to get a few more dudes with a mean streak to get on board and I think it's going to happen. I could see a few more of these signings coming our way --- I'd like to get that receiver Flournoy out of Birmingham. The momentum is building for us - I honestly can't wait until next summer ... If anyone has any thoughts or info on our last recruiting push here I'd love to hear it.

Keeping our heads up ...

royobruin — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 07:14:06 -0000

Before I get into anything else I think a big Bruin thank you is owed to Nestor, Telemachus, Ajax, Tydides etc. and everyone who keeps this site going. While I don't always agree with everything that's said and the opinions expressed - this site is so solid and provides outstanding information and insight. Thank you to the entire BN community for a fun way to follow this epic season.

The way we matched up today against Memphis we needed to hit our shots to win this game -- and we didn't do it enough. Shipp started the night off solid knocking down 2 threes and then disapeared. He was tentative - often driving into the lane and stopping, pivoting around a couple times looking to pass first before shoot. When Shipp's shots aren't falling he's got to take the ball to the rack looking to score. Also DC wasn't looking for his shot enough. When a team does all they can to take Love out of the game we need a back up plan offensively and our perimeter game just wasn't strong enough.

I've always said that if we're drilling our shots and particularly - if Shipp is the Shipp we all know he can be - we won't be beat. Memphis today, like Florida the last two years was the proverbial perfect storm against us that did us in. Their big guards presented huge problems for us on defense, and to win we would have had to shoot fantastically and that just didn't happen.

I don't know where everyone stands on this next point, but I would not trade where our program is right now for one NC like the ones won by us in 95 and Syracuse a few years back. We have been to three straight final fours - and while we were a bit exposed tonight - at a certain point all teams need a little luck. Even with worst case scenario next year in terms of NBA departures our team will still be exciting and competitive with a chance to win the Pac 10 again. We're not going to pull a Florida and settle for the NIT. We are becoming a true program in that we don't rebuild but we reload.

While my hat is off to Memphis for this year, next year there's no way they sniff the top 15 all year i bet. So, I guess my point is I wouldn't trade one random NC followed by years of inconsistent mediocrity for the consistently elite program that we now are.

Bruin Basketball is back where it belongs with the blue bloods of the sport - the mecca of college basketball on the west coast. And most importantly we must remember that whatever criticisms one may have on specific nuances of CBH's coaching style, we are led by a cool headed classy coach who recruits classy kids. We could, theoretically go after certain more athletic yet morally and behaviorally questionable kids but that's not what we do. We go for gentlemen who are smart, articulate, hard-working, and genuinely want to be at UCLA. And, in my book, even if Love takes off he is a giant part of the UCLA family forever because of how much he loves UCLA and i do genuinely believe him when he says he loves UCLA.

I'm proud of our classy program and the young men who represent it. So while i'm disapointed at certain specifics of our game today, i've come to terms that the better team today won. And it's frustrating to criticize josh and darren because of how tough and competitive they are - all i can say is i hope they're both back next year to work on their game a little more.

Proud to be a bruin, and wouldn't trade a thing about what we have ... so tough loss today, but banner #12 is coming sooner rather than later - guaranteed.

State of Program: Football

royobruin — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 05:23:12 -0000

My stream-of-consciousness analysis of the overall state of the UCLA program

You'll hear people say that UCLA's resurgence is still many years off, and while in a sense this may be true - I don't see us contending legitimately for NCs for another 3 years, the resurgence is already well underway. Next year we're going to have a young and exciting team being led by an exceptional coaching staff. I like what I'm hearing about the weight room - but these kids need to be coached and drilled on the fundamentals of football and I think the mentality will just be different in this regime - it's nice.

The enthusiasm of our coaching staff gets me fired up because they're excited to get the absolute maximum return for the players we have now. I think they're going to be willing to roll the dice and make Bruin games exciting again. I'm confident that with the three men leading our program we are going to diligently prepare each week not only for who we're going to play and how we can exploit our relative strengths v. their relative weaknesses - but taking the extra step to look at our own team and think about what our opponent is going to try and exploit. See ... this does seem like common sense 101, but under Dorrell does anyone actually believe our teams were meticulously prepared?

Ben Howland is the Bill Bellichick (cheating allegations excluded) of basketball when comes to meticulous preparation for your team and your opponent and having a tailored gameplan. This is something I know CRN will take very seriously whereas it may not have been taken very seriously before.

I think this next year we are going to be a super exciting team. I think Olson can thrive under Chow and we'll finally have an offense where we play to our strengths and to what works ... not unwavering adherence to a "philosophy" (WCO) that in its Dorrellian anemia just doesn't work. I think some of our freshmen could come in right away and compete - especially Moore in the secondary. I also think Dean or Knox could come up huge and be immediate playmakers for our offence. As disgusting as it was to watch, the USC offences under norm chow were like conducting surgery through the defense as every playmaker found a way to get the ball. I look forward to that. I think for this next season 8-4 would be an outstanding season --- particularly if we play hard, get better as the season goes on (something that hasn't happened since pre-Toledo days - this also brought Toledo down). Steal a couple games on the road we shouldn't --- so 7 8 wins and a sun bowl would be a solid year next year.

With more players coming in year after year now that they see UCLA's for real about our commitment to football. I guess I just felt compelled to talk about how I'm excited about Bruin football --- like really really really excited --- for the first time in a while. Sometimes when times are good it should be acknowledged. Can't wait for that spring game!

Unstoppable hoops

royobruin — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 01:01:54 -0000

Check out this beauty from Seth Davis over at SI.com:

UCLA: Will the Bruins succumb to the poor air quality in Los Angeles?

Pretty lame, I know, but to be honest, I couldn't think of any more pressing questions this team faces heading into the season. That doesn't necessarily mean it's my pick to win it all, but even though UCLA lost leading scorer Arron Afflalo from last year's Final Four squad, the Bruins have plenty of weapons to make up for that. Junior point guard Darren Collison could have been a first-round pick had he gone into the NBA Draft, and his backup, sophomore Russell Westbrook, could start on 90 percent of the teams in Division I.

The other guards might not be quite as good at creating their own shots as Afflalo was, but that will be more than compensated by the arrival of 6-9 freshman forward Kevin Love, who could be the best passing big man to come into college basketball in the last decade. Thus, the only thing that can truly trip up this bunch is injury. Perhaps the smog in L.A. will be able to do to this team what the rest of the Pac-10 can't."

I love hearing about Westbrook ... he's going to be exciting to watch develop. Contrast this to he msm's treatment of our football squad pre-season --- where they were pretty much national #15-20 IN SPITE of being coached by you-know-who. Our hoops squad is so deep and disciplined that even injury strikes we're in good shape. Do the right thing DG and give us someone at least worthy of being mentioned in the same sentence as BH!

A Stanford case analysis

royobruin — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 20:27:20 -0000

I realize this isn't a Stanford blog, but talking about our current program is so depressing that I think looking at what an amazing thing Stanford just did with their piddly-sh!t roster last week could provide us some hope for next year and a new era in Bruin football.

I remember at the beginning of the year with BN's Stanford analysis in the days leading up to the season opener - and for good reason this site described the Cardinal as likely to be one of the more pathetic Pac 10 teams in recent memory. Their "reasonable expectations" before the season surely were that Harbaugh's fire would eventually catch on and the team would believe in itself and improve as the season progressed. Last Saturday, just five games in they shocked the world.

We need a coach with fire. I don't want to praise Harbaugh too much because he's a bit brash, but his fire and confidence gets into his players and for that - good for Stanford. It's darkest before the brightest dawn, and the turnaround needn't take 3-4 years. We've got the athletes in our program and the ones coming in (and will we really lose that many commits when they see Dorrell go? do we honestly think these 17 years olds are deaf and blind and can't read the writing on the wall the Dorrell's gone?) that this ship can be righted next year.

I realize this post didn't bring any groundbreaking analysis to the table, but it's been nice to vent. UCLA deserves better ... being at the Rose Bowl Saturday - it was a disgrace.

Basketball can't come soon enough ... GO BRUINS!

Football goals

royobruin — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 17:48:51 -0000

I've never met a bigger bruin fan than I am, I live and breathe bruin football and basketball, I'm the embodiment of the eternal optimist, but let's be realistic about next football season. I think a pac-10 championship is a very realistic "goal" - but should not be our "expectation". I know this is going to be shot down as Dorrell-appologizing blasphemy by some on this site, but believe me it's not - if anything it's bashing his mediocre recruiting in his first 4 failed years.

We're not the most talented team in the pac-10 next year. We'll have a talented quarterback in Ben, but he's unproven. Our playcalling last year was an absolute joke and there's no guarantee it will be any more creative this year - i can't remember how many times sitting on the couch I'd call that we were going to throw some bulls#*t screen pass on 3rd and 8 since we'd run for 2 yards on 1st and then throw incomplete on 2nd.

I suppose I'm just trying to point out the difference between goals and expectations. At some point we should be the type of football program where a pac 10 title is an expectation. Frankly we're not there yet. We have tons of returning starters next year and it's nice to see things picking up a bit on the recruiting front, but those scumbags across town are the consensus #1 in the country next year and for good reason - they have a disgusting amount of talent returning and though perhaps morally questionable - their coaching staff is top notch on the football field.

Also, for what its worth, I love this site, I love that there's a gathering place for Bruin fans as passionate as I am.