Hear! Hear! GO BRUINS. -N

With the Fourth of July just around the corner, I thought something along these lines would be rather appropriate.

While Bruins may have their differences, especially when it comes to what part of California they come from, or what NBA team they support, there is a group of Bruins all of us can get behind and support.

No disrespect to our Ben Ball Warriors who play their heart out for those four magic letters on their chest, but tomorrow, we should keep in mind these true Bruin warriors:

Photo Credit: UCLA Department of Military Science

These, fellow Bruins, are those among our ranks who not only bleed blue and gold, but wear the uniform of our great Nation.

I think it's particularly commendable that these fellow Bruins have volunteered to serve in a time where war and danger are not some remote possibility, but very real.  Regardless of our feelings on Iraq and our president, it's fair to say we all owe these young men and women a real debt of gratitude.

(I should also mention I thought it was pretty cool that the BN for battalion was featured so prominently on their flag).

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

After reading N’s post about the home and home series with Kansas in ’09-’10, I remembered a post by M from a while back about football rivalries that aren’t, but should be. This got me wondering, what basketball rivalries are out there that aren’t but should be? I’m going to take it a little farther than that and not only limit it to rivalries, but home and home series as well. Here’s how M set the table for his post.

Nevertheless, just for fun, I wonder what rivalries make the "most sense," if all these factors disappeared and we had it to do it all over again.  What if we just looked at the universities, their students and their recent pasts, and spun a new set of traditions out of whole cloth?  What are the "natural" rivalries?  Or, in other words, what rivalries that aren't, but should be?  

So we’ll change it up a bit and explore what basketball rivalries/games aren’t, but should be. They can be ones you’d like to see UCLA take part in or ones between any two teams in the country. Here are 5 I’d like to see UCLA participate in, in no particular order.

1. UCLA vs. Notre Dame- The two programs have played recently and will play again this year at Pauley (which should be a fun match-up of two top 10 teams), but this needs to be taken a step farther and made an annual game. There’s too much history between these two programs, from record streaks ending in upsets to epic games on the way to titles for it not to be played every year. This would also match two of the country’s top academic institutions where excellence is expected in the classroom and on the court.

2. UCLA vs. North Carolina- In the past three seasons the two programs have been among the nation’s elite. Not only could the two schools battle in the Final Four in the near future, but they’re already battling for recruits (Kevin Love, Alex Stephenson, Larry Drew). The history between the two programs would be tough to match as well with 82 NCAA tournament appearances, 35 Final Fours and 15 national titles between the two. Then just to make it better, the games would be played at the Dean Smith Center and on John and Nell Wooden Court.

3. UCLA vs. Gonzaga- The established national power that rules the west coast versus the little guys who have taken the college basketball world by storm in the past decade. Gonzaga’s ascent in the college basketball world has been nothing short of extraordinary and despite playing in the lowly WCC the Zags have made a name for themselves by finding their way into the top 25 on a regular basis. We saw this match-up only three seasons ago in the NCAA tournament when UCLA’s 17 point comeback sent the Bruins to the Elite 8 and eventually the National Championship game. Ever since that night, I’ve wanted to see the two programs square off again.

4. UCLA vs. Georgetown- The best team in the northeast plays the best team in the southwest. Both teams like to pound and bang, making this one of the more physical and entertaining match-ups you could get. People say that Ben Howland brought a Big East mentality out west so how about we take the Big East mentality to the Big East and show them how toughness and defense is really done. And again, two of the nation’s better academic institutions.

5. UCLA vs. Purdue- I don’t want to see this game just to play Purdue. I want to see this game as a season opener when the newly renovated Pauley Pavilion opens. The beautiful new area opens, John and Nell Wooden Court is rededicated and the team Coach led to 10 national titles plays the team Coach played his collegiate ball for. I can’t think of a better team to reopen Pauley Pavilion against.

Also there are three games I’d like to see that don’t include UCLA. More after the jump ...

Continue reading this post »

Coach Howland and his staff have been hard at work evaluating talent at UCLA skills camp at Pauley. ESPN has a report on the top performers hoping to impress Coach Howland and perhaps nag an offer to be the next Ben Ball warriors. Here are the two top headliners:

Tyler Honeycutt (6-8, 180)
2009, Sylmar, Calif.
After a pedestrian first day of camp during which his effort level wasn't where it needed to be, Honeycutt was the most impressive performer the next day. He has a slight frame due to his continued growth spurt, but his athleticism and skills are coming along nicely. He has a smooth stroke out beyond the stripe, and he is getting better breaking defenders down off the bounce -- although he needs to bring his dribble down. What separates Honeycutt from most wings is his passing ability. He handed out a number of assists that were impressive, demonstrating his overall feel for the game. His rebounding ability has improved since the regular season, but he needs to become tougher, especially on the defensive end.

Tyler Lamb (6-4, 190)
2010, Ontario, Calif./ Colony
Lamb might have been the most consistent performer of the camp. His game has grown steadily in the past year and his demeanor is terrific. His handle has improved significantly as well, and despite not having great quickness, he has one of the better crossover moves in the West. In addition, he utilizes the pump fake as well as anybody on the high school level. Lamb still needs to hone his fundamentals -- he has a tendency to leave his feet while attempting to pass in the paint -- and continue to smoothen out his jump shot, which has a slow release, but overall his progress has been excellent.

For details on other performers go here.

Coach Howland is so well entrenched at this point and he has our program in the kind of place where he has the luxury to strategize on which specific elite recruits he want to zero in on and lock in. It will be fun to see how he rounds up the class of 2009 as  he is already off to a fantastic start with the commitments from Nelson and Lane.

GO BRUINS.

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

The UCLA basketball program has released their tentative 2008-2009 schedule. The schedule features 29 regular season games with two more possible should UCLA advance to the semi-final round of the 2K Sports Classic. One of the regular season games' opponent is still to be determined, as is one of the two exhibition games. The Bruins face off with Texas as part of the Pac 10/Big XII Hardwood Series, host Notre Dame the week of the USC game and take on DePaul in the John R. Wooden Classic. The other teams participating in the 2K Classic have not been announced, however Duke and Michigan will join UCLA in the tournament. The fourth team has yet to be decided, but Mississippi State, Southern Illinois and Nebraska are possibilities.

Tentative 2008-2009 UCLA Basketball Schedule

Tues., Nov. 4 Humboldt State (Exhibition)

Fri., Nov. 7 TBA (Exhibition)

Wed.,, Nov. 12 Coaches vs. Cancer First Round (at Pauley Pavilion)

Thurs., Nov. 13 Coaches vs. Cancer Second Round (at Pauley Pavilion)

Thurs., Nov. 20 Coaches vs. Cancer Semifinals (at Madison Square Garden)

Fri.., Nov. 21 Coaches vs. Cancer Final (at Madison Square Garden)

Sat., Nov. 29 Florida International

Thurs., Dec. 4 at Texas #

Sun., Dec. 7 Cal State Northridge

Sat., Dec. 13 DePaul $

Wed., Dec. 17 TBA

Sat., Dec. 20 Mercer

Tues., Dec. 23 Wyoming

Sun., Dec. 28 Louisiana Tech

Fri., Jan. 2 at Oregon State*

Sun., Jan. 4 at Oregon*

Sat., Jan. 10 at USC*

Thurs., Jan. 15 Arizona State*

Sat., Jan. 17 Arizona*

Thurs., Jan. 22 at Washington State*

Sat., Jan. 24 at Washington*

Thurs., Jan. 29 California*

Sat., Jan. 31 Stanford*

Wed., Feb. 4 USC*

Sat., Feb. 7 Notre Dame

Thurs., Feb. 12 at Arizona*

Sat., Feb. 14 at Arizona State*

Thurs., Feb. 19 Washington*

Sat., Feb. 21 Washington State*

Thurs., Feb. 26 at Stanford*

Sat., Feb. 28 at California*

Thurs., Mar. 5 Oregon*

Sat., Mar. 7 Oregon State*

Mar. 11-14 Pac-10 Tournament (at Staples Center)

#- Pac 10/Big XII Hardwood Series

$- Wooden Classic, Anaheim, Calif. (Honda Center)

*- Pac 10 Game

Earl Watson, one of three Seattle Super Sonics point guards (including fellow Bruin, rookie Russell Westbrook) has broken his thumb. He could miss up to four months, meaning he's out all summer and into next season.

According to the Seattle PI (link above), this makes the Sonics point guard situation "murky."

The injury is a costly one for the Sonics, who likely were hoping to deal Watson or Luke Ridnour this summer to clear playing time for No. 1 draft pick Russell Westbrook. Watson was coming off a career season and was the likely starter for the 2008-09 season.

Ridnour is owed $13 million over the next two seasons and endured an injury-riddled campaign. Westbrook was drafted as the team's point guard of the future and is expected to serve as a backup until he learns the offense and becomes more seasoned.

Watson's injury could mean the Sonics will enter the season with Ridnour as the starter until they deal him and are able to acquire a cheaper veteran. Watson also has two years left on his deal at $12.8 million, but fits more with the Sonics' defensive philosophy.

Best wishes to Earl.

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

UCLA has a reputation for severely underpaying its coaches and being unwilling to invest in its athletics. So with Howland signing his fifth contract extension in five years Jeff Eisenberg took a look at how Howland's contract compares with those of some of the other top coaches in the country.

- Billy Donovan (Florida), $3.5 million
- Thad Matta (Ohio State), $2.5 million
- John Calipari (Memphis), $2.35 million
- Billy Gillispie (Kentucky), $2.3 million
- Tom Crean (Indiana), $2.3 million
- Ben Howland (UCLA), $1.97 million
- Roy Williams (North Carolina), $1.8 million
- Tubby Smith (Minnesota), $1.8 million
- Tom Izzo (Michigan State), $1.7 million
- Rick Pitino (Louisville), $1.65 million
- Bill Self (Kansas) $1.4 million (Expected to renegotiate this offseason)

Not bad for an athletic department that has a history of underpaying coaches. It's clear the attitude of the Morgan Center has changed since DG took over and coaches who perform are rewarded. Just check out the numbers of how Howland's salary has gone up in the past five years (again from Jeff Eisenberg).

Howland's annual salary
2003-04: $900,000 (11-17, 7th in Pac-10)
2004-05: $900,000 (18-11, lost to Texas Tech in NCAA first round)
2005-06: $900,000 (32-7, lost to Florida in NCAA title game)
2006-07: $1.15 million (30-6, lost to Florida in Final Four)
2007-08: $1.5 million (35-4, lost to Memphis in Final Four)
2008-09: $1.97 million (???)

I don't think anybody would argue that Howland has deserved each and every one of those raises. Maybe we'll see him get another raise after next season deserving for a coach who brought home banner #12? 

Jason over at What’s Bruin, Dawg recently picked up on some interesting discussion on California Golden Blog concerning (some?) Cal fans’ amusing hatred for all things UCLA:

This burning hatred is kinda' funny, for a number of reasons. I especially like any response that professes hatred for a school with "Well, I visited that school in 2005, and let me tell you, the fans in the stands were so rude, I just couldn't take it." These stories are hilarious for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that if I applied this logic to every visit I have ever taken to every stadium in the country, I probably would hate everyone.

To be perfectly honest, even in their supposed 'greatest hour', I rarely think about Cal football. I'm not sure why this is. Should I be thinking about Cal football? I don't innately hate San Francisco, either. A hatred for the Southland is apparently some ritual requirement of our friends to the north. In the comments section of said posting, someone mentioned they hated everything from Los Angeles - the Lakers, Hollywood, possibly even the carpool lane.

This person was from Buffalo. Seriously, if you're from Buffalo, you don't have any right to be doggin' on another city. It's like being from Detroit and complaining about Milwaukee. Just stop.

At any rate, my overall point is that I can use any number of real-life examples to either show that Cal fans are amazingly nice or total morons. It's a two-way street, folks.

Nice Cal Fans: 2005 Rose Bowl; A really inebriated UCLA fan (small Asian girl, must have been no older then 16 or 17) is stumbling up to her seat by us in Section 2. She proceeds to fall down on one knee, and I kid you not, just totally upchuck right there all over a very nice Cal husband and wife who must have been in their 50s. The husband laughs, the wife laughs, and they just kinda' signal the usher, point, and go "That's a football game for you." They were easily the two nicest people I've ever met in a stadium in my entire life. They didn't yell, didn't scream, nothing. Just smiled and moved on.

Idiot Cal Fan: USC v. UCLA @ LA Colisuem, 2007; First, there's a Cal fan at the UCLA/USC game. Which was odd enough. He was sitting one row behind us way in the corner (you know, near the peristyle section that USC doles out as a pittance to the visiting fans). Anyways, we're sitting throughout the entire game, listening to the Cal fan talk about how awesome his team is (keep in mind, by this point, Cal was 6-5 and had lost to UCLA earlier in the year). Several people told him to shutup. I had struck up a conversation with the gentleman next to me about the coaching staff - we both were none too pleased, as in typical UCLA fashion, we had begun to waste our timeouts with about 11 minutes to go. In the first quarter. Christian Taylor's parents and family are sitting about three or four seats to the left of us, and down one row. Following yet another timeout, there's an audible groan, and the Cal fan stands up, and screams, "Fire the black coach!"

At this point, the gentleman next to me turns around, glares at the Cal fan, and tells him to shut the hell up. It's now the moron Cal fan realizes that the guy in front of him WAS black, and so were his two children (probably around 12 or 13). The Cal fan proceeds to go "Man, I didn't mean that, I didn't mean that..." and the whole time, the guy next to me is telling him to just shut the hell up.

The Cal fan ultimately has to leave to prevent pretty much everyone in the section from kicking his ass. It wasn't a kid being drunk, it wasn't someone being loud and obnoxious, it was just a total idiot. He had no excuse. And seriously, I hope someone did light him up later that night. He had this heinous mop of red hair and must have weighed around 125 lbs - I think my grandmother could have taken him. 

Don’t forget the incident from November of 2006 when few hooligans in the Cal student section beat up another Cal student just because he had UCLA color shirt on. Ranelar posted the violent atmosphere in the Cal student section following the UCLA-Cal here on BN.

BUT as Jason rightly pointed out in the conclusion of his post on WBD that it would be ridiculous to make generalizations on an entire fanbase (except for Trojans fans since we have grown up and lived around them most of our lives and have enough data points their attitude towards their scandal plagued major revenue programs) base on this anecdotes. But it is still amusing to me to see Cal fans get so bent up over UCLA football.

I don’t have any bad feelings towards them whatsoever. In fact I have nothing but great respect for Jeff Tedford. I believe he is a great coach for the Bears and I hope they can hang on to him. I also think Montgomery was a good get for the Bears. He will hopefully upgrade their basketball progam, which indirectly will benefit our conference and bring even more national attention to our own basketball program.

I am sure there are few UCLA alums/students/fans who don’t care much for Cal. From my pov they have never really been on my radar. My first UCLA-Cal game was a heartbreaking last second loss. IIRC it was a Bear team QBed by Mike Pawlawski  who beat Tommy Maddox led Bruins by a game winning FG by Doug Brien. I can remember coming out of the Rose Bowl and getting in our car only to find out the Dodgers had choked away the pennant against Will Clark’s Giants (October 91). It wasn’t a fun Saturday. But I remember being stunned by seeing the Cal students get worked up over beating UCLA, and wearing “special t shirts” which I thought were reserved for rivalry games such UCLA-Southern Cal or Cal-Stanford.

I never got into So Cal – No Cal rivalry considering all my room-mates during college were from the Bay Area. Yes, we gave each other hard time over Lakers-Warriors or Dodgers-Giants but it was nothing like the venom I had seen in the Cal-UCLA games from Cal section (in my days) or some what we see via youtube now.

As far the guys at California Golden Blogs are concerned they are good bloggers and we have noted their intellectual honesty before. They have few crazy commenters. The ones that are complaining about being banned from BN are the usual trolls who have gotten kicked out of here for being disruptive, disrespectful, and trying to engage in flame wars, similar to the offline examples presented by Jason and ranelar above. We will never tolerate that and frankly don’t have the time to deal with that. But if Cal fans want to engage in discussion on BN they should take their cue from someone like raganork on how to engage respectfully as a guest in another community.

Anyway, I never thought much about Cal athletics over the years and most likely will not start now. As I have said before I have wished those CGFB guys up north publicly and via email that I hope they get their basketball program back on track and can hold on to Jeff Tedford. A strong Cal program will mean UCLA-Cal game in the national spotlight just like another high profile SEC or Big-10 match ups we see on ESPN. That bodes well for the conference and college football in the West Coast.

We will get back to the Bears during game week this coming season.

GO BRUINS.

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

The assistant head coaching spot left vacant when Brian Green took a job at Kentucky has been filled by Rick Vanderhook. Hook spent 21 years as an assistant at Fullerton and was promoted to Associate Head Coach under George Horton prior to the Titans' first game of the 2007 College World Series. He was expected by many to succeed Horton at Fullerton, but was passed over for the job to the surprise of many. Coach Serrano, who got the Fullerton job offered Hook a spot on the coaching staff, but he was upset for being passed over and declined. Coach Horton also offered Hook a place on his staff as the Associate Head Coach, but he did not want to move his family that has such strong ties to the Souther California area.

Vanderhook, 43, took last season off from coaching, but has 21 years of coaching experience. He started his coaching career at Fullerton the year after he finished playing. He spent two seasons as the bullpen coach and then one as the third base coach under legend Augie Garrido. Hook then went to Cal St. Northridge where he was the top assistant before going back to Fullerton after two seasons. Hook spent the remainder of his coaching career at Fullerton before taking last year off.

Vanderhook is considered one of the nation's best coaches. He has been offered head coaching jobs before, but declined them under the assumption he was succeed Horton at Fullerton. Hook is a premier hitting coach and has produced players such as first round picks Mike Harkey, Phil Nevin, Dante Powell, Mark Kotsay, Ricky Romero and supplemental pick Aaron Rowand. He has also coached 19 other All-Americans since 1991. Not only is Hook one of the best hitting coaches in the game, but he is also one of the nation's best recruiters with ties all over the area. He was the Titans' lead recruiter for the bulk of his time at Fullerton and many Titan players have credited him as the main reason they chose Fullerton.

If you want information on how involved Hook was in the Fullerton program, look at what Horton had to say in a Baseball America interview about who he thought should get the Fullerton job when he left.

I’ve let it known with them that Rick Vanderhook has 100 percent of my support. I’ve done everything in my power as the ex-baseball coach to promote Rick Vanderhook. This Titans baseball family runs pretty significant, there are a lot of guys that could be successful that are out coaching in other places, but my opinion is it’s a no-brainer. Rick Vanderhook should be the next head baseball coach at Cal State Fullerton, he should be given a three-year contract.

Rick’s been here for 20 years, been here longer than I have, been here during Augie Garrido’s tenure, been here during my tenure. That wasn’t just a token thing making him associate head coach (this year), he does pretty much everything I did with the program.

This is a huge get for the Bruin baseball program. Vanderhook will take care of the hitters (his strength) and Savage will take care of the pitchers (his strength). Hook will also bring even more credibility to the program, give a boost to the already strong recruiting and provide expert coaching the program has lacked recently. Most importantly, Hook will bring a new attitude to the program that will challenge players and provide some much needed toughness within the program. The Bruin program has taken huge strides under Savage, but has been criticized for being a little soft and lacking the correct mental approach to the game. With Hook on the staff, it's hard to imagine that continuing.

UPDATE: The official site has picked up on the hire and has this quote from Coach Savage: 

"Rick has been one of the top coaches for a very long time in college baseball," Savage said. "His knowledge, experience and passion will be a great addition to Bruin baseball. Rick has developed many players that were not only great college players but were also successful in professional baseball. Rick has been a part of many winning teams. We are very excited about Rick being in Westwood."

And it also has some more numbers from his time at Fullerton:

At Cal State Fullerton, Vanderhook helped lead the Titans to two national championships (1995, 2004). He coached the Titans to 10 College World Series appearances, six Super Regional triumphs, 16 Regional berths (13 since 1992) and 11 Big West Conference titles. Vanderhook also spent two years (1989-1990) as an assistant coach at Cal State Northridge, guiding the Matadors to a 39-22 record and NCAA Division II runner-up finish in 1990.

 

Under his tutelage at Cal State Fullerton, Vanderhook coached 52 All-America selections (27 on offense) and 28 eventual major leaguers. As the Titans' recruiting coordinator from 1991-1996, Vanderhook brought in 17 eventual All-America selections to Cal State Fullerton's program. Since 1991, Vanderhook's offenses posted a batting average above .300 each spring and an on-base percentage higher than .400 in all but one season.

 

Vanderhook was responsible for some of the most explosive offenses in Cal State Fullerton's history. The 1999 Titans established program benchmarks for single-season batting average (.338) and runs per game (9.2). Fullerton's 1998 squad set school records with 93 home runs, 28 triples and 167 doubles. 

ESPN.com's Marc Stein is reporting that Baron Davis has agreed to a 5 year deal with the Clippers.

NBA front-office sources told ESPN.com's Marc Stein that the guard reached a verbal agreement with the Clippers on Tuesday night and will sign a new multiyear contract with Los Angeles after the leaguewide moratorium on signings and trades is lifted July 9.

Davis was in line to make $17.8 million in the last year of his deal with the Warriors, but after telling the team that he wanted to stay, opted out at the last minute.

Sources told ESPN.com that Davis, 29, will receive a five-year deal worth an estimated $65 million.

It's interesting that Baron said he wanted to stay with GS, but agreed w/ the Clipps so quickly. Also interesting that his new deal with pay him about $4.5 million a year less than the one he opted out of. Anyway, nice to have a Bruin back in LA. Good luck Baron.

It looks like RN has beefed up our 2009 recruiting class with a huge get in Greg Capella, an OL out of El Diamante H.S. Apparently he really impressed at the Nike Football Training camp on USC's campus. According to Bill Conley of ESPN:

The other offensive lineman who wouldn't be denied was Greg Capella (El Diamante, Calif.). He went repetition after repetition, getting tougher and tougher as the competition heated up.

Also according to WWL:

Capella is a huge and powerful offensive tackle that absolutely destroys anyone dumb enough to play base technique against him. He delivers a devastating initial punch and follows it with excellent leg drive. Capella has good feet for such a big man and can pull and turn upfield without losing balance or body control. He is also a solid pass protector that has a huge wing span that makes him difficult to beat on the outside edge if you're a pass rusher.

It's nice to see us get a solid OL to protect Brehaut, who continues to shine in all of these pre-season camps. I think RN knows in the recruiting game you have to start in the trenches and build outwards...who would want to quarterback a team with no offensive line? Concussion anyone? And who would want to play DB without a decent pass rushing/run stuffing defensive line? The skill positions follow the big boys!