Comments on Bruin Basketball Report | UCLA Bruins Basketball: Bruin Recruiting: Prep News Roundup (11/15)

BH let these guys go to the Rose Bowl to watch USC...

2010-12-08T11:09:45.000-08:00

BH let these guys go to the Rose Bowl to watch USC rip apart the football team on Saturday instead of practicing (Unvbelievable; how irresponsonsible); then gave them Monday and Tuesday off (for their great showing against Montana.
Montana players are stating that the Bruins were pointing fingers and jawing at each other out of frustration. Would not have thought too much about that statement, but Howland made it a point to say; "these guys like each other." Why state that unless there was some discontent?
Howland failed to prepare them for this game against Montana and it should cost him his job at the end of the year. Unfortunately, it's not going to happen; who would want to coach these guys?
This team is in disarray; BH had the perfect opportunity to build on what they did in Kansas; instead, he is looking at a team that is below .500 and it's going to get much worse.
All is not well in Westwood and there is something amiss. I don't think the old boy can relate to these kids or vice versa.
Let's see what happens in their next game; these guys are not mentally tough at all; they are a symbol of their coach right now; and he better right this ship before it gets run aground.
Anderson better not see the court and Lee, Honeycutt and Nelsen better play with a chip on their shoulder.
Smith is not in any shape to play at this level; he is 50 pounds away from whee he should be. It's a shame .. kid seems like a winner but he let himself go to Taco Bell far too many nights.
Lee might go to point guard again if Jones doesn't produce; but it's the bigs that have been disappointing. Come on Reeves... get mad and deck someone coming through the lane. Smith, play like an All American and Tyler, use your quickness against your opponents.
Oh yeah ... BH, you will be seeing Zone again tjis year. Don't let it bite you yet again.
Don't use that crap about preparing these guys for the NBA and thus playing man to man. Not one dude could play in the NBA.

Swami:
You are a trip.
This year will be eve...

2010-12-06T21:31:15.000-08:00

Swami:
You are a trip.
This year will be even more unbearable to take because they have some talent, but are simply not utilizing it.
BH's half court defense has his bigs come up and hedge and they are simply mot quick on their feet and get called for fouls.
He has length in TH, Stover, Lane. Smith who should be trapping down on the baseline.
They can't play against a zone; they dont have the shooters except for Honeycutt and he played the game of his life in Kansas and he won't do it again. Smith and Nelsen should be dominating inside but gurads don't know about passing angles and bigs don't seal off defenders well. This is all fundemtal stuff that coaches are paid to teach. They don't do it in practice... they won't do it in a game.
Ironies for this program:
Infraction laden USC is better off than UCLA
Renovating Pauley -- no one will fill the seats there either.
Slick hair Lavin is stealing kids right from BH's backyard and also getting NYC kids to St. John's.
Pitt caretaker (J. Dixon) has his team in top 3 in the nation.
Even beating BYU will not get them into NCAA dance.
We could be looking at another sub .500 season and if that happens, BH has got to go and we need a guy like they have up in Gonzaga; young, great recruiter, kids know their roles and play with heart. Guys that can recruit top level kids. Love was the last great recruiot we had.
Nothing more to add ... it's the same story, different season.
Time for AD DG to look in the mirror and punch out as well. This once proud athletic program is quickly becoming the laughing stock of the nation. Recruits will head for Nike Town up in Oregeon, go to a winner like UW (also led by a former Bruin who recruits better talent), Washington State, USC, UA, Stanford, Cal, will all be ahead of the Bruins when all is said and done.
Wear Twins? They might be regretting leaving UNC and a great coach to play intramural level ball at Westwood.
No matter what they do; unless they win PAC 10 tournament; they are done this year.
No pride ... this was a season dedicated to the great JW. Shameful!

Hold that crow, Jammer. We may both have to eat s...

2010-12-06T04:13:57.000-08:00

Hold that crow, Jammer. We may both have to eat some crow this up and down season.

Not eating any crow Swami.
They just lost to Mo...

2010-12-05T23:41:29.000-08:00

Not eating any crow Swami.
They just lost to Montana.
Is Anderson this year's version of Howland's love child (aka Drags from last year).
He has no zone offense in his playbook and teams with less athleticism will play zone against these guys.
They are a joke.
How do you not build from that game against Kansas? Howland went whining to NCAA ... he should have been coaching and preparing for Montana instead.
"Ben ... it was a foul, get over it!"

I've said we r an NIT teram all yr long...anyb...

2010-12-05T15:06:30.000-08:00

I've said we r an NIT teram all yr long...anybody wanna talk sh**?
down by 15 to Montana w/ 6 min left? U frickin kidding me..watchin the gm on tv....hmmmmnm..... nobody is there...
My letter:
Dear Coach Howland drop Anderson, Stover, Lane and Carlino asap as they r not Div 1 UCLA basketball material..u received wrong info. U need to wake up and recruit for after the Wear twins leave...those guys will not save the program..."Caretaker my ass"
Bruin Nation: We r fuc^&* for the next 2 yrs at least....the Wear twins who had no competition in the OC will not salvage this program....
I will check back in 2013, but Coach BH has better start recruiting now....
Step up and talk sh** to my face on here....I welcome it.... we SUCK

9 for 38.
With two minutes left in what's a...

2010-12-05T13:00:06.000-08:00

9 for 38.
With two minutes left in what's about to be a home loss to Montana, the combination of Lee, Honeycutt, Nelson and Smith are 9 for 38 from the field. The only player who shot 50% or better was Lamb (2-2). Wow. When you shoot 28% and the opponent shoots 51%, you're probably not going to win very often.

How can you have such much supposed talent and yet...

2010-12-05T12:58:26.000-08:00

How can you have such much supposed talent and yet be so pathetic against nothing programs...looks good on paper, but have no interior defense, and no shot discipline....

I know Neuheisal is an Alumni, but I don't lik...

2010-12-05T05:59:43.000-08:00

I know Neuheisal is an Alumni, but I don't like him. He's shady.

Basketball gets a "W" tonight.
Fire t...

2010-12-05T04:44:09.000-08:00

Basketball gets a "W" tonight.
Fire the entire football coaching staff but keep Chow on until after the first game then fire him...we gotta get that Hundley kid to come to our school...I'll say a prayer at church

Two guys can play in the NBA now: Honeycutt and S...

2010-12-04T11:52:18.000-08:00

Two guys can play in the NBA now: Honeycutt and Smith. They need to step up to the leadership role and be the go to guy (that means 20 ppg, 10 rpg). Solidifying their roles is crucial to developing the roles of the other players on the team. Of course both would be smart to stay a couple more years to increase their draft value.

Three points:
1) I remain very optimistic. This...

2010-12-03T11:25:15.000-08:00

Three points:
1) I remain very optimistic. This is a talented and deep team. But more importantly, they are balanced and have a foundation upon which they can build. No wasting time this year with a zone or disgruntled players. I think we will see big growth spurts, especially when the team has lots of donwtime for practice and film (like before the Kansas game).
2) This team is just starting to develop confidence. I think we saw it for the first time in the second half against Kansas. Sort of like Neo in that first Matrix movie.
3) Don't expect Nelson or anyone else to be "on" every night. Jet lag and other things (strange hotel rooms), effect these kids a lot. And even Kobe just has off nights.....even in the playoffs.

Good job boys. It shows how impt it is to have Sm...

2010-12-03T05:02:25.000-08:00

Good job boys. It shows how impt it is to have Smith on the floor. Anderson - how many turnovers at crucial times did he have? Geeez...Are we minus 20 when he is on the floor...Come on Coach!

Jammer: I am so glad to see you eating some crow....

2010-12-02T23:46:25.000-08:00

Jammer: I am so glad to see you eating some crow. Kudos for that. Way to man up. And will everyone stop dissing Smith, Lane and Stover too. Make that Lamb too. Give them all some time. Lee is a bit of another story, because he is a junior now and should be more consistent. Gotta say I was a bit disappointed with Reeves last night; he makes great plays but also too many mistakes.

That was the best game the Bruins have played. The...

2010-12-02T14:40:09.000-08:00

That was the best game the Bruins have played. They were a completely different team than the one that played in the NIT. You have to agree that if they played in NYC as they played tonight, they would be 5-1 and in the top 25.
Please read carefully... I never said they were bad, I stated the obvious that up to the Kansas game they looked mediocre at best.
Howland wanted this one badly and he was close against a very good team.
I know some of you will be calling me out for my "about face".
They are still a long way away from being a NCAA bound team. Why?
The committe looks at quality wins and they don't have one yet and only BYU and Washington are currently ranked. Unless they have a stellar conference play (winning 80% of their games) and beat BYU, they will not be getting in.
The three losses thus far will come back to haunt them.
Honeycutt was terrific; as was Smith. Howland aobviously had them work hard all week and it showed.
They have heart ... if they can get something from the 3 L's (Lee, Lamb and Lane), they will be fine.
I'm so proud to be a Bruin today. This team has not played a game like this for over 3 years.
They are still only 7-8 deep... thus the slight on their recruiting. Can't deny it. Lamb, Lee, Anderson have all been disappointing thus far. If Lee could have helped out TH tonight we would have won.
Well done boys!

Sorry -- typo: (crap foul call with BOTH guys goi...

2010-12-02T13:12:47.000-08:00

Sorry -- typo: (crap foul call with BOTH guys going for the ball, not committed when Kansas had control),

Jammer, I am going to call you out because you see...

2010-12-02T13:11:46.000-08:00

Jammer, I am going to call you out because you seem to be the most outspoken about how bad this team is...this program is...the coaching is...the recruiting is. You said Smith would be a boy playing among men in the Kansas game. Well, that boy chalked up 17 and 13. And while the Bruins suffered an "L" (crap foul call with boy guys going for the ball, not committed when Kansas had control), this team again proved it has heart and won't quit. They've played catch-up in all their losses, but they're on the brink of great things. You have to feel all these guys are feeling good about going into #4's gym, facing that streak of 60+ wins, coming back from 6 down with a couple minutes left and being right there. It's frustrating that they couldn't experience a memorable win. I wanted to see BH get this as well. He had them ready to play.

Keep Lamb, clear 4 more roster spots...
No insi...

2010-11-29T07:01:23.000-08:00

Keep Lamb, clear 4 more roster spots...
No inside O
No inside D
NIT is my chant all year...Lord, I hope
I am wrong...

We are averaging 16 turnovers a game and so far af...

2010-11-29T04:16:05.000-08:00

We are averaging 16 turnovers a game and so far after 5 games, Honeycutt has committed 30% of those. Jones is not far behind. If we are going to rely on certain individuals to get us thru by receiving a lot of touches and/or controlling the ball up the court, it is crucial the turnovers are reduced drastically. As much as I like Tyler, he needs to really work on that area. Enough fancy passes or trying to thread the needle too hard.
And I have said this before, if we don't have guards who can D-up, it will kill our bigs by forcing them to be out of position to foul good penetrating guards!

Finally, someone who sees things as they truly are...

2010-11-29T02:22:32.000-08:00

Finally, someone who sees things as they truly are. Thank you!
The entire UCLA athletic program is in the dumps and we simply don't recruit well in the major sports.
Hopefully the new renovations and some wins will make these kids want to come to Westwood.
It will be a real test of character against Kansas. They simply have a lot of talented and unselfish players as well as a terrific coach. They have a nice blend of youngsters and upper classmen. UCLA does not have any of the above right now; it will get better come PAC 10 conference play if they all play team basketball and make the extra pass; take a charge, rotate well and run out to defend the 3 point line.
Offensively, they will need to rely on Nelsen, Honeycutt, Jones and Lee. Smith is not ready right now. Weight and conditioning are an issue. He is a boy playing among men and that will clearly be seen against the Jayhawks who simply don't beat themselves.
Our guys have some complimentary skills that if allowed to work within a system that Howland needs to commit to, will pay dividends.
I wish people would stop thinking that Freshman will take them to the promised land. Take a look at what UConn is doing and look at their point guard; same holds true for Michigan State and Duke. They are led by seniors. The Baby Bruins just have to cut their teeth for another year and stick around. Then they will get some well deserved attention.
Howland has too many "below average" players on scholarship. Stover, Anderson, Lane, Lamb, Carlino -- none of these guys are D 1 players. That's four scholarships that are not available. Recruiting and long term planning is lacking of the court and fundementally sound skills is lacking on the court. They need to fix both of these quickly.
Let's hope AD DG will see that athletics at UCLA are resting on past achievements and the current state of the program is a mess. Just beacuse we share the same city with the big cheats "downtown" has diffused some of the problems that are clearly residing in uptown Westwood.

Whoever is recruiting for UCLA needs to be fired. ...

2010-11-28T21:59:09.000-08:00

Whoever is recruiting for UCLA needs to be fired. I see we have good players, but there is something weird about the chemistry of players. There is no mix of older players and younger players for year to year transition. It's like a big mess of okay players year in and year out.

I think everyone here has some valid points about ...

2010-11-28T07:04:25.000-08:00

I think everyone here has some valid points about the Bruins team and I do agree with some of the things Jammer said. Being critical in a constructive way is fine and doesnt make you any less of a fan. As a matter of fact, true fans just like true friends are often the most critical of us, but the important thing is that they stay supportive.
While Villanova was better than us, I am not that impressed at their team either as while we played so poorly, we still had a good chance of winning it. I was not surprised Tennessee beat them badly.
Anyhow I do like that our team as a whole are improving compared to last year yet there are tons of thing that are in need of improvement. Things like what i posted previously as well as what Jammer and some other folks said. The blessing in all of this may be the fact that we will get another year or two of the same group of players which hopefully will be much better with more time.
UCLA basketball and even the entire sports has been on a decline in the last few years. Our basketball especially has been living on the past. We keep talking about all the championships, wooden, and all that but the fact is that is wayyy back. In the last 35 years, we got 1 championship and two or was it three finals.
Coach Ben did a great job in those 3 final four runs which were really unforseen by anyone really but we certainly appreciate it. I forgot who said earlier that our continual excuse of these last two years of players leaving early and youth is used too often. Right now as much as it hurts to admit, we arent at the calibur of the UNC, Duke, and a few other schools.
Many top school have players leaving early, that is part of the management part that will see it happen. While that is uncontrollable, recruiting is and this is where we have been hurting. We need to do a better job at this.
I am sure things will turn around at UCLA because we have to! It will be interesting to see our recruiting in the class of 2012 since we will have 4-5 scholarships?
In either case, I cheer for the guys we have currently and hope we can get better results for the recruits in the future.

What a lost yesterday to see a great recruit that ...

2010-11-28T05:26:50.000-08:00

What a lost yesterday to see a great recruit that lives a few miles down from me and in southern cal commit to Arizona. Yes even though there was an Arizona connection by his coaches, I was certainly hoping we can land Grant Jerret but it wasnt so...
Last year I was so high on Terrence Jones and felt he was much superior to Leslie even when CJ Leslie was ranked higher and we didnt get him, and now we didnt get Jerret either.... *sigh* Sorry folks just venting some frustration here.
Good thing it was good times with family and friends this weekend or it was a tough week seeing our football and basketball got crushed...
Hope all had a great Thanksgiving...

My posts will be simple this yr as a long time pos...

2010-11-28T04:01:54.000-08:00

My posts will be simple this yr as a long time poster...
NIT this yr....
No inside offense
No inside defense
Stover, Anderson, Lane and Carlino need to transfer
WE ARE UCLA not the beavers from oregon st or the gamecocks from south carolina or the lame ducks of oregon

TB:
I am a diehard Bruin fan. Villanova has som...

2010-11-27T19:52:21.000-08:00

TB:
I am a diehard Bruin fan. Villanova has some great guards who will be playing at the next level very soon. They were outclassed on top.
Weakside help and rotation is not something you should be working on 5 games into the season. The Bruin guards need to funnel drivers into our big front line, but they are rotating too slowly and it will continue to be their weak point on defense. Howland does not have the bigs (Smith, Stover, Lane) that can hedge and then get back to defend the pick and roll, pick and pop a lot better.
If you watched Kansas against UA last night, you will see that things will get ugly for the Bruins by next week and they could be below .500 when PAC 10 play begins.
Granted, they played well at times, but they made too many mistakes and their shot selection was very suspect. They need to hold teams below 70 points if they are going to win; they are a much better offensive team and will score some points, but they have to stop the other team and defend the 3's a lot better.
They will get there as the season goes on, but they are NIT bound right now.

MS:
A quick word. If my postings are boring, do...

2010-11-27T19:40:55.000-08:00

MS:
A quick word. If my postings are boring, don't read them. If they hit on some truths you Bruin slappies simply don't want to admit, then the fault lies with you.
Showing heart and not folding ... yes, let's rest our NCAA hopes on moral victories. Give me a break!
They had a chance to get two quality victories on a national stage and never led in either game for a second. They weren't supposed to beat Villanova, but could have with some better defense. They faught hard against VCU, but didn't rotate well to defend the three point shot and their power forward had a great game. They need to upset Kansas and BYU and win the PAC 10 Tournament to get to the March dance.
They are a much better team than last year ... are these the kind of statements that are going to get you through another sub par year?
The team is young, prone to mistakes, and will get better. But it will not happen for them this year. Their collective IQ is simply not there yet.
Smith is a liability; he gets beaten on pick and rolls, is prone to stupid fouls and has not made a shot outside of 8 feet all year. Honeycutt is a scorer and should quit acting as a point guard. Jones is the only true point guard on this team, but he seems to be a tad slow to keep up with quicker guards. Lane showed some promising skills. Nelsen needs to make this his team, but he is getting very little help. Lamb ...is this year's bust (so far); he can't make any open jumper.
On the plus side, they have a lot of fight and heart and Lee was impressive against VCU.
Why Bruin fans get upset when they read the truth is simply a mystery to me.
Howland needs to make these guys accountable. They are npot going to win by giving up 89 points. That is simply not a Ben Howland team. He will be the firts one to admit it.
It's time you admitted some glaring facts about this year's squad.
Better than last year? Yes
A team with some upside? Yes
A team that plays with heart? At times
A team that is capable of beating anyone in the top 25? Not right now.
A team with an unreliable backcourt? It will get there ... in one more year with Jones and Lee as seniors and if Powell is as good as advertised.
Read what the experts are saying about this team. They are not readt for Prime Time right now. Give it another year and hope RN, ML, JS, TH, LJ, all stick around and don't have allusions of grandeur like you do.