The Sports Corner

UCLA Basketball had better right the ship in 2010

Better luck next year Bruins. 

After being thoroughly dismantled by Villanova in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, UCLA and Ben Howland have to look ahead to 2009-10.

Villanova outed the Bruins for their lack of interior defense and for a Ben Howland coached team, their overall team and on-ball defense was lackluster at best. UCLA gave the Big East no reason at all to fear the Pac 10 conference, reinforcing beliefs that it’s full of soft teams who can’t defend. Don’t pin the loss on Villanova’s home court advantage.

They were beaten down physically, beaten down mentally, out-coached and out-played. It was a total team effort in the loss. 

What a waste of Darren Collison’s final season. 

You can bet Howland will drill defense into this team during the off-season and show the tape of this game ad nauseam. But with so many personnel losses to deal with, will it just be another rebuilding year?

Seniors Josh Shipp, Alfred Aboya and Darren Collison have all exhausted their eligibility. That leaves Nikola Dragovic, James Keefe and Michael Roll on the roster in terms of upperclassmen. None of them is athletic enough to compete with a team like Villanova. 

Thankfully Howland recruited some athletes in this past freshman class. Jrue Holliday, Malcolm Lee and Drew Gordon will all be called upon to take on important roles next year.

Holliday will be asked to take over at point guard, which should be a better fit for him than the off-guard spot he has been playing this year. Lee will take over on the wing for Shipp, where he will be a vast improvement defensively over the enigmatic Shipp. Gordon will need to bulk up if he’s going to replace the strength that Aboya provided on the inside, nevertheless, he gives the team the best interior athlete they’ve had in a while. 

If Howland can convince highly regarded prep guard Lance Stephenson (Brooklyn, NY) to commit to the Bruins, then things will be looking a little brighter in Westwood. Stephenson is rated the No.9 overall player by Rivals.com and the No.4 shooting guard. Stephenson is also considering Kansas, Maryland, St. John’s and Wake Forest. 

With Stephenson UCLA will have a starting five of Holliday, Stephenson, Lee, Dragovic and Gordon. Without him Michael Roll will probably inserted on the wing in his place. For them to compete for the Pac 10 championship next year they will need the prep star.

Currently the top player committed to the Bruins in the 2009 class is Tyler Honeycutt (Sylmar, CA), a 6′7 forward. Honeycutt is rated No.29 overall by Rivals and No.4 at small forward. 

Sure this season would have gone better with the services of underclassmen-gone-pro Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook but that’s the nature of college basketball today. Top players aren’t going to spend four years in school so keeping the program among the best in the country is as much about recruiting as it is X’s and O’s. 

The only Pac 10 team that will take a noticeable step back next year will be Arizona State with the potential loss of all-everything James Harden. UCLA had better be ready or those three straight final four trips will quickly be forgotten.