Hoops Update
By Jon Gold
Staff Writer
UCLA freshman forward Tyler Honeycutt will miss three-to-four weeks with a stress reaction in his right tibia, a precautionary measure to prevent a stress fracture, head coach Ben Howland said on Monday.
Honeycutt discomfort boiled over during Saturday's practice and was diagnosed on Sunday.
"We had one of these happen to Aaron Afflalo in the summertime, and he missed six weeks," Howland said. "In terms of the severity, I'm sure there are different levels. We'll know more tonight. He's definitely out two-to-three weeks minimum."
UCLA's practices lately have looked more like an infirmary, with as many as six players sidelined throughout the preseason.
Despite Honeycutt's injury, though, other Bruins are on the mend.
Sophomore point guard Jerime Anderson was back in practice last week after a groin pull sidelined him for all of the early preseason camp, and though he did not play in the team's 62-61 exhibition win over Concordia, he is expected to start tomorrow against Humboldt State in the Bruins' last exhibition game.
Senior guard Michael Roll was also back in the mix following a sprained ankle, and he is also expected to start today.
But Howland feels for Honeycutt, who missed most of the summer with a sore back.
"It's just another piece of adversity to deal with," Howland said. "You're always going to have adversity. We seem to have more than our fair share. He had such a tough time this summer not being able to do anything. He's done everything we've asked him to do. I think he's made good strides and worked real hard.
"I'm counting on him being back, hopefully not too long away."
More Bumps and Bruises
Freshman forward Brendan Lane returned to practice on Saturday after recovering from a sprained ankle, but fell ill on Monday morning.
Scouting the Enemy
Howland had only good things to say about Humboldt State, which is ranked No. 21in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Div. II poll.
"They're a good-shooting team, a team that executes well," Howland said. "They'll run a flow action like we saw in the last game. They've got a lot of different things they run, and they're a team always at the top of their league."
The game is actually tomorrow, right?
What's up with the banning of the visiting band to the game? The Humboldt State University Marching Lumberjacks were looking forward to a visit to UCLA... but were told they were not allowed to come. Is there a home-band-only policy? Quite unfair, if so. And it's your loss!
Why is it that CBH always compliments opposing teams "flow" offenses that would be tough to handle. Yet, the Bruins seem to have no offensive "flow". The latest Blue Chipper to make his visit talked about CBH's stressing mostly defense at practice. I do understand that, but the Bruins do need to score. It's just aggravating that Ucla always has to find a shot instead of making one.
The article says "today" because it's going to publish in Tuesday's Daily News.
Banned Band:
sorry about that. I agree it a silly policy, if it even is one. We as fans would have loved to see and hear the Marching Lumberjacks performing in Pauley
i say let the luberjacks march, but that's me.
on a more serious note, i am getting concerned that with our paper thin backcourt, is Howland going to use the zone this year? he tends to be, lets face it, stubborn, in refusing to use zone in the past and several times we got spanked because of it. but this year we are facing some excellent backcourt tandems (WA alone has 3 killer quick gaurds) and our one good point man has a chronic groin strain. this has trouble written all over it. we have a surplus of long forwards but this all means nothing if the gaurds are playing on roller skates. Jon Gold, do something!!
The opposing school band ban is a Howland instituted ban. He thinks it's distracting. I believe his chief complaint was the $C band . . . the only "political" way to ban $C from bringing its band was to ban all opposing school bands.