Bumped. This is an uncomfortable question but we can't be afraid to discuss it. The "over the wall" episode puts Neuheisel's ability to lead our program in question. For better or worse Neuheisel did come into Westwood with a reputation of having mentally soft teams. The way the latest incident transpired doesn't make it look good. Neuheisel is doing everything he can to generate excitement around our program and he has injected incredible amount of energy in recruiting. However, if the Bruins choke against Temple on December 29th due to mental mistakes (we have seen this season), the over wall incident will turn out to be a huge strike against CRN, just like the Wyoming became one for Karl Dorrell. GO BRUINS. - N

Photo Credit: dabruins07 (flickr)

The prank of going over the wall and CRN's response to it may be symptomatic of a larger problem.

The coach sets the tone, the attitude, the standards, the mindset.  It sounds like he's set a soft tone with this little prank.  This is IIRC one of the complaints against him at his former college coaching gigs. 

One might argue this is just one minor incident or that such pranks and foolishness are sometimes appropriate, understandable comic relief for team members blowing off steam.

But it does make one wonder.  Can you imagine Coach JW or Red Sanders or Tommy Prothro or CBH allowing an entire team to miss an entire practice?  And then saying it was okay?  Maybe they did and I just don't know.  I sincerely doubt it.

Continue reading this post »

It took Wooden years to get it right.  It may take CBH just as long.  I know no one works harder than he does or bleeds Bruin Blue more than him, but even he is subject to criticism.  And, frankly, I can't take it anymore.  So here goes.

Let's face it, CBH's offense has pretty much stunk ever since he came to UCLA.  Not only has it not been Woodenesque, it has normally been pretty ugly.  But with the record of success that he has compiled who can rightly complain, even if his success has been despite his lousy offense?

Well, after tonight we can complain.  Oh, I know his offense is normally very efficient.  The stats prove it.  But efficiency and effectiveness are two different things.  Yes, when the score is in the low 60s he can keep up with a slow down, take the air out of the ball offense.  He can win a lot of games with it, get to final fours with a tremendous defense, but he will never win the Big Enchilada when he goes up against really talented teams that actually play basketball at tournament time IMO.

I was reminded of this tonight in the Portland game.  Not only was it one of the worst performances in the history of UCLA basketball, not only was it one of the worst coaching jobs by any coach I have ever seen at any level in any sport, it was very reminiscent of the way we have been punked in all of our final four appearances and even Villanova in the second round last year under CBH.  Only this time it wasn't Memphis or Florida.  It was just a well coached mid-Major team playing essentially Mike Montgomery Stanford Basketball from the 1990s.  The loss, in fact, was so Lavinesque that for awhile I thought Steve had left the color booth and taken over CBH's body.

I think it is the understatement of the year to say that CBH has not adapted his coaching to his players yet.  I'm very sure he sees that as well after the Portland disaster.  My fear is that he will decide his team is so bad that he will follow Lavin's brilliant on air suggestion to play even "muckier" basketball, that is, to play an even uglier Big East style slowdown style.

I hope that's not true. I really think that's the wrong answer.  As much as he might like the style, we do not have the makings of a Big East power basketball team with big guards, power forwards or a dominating big man.  It doesn't have the personnel to shut people down on defense alone.  For better or worse we're a generally athletic, but slight team with potentially good shooters and cutters.  Kind of like Wooden's earlier champion teams but of course without a Goodrich or Hazard, duh.  I would love to see a return to the Wooden staples of a high post offense and a zone press.  It may not work, of course, but it's certainly worth a try.  Some of our players might actually develop quite well if they were given a chance to fly.  Could we be any worse?  I don't think that's possible. 

I'm left to wonder just how good the team with Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Darren Collison and Luc Richard, all excellent NBA players now, as well as Mata and Aboya and Shipp, could have been if CBH had let them spread their legs under his tutelage instead of putting the governor on their gas pedal every time they tried to speed things up.  Can you believe a team with those NBA players got creamed in the final four by a team with really just one great player, Derrick Rose?  Well they did, big time because IMO CBH does not let his players play on offense.  He shackles them.

More than winning games this year I would like to see if CBH can actually run an offense that puts points on the board.  They say he did that at Northern Arizona.  Can't he do it here?

Bumped. Thanks to uclahy for taking the time to write up his road trips all this season. GO BRUINS. -N

Went to my last road game of the year at OSU.  Just can't make it up to Washington State.  So all that's left is SUC on the "road" for me.

Sat with my brothers who live up there, about the only group of Bruins in Blue that were there.  There were some others, of course, but not many, understandable given our record:

via gallery.me.com

We suffered through the first three quarters, then were screaming with delight during the miraculous comeback.  All the action was heading right for us.  Rosario's catch and run was monstrous.  All the scores by the Bruins were in our end zone.

We leapt out of our seats as Canfield threw the pick to Verner.  The entire stadium groaned knowing AV was going to walk 15 yards into the house.  Then he dropped it before he had it, the Rodgers brothers tore our defense up and Prince and company just barely ran out of clock before the last feeble pass fell to the ground with time running out.

The good news?  For about 10 minutes we played offensive FOOTBALL.  We moved like the Bruins in the days of, dare I say it, Cade McNown.  Having finally thrown the ball to our wide receivers DOWNFIELD, the whole playing field was stretched and everything, I mean, everything clicked.  Ten more seconds on the clock, I think we score and tie the game and in overtime, who knows?

The bad news?  Why did we wait until then?  Here's my thoughts.

Continue reading this post »

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

I had a unique perspective of the game:

Palcic coaching them up

My seats were on the 35 yard line, about 10 rows up behind our bench.  The bad news, I was one of only a handful of Bruin fans behind them on the sidelines.  The good news was when the crowd was quiet I could take advantage and yell out "Go Blue" and "Go Bruins."  I am sure some of the team heard me.  At least I hope they did.  They played their guts out and were, amazingly, in this game well into the 4th quarter despite the problems we are all much too familiar with by now.

I have a gallery of some pictures I took before, during and after the game if you're curious, here.

If you're interested in my observations, please read on.

Continue reading this post »

I woke up today more than a little disappointed by some posts on BN.  One thing bothered me above all, besides, of course, the frustration of yesterday's game.  People are throwing our players under the bus by calling them out on their ability [no talented playmakers] or questioning their effort [no heart, et cetera.]

I don't think either criticism is true.  I"m not going to name names, but our team is filled with talent on both sides of the ball, some of it truly exceptional.  And I refuse to believe that any of my Bruins dogged it out there in that 90 degree heat or didn't make their best efforts.  I just don't see that, really.

Above all, I support this team and its coaches.  I am disappointed, of course, terribly.  I live and die Bruin football, and it's been a lot of dying in recent years, with few exceptions, since the glory days of Cade McNown and all that.  But I'm going to Arizona next week, and Oregon State after that, and in my own little way I am going to let these players and coaches know that I have their back even after losing three in a row.

I still hope for good things from this team, and I don't mean 6 and 6, but whatever happens I applaud their effort, their talent.  I appreciate they are laying it out on the field every time they put on that fabulous UCLA blue and gold uniform.

I do have some observations about our offense and defense and strategy.  If you want to hear it, read on.  But whatever you do, please stop throwing these players under the bus.

Continue reading this post »

I think the most amazing thing about today's loss is how close we came to staying in a game in which we made some terrible mistakes.  I mean, for crying out loud, we gave up a 100 yard touchdown on the second half kickoff, a gimme touchdown on an interception on our very next series [for two touchdowns in 26 seconds] and fumbled the ball away at midfield the next series to set up Oregon's one and only touchdown against our defense.  [Less than 4 minutes into the second half.] This does not count our failure to score from the one yard line on two successive plays in the first half.  [More on this later]  That's a 28 point spread right there.  The game could not be more gift-wrapped to the other team.  Yet our players never quit and actually made a game of it until the last freaky interception off a bobbles pass.

This is the Good thing to remember from this game.  I truly believe our players were equal to the talent level of Oregon, maybe even better.  The caliber of our players, I believe, is truly excellent overall.  Yes, we can quibble about the quality of certain segments of our squad.  We have issues everywhere.  All teams do.  That's not what i'm talking about.  I'm talking about overall talent and team speed.  We are more than competitive there and it showed today, despite our loss. 

So what's the Bad and the Ugly that are contributing to our losses?  Here's my take

Continue reading this post »

I was at the game and saw the whole turkey unfold. These are my observations, for what it’s worth.

The Defense: The word undisciplined comes to mind, despite flashes of brilliance. We have talent. You can see it. I mean NFL quality talent with Price and Carter and Verner, three layers deep. Price absolutely destroyed his blocker at times. Carter and Bosworth, not sure which one, made some huge hits. Verner came oh so close to a big interception.

BUT, the penalties, egads, and the missed assignments, the loss of containment, the sloppy tackling and the failure to ever make an adjustment to Stanford’s simple unbalanced line (I think designed to foil Price) were maddening. (Was that huge unbalanced line a throwback to single wing power football?) And how do you lose on a fricking flea flicker? Unbelievable. And how much time did Luck have to throw the ball? Yikes. I think back to the drawing boards fellahs. Who do I blame for these problems? While the kids must execute, it’s the coaches who are responsible for teaching the fundamentals, the containment, the assignments. The coaches, people.

The offense: I watched the line play with my binoculars the whole game. Our line was awesome. Our running backs were awesome. Franklin and Thigpen, especially. Question: Why was Thigpen saved for the late 4th quarter? He is amazing. Speed kills. He has it, plenty of it. IMO, Stanford NEVER STOPPED OUR RUNNING GAME. WE STOPPED IT, THAT IS, THE COACHES. I MEAN IT.

This is why we keep getting field goals. This is why Craft was killed in crunch time. Yes, I know the clock is running, but Thigpen was making huge yardage. A toss to him and a run out of bounds is as good as a pass play, especially when Stanford is blitzing Craft like crazy. I am so tired of getting down inside the twenty and then WE STOP RUNNING AND THROW WEAK ASS PASSES ON A SHORT, CROWDED FIELD AND WE HAVE TO SETTLE FOR A FIELD GOAL.

As bad as we played, Stanford won because they score touchdowns not field goals when they get in the red zone. How? They run the damn ball. That’s how. We run the ball great between the twenties and then we stop and play “finesse” football after our line has blown the defense off the ball for fifty yards. I am tired of weak ass, finesse football in the red zone. We scored only because Franklin, in a run, bumped it to the outside on short yardage. He and our other running backs can do that all day IF WE RUN THE BALL IN FOUR DOWN TERRITORY. Am I missing something?

We can win with our cheap, short passing game if we would just run the damn ball in the red zone. At least make the other team stop our run before we stop it ourselves, please, people!

As for our passing game, I am not an expert, but OMG I think on 90% of our plays Stanford was playing one wideout one on one. I mean ALL DAY. AND WE NEVER TOOK ADVANTAGE to go downfield or into the end zone. We never took advantage of our bigger, taller wide outs to go downfield. Never that I can remember. Well, maybe once. I understand that Craft seems incapable of going to a second receiver, but he rarely even looked to these one on ones as his first choice from what I could see. And the one on one mismatch was there almost every play.

I don’t blame Craft. He played an excellent game overall considering his well-recognized limitations. But the coaches put the whole game on him in the end, and Stanford knew it, and they got to him when it counted, finally. Maybe when Prince comes back he can take advantage. I sure hope so.

To our credit, the defense finally sucked it up, but too late. Stanford was set to get 5 to 600 yards entering the 4th quarter, and our D shut them down, and they barely made another 25. To our credit, our offense, which was finally opened up late again, nearly pulled it out.

But a weak-assed finesse offense in the red zone and undisciplined defenses are difficult problems to overcome, especially against a good team like Stanford. Stanford played as a team. They executed as a team. They play power, power, power in the red zone, not between the twenties (remember their one other long pass that set them up?), but in the red zone. I’m not sure they are more talented than we are, really. But they’re coaches out-coached our coaches, pure and simple. It was no contest. In short, gulp, I think our coaches are making the game too complicated. (Remember that trick “wildcat” play we called that screwed up an initial drive early in the game? Yikes.)

MORAL: RICKY AND CHOW AND CHUCK HAVE SOME ‘SPLAININ TO DO. Our players almost pulled out a game they played badly in, but their overall bad playing, IMO, is the coaches’ fault. We need to play more power football in the red zone and more fundamental ball on defense. It’s the coaching, stupid. Will they man up to it?

GO BRUINS.

PS. YES. The officiating was horrible, but I can’t say that’s why we lost the game. The flea flicker was really the dagger. No excuse for that crap to beat us. Other than that, we actually played them pretty even, despite our many problems. This ship can be righted, if the coaches just make these adjustments. Pleaaassseeee! We can still have a great season, people. DO NOT GIVE UP OR THROW IN THE TOWEL. WE LOST TO A VERY GOOD TEAM ON THE ROAD. IT HAPPENS.

Beat Cal and Oregon, yes, finesse, spread Oregon and we will be fine. Stanford will lose at least one road game in the Pac 10. Count on it.

Bumped. Just a fantastic story around UCLA best road win since 2001. GO BRUINS. -N

One thing I want to make clear.  Without a doubt the people and fans of Tennessee, from Nashville to Knoxville, are the most passionate, polite and kind fans I have ever met.  Whether on the street or in hotels or at bars or restaurants, wherever, when almost any local saw me or my family in Bruin regalia they were uniformly kind, gracious, hospitable yet unbelievably passionate about their team, especially so after their loss. 

In fact, after they were going down to defeat and one Tennessee fan cussed UCLA, the crowd around him hushed him and a young mother holding her child next to my wife apologized for his behavior.  We were right smack dab in the middle of hundreds of Tennessee fans:

Tennessee fans were knowledgeable, passionate and tolerant of my equal screaming on behalf of our team during the most heated moments of the game.  We could learn a lot from these fans.  In fact, some of them mentioned how well they were treated by Bruin fans over the years in their trips to the Rose Bowl to play us.

Nashville was a blast.  The honky-tonk bars were fun, cheap and the musicians are fantastic playing everything from country to Bluegrass to Rock and roll hours on end.  Some of the performers were phenomenal including the BB King All Stars at his club on 2d Avenue.

If you want to hear all about the Knoxville experience and Neyland Stadium, read on.

Continue reading this post »

Bumping this back up so folks can use the threads here as an organizing tool for Bruins congregating in Tennessee. GO BRUINS. -N

Not sure where to put his with the new format, but here goes.

As Coach Neuheisel suggested after the game, I am lucky enough to be going to Knoxville this weekend with my family for the once in a lifetime opportunity to put some blue into that sea of orange at Neyland stadium.

I am ready and raring to go see the Bruins kick some Volunteer butt in their home turf, but I don't know the schedule for any events set for those traveling there to share all the fun together before, during and after the game.

Does anyone out there have the details about this stuff?  Please let me know.

I know I will be sick of hearing Rocky Top all day, but I hope when I come home that every time I hear it I'll have a big smile on my face.

GO BRUINS!  LET'S SHAKE DOWN ROCKY TOP!

I am happy for Kevin Love and his future in the NBA.  No criticism or regrets about his effort, spirit or personal contributions.  He was great in every way, but the whole concept of these one and doners leaves a sour taste in my mouth even though K Love's situation was the best possible good example of a one and doner.  He was classy in every way.

But is this what we want as our program, UCLA?  Just keep reloading fantastic one and doners and say, wow, what a great college we have when in fact we're really just a revolving door, minor league player development league for the NBA?

I mean, how many classes does a one and doner have to take before he moves on the pros?  Two quarters worth, maybe?  How many units is that?  20% of what's needed to graduate?  A guy's on campus barely 7 months and he's a "UCLA" legend?  I don't know.

I just don't like it.  To me, it takes the student out of student athlete.  These guys are just marking time, going through the motions.  Yeah, I'm gonna finish my degree.  Of course, I'm gonna make a few million dollars before I get around to doing it, and yeah, I have over three years of classes to take, part time, and I haven't even picked a major yet, but yeah, I'm gonna do that.  Sometime.  Someday.  Really.

Star Trek teaches us that just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do something.  Look what is happening to our "team" and with it the team concept.  

Two players are already gone, two more are on the verge and our only salvation is that we hope our new recruits will be so good we can just reload, throw UCLA on ther shirts, and we have another UCLA "team."  Of course, if they're really good enough to take us back to the Final Four next year they'll all probably be one and done, too.  And we can recruit more "UCLA" one and doners.  Great, right?

And then we can hang a banner high, number 12, that says UCLA for sure, and say we're Number 1, but of what?  Something we still call "college" basketball  when our players don't even stay long enough to get an AA degree?

Funny, in this last tournament, Western Kentucky and Drake and Xavier and all those other mid majors reminded me a lot more of the old John Wooden teams I worshipped than any team that just relies on some big one and doner.  And I don't think the Pyramid of Success includes cutting corners, recruiting hot shot one and doners, and doing whatever it takes to get to the pinnacle.

I remember something about success being the self-satisfaction of knowing you've done your best, as a team and as a person, and not just winning at all costs.  

Call me old fashioned.  Some will call me naive.  College sports is Big Business.  Fine, but the emphasis should still be more on college than money, right?  Can't we win with men that really want a degree?  Or even more important, wouldn't we be prouder if we had teams that really were teams and not just a short stop for some guy on the way to his "one and doner's" road to personal riches and fame?

Can BH or any college coach only win the big one by sacrificing the school's integrity?  We can only win it all with lottery picks?  If so, I'd rather not, thank you.

Just food for thought.

Go Bruins!