SB Nation User Blog: silverlakebruin

The Pauley Letters

silverlakebruin — Tue, 19 May 2009 22:33:43 -0000

The Pauley Letters

Dohn posts an excellent letter from former chair (and now major critic) of the project and UCLA's response. Read these documents if you want to understand the issues surrounding this project.

The Pauley Problem & How To Solve It

silverlakebruin — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:55:56 -0000

Bumped. silverlake brings up an interesting idea which I think is worthy of more attention and discussion. GO BRUINS. -N

We are entering a time of great importance in the future of UCLA basketball and the athletic department as whole.

The greatest weakeness of the Athletic Department in the past two decades has been an unwillingness to change and embrace new things, an aversion to risk, and a desire to do things on the cheap. We have seen this play out in the hiring of cheap inexperienced coaches, the retention of staff and coaches who don't get the job done, allowing Pauley to age ungracefully, and various other shortcomings.

Dan Guerrero has done a lot to address these problems, and I commend him for it. However, I am greatly concerned that the current plans for Pauley Pavillion will be a significant error that will set the athletic department back decades.

While the plans haven't been publicly released, word has filtered out from those in the know that the plan is to remodel Pauley with minimal structural changes. Seating in the 300 section will be as bad as it has always been, and there will only be minimal improvement in the 200s with a centering of the court, and angling the seating. The bottom section should see some improvements and additions of seats.

To do this, and make some other necessary improvements (locker room, donor room, facilities, etc) the athletic department needs $160M. For comparison, that is roughly the cost of building the Galen Center. Spending that much money on something that does not address the greatest weakness of the facility for basketball (the distance of most seats from the court and poor sightlines) is a huge mistake.

I would suggest rather than this plan, the University move forward with a new basketball only arena and keep Pauley where it is for other sports and as a practice and multipurpose facility for other sports.

What we should do is build a new basketball only facility at lot 32. The benefits are you don't have to tear anything down, you are within walking distance for students, you keep Pauley operational for non-basketball activities, you bring some life into the businesses in westwood, and you have an arena visible from Wilshire Blvd and the 405, with signage and naming rights to sell to help pay for the arena.

This would be a savior for businesses in Westwood, provide a state of the art facility without the limitations facing Pauley, and still allow practice and other sports to be done at Pauley so Student athletes are not disadvantaged. Also, we would build a building with state of the art seating, restrooms, and amenities, and would make Westwood a destination before and after games.

Why isnt' this being seriously considered? We need to dump the stale thinking of the Morgan Center and think outside the box on this one. The greatness of UCLA is boldness and forward thinking, yet the Pauley project is wrapped in decrepit fearful thinking.

For those of you who don't know, Lot 32 36 is bounded by Wilshire to the south, Gayley to the east, Kinross to the North, and Veteran to the west. There wouldnt be any significant structures that would have to be raised, and being bounded by Willshire would mean easy access for vehicles and public transportation, including eventually the subway. Here is where lot 32 36 is on a map.

Lot 32 36 Map

We need to demand the same excellence in this project we would for the product on the field and court. I am asking every real true bruin to consider whether a $160M remodel of Pauley that doesn't address the core issues is really the right way to do this, and if not, we should make our voices heard that a new arena is the way to go.

Another Pete Carroll recruiting violation

silverlakebruin — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 22:57:35 -0000

Another Pete Carroll recruiting violation

the times documents PC picking up another player in a limousine (remembe their denial of doing so with Price?)

"Right now it's SC," said Boyd, who has also visited Oregon State. "Washington has to come with a miracle."

USC picked up Boyd in a limousine during his visit and put him and other recruits up in the downtown L.A. Marriott.

"He had the five-star treatment," Jordan Coach Elijah Asante said.

The relevent NCAA regulation Pete broke:

13.5.2.1 General Restrictions.
A member institution may pay the prospective student-athlete's actual round-trip transportation costs for his or her official visit to its campus from any location, provided the prospective student-athlete returns to the original point of departure, or if return transportation is provided to the prospective student-athlete's home, educational institution or site of competition, the cost does not exceed round-trip expenses from the prospective student-athlete's original point of departure. Use of a limousine or helicopter for such transportation is prohibited. (Revised: 1/9/06, 5/26/06)

Breaking News: Pete Carroll is a jerk

silverlakebruin — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 22:03:50 -0000

Breaking News: Pete Carroll is a jerk

Pete Carroll disgraces himself by throwing a tantrum during the Sanchez press conference because althought going to the NFL is the right thing for Sanchez, it is negative for Pete. As with everything with Pete Carroll, it is all about him.

Does Timmeh! Floyd have any morals? No

silverlakebruin — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 18:46:45 -0000

Does Timmeh! Floyd have any morals? No

Great article on how corrupt SUC is, this time focusing on Timmeh's involvement with yet another tainted player: Demar DeRozen. Demar seems like a good kid in a bad situation, but clearly Timmeh!'s actions did nothing but contribute to the drama in his life.

Petey's ego prevents experience OC hire again

silverlakebruin — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 16:53:02 -0000

Petey's ego prevents experience OC hire again

Selects John Morton, wide receiver coach, as new OC. It looks like Pete's fragile ego couldn't handle an OC with an opinion or who actually may have some of his own accomplishments.

http://www.dailynews.com/usc/ci_11159105

Culture Change needs to be more extensive

silverlakebruin — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 16:12:30 -0000

I want to applaud CRN, the entire coaching staff, and our players for the spirited effort against the trOJans yesterday. I think the culture change CRN is bringing to the program is evident in effort and fight we see from the players

However, in the same way that coach CRN has brought change to the team, Dan Guerrero needs to bring change to all things affiliated with the program. A few ways to start:

1) The band was playing outside the rose bowl before the game while the SC band was in the stadium playing for their players for 20 minutes before the game. Anyone coming into the stadium early would have thought it was an SC home game. When they did come in, they waited for the SC band to finish before they started to play, even though we all know the SC band drones on and on forever.

2) The band decided to play west side story songs during the SC game. What the F is that? Was Lawrence Welk not available? How pathetic. Do they think that will do anything to get the crowd or football team involved? The band should be playing something upbeat that people under 65 will recognize.

3) Sound system and musical selections on the PA are outdated and not up to current standards. Can't hear anything, and when you do it is not topical or modern.

4) Who agreed to allow the trojan to stick a sword in our field? He should be banned from future appearance at the rose bowl. The fact that he wasn't removed from the stadium immediately is shameful.

5) Why do we allow their horse on our home field? He should be banned as well.

6) Season ticket holders whose seats are used by trojans should have those seats go back into the season ticket pool and have to start with seats again. If they can't use them, or find another bruin to use them, they should just eat them. If they aren't willing to do that, someone else should have access to those seats that will.

7) Do not schedule the game for "dead week" if you are not willing to make an exception for the anti-SUC activities including the bonfire. Either make the exception, or get the game moved.

If we are expecting more from our team, we have to expect more from our band director, the folks planning game time activities, and our fans. Its only fair.

Greatest Farmar Quote ever

silverlakebruin — Sat, 24 May 2008 18:43:36 -0000

from Simers into todays Times:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-simers24-2008may24,0,3077744.column

THE PLAY of the night might have been Jordan Farmar's sky-high leap to block Ime Udoke's breakaway layup.

When asked if he had ever made such a play before, he said, "maybe in high school."

What about at UCLA.

"I was too tired playing defense," he said, and Ben Howland should get a good laugh out of that.

GO BRUINS

Reeves Nelson to UCLA

silverlakebruin — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:18:50 -0000

Bumped. Keep an eye on this today. ~~If this is confirmed, this would be~~ a blockbuster development. Welcome to UCLA Reeves!!!! GO BRUINS. -N

This is important with Wear Twins committing to North Carolina. No other site confirms at this point. We need bigs!! From RiseMag.com:

Coach Ben Howland snagged another top in-state prospect as junior forward Reeves Nelson of Modesto Christian (Modesto, Calif.) committed to the Bruins late last night.

Nelson had offers from the likes of North Carolina, Duke, USC and more, but decided UCLA for a number of reasons.

"They were really the first ones to recruit me and I really like coach Howland and all their other coaches," Nelson told RISE last night. "I know a bunch of the kids going there, like Jrue Holiday, Jerime Anderson and Drew Gordon. And obviously, they win a lot of games."

The 6-foot-7, 220-pound Nelson averaged 17 points and 12 boards per game last year while leading Modesto Christian to a 30-4 record and a berth in the Division V NorCal finals. He is rated the nation’s No. 25 junior by RISE.

Go Bruins!

UPDATE:From BruinBlitz (HT godblesstyus95 ):

Modesto Christian forward Reeves Nelson made it official last night, committing to UCLA. "The reason I committed to UCLA was because their style of play, and the way I feel about the coaching staff there. I know all the players coming in, like Jrue Holiday and Malcolm Lee, plus all the others. Coach Howland is a great coach and UCLA has everything I was looking for in a school." Nelson is a 5-star prospect, and the No. 23 overall ran ed player in the 2009 class. Nelson is a monster get for Coach Howland. In fact from what I have been hearing/reading pursuing Nelson was one of the reason, Howland and his staff cooled off on the Wear twins. Nelson is projected to be one of those prototypical Ben Ball warriors. Fundamentally sound, tough around the boards, and digs playing defense. Congrats to Reeves and Coach Howland and his staff. This is big news. GO BRUINS. -N

UPDATE II: Watch Reeves get nasty in the paint! -T

UPDATE III: Another confirmation from Brian Dohn. GO BRUINS. -N

UPDATE IV: -M. Not that you need it, but another confirmation from the PE.

CONFIRMED: Reeves Nelson to UCLA

Just got off the phone with Modesto Christian coach Gary Porter, and he confirmed that Reeves Nelson told Ben Howland last night that he intends to come to UCLA. "UCLA is a very good program," Porter said. "He wanted to stay on the West Coast and he felt comfortable with Coach Howland. It was just a good fit."

GO BRUINS.

Happy Neu Year!!!

silverlakebruin — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 01:03:06 -0000

Nothing makes me happier then realizing I haven't heard a word about SUC football during the week leading up the rose bowl. If we hired any other coach, we would not have received the media attention and all you would be hearing about is SUC. As it is now, we will hear about them tomorrow, and only after Wednesday if they lose.

I was a little concerned about hiring RN, but in listening to him, and looking at his history, I don't have the slightest bit of hesitation in saying he will be extremely successful, and will do so in an above the board way. He is clearly a mature, thoughtful person who learns from his life experiences, and has unmatched experience for a man his age.

I am most excited to hear RN talking about the importance of running the ball. I know he can coach and develop qbs. I know he can develop an offense, but really glad to see he understands the importance of toughness, and that he has looked back, evaluated and adapted from his previous experience. I am very encouraged.

I am not surprised, but think his ability to recruit and deal with the media will be unsurpassed. We will have nothing but top 10 recruiting classes from here on out. We will have a stronger program than SUC by RNs fifth year.

So, to all my fellow bruins, Happy Neu Year! Let's leave the divisiveness of the previous football season behind us in 2007 and look forward to a return to greatness starting in 2008.

Go Bruins!!!!