UA & Pac-12 Basketball Thread

[Russ Smith]

Russ was Bryce Alford ever on UCLA's radar?

No. UCLA was already guard heavy and has 3 more coming in with LaVine, Freeman and Noah Allen(a 2/3). Bryce and his brother means 5 guards in the same "class".

Maybe Bryce contributes later on he's apparently a really good shooter, but unless UCLA sees some attrition he's not going to play much at all early on.

We're still waiting to hear on players. Powell could leave we'll see. It sounds like Freeman is still coming, Allen said he is, LaVine said he would unless Alford doesn't want him, so he should be coming. Kyle is coming back, Adams is coming back so UCLA is pretty loaded with guards.

The really interesting one is Alex Kirk, it sounds like if Neal isn't hired, he may graduate early and transfer and he's said UCLA would be the school. I really don't like hiring to get players and I kind of hope he stays at UNM for that reason.

 

[TJ]

Ed Rush, head of PAC 12 officials, being investegated for targeting Miller. References UCLA game and unmerited Technical Foul. Larry Scott comes close to doing an about-face on his punishment of Miller.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/21989633

 

[Russ Smith]

Ed Rush, head of PAC 12 officials, being investegated for targeting Miller. References UCLA game and unmerited Technical Foul. Larry Scott comes close to doing an about-face on his punishment of Miller.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/21989633

Kind of a crazy story. I have 3 friends who were at the game and they insist they heard F bombs during that situation but maybe it wasn't actually Miller. I know on the UA Scout board people were saying someone on the pay board was insisting the T wasn't actually on Miller but one of the other coaches on the bench. This story implies they were targeting Miller so that doesn't jive with that claim.

But maybe they heard the other coach drop an F Bomb and hit Miller with the T or who knows what.

If true I think Rush should be fired. No problem with warnign a coach, and Scott did say before that Miller had already been warned earlier in the year for his actions with refs after games, but to target one is just wrong.

 

[Phrazbit]

I dont have any concerns about Miller as an Xs and Os coach. The teams play in high profile games has been excellent which to me says he can make adjustments and break down film and find ways to attack teams. My only qualm and IMO most of the Cats struggles have come from him having yet to land a real point guard. Lyons was as likely to cost the Cats a win as he was to play hero. The last player even slightly resembling a distributor they had was Nic Wise and he was recruited by Josh Pastner.

 

[TJ]

Rush has to go. That's not an option. Conduct is very unprofessional...can't say or do those things in that position of power.

Larry Scott has some explaining to do....

 

[carey]

At least we have confirmation of what we have known all along about Pac-12 officiating.

 

[Lefty]

Except Alford didn't blatantly violate all sorts of NCAA rules on his way out at UNM.

But I'm certainly not excited about the hire.

I just hope we don't find out in a few years it was to try and get Gordon and Kirk. If they went that route with a head coaching hire I'd be furious.

I would be furious anyway, if UCLA still thinks they are an elite program, Alford should not of been even interviewed. But I guess when they strike out on their top guys, they had to settle. I can't believe I am saying this but Romar would of been a better hire and that is saying a lot.

 

[Russ Smith]

I would be furious anyway, if UCLA still thinks they are an elite program, Alford should not of been even interviewed. But I guess when they strike out on their top guys, they had to settle. I can't believe I am saying this but Romar would of been a better hire and that is saying a lot.

You were ok with I can't believe I'm saying this, you just shouldn't have said it.

Romar is a terrible coach for UCLA for a number of reasons, he plays uptempo and he has recruited well in the past but he's not a good coach. his teams are undisciplined and if you're firing Ben because of recent issues you don't then hire a coach who literally had a PIMP on his team not that long ago.

I don't love the Alford hire but if the claims are true about UCLA regents not willing to approve any contract over 3 million, then UCLA wasn't going to get any of the top guys regardless.

I wanted Smart, I'll never understand why he wasn't the primary target and why they didn't even get to a point of interviewing him. That really bugs me but it's their job not mine.

We'll see how it pans out.

 

[Lefty]

This is a funny article on Alford.
http://www.latimes.com/sports/colle...-simers-ucla-alford-20130403,0,5934843.column

Alford, meanwhile, was talking like someone who has already enjoyed incredible success.

"We did things at New Mexico that had never been done before," Alford said.

"Like lose to Harvard," I said, and welcome to L.A.

 

[carey]

Oh jeez, didn't know about this stuff...

When he was asked about his role in defending an Iowa player from sexual assault charges and allegedly bullying the victim into not pursuing the case, he blamed school administrators for his behavior.

The player later pleaded guilty to intent to commit sexual assault on another victim and served time. Protesters expressed their disapproval at Iowa's basketball games, but on the bright side they had to buy tickets to attend the games. And that's very important to UCLA.

 

[Mulli]

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/03/31/bernstein-ucla-hired-a-scumbag/

Oh jeez, didn't know about this stuff...

Check it out

 

[Russ Smith]

Oh jeez, didn't know about this stuff...

I did, why I never had Alford on my list.

 

[Mathew81]

The conference just announced the Ed Rush resigned

 

[AzStevenCal]

The conference just announced the Ed Rush resigned

It was never in doubt. Now, the question remains, will Larry Scott be able to hold onto his job over this? Hopefully not.

Steve

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

It was never in doubt. Now, the question remains, will Larry Scott be able to hold onto his job over this? Hopefully not.

Steve

This combined with DirecTV debacle should mean his forced resignation. Half your constituents need to be able to watch the games even if your hatchet man is rigging them.

 

[carey]

Check it out

Brutal. That's sports for you.

 

[Russ Smith]

It was never in doubt. Now, the question remains, will Larry Scott be able to hold onto his job over this? Hopefully not.

Steve

He probably is on the fence in that regard. He needs to seriously explain how the Pac 12 conducted an investigation and interviewed every ref and not one of them told the investigator the same story they told Goodman and then ESPN. If his refs don't trust him, something is wrong.

Now we're still way off the UA fan scenario being advanced which is, Scott moved the tournament to Las Vegas so he could have Rush order the refs to fix games ,they could then bet on them and make money. Irving is in on it because he's an LA cop and allegedly was on Rush' payroll(although it was Rush' son and the son not only denied it, he threatened libel and got the article claiming it removed from Bleacher Report 2 days ago). There are still UA fans insisting there's a gambling angle to the whole thing.

But if Scott can't give a valid explanation why his people didn't get the refs to come clean, hes' got a major problem IMO.

 

[AzStevenCal]

He probably is on the fence in that regard. He needs to seriously explain how the Pac 12 conducted an investigation and interviewed every ref and not one of them told the investigator the same story they told Goodman and then ESPN. If his refs don't trust him, something is wrong.

Now we're still way off the UA fan scenario being advanced which is, Scott moved the tournament to Las Vegas so he could have Rush order the refs to fix games ,they could then bet on them and make money. Irving is in on it because he's an LA cop and allegedly was on Rush' payroll(although it was Rush' son and the son not only denied it, he threatened libel and got the article claiming it removed from Bleacher Report 2 days ago). There are still UA fans insisting there's a gambling angle to the whole thing.

But if Scott can't give a valid explanation why his people didn't get the refs to come clean, hes' got a major problem IMO.

I think it's a bit much to label that as a UA fan scenario unless you meant a scenario offered up by a U of A fan. Line us all up and I'm pretty sure that particular conspiracy would be near the end of the line.

I do tend to think that Scott had a lot to do with the comments Rush made but I highly doubt it was to fix games. I think it all goes back to the way the conference was viewed as a result of the Colorado loss in Tucson. I think Scott directed Rush to make it clear to the world that the best teams weren't being given more than they deserved and it escalated into the mess we're all now talking about.

I don't really know what happened but the fact that Scott did not fire Rush immediately after hearing of his comments (joking or not) is highly suspicious. I think it means he was complicit in some way but obviously that is conjecture.

Steve

 

[Russ Smith]

I think it's a bit much to label that as a UA fan scenario unless you meant a scenario offered up by a U of A fan. Line us all up and I'm pretty sure that particular conspiracy would be near the end of the line.

I do tend to think that Scott had a lot to do with the comments Rush made but I highly doubt it was to fix games. I think it all goes back to the way the conference was viewed as a result of the Colorado loss in Tucson. I think Scott directed Rush to make it clear to the world that the best teams weren't being given more than they deserved and it escalated into the mess we're all now talking about.

I don't really know what happened but the fact that Scott did not fire Rush immediately after hearing of his comments (joking or not) is highly suspicious. I think it means he was complicit in some way but obviously that is conjecture.

Steve

Well it's not just one guy in fact there's a 20 page thread on one UA board I read that started well BEFORE this story broke that said the game was fixed. As soon as this story broke they started saying it was all part of a gambling situation involving Scott and Rush. They're still saying that now because Cowherd said on radio today "tip of the iceberg more is coming."

There's at least 10-12 people on that board that believe that. Then as I mentioned part of that theory got picked up by a "writer" in Phoenix who wrote a story for Bleacher Report. Somehow Ed Rush Jr found the story, saw that there were allegations that involved him, and responded to the story with that's libel, I can prove it's not true you need to retract that.

The writer initially claimed he stood behind the story, then UA fans started piling onto the comments section with more allegations. Rush responded 2 more times each one more "litigiously", and the writer than apologized and poof, the story was pulled off BR never to be seen again.

the fans I'm talking about are not only a few and not just on one board but on many. There's an actual discussion that after Scott and Irving are fired, Greg Byrne will be the next Commish of the Pac 12, and Scott, Rush and Irving will be in jail on gambling charges.

I'm not saying all or even a majority of UA fans believe that, but you'd be surprised how many actually think this is part of a huge conspiracy.

I can't explain Scott's actions either, he claimed they investigated and talked to all those refs, none of them said what they told ESPN, so clearly something is fishy, clearly they had some reason to not trust that there'd be no repercussions and Scott needs to get to the bottom of that and explain it IMO. I highly doubt he's intentionally fixing games, but I do suspect he knew what Rush did was worse than it was being admitted to, and for some reason didn't want to fire him

Whole thing is crazy, imagine if we didn't have the Rutgers story, the Auburn football story and other stuff pushing this off the front page.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Not to pull this away from Russ believing that a Bleacher Report article and a few message board juveniles encompass the thought process of an entire fan base, but it sure does appear USC made the best hire of the SoCal schools. Enfield's rep along with Bland and Hart will likely make the Trojans a recruiting force.

 

[Russ Smith]

Not to pull this away from Russ believing that a Bleacher Report article and a few message board juveniles encompass the thought process of an entire fan base, but it sure does appear USC made the best hire of the SoCal schools. Enfield's rep along with Bland and Hart will likely make the Trojans a recruiting force.

Hard to say. Jason Hart has one year of college experience and I think only coached HS and AAU ball for 2 years before that. Bland has 2 years of coaching experience period. Bland is a terrific recruiter, and Hart probably will be too but that 3rd assistant(not hired yet) better actually be a coach because anybody that saw FLorida Gulf Coast play knows Enfield isn't exactly an X an O guy. He was in the NBA but mostly as a shooting guru, a shot doctor if you will.

They will certainly be exciting and I expect them to pick up recruiting, look for Reinhardt to leave UNLV now and transfer to USC, but they have a very inexperienced coaching staff.

I don't like Alford much but I really like the choices of Schilling and Grace as assistants, don't know anything about Broussard the 3rd guy. Schilling has been a head coach(Wright State) an assistant(Memphis) been involved with Adidas NAtions for years, coaching HS in Indiana, and of course further back was an assistant at both UMASS and the Nets under Calipari. I don't necessarily like the Calipari link but he's been around the game for a long time without any real controversy so I'm assuming he's ok there.

Grace after leaving the military was an assistant at a couple of places and then 5 years assistant at Oregon State. he has extensive California recruiting ties and in particular has had a few key recruits from the Bay Area. Both guys were immediately praised by AAU coaches as being excellent hires, which is critical these days since Howland had alienated most AAU programs.

I think USC got by far the more "sexy" hire in Enfield but I am not sure if he can coach yet or not. They were certainly fun to watch. I think UCLA's assistants at least so far are better actual coaches, and should be able to recruit.

But I think USC did exactly what they needed to do, make a splashy hire that would show they are going to try at least. They threw a ton of money at Bland he's now one of the highest paid assistant coaches in the country.

 

[Lefty]

Looks like Grant is gone. This kid had a future and guys like Eric Cooper don't care. It's hard for a 19-year old to think rationally when he has people talking in his ears. He isn't the first and won't be the last to make a decision like this.

I really hope Ashley and Tarc stay in Tucson and really work at their game. Those two will now see a lot of minutes. It will be very interesting if Miller gets a transfer.

Jeff Goodman ‏@GoodmanCBS 29m
Grant Jerrett could have been a lottery pick if he had been patient. Instead, he'll likely spend next season in the D-League. Poor advice.

 

[carey]

Bad bad advice. Oh well, what can you do?

 

[Lefty]

Not good for UCLA as Allerik Freeman decommits. If he somehow he ends up at USC I wonder if that would get the momentum rolling for the Trojans.

 

[Russ Smith]

Not good for UCLA as Allerik Freeman decommits. If he somehow he ends up at USC I wonder if that would get the momentum rolling for the Trojans.

To be honest I was surprised when he announced he was still coming to UCLA a week after he was hired. He was the one kid who clearly was going to see a huge change with alford.

Freeman was highly recruited when younger but he was a kid who physically developed early and stopped getting better. Not that quick, not a great athlete, and not a great shooter(not bad). He's a combo guard and he wants to play PG. Kansas was on him until his junior year and AAU, then Selden reclassed and KU completely dropped him.Duke had stopped recruiting him and Nova and TOSU were lukewarm.

UCLA had been recruiting him but didn't seem all that interested, he came in for a surprise visit and committed, completely surprised everyone. then he started talking about Howland saying he was playing PG at UCLA. Then went back to Findlay and played the 2 all year.

He said again he was coming in as a pure PG but my guess is Alford doesn't see him as a PG. UCLA is involved with as many as 3 transfer PG's, assuming they get 1, Freeman just wasn't going to play.

I like the kid he seems tough, would have liked to keep him but he probably wasn't going to play. If UCLA gets some of the transfers they're looking at it wouldn't surprise me if 1-2 other kids leave. That's what happens with a new coach, he has no loyalty to current players, they have no loyalty to him.

What made this surprising is he said 3 weeks ago he was committed to UCLA with Alford.

He's got no ties to the area he's from North Carolina so USC isn't a logical destination.