UCLA/Stanford good and bad

[Russ Smith]

UCLA won, remarkable defensive effort in the first 10 minutes just blew Stanford out. But another game of attrition. UCLA got Josh Shipp back tonight but lost Ced Bozeman to a torn labrum in his left shoulder(in practice), they're not sure yet how long he's out. During the game Ryan Wright rolled his ankle landing on someone's foot, he did come back but was clearly hobbling. Then the really bad one Farmar landed awkwardly and rolled his bad ankle again and did not return. They retaped it but held him out the rest of the way, don't know if he'll play Saturday against Cal or not.

Mata had a nice game inside, blocking shots, but man was Luc Mbah Moute all over, double double, 12th straight game leading the team in rebounds, had 2-3 blocks, even knocked down a couple of jumpers. Alfred Aboya played well in limited minutes, the 3 freshman forwards Moute, Aboya and Wright(who plays a lot at C) are really starting to look outstanding. Next years top recruit James Keefe better be a hell of a player to get minutes at PF with those 3 around.

Hollins, Fey and Bozeman were all in street clothes and it wouldn't surprise me at all if Farmar joins them for Saturday.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

I saw a bit of the game on the Fox Sports package. More bad luck for the Bruins which sucks as I was looking forward to the matchup next week. And depending on work it looks like I might try to head down to Tucson so I was hoping to see both squads at full strength (with the exception of McClellan). Hopefully everything turns out ok so the Bruins can suceed in what appears to be a horrid Pac-10 because a serious injury to Farmar most likely drops UCLA to a bubble Top 25 team at best.

And can I mention how pathetic Stanford is? I know you said they were overrated prior to the season but can you realistically tell me they would be this horrid? Even ASU with a quarter of the talent has played better ball than Stanford this season. The worst part about them is they have NCAA Tournament caliber talent which always makes them a dangerous team but their wins and losses have been so abysmal that their RPI is above 200 which would make any loss to them a "bad loss" in the eyes of the selection committee.

 

[Russ Smith]

And can I mention how pathetic Stanford is? I know you said they were overrated prior to the season but can you realistically tell me they would be this horrid? Even ASU with a quarter of the talent has played better ball than Stanford this season. The worst part about them is they have NCAA Tournament caliber talent which always makes them a dangerous team but their wins and losses have been so abysmal that their RPI is above 200 which would make any loss to them a "bad loss" in the eyes of the selection committee.

yep on the UCLA board I am on we're all asking the same question, what the hell is wrong with Stanford that they're this bad with that talent. I knew they were overrated because I knew the underclassmen weren't that good, but this is pathetic.

Mitch Johnson the PG(son of ex Sonic Johnny Johnson) is for real but other than him and maybe Taj Finger, none of their young players are showing any promise at all.

Chris Hernandez was really being an ass last night too, he drew a charge on Farmar early, pumped his fist in the air and then screamed "yeah bitch" while pointing at Farmar who was down on the floor. He was talking trash to him from the get go just like last year, later Hernandez was called for a charge and Farmar came off the UCLA bench to point at him. Not sure why but those two REALLY dislike each other. IN the 2nd half Hernandez was covering Afflalo and 2-3 times he undercut Afflalo on jumpshots, he was clearly trying to knock him down. EVentually UCLA grew tired of the whole thing and on a break Josh Shipp just completely hammered one of the Stanford players, just clocked him, as if to say we're not the UCLA you're used to we're not backing down to anybody.

The other problem Stanford has is Grunfeld, he's not healthy, marques johnson was talking about it all night, he can "get where he wants to, but then has no lift", so he winds up taking a lot of really tough shots because he can't jump off that bad knee. He's shooting under 40% and missed several open 3's because his shot is flat because he can't jump now. Tough break was such a good offensive player before that injury but right now is playing on one leg.

I think Farmar is better than I thought, people are saying he could have gone in last night but was held out. I am sure they'll limit his minutes against Cal and rest him up for UA next week.