Young UCLA Team Faces Growing Pains | Zagsblog
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Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
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Saturday / November 23.

Young UCLA Team Faces Growing Pains

NEW YORK — All the championships and tradition didn’t help UCLA much this weekend in the Big Apple.

The Bruins will leave the NIT Tip-Off with back-to-back losses to No. 7 Villanova and VCU, although they put up a good fight before falling to the Rams, 89-85, in the consolation game.

Things won’t get much easier for Ben Howland’s crew, whose next game is Dec. 2 at No. 6 Kansas.

“I think we have a good group of kids that are good kids,” Howland said. “They’re going to work hard. They’re disappointed right now. They have two losses in a row. And our next game is against Kansas against one of the best teams in the country…So we have a tough road ahead of us.”

Junior guard Malcolm Lee (pictured) had 23 points, sophomore forward Reeves Nelson added 20 points and 10 boards and sophomore forward Tyler Honeycutt added 18 and 13.

The Bruins don’t have a single senior on the roster and the good news is that help is on the way next year.

North Carolina transfers David and Travis Wear will become eligible after transferring and the Bruins also get star recruit Norman Powell, Rivals’ No. 16 shooting guard in the Class of 2011 out of San Diego.

“I like the two kids we have sitting out that become eligible next year in the Wear twins,” Howland said. “We signed a very good player in Norman Powell. I’m excited about the future.”

Howland was asked if he had any regrets about leaving Pittsburgh for UCLA given that the Panthers are now No. 4 in the nation and a perennial powerhouse.

“Not really. I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished at UCLA,” he said, presumably referring to three straight Final Fours from 2006-8. “I love Pittsburgh. I always will be very appreciative to Chancellor Nordenberg and to Steve Pederson for giving me that opportunity.

“And when I left I really spoke out strongly that I thought it would be in the best interests of the program that they hire Jamie [Dixon], which they did. And Jamie has done a terrific job, continued success and is one of the finest coaches in the country.

“I’m very happy where I’m at and feel very lucky. This is a childhood dream to be coach of UCLA, coming from the West Coast and watching all those teams.”

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Latest comments

  • What a major Failure for ucla.

    The folks in LA LA land are more than upset.

    Do not be surprise if Bennie does not come back ,next year.
    I’m just saying.

    With losses to such no-name teams… Bennie is GONE.

  • My boyz SAID IT..
    per ESPN..

    The NCAA is a BIG ,BIG JOKE.
    The Pay for Play Policy is the WORSE possible decision by the new NCAA leadership.

    The Arizona story ..The TRUTH…

    “That was a farce, really. They came out here expecting to find something, and we had to get telephone records for the last five years and other questions. There was nothing there, and I felt that what really happened was they had spent a lot of money… coming out here and that they had to satisfy their people in Indianapolis by coming up with something. That’s a complete farce.

    “See they can misconstrue the facts and everything else, and you can’t question ’em. As far as I’m concerned, that situation is not over yet because they deserve to have something thrown back at ’em. But the university was concerned that if you challenged them, then they’ll hit you harder. And now that I’m no longer involved with that, I can tell the truth as opposed to all the fabrications of the truth that the NCAA gave out.”

    Arizona self-imposed sanctions and chose not to appeal when the NCAA added to them.

    Among the violations, the NCAA reported that Olson arranged for the promoter of an on-campus AAU tournament to speak to the program’s booster club and that a letter was sent to boosters with Olson’s electronic signature asking for a donation with a reminder of how important the event was for recruiting.

    “A mistake was made in my office where something was sent out under electronic signature,” Olson said on Radio Exiles. “If I had ever seen that, why that thing would have been thrown out immediately because it’s obvious you can’t do that.”

    Back in 2008 in an interview with ESPN.com, Olson denied he knew the letter was being sent out, but appeared more willing to accept responsibility.

    “I think that was my fault,” Olson said then. “That wasn’t anyone else’s fault. It was my error and it was a big error. But I guess in 26 years you are allowed to make a mistake once in a while anyway and that’s not to say I haven’t made a lot of them but in terms of that, that was a big mistake on my part.”

  • This is the lead in for U Con…

    How will the U Con story end with the NCAA???

  • i dont know Jesse…why dont you tell us??

  • zag, you know letting jessie the idiot quote like he does is plagiarism. hes not allowed on other sites. nice site.

  • Arizona vs Kansas Gangster U….

    NO EASY baskets.
    It is going to be a physical GAME!!

    Where is WOODY and Jayhawk…. all hiding from all that bad things and bad news from the BB program.
    Twins – Cash Money?

    ps- JonHusky..
    AZ has the U Con thing.
    The NCAA is a BIG JOKE. The NCAA is neg. with U Con?

    Ariz Cat . source is referenced per espn. Go back and re-read…..LMAO…

  • I’m right here, jagoff. Unlike you, I don’t feel the need to constantly post comments about my school under stories that have nothing to do with my school.

    By the way, what are all of the bad things? KU is 5-0, ranked #6 in the country, and get Josh Selby on Dec. 18th. Life is pretty friggin’ good for Jayhawks right now.

    As for Cash Money for the Twins, yes, they will be tonight.

  • I’m going to take the high road and say that Arizona played pretty well against KU. However, they still have work to do. KU doesn’t even have Selby yet. Scary.

  • jessie,

    any comments regarding the game? gangster u! gangster u! ha

  • Kansas Gangster U?

    More like Kansas OWNS JessieWildcat U!

    Jessie: Take a hike, hater. Your act on Zags is pathetic. You’re a horrible representative for your school.

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