SB Nation User Blog: waters96

Read it and Weep. KLove announces he's gone.

waters96 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 21:06:35 -0000

LOS ANGELES -- UCLA's Kevin Love is NBA-bound.

"The All-American freshman announced Thursday that he'll skip his final three college seasons and enter the NBA draft.

Love led the Bruins in scoring (17.5 points) and rebounds (10.6) on the way to a 35-win season and a trip to the Final Four, where UCLA lost to Memphis.

Scouts have projected Love to be a top-10 pick in the June 26 draft, according to his coach Ben Howland.

Love made the announcement at a campus news conference Thursday afternoon, joined by Howland and Love's father, Stan Love."

We all knew this was coming. But now that it's here, I can't help but admit that I wonder what could have been if he stayed one more year. Anyway, let's hope that the nuclear option does not take place.

KL and UCLA - An Appreciation (1964-2008)

waters96 — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:44:37 -0000

UPDATE:Bumped in honor of our AP First Team All American Kevin Love (HT to jjreicher). Congratulations to Kevin and to Darren Collison, who was also named as an All American today. I am sure we will have more on these two warriors later. But for now let's take a moment to appreciate what we have. Let me just echo the line in this epic post, "My favorite (Bruin) team is always the one that is playing now." GO BRUINS. -N

When I was ten, my mom said lights out, so I took out my transistor radio, my earphones, and turned on 710 KMPC, looking for the Angels game. Instead, I got Fred Hessler calling a UCLA Bruins game. The names were new to me - Walt Hazzard, Gail Goodrich, Jack Hirsch, Fred Slaughter, etc., but I was hooked.

Later, when Pauley opened, my uncle, who had charter season tickets took me to my first game. The first time I laid eyes on Pauley, I thought it was the most beautiful place in the world. And that wasn't even the good part. I went inside and there it was - the student section, the cheerleaders, Coach Wooden, and the players in their Bruins uniforms. I think that was the year a freshman named Lew Alcindor lead his frosh team to a victory over the varsity, the two time defending NCAA champions.

Which brings me to my subject today - Kevin Love and the 2008 UCLA Bruins.

This morning I read a pretty good story on the WWL about Kevin Love

Last night, the game was so exhilarating, I couldn't watch it anymore. I actually went upstairs, turned on the computer, and "watched" the game on Bruins Nation. After it was over, I went back downstairs and watched the recording in peace.

But it got me thinking about the Bruins - my favorite teams, my favorite players. There is such a rich history from which to chose. After thinking about it all night, I finally came to a conclusion. My favorite team is always the one that is playing now. That's right kids. Those of you who never got to see Lew Alcindor or Bill Walton - it's too bad on one level, but on a more important level, it doesn't really matter. Because while the history of our great program is important, we're making history today. As Bill Walton said earlier this year, "order has been restored to the universe." UCLA greatness is back. There's a reason all the old players come back to Pauley - because they still want to be a part of it.

And then I thought about Kevin Love. Don't get me wrong, I love all of our players, but Kevin Love is a once in a generation type of player. I don't need to tell anybody who watched yesterday's game what he did - suffice it to say, he just took over. Not in a Kobe "give me the ball and watch me win it for you way" but in a much more subtle and far greater way. You could tell it by the look in his eyes and his body language which screamed out, "there is no way I'm going to let us lose. But you're all going to be part of it." And then it happened - the passing, the rebounds, the blocks, the scores. And the rest of the team (or enough of them stepped up to pull it out for us).

The sad thing about collegiate hoops today is that for the great ones, it's one and done. Back in the old school days, the players sat out their frosh year, but we knew we had them for three more. So, even though we know Kevin, we'll never really get to know him. Like Big Red, or all the others.

But the good news is that you're now a part of our history. And forty years from now, you can tell your children or your grandchildren, or the newbies posting on BN, that when you were young, you saw Kevin Love, and tell them about what a magnificent player he was and how great the '08 Bruins were. And that's true whether we win or lose.

Good luck to us all in the last three games (I'm an optimist) of the Kevin Love era.

Update [2008-3-30 11:43:2 by waters96]: Now there's only two games left in the Kevin Love era. And don't you think he should be getting a little more consideration for POY.

Kevin Love to be on Jim Rome Show 11 am PST

waters96 — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 17:37:11 -0000

The Kevin Love victory parade takes to the national airwaves today...

Kevin Love is going to be interviewed on the nationally syndicated Jim Rome Show, sometime during its third hour, which is between 11 am and 12 noon, PST. I'm going to be interested to hear what he has to say. I know Rome isn't universally loved (sorry about the pun), but he's always been a big Ben Howland guy (Coach BH was on the show a couple of days ago) and he's had nothing but good things to say about KL. In BH's interview, BH implied that he didn't expect KL to stay beyond this year, and I expect that Rome will ask Kevin about his future plans.

I think it's very cool that KL is already getting national run. I still predict by the end of the year that Kevin will be a strong candidate for Player of the Year.

Trouble in Basketball Paradise? Upperclassmen jealous of Love?

waters96 — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:43:45 -0000

The Loose Canons of KLAC are reporting that the upperclassmen on the basketball team are unhappy that Kevin Love is getting all the credit for our success this year. I hope it's not true, and if so, Coach Howland must shut this down immediately...

I'm not sure if this is being brought up just to drive ratings, but they're reporting that some of the upperclassmen are upset that Love is getting all the credit for being the savior for a team that made two consecutive Final Four appearances. To make matters worse, they're stating that Love isn't getting touches as payback for that.

Obviously, this would be devastating to the program. I find it hard to believe that such a rift exists. The kids on our team don't seem to have that make-up and Howland certainly isn't the type to sit there passively and let it happen.

But if it is true, it's time for those players with a chip on their shoulder to grow up. Basketball is a team game, but it isn't a democracy. Like it or not, KL is the main guy on the team, and there's zero chance we win a championship without him. On top of that, he's a total team guy, unlike the freshman gangsta across town. His signature is his passing, and I don't believe he has any interest in padding stats or taking credit where credit isn't due.

Anyway, I don't think this is anything, but since I heard it, I thought I'd report it.

Go Bruins!

L.A. Times Poll. Which Rules - UCLA Basketball or SUC Football

waters96 — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 16:54:25 -0000

The Fishwrap is running a poll today, which I brought over here for some opinions. Right now, it's running 72% to 28% in favor of UCLA. I wonder what kind of unbiased results we'll get here. Vote here and then go over to the fishwrap website and vote there.

Of course, the poll as it appears in the fishwrap is biased toward SC listing it first, but even on the heels of all of SC's recent "success" Bruins basketball is the acknowledged standard in L.A. Petey's program is on the edge of extinction given the dubious moral quality of his players and his program, while BB takes the high road and recruits players of quality and is a quality person himself. It will be interesting to see if the Bruins maintain their comfortable margin over at the fishwrap. I would encourage everybody to go over there and vote themselves.

In my opinion, there greatness of UCLA basketball is entering its third era. Of course, we have the never to be matched record of Coach Wooden. 10 championships in 12 years and seven in a row speaks for itself. That record is more untouchable to Joe D's 56 game hitting streak or anything in sports.

The '95 championship represents a triumph of one group of great players getting together and winning a championship despite their coach.

And what we're witnessing now is the dawn of another 20 years of basketball greatness. It is so very exciting to see this happening again. I was a wee lad when I listened to the Bruins first championship on my transitor radio. I will enjoy watching the rest of them on my 50 inch plasma.

Go Bruins!

Poll

Today's L.A. Times poll. Which team has been more dominant in its history, USC football or UCLA basketball?

UCLA basketball. When USC's football team wins seven national championships in a row, then we can talk.

210 votes

USC football. UCLA had one great run, but the Trojans have been dominant across the decades in football.

15 votes

225 votes | Poll has closed