UCLA Loses Regular Season Finale to Arizona State
By Bruin Basketball Report
The UCLA basketball team ended the 2009-10 regular season the same way it started.
With a loss.
Arizona State behind center Eric Boateng's 16 points and 14 rebounds defeated UCLA, 56-46, in Tempe to finish the Pac-10 regular season.
The Bruins (13-17, 8-10) competed for parts of the game but were never a threat to the Sun Devils (22-9, 12-6) who never let the Bruins closer than 7 points after the opening moments of the game.
Malcolm Lee and Nikola Dragovic each scored a team-high 15 points but they shot a combined 10-26.
UCLA shot just 32.7% and was a miserable 4 of 20 on three-pointers.
Making matters worse, the Bruins chucked up way too many three-point brick attempts which accounted for 35% of their total field goal tries.
Led by Boateng, the Sun Devils also manhandled the Bruins on the boards 39-30.
Freshman center Reeves Nelson sat out another game with an eye injury, and his replacement Brendan Lane responded with just 2 points and 1 rebound in 17 minutes.
Barring some miracle finish by the Bruins, UCLA is headed for its third losing season since 1947-48, and its second losing season under Head Coach Ben Howland who started coaching at UCLA in 2003.
The Bruins still have the Pac-10 tournament to play. They open on Thursday as the fifth-seed team and will play the fourth-seed Arizona Wildcats.
BBR :: Article Link :: 12:53 PM ::
15 comments
15 Comments:
Our girls team is better.
I bet UCLA players ditch Drago as a friend on facebook after our last game.
Trust me, nxt yr will not be much better...Bobo and Anderson will still be on the team, we will be younger but improved at point guard...Ray M. get over here man...
I disagree. I believe next season will be much improved. There's talent, but it's been young, inexperienced talent forced into significant playing time where mistakes are magnified. Honeycutt, Nelson and Lee playing the 2-guard is a nice nucleus. Getting the PG spot solidified is key. Lane could prove valuable as well once he puts on some weight and adds strength. He plays hard and can shoot, but he's still growing and gets muscled inside. I haven't given up on Bobo as yet. If he dedicates himself to improve his offensive skills and quickness, he can be an 10-point, 9-rebound, 3-blocks guy.
I feel for Coach Howland. He's not the one turning the ball over, the one missing free throws, or the one incapable of understanding man-to-man defense. Holiday going pro was ridiculous and unforeseen, but it hurt this team. But that's today's college game, sadly.
One man a team does not make. Losing Holiday to the pros is not reason for this years team's downfall. Unfortunately it is much deeper/worse than this.
Pac 10 tourney and then this team will be in the archives. Hopefully a blip on Howland career radar.
Keefe will be doing NCAA commercials. "Most NCAA athletes go on to careers other than professional sports" and join the Fox broadcasting team.
Dragovic will go back to clubs, club ball and clubbing his girlfriend in Serbia.
Roll will find a spot in the NBA or reunite with Mata and Shipp in Italy.
Anderson will improve or sit behind Jones and McCallem (please, please, please).
Lee will return to 2 and compete with Lamb.
Nelson and Lane will excel at power forward.
Gorden will regret his decision.
Morgan and Smith will provide much needed strength inside.
Neuheisal will get football back on track.
SC will be sanctioned for lack of administrative control
All will be right with the world.
The key is not to have a 2 year gap in talent. Look to 2011 recruiting
That was a great way to start my Sunday! Thank you...Whatcha think...better or worse next year?...I worry about our scoring and youth...
It's been painful watching our beloved Bruins this year. I'm hoping the 2009 and incoming 2010 recruiting classes, make up for the 2008 class, quickly.
On ESPN during the Washington rout, a commentator mentioned that Josh Smith needed to lose 30 pounds, do we have another J'Mison Morgan on our hands? I hope not.
The key to next year is finding a good starting point guard. If Jones, McCallum or Anderson step up to the competition then we will be a "good team" NCAA for sure, Sweet 16 maybe ... Hopefully..?
The rest will play out. Do we have Michael Fay or Ryan Hollins? If you remembered Howland benched them both. Fay faded into obscurity and Hollins is still playing in the NBA.
Jones and Lamb are enrolling early. That should help with development.
Smith is said to be working (Diet AND Exercise) with Love over the summer while Love works on his degree. Maybe Bill and Kareem can work with Morgan and Smith as well. Our own big man camp.
Throw Anderson and Bobo off the team. We need another center (Smith better not be like Bobo) and point guard (Ray M. UCLA man - get over here...)
bottom line...Who's our defensive stopper like Aaron Aflalo?
AZBruin: I hereby make you honorary Swami. May all of your predictions come true.
Honorary Swami say that three times fast... BruinFan.... If McCallum comes we are down to 1 Scholarship next year unless someone leaves. you may have the answer. There are three recruit we want in 2011.
AzBruin is most smart and foretelling. But I thinks he is dreaming for Bruins to be in sweet 16 any time soon. Too many recruits are D II players. No serious centers, no game changing guards, only Honeycutt and Nelson come to play every game.
BTW, I like Howland he is willing to change: at NAU they ran, at Pitt they banged, at UCLA man to man. This year the team is so footslow he went to zone. I do believe he need to get an offensive minded assistant. Watched the ASU game live and saw MANY times 2-3 players running to the same offensive spot (inexcusable at this point in a season) and could not come up with any plays to insure Roll was open ( yeah I know he went 1 for 9)
Most of the Ucla problems have been due to a huge amount of inexperience players. It might take a few years to get back to where we were a few years back. The success of the last few years were mainly due to a bunch of solid players staying 3-4 years which gave coach much to build on.
Players that were named by other posters here were all the ones who stayed 3-4 years which really helped the team and player themselves develop. Ucla has lot too many players to the NBA recently without filling it fast enough with solid recruits.
The recruiting class with Love and Stanback are basically gone meaning we basically have none from 2007. Holiday to NBA, Gordon gone, Morgan and Anderson struggling basically means that 2008 recruiting class is almost gone as well.
Now you look at this and basically right now we have 1 solid player from the 2007 and 2008 recruiting class which means we rely much on freshman 2009 class. While I like the 2009 class in general, none of them really are game changing guys which can take over games and that is a big reason why we are struggling.
Teams like UK, Texas, Kansas, Duke and them are usually solid even with many freshmen because they usually get at least 1 game changing player and a few pretty solid ones.
I forgot who said it earlier, but yes Ucla need to come up with a better offense plan to get those take over players to come. Let us face it, team work is extremely important and so is defense, but at the end of the day, you still need stallions to have a better chance to win race.
This is not to discredit the current Ucla players as many of them are solid but require a few years of polishing. I like Coach Defense and fundamentals but we need to do something about getting a better offensive scheme going. For years it has been painful seeing Ucla dribble too much without purpose and at times struggle so much for a shot.
Projected Starters next year:
Center: Lane/Smith
PF: Nelson/Smith
SF: Honeycutt/Moser
SG: Lamb/Lee
PG: McCallum/Jones
Doesn't look too bad, but we need McCallum!!!
Yes if McCallum comes, it will be much better. We will still be pretty inexperienced but with talent hence why I said a few years most likely to get back to where we were a few years back. We can certainly use a terence jones as well to create matchup problems in so many ways and he is a beast on defense as well.
If he is what they listed him as, it wouldnt be awkward to use Terence Jones as a small C if the Bruins want to go with a fast lineup.
C: T. Jones
PF: Nelson
SF: Honeycutt
SG: Lamb/Lee
PG: McCallum/Jones
This would be a very fast team without losing rebounding either and aggressive defense. Seeing how both Nelsen and Honeycutt can hit the Boards hard and I am sure Jones can as well. Also both Jones and Honeycutt are quick off the floor and great shot blockers.
Well, all speculation until they sign. However I do like the freshmen we have currently to play hard and work hard.
I wish we could have had Steve Alford as our coach!
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