UCLA dumpster fire

[LA Ute]

Let me explain it to you like ducky horsey since you don't get it. You can't shoehorn Shabazz Muhammad into a motion offense. It can't be done. You can't do it even if you think that offense, if well executed, is the best of all worlds. Shabazz is at UCLA as a one year interlude on his way to the NBA. He wants to showcase his NBA potential. He's not going to leave 10 ppg on the table for the good of the team. Not unless he's unlike 99% super-elite basketball recruits.

As an aside, the motion offense can be a great equalizer where there is a big raw talent gap between teams. It's also the underdeveloped or less talented kids that are going to be receptive to a motion offense system.

The proof is in the pudding. Howland's best teams averaged 60 ppg and had less celebrated recruits than his disasters. I've been saying this for years. Shabazz Muhamad should have gone to North Carolina or Duke or even Washington. Howland doesn't get how to handle these incipient lottery pick freshmen.

I didn't say he wasn't culpable.

SU shines here. He is right. That doesn't mean UCLA was smart to hire a coach with Howland's philosophy, or that Howland was smart to take the job in the first place or to stick with his style in the PAC. But Howland's a good basketball coach.

[SeattleUte]

SU shines here. He is right. That doesn't mean UCLA was smart to hire a coach with Howland's philosophy, or that Howland was smart to take the job in the first place or to stick with his style in the PAC. But Howland's a good basketball coach.

Yes. He's got the wrong job. He can't exactly say no to five stars lining up to go to UCLA because of its tradition and its fabulous campus and location. But Husky is right. They will more and more start going to Kentucky or the like. Howland and UCLA is a bad fit. Utah and Howland would have been a perfect fit (he played at Weber and learned from Jerry Pimm and USCB!). I tried to tell him this before Utah hired K.

Take a similar example. Eddie Sutton crashed and burned Kentucky. But his record at Creighton, Arkansas and OK State establishes him as one of the ten or 20 all-time great NCAA coaches. Majerus was smart enough to be careful what he wished for re schools like UCLA. See also Billy Gillispie. Kentcucky ruined his life.

[Flystripper]

Sorry I didn't add the intended qualifier. Howland is awful for UCLA. I agree with regards to Howlad's coaching. He gets more with less and less with more. He needs to go coach a place like Nebraska. They have always sucked at basketball and now that they are in the Big 10 they need to start doing more with less.

[Surfah]

SU shines here. He is right. That doesn't mean UCLA was smart to hire a coach with Howland's philosophy, or that Howland was smart to take the job in the first place or to stick with his style in the PAC. But Howland's a good basketball coach.

Ask UCLA fans if Howland is a good coach.

If you guys want to put brackets around all of Howland's accomplishments and call him a good coach, fine. Whatever (weird though that so many Utes love him and defend him). But he created the mess that is UCLA right now. 12 players departing in less than 3 seasons is a disaster. He has mismanaged numerous players and recruits. He allowed Reeves Nelson bully teammates. Nelson went out of his way in practice to pick on Carlino, even trying to hurt him intentionally. When asked by the media in one post game presser as to why Carlino wasn't playing despite having recovered from a concussion sustained in the preseason, Howland said he forgot about him. Carlino asked for his release after that. In a team meeting afterward Howland told the team he couldn't respect a quitter. Add to that his insistence (arrogance, stupidity, both?) about not changing his system to fit the very talent he recruited and I cannot say that Howland is a good coach anymore. Sorry, but I am not a fan.

[SeattleUte]

Ask UCLA fans if Howland is a good coach.

If you guys want to put brackets around all of Howland's accomplishments and call him a good coach, fine. Whatever (weird though that so many Utes love him and defend him). But he created the mess that is UCLA right now. 12 players departing in less than 3 seasons is a disaster. He has mismanaged numerous players and recruits. He allowed Reeves Nelson bully teammates. Nelson went out of his way in practice to pick on Carlino, even trying to hurt him intentionally. When asked by the media in one post game presser as to why Carlino wasn't playing despite having recovered from a concussion sustained in the preseason, Howland said he forgot about him. Carlino asked for his release after that. In a team meeting afterward Howland told the team he couldn't respect a quitter. Add to that his insistence (arrogance, stupidity, both?) about not changing his system to fit the very talent he recruited and I cannot say that Howland is a good coach anymore. Sorry, but I am not a fan.

The wheels are coming off. Maybe UCLA has ruined him like Kentucky did Gillispie. He needs an exit strategy like Sutton. OK State with its fine Hank Iba/Eddie Sutton tradition of steller half court ball and man to man defense would be perfect for him too.

[LA Ute]

Ask UCLA fans if Howland is a good coach.

If you guys want to put brackets around all of Howland's accomplishments and call him a good coach, fine. Whatever (weird though that so many Utes love him and defend him). But he created the mess that is UCLA right now. 12 players departing in less than 3 seasons is a disaster. He has mismanaged numerous players and recruits. He allowed Reeves Nelson bully teammates. Nelson went out of his way in practice to pick on Carlino, even trying to hurt him intentionally. When asked by the media in one post game presser as to why Carlino wasn't playing despite having recovered from a concussion sustained in the preseason, Howland said he forgot about him. Carlino asked for his release after that. In a team meeting afterward Howland told the team he couldn't respect a quitter. Add to that his insistence (arrogance, stupidity, both?) about not changing his system to fit the very talent he recruited and I cannot say that Howland is a good coach anymore. Sorry, but I am not a fan.

So you are a UCLA fan and you're mad at him? That would make sense.

[Jeff Lebowski]

A five-page thread on UCLA basketball?

[SeattleUte]

A five-page thread on UCLA basketball?

As Husky notes, UCLA is important to the Pac 12 members. I can see why you wouldn't get it.

[Surfah]

So you are a UCLA fan and you're mad at him? That would make sense.

Naw. UCLA deserves what they get.

[Jeff Lebowski]

As Husky notes, UCLA is important to the Pac 12 members. I can see why you wouldn't get it.

They are going to join you in the PAC-12 cellar? OK, that makes sense.

[LA Ute]

Good piece by Bill Plaschke on Howland's woes.

"We want to run, but we have to be good decision-makers in the end and not force the issue," says Howland. "We've got to get everybody to sacrifice, be on same page, be a team."

Um, Coach? I think these kids came here to run, period. That's what they do in AAU. That's what John Calipari does at Kentucky, rolling the ball out there and letting his kids fly, a style that was heavily criticized until it won a national championship. Maybe in this day of one-and-done players, that's the only way to coach? Unless Howland has another Lorenzo Mata or Alfred Aboya stashed in that tiny coaches' locker room, he's going to have a heckuva challenge teaching sacrifice.

It's interesting how the college game has changed. Gone are the days when people would joke that Dean Smith was the only man who could hold Michael Jordan to under 20 points.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

It's interesting how the college game has changed. Gone are the days when people would joke that Dean Smith was the only man who could hold Michael Jordan to under 20 points.

There was also no shot clock when Jordan played for Dean Smith. The game was much more about possession and execution. Maybe one of our super stat guys could point me in a direction to find the information because I don't have a clue where to look, but I would guess that in 2012 teams average 15+ more shots/possessions a game than they did in 1982. That's a pretty huge change to a game.

[LA Ute]

There was also no shot clock when Jordan played for Dean Smith. The game was much more about possession and execution. Maybe one of our super stat guys could point me in a direction to find the information because I don't have a clue where to look, but I would guess that in 2012 teams average 15+ more shots/possessions a game than they did in 1982. That's a pretty huge change to a game.

I still remember those times. UTEP, under Haskins, would win games with scores in the 30s. In 1981 Utah played North Carolina in the Sweet Sixteen and lost 61-56. That 5-point margin was bigger than it seemed, the way Smith's teams played that 4-corner offense. Jordan joined UNC the next year, and under Smith averaged 17.7 points a game during his three years there. Amazing when you think about it.

I like a happy medium somewhere between the slowdown game and the Paul Westhead run-and-gun style.

[Surfah]

There was also no shot clock when Jordan played for Dean Smith. The game was much more about possession and execution. Maybe one of our super stat guys could point me in a direction to find the information because I don't have a clue where to look, but I would guess that in 2012 teams average 15+ more shots/possessions a game than they did in 1982. That's a pretty huge change to a game.

I don't think this is the case. In 2011 scoring was lower than it was in 1953. Keep in mind, no shot clock and no 3 pt line. Now I am not sure what pace and shot attempts were but I'd be surprised if they were more, especially 15+ attempts more.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

I don't think this is the case. In 2011 scoring was lower than it was in 1953. Keep in mind, no shot clock and no 3 pt line. Now I am not sure what pace and shot attempts were but I'd be surprised if they were more, especially 15+ attempts more.

I didn't know that about scoring, really interesting. Since I basically have nothing else to do today, maybe I'll try and hunt for some stats.