On Gordon and Zone
UCLA head coach Ben Howland announced at his Tuesday press conference that sophomore forward Drew Gordon, the team's third-leading scorer and second-leading rebounder, would be transferring at the end of the quarter.
Howland declined to elaborate on the decision, which he called mutual, and only said it did not come hastily.
"I wish Drew well, and I hope that he finds a program that is best suited for him," Howland said Tuesday. "I appreciate what he's given to the program during his year and a third. It's mutually between Drew and I - it's better for both parties that we make this decision."
The loss comes at a horrible time for a reeling program riding its first three-game losing streak in five years. The Bruins lost to Portland by 27 in the first game of the 76 Classic on Nov. 26, then fell in a heartbreaker to No. 12 Butler, 69-67, before falling to 2-4 with a 79-68 loss to Long Beach State on Sunday.
Gordon was one of the few bright spots in the otherwise stormy season, averaging 11.2 points and 5.3 rebounds in 24.5 minutes per game.
"The UCLA system is very methodical, and Drew is better as a transition player,'' Gordon's mother Shelly told Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News. "When you spend that much time and effort on something, you have to feel some gratification. We wanted to make the change now rather than wait and hope the situation gets better. The timing is terrible: It looks like he's leaving because they lost a bunch of games.
"But that's not what happened.''
Gordon had appeared happy early in the young season and several players said they had no idea the decision was pending.
"I didn't think he was unhappy," sophomore point guard Jerime Anderson said. "He's playing, he played a lot. But that's just what he saw. I don't really know what happened between him and coach. I don't know if it caught me by surprise. There were times, when I guess (Gordon and Howland) butted heads.
"But a lot of players don't agree with their coaches all the time."
Howland said he expected freshman forward Reeves Nelson and senior forward James Keefe to get increased minutes with Gordon's defections. Nelson has the team's best per-minute averages in scoring and rebounding by a wide margin, picking up 7.3 points and 4.7 rebounds in just 14.8 minutes per game.
"As far as it going down, I don't really know," senior guard Michael Roll said. "I came into lift today and I heard the news. It's unfortunate for both him and for us, and hopefully it works out for him. We're going to make it work for us here."
Zoning Out
For the first time in his UCLA tenure, it appears Howland is going to mix some zone defense into the game plan. The Bruins have been constantly beaten off the dribble in their poor start, and opposing teams have exploited UCLA's youth and lack of preseason practice time.
Howland has often derided the zone, saying on Tuesday that "sometimes when people get in a zone, they feel like not it's time to relax."
However, the coach who guided the Bruins to three straight Final Fours from 2006-08 realizes that he might need to mix things up to get the team back on track
"I coached in the Big East for four years, worked against Syracuse, the best zone defense in the country, and they really work hard at it," said Howland, who coached at Pittsburgh from 1999-2003. "One thing we can do at times is have length and size in there. You have bigger, longer players in that zone and it's difficult to play against. But you have to understand you have to work really hard in the zone.
"Defense whether its zone or man is meant to be played with intensity."
Proofreading is not a necessary part of writing at the Daily News, it seems.
Sorry, sigh..., what was not proofread? My spellcheck/proofreader in Microsoft Word caught nothing. Thanks.
"sometimes when people get in a zone, they feel like no[w] it's time to relax."
However, the coach who guided the Bruins to three straight Final Fours from 2006-08 realizes that he might need to mix things up to get the team back on track[.]
Wow, not even in his first couple of years did Howland even think about instituting a zone defense with those awful teams. I knew things were bad, but for him to change his philosophy now, uncanny (I am at loss of words actually). Is this the most desperate he's been? Wow. I just hope it works, looks like its going to be a long year until start of next football season.
Howland to run a zone.... It's dark out, but I think I can see the pigs flying.
oh finally CBH give up to the zone... if he had done that 3 seasons ago, we might have 1 or 2 championships... KLove's transition would be better if we played the zone, he was slow to rotate back all the time on pick and roll.... same thing last year when shipp and DG get beat everytime off the dribble... now we can throwing in J'mison Morgan and might really have a chance to go really big!
I cannot believe how many people here think they know better than Howland...
@Anonymous
Are you kidding? Who here can't coach the Bruins to a twenty-seven point loss to Portland State?! Have you been watching the Bruins this year?
For those who weren't paying attention: Howland did play some zone from time to time during his first season at UCLA>
Sigh...
Did you just call out Jon for a one letter typo and a missed 'period' on this informative blog?
Purhaps yoo kneed too proophreed your HEAD
Anon:
I guess the readers on here and Gordon's mom know better than a guy who makes millions at it and consistently puts under talented over achievers in the NBA.
People on here are laughable. Saying Ben can't coach or recruit. Show me one idiot on here who could honestly say, before watching them play for BH, that they thought Luc, Ryan Hollins, Westbrook, and Collison would be NBA draftees and solid contributers?
All those phone calls and the best he can do is San Diego State or another WCC team? WOW!!!! Really impressive. Here's betting Drew Gordon becomes the next Ryan Wright or Chace Stanback.
BH is taking out the trash and building around the rest. Remember, talent doesn't always win championships. Remember all those Dean Smith UNC teams, the Roy Williams Kansas teams (pretty much anybody's Kansas teams except for 2008 and 1988 miracle), Calipari's Memphis teams, non Melo Syracuse teams, Texas, Ohio St., Duke the last ten years, Kentucky the last ten years, Arizona and many others? Whole lot of talent, not many trophies.
How is it that this UCLA blog doesn't have any postings on how Tony Jefferson has decommitted to UCLA and now is considering USC or Notre Dame?
Jon has been saying for weeks in chat that according to his sources TJ wasn't coming to UCLA. So to those who follow the blog, hang out in chat, finding out Jefferson is going elsewhere is OLD NEWS.
"The timing is terrible: It looks like he's leaving because they lost a bunch of games. 'But that's not what happened.'"
Ugh.... yeah it is. Doubt this decision would have been made (at least not now) if the Bruins were 6-0 going into face Kansas.
As for the zone... YES! About time. Would have loved to have seen this actually the past 3 years as well. I prefer man to man, but like the idea of mixing things up. If anything, it makes your team more difficult to prepare for as it's another defensive scheme others must take into account when preparing.
Jefferson is thinking of going to ND?? That is interesting. I wonder who is recruiting him.
As long as Howland is instituting the zone, he should install an offense too.
I was hoping Howland would say that Bobo would see some playing time now. I'm not too crazy about those minutes going to Keefe...
I've heard a rumor that CBH was head butted by gordon?
PDG,
If they only loose by 30 to KU, I'll consider it a moral victory......
Jon,
The error was in Howland's quote. It should be "now" instead of "not".
RE: Bruinfaithfull.
You have to be related to BH or BH himself! Not even you can believe the idiotic comments you consistently make!
Yes, the first time we saw Westbrook we saw how explosive he was! As for Luc, ask yourself this sir: If a player can average 7pts per game against NBA competition how much should he have averaged against college players? Then we have Hollins; I guess it's almost impossible to make a NBA team when your'e 7 feet tall and athletic. Please refer to any NBA roster for reference. I wonder how DJ Mbenga made the Lakers roster without BH's help? MAYBE BECAUSE HE'S 7 FOOT AND ATHLETIC! Just a guess! And why does his miracle work not show up until these players reach the NBA?
And your sensless comment about past NCAA champions is comical at best! Yea I guess that N.C. team last year was full of bums, and that 08 Kansas team was horrible, I could go on but I doubt you would get the point!
I'll shock you with this one! Lavin was a better recruiter and coach. During his tenure he recruited against and played tougher competetion in the PAC 10! Arizona,Cal and Stanford were very strong as were most other PAC 10 teams, the recent weakness in conference has allowed BH to garner top seeds in the tourney. If you don't understand how much more difficult it is to make the final four as a 1 or 2 seed vs 4 or 5 then...Oh I forgot who I was talking to! Lets just say you play teams like oh, Portland St in the first round instead of Syracuse.
Suggestion for you and any one else who thinks I'm bashing BH unfairly. Watch some games, any games look at the talent level vs ours. Maybe watch a Pitino, Calipari, Williams or Boeheim coached team. See how they handle the impossible 2-3 Zone, get easy baskets with this new thing they call a fast break. See how they handle inner-city kids with real attitude problems and teach them how to play basketball with enthusiam and toughness. See how attractive that may look to a recruit vs coming to the Westwood Defensive Academy.
And one more point, most of these kids have been playing basketball for at least 10 years by the time they reach UCLA. They have been to numerous camps and clinics to learn everything there is to know about the game of basketball! To think that BH is some kind of conduit to the NBA because he teaches kids how to be great "defensive" players is idiotic! I'm sure BH "AND STAFF" do elevate the players game, but if we use your logic I guess Abdul-Hamid and Soo will get drafted also!!!!
And whoever the idiot is who is checking for spelling and grammar mistakes on the Jons blog please check mine for me then look around for your life!
Blow it out your ass bigdbruin. But have a great day.
Looks like Gordon just can't handle pressure. Yeah the team isn't looking like it's going to be too good this season but if you're a player who has any guts you stick with it and try harder and make the others on the team play harder not curl up and say I want out......he's a quitter and I wouldn't want that on any team of mine......
ATTENTION BIGDBRUIN: Lavin was a better coach than Howland is? Uh yeah, so much for you having any credibility of any kind. I'm sure you were oh so happy with all those Sweet 16 losses with Lavin at the helm.
this year's team, talent-wise is between Howland's 1st year and 2nd year's team. Much better than the Ariza/Dijon Thompson team, but not as good as the Bozeman/AA/JF team