tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14355391.post2468167355201131517..comments2011-11-06T20:05:45.453-08:00BBRnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14355391.post-5923835602921167842010-10-19T09:35:07.000-07:002010-10-19T09:35:07.000-07:00The positive vibes are back again. Every final 8 team needs a steady point guard. If Jones can contribute right out of the gate it and the bigs fill the lanes, the Bruins will be back in the middle of the pack again.<br>Anderson is still on the team and Lee is not a shooter, the frosh sharp shooters wil need to come in and not be shy.<br>Drags is gone ... that raises the collective IQ by 100.<br>If they can go 9-10 deep, run when they can and deliver the ball to Smith and Nelsen in the halfcourt they will be fine.<br>They will get a lot of Zone Defense and coach better have ways to penetrate the zone or have stellar shooters. Roll will be missed.<br>Coach has stated that he will not play as much zone this year. Let&#39;s hope the boys can man up and play hard on the glass and on the perimeter. Lee has always been a great on the ball defender and will make it tough for the opposing team playmaker.<br>It will be interesting, but they are still ver young and the twin tower twins will give them what they need a year from now.<br>Avoid the injury bug and brutal non conference losses and they will be okay. They will be .500 in the Pac 10 if all goes well.Jammernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14355391.post-43271116775872248412010-10-14T15:21:04.000-07:002010-10-14T15:21:04.000-07:00Will big Josh leave room for Reeves in the paint? The irresistible force meets the immovable object? I am betting Coach makes it work.Bruin66noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14355391.post-5128177744997209092010-10-13T12:29:30.001-07:002010-10-13T12:29:30.001-07:00DB: Really excellent post. Fair, balanced, and true.Robnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14355391.post-46358718724717824802010-10-13T12:29:30.000-07:002010-10-13T12:29:30.000-07:00Yes Josh Smith will be important right off the bat as we do not have a true big man on the roster. He doesnt have to be a huge scoring machine but just somewhere around 10 pts and 9 rebound per game will be solid. More importantly is how he can influence the middle of the paint.<br>If he can come in and do that, including a healthy R Nelson as well as Honeycutt, our front line will be pretty solid. I can see that all three of those guys average over 10 per game and a combine rebound of 25 or so. The toughest question is really our PG position as well as Lee. We do have enough guards on the team but someone will have to step up and take control.<br>Lee just needs to be a consistent SG and a solid Lamb will help lots. I dont know if LEE can be SG at the next level, but if our pg struggles, i wouldnt be surprised to see Lee at pg and Lamb at sg.<br>Someone on the team is going to have to be a solid shooter and a consistent one.DBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14355391.post-21846673478392560342010-10-13T10:48:02.000-07:002010-10-13T10:48:02.000-07:00I hope so. I agree he is a very solid coach and extremely strict with the players. I like that, but I do agree it is going to have to start running some more and showing that athlete&#39;s can really showcase their abilities with his program. It will be interesting to see how he does this year, because we had no early draft guys and this would be a perfect example of building a team without one an dones, but with people maybe a little less talented but wanted to remain in a program. Should be interesting and I sincerely hope Josh Smith gets off his ass and has an incredible freshman year. Keeping my fingers crossed.NorCal Bruinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14355391.post-45338096236417011172010-10-12T12:07:31.000-07:002010-10-12T12:07:31.000-07:00If Coach allows the players to run, this will happen here as well. Coach Ben is a very good coach and I understand that he wants to play hard nose basketball which is fine, but at the end of the day, you still have to score to win. If you see the last 10 years of champions, most have won with high scoring.<br>You cannot go by how good a team&#39;s defense is strictly by how much points they allow. It also depends on their offensive game plan. If a team prefers to run, it will choose to give up some baskets and goat the other team into a shootout where a more talented team usually wins. I mean what is the point of holding teams to 50ish points per game if you also score only about that much.<br>Defense takes a willing heart and an active body, but great offense takes more talent which is harder to get. I think Coach at his previous jobs had to rely on grinding it out basketball because those schools had a harder time getting better talent players so to make up for it, you slow things down.<br>When you got talent, let them loose. Let us face it, both Darren Collison and Westbrook became much better players in NBA than we thought they would. Point is, they could have done it in college but was held back more.<br>Coach Ben is great and I know he is use to his style, but at UCLA, we can get the Mustangs but we do have to let them run.<br>Arizona, Duke, UNC, UConn, Kentucky, Kansas, Texas all prefer the faster game and hence, they get the Mustangs more. All types of players love to play with great point guards as it pads their stats more easily. Likely or not, players love more offensive games just like fans do.<br>I trust Coach can and will adjust as he is a smart guy.DBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14355391.post-21183850216752306522010-10-12T08:21:34.000-07:002010-10-12T08:21:34.000-07:00Wish we had that same type of influence on a kid.NorCal Bruinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14355391.post-88410296179576654542010-10-12T05:16:01.000-07:002010-10-12T05:16:01.000-07:00From Scouts.com regard Quinn Cook:<br>&quot;I’m definitely deciding in the fall,” Cook told Scout.com. I’m going to sign in November.”<br>&quot;Coach K is a great coach,” Cook said. I just learned so much just from having a phone conversation with him. He said he doesn’t really go out and recruit people unless he really wants him and you have to be a special player.”<br>Take it for what it&#39;s worth.BB fannoreply@blogger.com