UCLA loses again, this time to Kansas. Is Howland done after this year?

[Lefty]

I have seen a couple of UCLA games this year and you can see there is definitely a chemistry problem. Howland brought in the Wear twins and from what I have seen, they are not as good as the hype. Of course you can see Reeves Nelson is not a fan of the twins, neither is Josh Smith, who has his own problems(weight). The Bruins are a dysfuntional team right now and I don't know if Howland can get the players to play as a team. If he can't, the Bruins could be looking for a new coach after this season because this is a team that has enough talent to make it to the NCAA tournament.

 

[Renz]

It didn't take long for Howland to go from John Wooden to Larry Farmer.

 

[Russ Smith]

I have seen a couple of UCLA games this year and you can see there is definitely a chemistry problem. Howland brought in the Wear twins and from what I have seen, they are not as good as the hype. Of course you can see Reeves Nelson is not a fan of the twins, neither is Josh Smith, who has his own problems(weight). The Bruins are a dysfuntional team right now and I don't know if Howland can get the players to play as a team. If he can't, the Bruins could be looking for a new coach after this season because this is a team that has enough talent to make it to the NCAA tournament.

I think it woudl take an unusual set of circumstances for Ben to get fired after this year but it's definitely not a good situation.

Nelson somehow has become the emotional leader which is dangerous given his issues.

We lost last night because Smith had 1 point and 1 board in 13 minutes and Zeke had no assists in 20. You can't win with 2 starters playing that badly.

I'm on record for years now as not liking the Wears' game so all I will say is during UCLA's run to get back in it they outscored KU 25-10. UCLA's lineup was Wear, Wear, Nelson, Lamb and Anderson. THe Wears had 4 points, 1 board and 1 steal combined in that run. It was almost all the other 3 guys.

They did play their best defense of the season last night but not very good, Kansas got open shots all night by moving the ball or using ball screens because among other things the Wears are terrible in the rotations. Bilas showed one play where Travis showed on a ball screen and then never recovered and his man rolled to the rim for a layup. Another one they ran into each other and screened Nelson off his man who made a layup, they then yelled at each other whcih was funny.

UCLA is 0-3 when the Wears play around 60 minutes combined, obviously Chaminade was an exception weak opponent, but they are so much quicker with only 1 Wear on the floor.

It would also sure help if Smith started getting up an hour early every day to go workout, he's actually improved his post moves this year but you aren't seeing it because he's so out of shape.

I think if Ben continues to play the Wears big minutes and lose it puts him in some trouble. But really short of Kyle Anderson asking out of his NLI I think Ben is somewhat safe. I think he could even survive Shabazz not committing to UCLA but if he loses his key recruit Anderson then yeah I could see him in hot water.

But that would take a tidal wave of bad season, kids getting fed up etc.

Of course beating Michigan tonight would sure help but UCLA has always struggled with teh 1-3-1.

 

[Rivercard]

I think it woudl take an unusual set of circumstances for Ben to get fired after this year.

Losing big to the likes of LMU and Middle Tenn St probably qualifies as unusual. They may lose over 20 games this year. Is Howland just not able to recruit the talent that UCLA is accustomed to?

 

[Russ Smith]

Losing big to the likes of LMU and Middle Tenn St probably qualifies as unusual. They may lose over 20 games this year. Is Howland just not able to recruit the talent that UCLA is accustomed to?

I don't see them losing 20 the Pac 12 is really weak and I think UCLA can get quite a bit better.

The talent is ok it's the mix of talent.

UCLA has 4 kids whose best position is the 4, Nelson, D Wear, T Wear and Lane. Nelson wants to play 3 thinking it will impress NBA scouts but he's not a 3 and not an NBA player. Howland was convinced D Wear can be the 3 but so far that has been a failure. Surprisingly he's been better on defense than I expected but still bad, it's his offense that's been worse than expected. Travis is a backup 4 not as good as D, but he's been playing a lot at the 5 where he's exposed as a poor post defender. Lane doesn't play much I actually think he's a better defender than either Wear. Ben seems to think the Wears score in practice I think they eventually will in games. I'm not seeing it but he better be right if he keeps playing them this much.

Then you have the guard situation Zeke is a 2 playing the 1 and playing terribly. Luckily Anderson is playing well but for how long who knows. Powell is a 2, Lamb is a 2 who can play 3. I'm hoping we eventually get to a situation where Lamb and Parker(when healthy) are the 3's, Powell, Anderson and Zeke get the 1 and 2 minutes(powell only at the 2). Nelson the 4 with D Wear the backup. Smith the 5, Stover the backup with T Wear and Lane as backups at both 4 and 5.

But that is not apparently how Ben sees it so I sure hope he's right about the Wears.

If UCLA loses 20 yeah he might be in trouble but this team is much better than the team he went 14-18 with so unless the kids mutiny, I don't see 20 losses. there are really 2 somewhat good teams left in the OOC, Michigan tonight, and Texas. if UCLA somehow beats Michigan, Texas is 2-2 and lost to Oregon State, they do have talent J'Covan Brown, the freshman Kabongo but certainly not a can't win game. So IF UCLA can somehow win those 2 they could conceivably be 9-3 going into Pac 12 play. Now if they lose those 2 it's 7-5, and if they blow any of the other games like pepperdine, Penn etc then yeah it could get ugly but if they're losing those games there's something HUGE wrong and it needs to be purged anyways.



Also save a couple of runs of good shooting UCLA seems to have somehow come up with a big slow team that can't shoot or defensive rebound. Smith's situation is huge for the team if he doesn't get in better shape it limits how good UCLA can be.

 

[Russ Smith]

I will say this UNLV beating UNC last night was terrible for UCLA. Not only were their 2 best players UCLA transfers(Stanback would ahve been a senior last season if he'd stayed at UCLA) but they're also actively recruiting Shabazz Muhammad who UCLA desperately wants. UNLV having a strong year and winding up with Shabazz could be the final straw for Howland.

 

[Russ Smith]

I would say after the Texas loss it's officially time to be concerned. If they don't win out in OOC I can definitely see Howland being on the hot seat when the season is over.

Nobody in the Pac 12 is any good right now so even a rebound in confernence wouldn't save him if he doesn't get the team to win the next 5 games and be over 500 coming into conf play IMHO.

 

[Russ Smith]

FYI not official yet but Nelson is off the team for good, to be announced later today. Rumor has been on UCLA boards for a couple of days now.

Will hurt short term they have no other defensive rebounding, but he's been distracting the team for too long this had to happen.

 

[Russ Smith]

Suspended indefinitely again. No timetable set for return. I hear it's very unlikely he'll be back but they apparently haven't totally pulled the plug.

He's on scholarship still I suspect that's the sole reason the suspension is not permanent.