UCLA extended its season with a 73-69 upset of Arizona in the Pac-10 tournament’s opening quarterfinal Thursday afternoon at Staples Center.
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Poor Communication & Unhappy Players: Honeycutt’s Camp Fire Shots At Ben Howland
We have been hearing the rumor for few days now that both Malcolm Lee and Tyler Honeycutt are unhappy in Ben Howland's program and could potentially "test" the NBA waters. When we heard Lee's name mentioned we weren't surprised (but still disturbed which I will get into later). But when we heard that even a kid like Honeycutt is not happy with what is going on in Howland's program, we were ... well ... stunned.
It looks like there is a little more to those rumors at this point as the LA Times publishes a quote from Tyler's family saying he is also frustrated with Howland's offense:
"He has been frustrated," Stazel said. "He feels he can contribute more offensively. He would really like for Ben [Howland, UCLA's coach] to cut him loose a little more on offense."
As poncho mentioned that we have to be a little bit careful from these quotes because they are often results of reporters baiting interviewees into quotes that would fit into their pre-set narrative. In this case, the quote didn't come in a vacuum. The quote comes at a time we have already been used to criticisms at Howland's offense coming from his own recruited players' circles including JF, AA, KL, RW and LRMAM. Forget the criticisms we heard from primadonnas like Jrue Holiday and Drew Gordon. Before anyone dismisses this quote from Holiday, they should think why player after player coming out of UCLA have taken shots (either directly or through family) at Ben Howland's system.
To me there is a clear trend. People can be in denial over it but it is there. These players were not happy (in Honeycutt's case not happy right now) when they were playing for Howland and they were communicating that to their families. None of those players never came out and distanced themselves from those criticisms when they were published in the papers.
When we laid out what Howland needs to do to get this program back on track we wrote (emphasis added):
We also have to keep a very close eye on Honeycutt because for the health of this program, it is absolutely essential for Howland not to have just complete buy in from Tyler, but also making sure he is always connecting with him and keeping him inspired enough so that he comes back at least for his third season in Westwood. If Honeycutt high tails it out of Westwood after his second season, it will be a negative mark on Howland.
Doesn't look like Howland is off to a good start.
I don't blame Honeycutt for being frustrated. Not one bit. Howland's putrid offensive game plan this year which has been predicated upon stupid, dumb, possession destroying three point shots have been frustrating to everyone else. It wasn't just Honeycutt getting frustrated when we saw Howland kept coddling players who had no business being on the basketball court. So what is coming out from Honeycutt's camp is sad but can't say any of us on the front page are really surprised.
Meanwhile, if Malcolm Lee even considers "testing" the NBA waters, instead of blasting the kid we should probably start thinking about what are the other reasons why he is so anxious to get the hell out of Dodge. From rational perspective, Lee has no business even thinking about the NBA. He has been less than average at times this season. Yet here we are hearing strong rumors that he will likely try to make a quixotic attempt to get out of Howland's basketball cage.
I hope both Honeycutt and Lee come back. We need them both to have a very good season next year. For both of their long term career sake, another year in Westwood learning to play defense and fundamentals would be great for them. However, instead of blasting these kids for being spoiled, selfish brats (not everyone is bad apple ala Holiday or Gordon), we need to start thinking about the root of this disturbing trend of players unhappiness in Westwood. It is troubling and it is not limited to just today's kids being bunch of primadonnas on Hardwood.
Sure these kids need to appreciate the reality around him. However, there is also a matter of communicating with them effectively and guiding them through the process both with tough love with strong dose of positive reinforcement.
Right now I am not sure whether Ben Howland and his staff are effectively communicating with our student athletes (this has been an issue all season long). I find that deeply troubling. Something is clearly wrong with this program and it has to do lot more than bunch of kids acting like spoiled brats.
Communication is always a two street. Forget about a street. From what I have read and seen last two seasons, sometimes I wonder if there is even a rough path between Howland and his players (unless someone is from Serbia with two arrests, an ugly shooting touch, zero basketball IQ and incapable of playing defense). The lack of communication among this team has been apparent on the court all season and parsing together all the reports from this year it is not difficult to discern there hasn't been any effective communication going on off the court either.
Anyway, I guess there is a game today at 12:00 pm PST or something. Don't care much about it to read up on it. If you want to do a "gameday round up" on it, go right ahead. We will have a game thread up about half an hour before it. Whatever.
GO BRUINS.
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UCLA Basketball 2009-2010 Review: Bruins Season Mercifully Ends
After all the futility that the UCLA Bruins have gone through in basketball this season, the most positive thing that I can say about this hoops squad can be summed up in three words:
It is over.
Bruin fans will no longer have to suffer through games such as 20-point blowouts at the hands of Portland (of all people!), Washington, and USC.
They will no longer have to sit through humiliating losses such as Mississippi State and two local mid-major teams that are supposed to be glorified scrimmages and guaranteed wins each and every year: Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State.
And they will no longer have to endure such madness as players airballing free throws and putbacks, putting up brick houses with their jump shots, or having opponents create highlight reel dunks, which has all happened with Ben Howland's Bad News Bruins this year.
Not to mention a key post guy who was actually playing well, Drew Gordon, quitting the team and transferring to New Mexico amid much acrimony; would you believe he ended up fourth on the team in minutes and points (11.2) per game?
And he only played six games!
Quite a sad comment on the Bruins' efforts this season.
Having assured themselves of only their third losing season in 55 years, it would be easy to point fingers, assign blame, and single out scapegoats. It would be easy to make excuses, such as the fact that UCLA was rocked by the early departures of Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, and especially Jrue Holiday.
However, even though players such as Jerime Anderson and Malcolm Lee failed to pan out at point guard, and Nikola Dragovic was absolutely horrid at times, shooting only 38 percent for the season (I'm SO glad that senior's gone!), I won't put the blame of the Bruins' Charlie Brown-like woes solely on them.
Or anyone else, for that matter.
I must be honest: I felt that the season, for all intents and purposes, ended on Jan. 16 at Pauley Pavilion, when crosstown enemy USC scored their biggest win in their history over UCLA in that building, 67-46, in a game where the Bruins seemingly didn't even try, letting the Trojans run all over them and push them around on their home floor.
From that point on, I knew that the players just didn't have it; I began to look toward next year then.
Shockingly enough, there were some Bruin bright spots on the hardwood.
Reeves Nelson and Tyler Honeycutt played well and were effective on the boards, especially Nelson, who was a beast. They will undoubtedly be impact players next year, particularly if Nelson's corneas hold up; he needs to wear goggles from now on.
Though you can't mistake him for Kobe Bryant or LeBron James, and he certainly wasn't the type of go-to player who could win games for you, Michael Roll had a very good senior season at forward, leading the Bruins in field goals, assists (if you can believe that), and three-point percentage (46 percent), and was the Bruins' top scorer at 13.5 points a game.
Plus he was named to the All-Pac-10 Conference's first team. To that I say, "Well done."
I am sure that many folks are wondering about UCLA's prospects for 2010-2011.
They have to be better, because they can't get much worse.
One can say that some of the Bruins' best players are not in Westwood yet; Lazeric Jones, a well-regarded junior college transfer from Chicago, will take over at the point. Tyler Lamb, a guard from Santa Ana Mater Dei High, and Josh Smith, a 6'9" giant weighing over 300 pounds, will get an excellent chance to earn playing time.
If I were them, I would be most excited about stepping into a situation like UCLA's where I can contribute right away and help turn things around quickly; that's the position these new players will be in.
Will those newcomers, along with Nelson, Honeycutt, Anderson, and Lee, be able to lead the Bruins back to respectability?
Though I am confident they will win more than the 13 games they won this year, it remains to be seen whether or not this failure of a campaign is a mere one-year bump in the road or the starting point to a long rebuilding process.
I certainly hope that it will be more one than the other.
Read more UCLA Basketball news on BleacherReport.com
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Fifth-seed Bruins remain optimistic
The paint was still fresh on UCLA's latest loss when some of the Bruins started filing out of their locker room at Arizona State's Wells Fargo Arena last Saturday.Though UCLA had just lost its third consecutive game and the Bruins were a long shot to...
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Hoops Roundup: A Pointless Exercise Of Going Through Motions
Since we launched BN almost five years ago this time of the year has always been something special. This is the time of the year watching college basketball from around the country became even more fun than usual. As the pool of 64 teams slowly came into shape during those years, we were busy sizing up the marquee teams and going over possible matchups with Ben Ball warriors in our heads. In comparison, when basketball comes up on tWWL or other channels this season, right now I just feel a total sense of dread as it serves up as reminder of the debacle we experienced this season.
Few of us I guess are still thinking the season is not over and that we have a good shot of winning at least one more game in the Pac-10 tournament. For me it just seems prolonging a slow death. Again this season was over a while ago and we have been on a long death march as the head coach hasn't shown any indication of making adjustments to his flawed rotation (unless forced by injuries) that hasn't worked for us the entire season. It is hard to get excited over a matchup against Arizona, knowing we will once again look to win a game depending on smart and patience performances from guys like Rag and Jerime Anderson. Why bother getting worked up over a game which will be just another pointless (yeah sure pun intended) exercise of going through the motions.
Guess the good news is that Reeves Nelson is going to give it a go tomorrow afternoon (HT uclaluv):
Nelson spoke with his grandmother and mother Monday and his mother. Sheila, spoke with Dr. Steven Schwartz, who performed the surgeries. Nelson said his mother is now "more at ease" with him playing and "if she's OK, I'm OK."
"It was difficult to watch the team lose a few games in row," Nelson said. "It wasn't necessarily because I was out, I'm not going to flatter myself that much, but I think with me playing we have better chance to win."
Nelson, who averages 11 points and 5.5 rebounds, injured the eye against Washington State on Feb. 18. He will wear goggles in practice and possibly in the game.
"Reeves is our best and only consistent low-post scorer," Coach Ben Howland said.
While that is encouraging news, I wonder whether Nelson should even play in a game that is not going to mean much at this point of the season. Moreover, if Nelson gets in the lineup, it will probably mean reduced minutes for Brendan Lane, instead of you know who. So, I don't really find this news all that exciting and am not sure how much of a difference Nelson is going to make tomorrow afternoon.
Unlike the Bruins, the Wildcats are coming into this tourney with a bit of a momentum. They have won 3 close games in a row against Stanford, UCLA and Southern Cal. Unlike the Bruins most of their freshmen have developed into seasoned and experienced sophomores. They will also come into this game with most depth they have had all season with freshman forward Kevin Parrom back in the lineup.
For the Bruins to have any shot against the Wildcat they will need to contain Kyle Fogg, who has killed the Bruins with 51 points this season. Bruins will also need to be aware of Nic Wise, who is going to try leave his last Pac-10 tournament on an up note. From Sportsline.com:
All has not been easy for Arizona, or for point guard Nic Wise, the club's only senior. He has been brilliant on some nights but struggled with a young cast around him on others.
But after all manner of dramatics against USC -- including sophomore Kyle Fogg converting three free throws with 0.2 seconds left to tie the score in regulation -- it was Wise who delivered. His layup with 1.5 seconds left in the second overtime won it.
"In a funny way, this game has represented our entire season," Miller said. "And in a funny way, it represents Nic Wise and what he has endured."
Wise has stuck around at UA to play for four different coaches, something Miller said he wouldn't have done as a player.
"I think the world of Nic," he said. "He has a great attitude, loves the game and loves Arizona. If he didn't, he certainly wouldn't have endured the numerous changes that he's experienced. He's our heart and soul."
Giving these two guards extra attention around the perimeter could open things for freshmen forward Derrick Williams inside. Lot of poisons in that lineup to pick from and none of the scenarios look fun for UCLA considering the pathetic defensive effort we have seen most of this season.
I would also add that getting Nelson back doesn't necessarily mean that our defense is going to improve. While Nelson has given terrific effort and has shown more heart and desire on the court that most of the Bruins this season, he has been a liability on defense. Of course he is not as bad as Rag (it is not humanely possible to be as atrocious as Rag on D). With Nelson in the lineup, we have had serious communication issues in our interior zone defense which has broken down repeatedly throughout the season. I am going to guess the Wildcats will have no problem slicing it up on Thursday.
If Ben Howland really wanted to inject some life into his listless program, he would bench Rag tomorrow afternoon featuring a lineup of Malcolm Lee, Michael Roll, Tyler Honecutt, Brendan Lane, Reeves Nelson, and bring Rag, Mustafa Abdul-Hamid, Mike Moser and Bobo Morgan off the bench. However, it is not going to happen. We will go through the same old nonsense we have gone through the entire season. As a result much like time most of us will be going through the motions in what will turn out to be another pointless exercise in this worthless debacle of a joyless season.
GO BRUINS.
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