Stars Align In L.A.
Talented Bruins Await Madison
Posted: November 15, 2012
HARRISONBURG — Ben Howland needed to make a change. After three consecutive trips to the Final Four from 2006-08, his UCLA basketball team had failed to move past the second round of the NCAA Tournament the last four seasons.
To put an end to the drought (at tradition-rich UCLA, this level of struggle constitutes a drought), he secured the undisputed top recruiting class in the nation. How? For one thing, he promised an up-tempo offense that belies Howland’s grind-it-out reputation.
“I just think it would be good for us for the future,” Howland said of the new style Monday in a telephone interview. “It’s just better for recruiting. I don’t know how it translates, necessarily, to the NBA, but that’s not important, I guess.”
What’s important for UCLA (2-0), which hosts James Madison at 11 p.m. (EST) today in the Dukes’ first game of the season, is returning to prominence. Howland, whose team is a heavy favorite, might have assembled the pieces to do just that.
Unfortunately for him, the key piece, super-freshman Shabazz Muhammad, is ineligible, at least for now, because of an NCAA amateurism rule. The NCAA says an outside source funded unofficial recruiting trips the five-star swingman took to North Carolina and Duke.
Fans, Bruins players and even Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea – who performed the national anthem at UCLA’s opener – have donned “Free Shabazz” T-shirts, and Howland this week wouldn’t count out the NCAA declaring Muhammad eligible again in time for today’s game (although that appears unlikely).
The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday that UCLA is filing an appeal on the initial decision, and will be heard Friday by the NCAA’s appeals committee.
Apparently, the Bruins could use him. They needed overtime Tuesday to stave off UC Irvine, a Big West team picked during the preseason to finish third in its conference.
The Anteaters outrebounded UCLA 55-44, and Irvine sophomore forward Will Davis missed two free throws with two seconds left in regulation – points that could have been the upset-makers.
Even without Muhammad, the Bruins flaunt quite a freshman class. Guard Jordan Adams has scored 47 points in his first two games, and he’s not even the team’s most highly touted rookie. That would be Rivals’ No. 3 prospect, 6-foot-8 Kyle Anderson, a probable future NBA lottery pick who is playing both small forward and point guard this year. Another talented freshman is Tony Parker, a big forward who comes off the bench.
UCLA is ranked No. 13 in both college basketball polls this week and is expected to challenge Arizona for Pac-12 supremacy. The Bruins received the most first-place votes in the league’s preseason poll, but Arizona finished atop the poll based on points (403-402). The Bruins return twin forwards David and Travis Wear, who both scored in double figures last year after transferring from North Carolina. Another former Tar Heel, point guard Larry Drew II, joins the Bruins, who are big and deep at every position.
“It’s the best offensive team we’ve played since my time here,” fifth-year JMU coach Matt Brady said. “They’re 10-deep, they’ve got great size, and they’ve got really great basketball players that are really unselfish. They’re physical specimens.”
Tonight’s game – the first-ever meeting between the schools – is part of the Progressive Legends Classic, a tournament that will have JMU in Pittsburgh next week for games against Duquesne, Youngstown State and North Dakota.
On Nov. 3, the Dukes scrimmaged Georgetown, a tall Big East team that’s on the fringe of the Top 25. Brady, after watching film of UCLA, called the Bruins “light-years better than Georgetown.”
They’re so good, he said, in part because Howland is playing to his group’s strengths.
“The more possessions in a game they get, the better off they’ll be,” Brady said. “You’ve got to do some really great things to beat UCLA. You’ve got to keep them out of transition because they’re great in transition, which is something you’d never say about Ben’s teams.”
Howland, who is signed through the 2014-15 season, is the most high-profile coach on everyone’s radar for the proverbial “hot seat.” Sports Illustrated magazine ran a critical story last winter about Howland’s handling of players and his program – a piece that, coupled with the team’s failure to reach the tournament last year, turned some UCLA fans against him.
While UCLA started 2-5 last season, optimism is much brighter this year. The team moved back into Pauley Pavilion, which underwent a $132 million renovation that forced the Bruins to play elsewhere around Los Angeles last year.
The stage could be overwhelming for JMU, which finished 12-20 last season. But the Dukes, picked to finish sixth in the Colonial Athletic Association, say they aren’t intimidated.
“The pressure’s on them,” senior forward Rayshawn Goins said. “They’re No. 13 in the country. … If anything, it’s like, we’re gonna shock the world if we win. The pressure is on them, with one of the top-ranked recruiting classes in the country.”
This will be the fourth time in five seasons that Madison has opened against a ranked team, and the Dukes are 0-3 in those games so far.
JMU might be less polished than UCLA because the Dukes will be the last Division I team to play this season. The Bruins, meanwhile, are preparing for Madison less than 48 hours after their close call against UC Irvine.
“They’re probably going to come out lackadaisical, like the game mean nothing, like they know they’re good, they’re gonna win,” Goins said Tuesday afternoon. “But we’re trying to throw the first punch. They’re a good team, so we know they’re gonna make runs. Like I said, we’re going to try to throw the first punch so we’re not playing from behind the whole time.”
With senior forward Andrey Semenov questionable to play because of a strained groin suffered in practice last week, Brady said he might insert freshman Charles Cooke into an otherwise senior-filled starting lineup featuring Devon Moore, A.J. Davis, Alioune Diouf and Goins. That would leave JMU quite undersized in the frontcourt (Goins is 6-foot-6 and Diouf is 6-5) against a Bruins unit that starts three players taller than 6-8.
As is the case in many upsets, JMU might need to have a hot outside shooting night to drop the Bruins. Defending the 3-pointer could be one of UCLA’s weaknesses: Last year the Bruins allowed opponents to shoot almost 37 percent from deep (289th in the nation), and Howland wasn’t sold on his team’s improvement in that area during its opener.
UC Irvine shot 10-for-22 from behind the arc.
“That’s gonna be a problem for us,” Howland said Monday. “We’re not the quickest, most athletic team in the world. We have length, we have size. That’s our advantage. We’ll see how that plays out.”
JMU is 1-3 in openers under Brady, earning its first victory last year at home against Canisius. The Dukes have lost big at No. 3 Kansas State, at No. 16 Ohio State and against No. 20 Davidson in Oklahoma.
While the lofty goal is obviously to win, the Dukes, who left for Los Angeles from Dulles International Airport on Wednesday afternoon, hope they can at least put up a battle tonight.
“Just come out and fight,” Moore said. “Fight for the whole game. [Two seasons ago] we played Kansas State – we fought for the first half, basically. But basically want to fight hard, play hard, play the whole game hard. We’ve been working hard all offseason, now it’s time to show what we can do.”
To put an end to the drought (at tradition-rich UCLA, this level of struggle constitutes a drought), he secured the undisputed top recruiting class in the nation. How? For one thing, he promised an up-tempo offense that belies Howland’s grind-it-out reputation.
“I just think it would be good for us for the future,” Howland said of the new style Monday in a telephone interview. “It’s just better for recruiting. I don’t know how it translates, necessarily, to the NBA, but that’s not important, I guess.”
What’s important for UCLA (2-0), which hosts James Madison at 11 p.m. (EST) today in the Dukes’ first game of the season, is returning to prominence. Howland, whose team is a heavy favorite, might have assembled the pieces to do just that.
Unfortunately for him, the key piece, super-freshman Shabazz Muhammad, is ineligible, at least for now, because of an NCAA amateurism rule. The NCAA says an outside source funded unofficial recruiting trips the five-star swingman took to North Carolina and Duke.
Fans, Bruins players and even Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea – who performed the national anthem at UCLA’s opener – have donned “Free Shabazz” T-shirts, and Howland this week wouldn’t count out the NCAA declaring Muhammad eligible again in time for today’s game (although that appears unlikely).
The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday that UCLA is filing an appeal on the initial decision, and will be heard Friday by the NCAA’s appeals committee.
Apparently, the Bruins could use him. They needed overtime Tuesday to stave off UC Irvine, a Big West team picked during the preseason to finish third in its conference.
The Anteaters outrebounded UCLA 55-44, and Irvine sophomore forward Will Davis missed two free throws with two seconds left in regulation – points that could have been the upset-makers.
Even without Muhammad, the Bruins flaunt quite a freshman class. Guard Jordan Adams has scored 47 points in his first two games, and he’s not even the team’s most highly touted rookie. That would be Rivals’ No. 3 prospect, 6-foot-8 Kyle Anderson, a probable future NBA lottery pick who is playing both small forward and point guard this year. Another talented freshman is Tony Parker, a big forward who comes off the bench.
UCLA is ranked No. 13 in both college basketball polls this week and is expected to challenge Arizona for Pac-12 supremacy. The Bruins received the most first-place votes in the league’s preseason poll, but Arizona finished atop the poll based on points (403-402). The Bruins return twin forwards David and Travis Wear, who both scored in double figures last year after transferring from North Carolina. Another former Tar Heel, point guard Larry Drew II, joins the Bruins, who are big and deep at every position.
“It’s the best offensive team we’ve played since my time here,” fifth-year JMU coach Matt Brady said. “They’re 10-deep, they’ve got great size, and they’ve got really great basketball players that are really unselfish. They’re physical specimens.”
Tonight’s game – the first-ever meeting between the schools – is part of the Progressive Legends Classic, a tournament that will have JMU in Pittsburgh next week for games against Duquesne, Youngstown State and North Dakota.
On Nov. 3, the Dukes scrimmaged Georgetown, a tall Big East team that’s on the fringe of the Top 25. Brady, after watching film of UCLA, called the Bruins “light-years better than Georgetown.”
They’re so good, he said, in part because Howland is playing to his group’s strengths.
“The more possessions in a game they get, the better off they’ll be,” Brady said. “You’ve got to do some really great things to beat UCLA. You’ve got to keep them out of transition because they’re great in transition, which is something you’d never say about Ben’s teams.”
Howland, who is signed through the 2014-15 season, is the most high-profile coach on everyone’s radar for the proverbial “hot seat.” Sports Illustrated magazine ran a critical story last winter about Howland’s handling of players and his program – a piece that, coupled with the team’s failure to reach the tournament last year, turned some UCLA fans against him.
While UCLA started 2-5 last season, optimism is much brighter this year. The team moved back into Pauley Pavilion, which underwent a $132 million renovation that forced the Bruins to play elsewhere around Los Angeles last year.
The stage could be overwhelming for JMU, which finished 12-20 last season. But the Dukes, picked to finish sixth in the Colonial Athletic Association, say they aren’t intimidated.
“The pressure’s on them,” senior forward Rayshawn Goins said. “They’re No. 13 in the country. … If anything, it’s like, we’re gonna shock the world if we win. The pressure is on them, with one of the top-ranked recruiting classes in the country.”
This will be the fourth time in five seasons that Madison has opened against a ranked team, and the Dukes are 0-3 in those games so far.
JMU might be less polished than UCLA because the Dukes will be the last Division I team to play this season. The Bruins, meanwhile, are preparing for Madison less than 48 hours after their close call against UC Irvine.
“They’re probably going to come out lackadaisical, like the game mean nothing, like they know they’re good, they’re gonna win,” Goins said Tuesday afternoon. “But we’re trying to throw the first punch. They’re a good team, so we know they’re gonna make runs. Like I said, we’re going to try to throw the first punch so we’re not playing from behind the whole time.”
With senior forward Andrey Semenov questionable to play because of a strained groin suffered in practice last week, Brady said he might insert freshman Charles Cooke into an otherwise senior-filled starting lineup featuring Devon Moore, A.J. Davis, Alioune Diouf and Goins. That would leave JMU quite undersized in the frontcourt (Goins is 6-foot-6 and Diouf is 6-5) against a Bruins unit that starts three players taller than 6-8.
As is the case in many upsets, JMU might need to have a hot outside shooting night to drop the Bruins. Defending the 3-pointer could be one of UCLA’s weaknesses: Last year the Bruins allowed opponents to shoot almost 37 percent from deep (289th in the nation), and Howland wasn’t sold on his team’s improvement in that area during its opener.
UC Irvine shot 10-for-22 from behind the arc.
“That’s gonna be a problem for us,” Howland said Monday. “We’re not the quickest, most athletic team in the world. We have length, we have size. That’s our advantage. We’ll see how that plays out.”
JMU is 1-3 in openers under Brady, earning its first victory last year at home against Canisius. The Dukes have lost big at No. 3 Kansas State, at No. 16 Ohio State and against No. 20 Davidson in Oklahoma.
While the lofty goal is obviously to win, the Dukes, who left for Los Angeles from Dulles International Airport on Wednesday afternoon, hope they can at least put up a battle tonight.
“Just come out and fight,” Moore said. “Fight for the whole game. [Two seasons ago] we played Kansas State – we fought for the first half, basically. But basically want to fight hard, play hard, play the whole game hard. We’ve been working hard all offseason, now it’s time to show what we can do.”