Brigham Young University Cougars against University of California Los Angeles Bruins

[Surfah]

My Howland theory: He learnded from Utah's Jerry Pimm (at UCSB), who, like Majerus after him, ran a tightly controlled half court motion offense (highly dependant on a PG with a high IQ, plays, etc.), and hard nosed man to man defense. That's the system Howland knows and employs. I think it works better with tier 2-3 talent. It's why Bob Knight never had the most talented teams, even though he won three NCAA titles. Look at Roy Williams, Coach K, etc., they know you have to let those stallions run, make their own game. JT III has had to abandon the Princeton offense as his recruiting has risen to elite levels. Players are quitting on Howland because they don't want the leash.

Howland should come back home. We need him at Utah and he'd be a perfect fit there.

I can buy this. However, if Howland is hell bent on running his system, then he has to take ownership of the guys he's recruiting to run it.

[Coach McGuirk]

UCLA wins this one. Overall UCLA is more talented, it's in SC, and they'll be ready.

Yes!

BYU wins. Mark it down.

[Surfah]

Now you're just being stupid and hateful. Howland has had UCLA in three Final Fours, one runner-up. Lavin's teams always underperformed, he never got them out of the Sweet 16, they got steadily worse, and when he was fired the program was in a nose dive which Howland reversed.

Hah. You sound like a Bruins fan.

[SeattleUte]

I'm calling it. Write this down. Howland is Utah's next coach. Like Eddie Sutton moving from Kentucky to OK State. If I were Hill I'd give him the moon, long term with a huge buy out.

[TripletDaddy]

Now you're just being stupid and hateful. Howland has had UCLA in three Final Fours, one runner-up. Lavin's teams always underperformed, he never got them out of the Sweet 16, they got steadily worse, and when he was fired the program was in a nose dive which Howland reversed.

Lavin went to the Elite 8 in his first year at UCLA.

In 7 seasons, 6 were 20+ wins and Sweet 16 or Elite 8. When did his teams get progressively worse? In his final season, he win 10 games and they fired him. They fired him specifically because he didn't make the tournament.

BH is a great coach. I think you misunderstand me. My reply was to surfahs comment about short leashes. BH has experienced far lower lows than Lavin ever did, which is why I think they will can him sooner rather than later.

That program is storied but also unrealistic. They have 11 banners in those rafters and not making the tournament is anathema over there, it is a very huge deal. I already mentioned that one of the reasons BH has survived was because Wooden was in his corner. They are not going to fire the coach if Wooden endorses him. Now that wooden is gone, BH is back in general population And Dan Guerrero has a shiv with his name on it.

[Jennerstein]

I am going to this game on Saturday with some other people from the Chinese branch. I'm bringing my fiancee, nad I think this will be her first college athletics event. My friend said he got tickets for cheap, but that means we might be sitting in the UCLA section.

[Katy Lied]

My Howland theory: He learnded from Utah's Jerry Pimm (at UCSB), who, like Majerus after him, ran a tightly controlled half court motion offense (highly dependant on a PG with a high IQ, plays, etc.), and hard nosed man to man defense. That's the system Howland knows and employs. I think it works better with tier 2-3 talent. It's why Bob Knight never had the most talented teams, even though he won three NCAA titles. Look at Roy Williams, Coach K, etc., they know you have to let those stallions run, make their own game. JT III has had to abandon the Princeton offense as his recruiting has risen to elite levels. Players are quitting on Howland because they don't want the leash.

Very interesting. I was surprised to see this was your post--I thought at first it was from Goatnapper. I should pay closer attention to your non-BYU non-Utah posts.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

UCLA wins this one. Overall UCLA is more talented, it's in SC, and they'll be ready.

99.8 out of the last 100 years this was a true statement, I'm not sure about this version of UCLA. If you take out the game against Kansas they have not played good basketball once this year, and many are starting to wonder if Howland can't recruit the kind of talent UCLA is used to.

There have been a couple of rumors circulating that without an E8 or deeper run this year that Howland will be looking for a new sideline.

[SeattleUte]

99.8 out of the last 100 years this was a true statement, I'm not sure about this version of UCLA. If you take out the game against Kansas they have not played good basketball once this year, and many are starting to wonder if Howland can't recruit the kind of talent UCLA is used to.

There have been a couple of rumors circulating that without an E8 or deeper run this year that Howland will be looking for a new sideline.

I've called it. Howland will succeed Boylen.

[ERCougar]

UCLA wins this one. Overall UCLA is more talented, it's in SC, and they'll be ready.

Man, this is just too good.

Fish in a barrel...

[Goatnapper'96]

My Howland theory: He learnded from Utah's Jerry Pimm (at UCSB), who, like Majerus after him, ran a tightly controlled half court motion offense (highly dependant on a PG with a high IQ, plays, etc.), and hard nosed man to man defense. That's the system Howland knows and employs. I think it works better with tier 2-3 talent. It's why Bob Knight never had the most talented teams, even though he won three NCAA titles. Look at Roy Williams, Coach K, etc., they know you have to let those stallions run, make their own game. JT III has had to abandon the Princeton offense as his recruiting has risen to elite levels. Players are quitting on Howland because they don't want the leash.

Howland should come back home. We need him at Utah and he'd be a perfect fit there.

I don't think it is talent as much as it is time in the system, the 1 and dones kill a system like UCLA's. The hardnosed defense and the complex motion offense both take time to properly learn. I loved what Howland was doing in Westwood the first 4 or so years he was there- I thought we were going to see what Majerus could have done with top tier talent but self-destruction is setting in. I guess your point about talent is that the top notch kids don't stick around.

If UCLA fires Howland, it would be a great, great, great pick up for Utah. Howland has been enormously successful at the college level at both Pitt and UCLA.

[old_gregg]

Anyone planning on attending to cheer on Alma Mater? SoCal? LA Ute?

how difficult are tickets to come by? i'm considering making the drive with 3-4 friends

[TripletDaddy]

how difficult are tickets to come by? i'm considering making the drive with 3-4 friends

Whenever UCLA plays, they have a strong contingency of fans. OC has enough of them crawling around that make their way to the Pond.

This years first game is Long Beach v St Marys. That won't be a huge draw.

I doubt it is sold out, but in case it is, try buying tix through The Beach or St Marys website, because they won't sell their allotment.

Scalping at Anaheim events is a bit tricky. Every time ive been to the pond or the A, there are always cops walking around looking to give people tix. You can buy and sell, but you just have to be alert when doing so.

Definitely make the trip. Or, at least don't let tix dissuade you. You will get some tix. My only concern is buying a block of 4. Higher premium than two.

[LiveCoug]

Driving to the OC on Saturday. MIL just called and said that FIL just snagged some tix to the game. Good thing we are starting from St. George on Saturday morning so we will definitely get there on time. Nice!

[KillerDog]

UCLA wins this one. Overall UCLA is more talented, it's in SC, and they'll be ready.

I let your Arizona comments go because there was an argument for your delusion but this makes you seem stupid. Frankly, I didn't see a lot of evidence that Arizona was more talented but I can hear the argument. As far as UCLA, even if they are, they can't guard or run an offense.