sigh...I need to stop watching games. I've managed to watch 5 games so far this year. 4 of them have been loses. Only loss I missed was the first Oregon game.
I feel like mick has become predictable in his game planning and the other teams have figured out that ucla plays a lot of 1:1 on the offensive side. This is easy to defend towards the end of a season as other teams catch up.
The 3 pt shooting is also a big question mark though as well. It’s like Steve alford said at one point, mick can’t shoot for the players either… but it begs the question. If they’re shooting this poorly late into the season, what are they doing at practice? The shooting percentage has been a big problem. One that many nba players will go and shoot thousands of shots mid season to correct. I wonder if ucla is allowed to do that and rest a little… or are they still going hard in practice which is why everyone on the team is injured?
Maybe just unfortunate luck, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that so many players have had concussions, injuries, and acl tears during practice this year. It’s practically everyone on the team which begs the question… what is mick doing at practice?
mgibby's comment is confirmed in Coach's interview after the ASU game. He said the team is no longer practicing, just watching film. With the back to back game schedule right now there is no time to practice, just shoot around and game warm up. He also made it sound like Jaquez had not been practicing even prior to this last stretch, in an attempt to rest him. Hopefully I got all that right. Going off memory.
Has anyone noticed that the wins with Tyger on the bench were driven by a much more active point presence, faster distribution of the ball and an overall more active offense? Now maybe some of that was quality of the competition, but I don’t think all of it. I’m exhausted watching the grinding offensive sets that start when Tyger walks the ball across half court and Mick’s spread offense has 4 people standing still 25’ from the basket and waiting for a high ball screen. If I can see that, can’t the opposition? To your point about athleticism, Elite teams like Kansas, Baylor, Auburn and Kentucky will run the Bruins out of the gym. The blueprint was set by Gonzaga early in the season vs UCLA. It’s too late in the season to change because that has been Tyger’s style for 3 years so we’re stuck with a game plan predicated on holding opponents to 65 or less and hoping we shoot 34% or higher.
There is no sign of inspiration or grit from most of the players on the floor. Jaime still wants to be the Energizer Bunny, but that's in his heart and not his ankles. Who's left with some fire in their belly who won't settle for "well we kept it close"?
Where’s our inside scoring? Until we are able to score inside against teams with a size and athleticism advantage against us, we will struggle to get good looks outside. Riley had a very good tournament last year, but he is struggling now. Johnson is not much of a scoring threat. Jaquez has great post moves and is capable of scoring against bigger players, when healthy. We need to create turnovers and score in transition. We created turnovers last night. We didn’t make shots. I think Johnson should have played more, but I don’t know if that would have changed the outcome. A game without Juzang for the most part and a hobbled Jaquez on the road in Eugene is a tough one to win.
This is what I've been yelling all season, and pointed out yet again in the post-ASU thread. We cannot progress in the Dance without an inside threat to keep opposing D's honest. So far we have none, and I've seen little attempt to develop it throughout the season.
The team looks very worn down and uninspired with the Covid make up schedule along with the ongoing injury problems to Jaime and Johnny. At this point, I would let Clark, Watson, Jake, David, and even Jules play extended minutes to rest Jaime, Johnny and Tyger and get the bench experience for the Tournament. There is no good solution to the Cody versus Myles conundrum, each has only half the tools needed. Start Myles and Cody as back up and if either shows any fire that particular game, go with that player. Cody has not played to last year's form since he came back from his knee injury.
Lute Olson openly opposed the Pac 12 Tournament because he felt it served no purpose and would rather have his team rested and more team practice than participate. Rumor was he coached Arizona to "lose" their first game in the Pac 12 Tournament. UCLA is not going to win the Pac 12 regular season nor Tournament. Better to give the starters a rest and the bench more experience which possibly could lead to a invigorated performance in the NCAA Tournament. Only downside, a lower seed but it will not matter as the current course will end in a first round loss.
Help is in the way. Here’s a description of Adem Bona, our incoming center:
“Has a top notch physique with strength and athleticism. Runs like a deer and is an explosive leaper. Has good hands. Finishes lobs with authority and is a high level rebounder. Raw skill wise but shows promise as an attack the basket off a couple dribbles threat and as a respectable jump shooter. Defends and rebounds with passion. Can protect the rim.”
I would suggest looking at his videos. We also have Amari Bailey and Dylan Andrews, two top guards. I will reiterate a point that I often make. Mick Cronin has has very few open slots to recruit to. That’s starting to change. Given the importance of recruiting, I think that we will really start to see what Cronin can do with the program. We need more size and athleticism to compete with the top teams on a regular basis.
I haven't really watched him play outside of a few youtube highlights but Bona seems like a legit prospect. A bit raw offensively but seems to have potential and is an athlete!
I've watched a bit of Amari Bailey and he seems to be quite overrated. I haven't seen many of the other top prospects in the class so maybe he's a top 10 talent this year but he doesn't look like a one and done kind of guy to me. He looks like an offensive upgrade from Jules and a better playmaker but I'm not sure how good he'll be defensively or if he'll be athletic or skilled enough to get his own shot off at the D1 level.
Dylan Andrews looks like a good piece and hopefully McClendon and Etienne (if he stays on the team and isn't another bad seed) come back full strength and are real contributors next season.
Bailey is going to be quite a site to see. Not sure Andrews is going to get many minutes next year. I don't see Juzang/Jaquez leaving this year, and we have McClendon coming back. So McClendon and Campbell will be taking most or all of the PG mintues. If Clark or Watson leaves, that should open up some minutes for Andrews.
Agreed, Watson has a lot of those talents, but has been a bust unfortunately. Too small a sample size though for recruiting purposes. I hope next years batch has a better outcome than Watson
The offense is dogshit.
Is that the technical name?
Mark, nope. Just my feelings. I know there's reasons. When they shoot less than 20% from three on the road.....it's been ugh.
sigh...I need to stop watching games. I've managed to watch 5 games so far this year. 4 of them have been loses. Only loss I missed was the first Oregon game.
"Let Jules put up 100 shots until he finally gets back into a groove, that’s fine. "
https://i.makeagif.com/media/4-13-2017/LNKjkV.gif
I feel like mick has become predictable in his game planning and the other teams have figured out that ucla plays a lot of 1:1 on the offensive side. This is easy to defend towards the end of a season as other teams catch up.
The 3 pt shooting is also a big question mark though as well. It’s like Steve alford said at one point, mick can’t shoot for the players either… but it begs the question. If they’re shooting this poorly late into the season, what are they doing at practice? The shooting percentage has been a big problem. One that many nba players will go and shoot thousands of shots mid season to correct. I wonder if ucla is allowed to do that and rest a little… or are they still going hard in practice which is why everyone on the team is injured?
Maybe just unfortunate luck, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that so many players have had concussions, injuries, and acl tears during practice this year. It’s practically everyone on the team which begs the question… what is mick doing at practice?
They haven't been going hard in practice. Just film sessions and shoot around on game days lately.
mgibby's comment is confirmed in Coach's interview after the ASU game. He said the team is no longer practicing, just watching film. With the back to back game schedule right now there is no time to practice, just shoot around and game warm up. He also made it sound like Jaquez had not been practicing even prior to this last stretch, in an attempt to rest him. Hopefully I got all that right. Going off memory.
I've though the same thing "what are they doing at practice?"
Has anyone noticed that the wins with Tyger on the bench were driven by a much more active point presence, faster distribution of the ball and an overall more active offense? Now maybe some of that was quality of the competition, but I don’t think all of it. I’m exhausted watching the grinding offensive sets that start when Tyger walks the ball across half court and Mick’s spread offense has 4 people standing still 25’ from the basket and waiting for a high ball screen. If I can see that, can’t the opposition? To your point about athleticism, Elite teams like Kansas, Baylor, Auburn and Kentucky will run the Bruins out of the gym. The blueprint was set by Gonzaga early in the season vs UCLA. It’s too late in the season to change because that has been Tyger’s style for 3 years so we’re stuck with a game plan predicated on holding opponents to 65 or less and hoping we shoot 34% or higher.
There is no sign of inspiration or grit from most of the players on the floor. Jaime still wants to be the Energizer Bunny, but that's in his heart and not his ankles. Who's left with some fire in their belly who won't settle for "well we kept it close"?
Where’s our inside scoring? Until we are able to score inside against teams with a size and athleticism advantage against us, we will struggle to get good looks outside. Riley had a very good tournament last year, but he is struggling now. Johnson is not much of a scoring threat. Jaquez has great post moves and is capable of scoring against bigger players, when healthy. We need to create turnovers and score in transition. We created turnovers last night. We didn’t make shots. I think Johnson should have played more, but I don’t know if that would have changed the outcome. A game without Juzang for the most part and a hobbled Jaquez on the road in Eugene is a tough one to win.
This is what I've been yelling all season, and pointed out yet again in the post-ASU thread. We cannot progress in the Dance without an inside threat to keep opposing D's honest. So far we have none, and I've seen little attempt to develop it throughout the season.
The team looks very worn down and uninspired with the Covid make up schedule along with the ongoing injury problems to Jaime and Johnny. At this point, I would let Clark, Watson, Jake, David, and even Jules play extended minutes to rest Jaime, Johnny and Tyger and get the bench experience for the Tournament. There is no good solution to the Cody versus Myles conundrum, each has only half the tools needed. Start Myles and Cody as back up and if either shows any fire that particular game, go with that player. Cody has not played to last year's form since he came back from his knee injury.
Lute Olson openly opposed the Pac 12 Tournament because he felt it served no purpose and would rather have his team rested and more team practice than participate. Rumor was he coached Arizona to "lose" their first game in the Pac 12 Tournament. UCLA is not going to win the Pac 12 regular season nor Tournament. Better to give the starters a rest and the bench more experience which possibly could lead to a invigorated performance in the NCAA Tournament. Only downside, a lower seed but it will not matter as the current course will end in a first round loss.
Help is in the way. Here’s a description of Adem Bona, our incoming center:
“Has a top notch physique with strength and athleticism. Runs like a deer and is an explosive leaper. Has good hands. Finishes lobs with authority and is a high level rebounder. Raw skill wise but shows promise as an attack the basket off a couple dribbles threat and as a respectable jump shooter. Defends and rebounds with passion. Can protect the rim.”
I would suggest looking at his videos. We also have Amari Bailey and Dylan Andrews, two top guards. I will reiterate a point that I often make. Mick Cronin has has very few open slots to recruit to. That’s starting to change. Given the importance of recruiting, I think that we will really start to see what Cronin can do with the program. We need more size and athleticism to compete with the top teams on a regular basis.
Agreed. Need to get more athletic and bigger
Riley plays too small for his size. Johnson doesn't use his size on offense. Need a legit center
I haven't really watched him play outside of a few youtube highlights but Bona seems like a legit prospect. A bit raw offensively but seems to have potential and is an athlete!
I've watched a bit of Amari Bailey and he seems to be quite overrated. I haven't seen many of the other top prospects in the class so maybe he's a top 10 talent this year but he doesn't look like a one and done kind of guy to me. He looks like an offensive upgrade from Jules and a better playmaker but I'm not sure how good he'll be defensively or if he'll be athletic or skilled enough to get his own shot off at the D1 level.
Dylan Andrews looks like a good piece and hopefully McClendon and Etienne (if he stays on the team and isn't another bad seed) come back full strength and are real contributors next season.
Bailey is going to be quite a site to see. Not sure Andrews is going to get many minutes next year. I don't see Juzang/Jaquez leaving this year, and we have McClendon coming back. So McClendon and Campbell will be taking most or all of the PG mintues. If Clark or Watson leaves, that should open up some minutes for Andrews.
Agreed, Watson has a lot of those talents, but has been a bust unfortunately. Too small a sample size though for recruiting purposes. I hope next years batch has a better outcome than Watson
is there an official punishment for Mac Etienne?