UCLA didn’t fall as far as I thought they would in their efficiency rankings. Not too surprising since it was two losses on the road to quality opponents. UCLA only has good losses. They unfortunately haven’t beat any teams that are currently ranked either.
The sky isn’t falling, but ucla basketball hasn’t been fun to watch in several weeks. Clark going 0-7 is a big part of why ucla lost this game. UCLA scored all of 6 points in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Jaylen Clark is a huge problem because he’s needed to be on the court for his defensive energy. The problem with him being on the court is that he seems to disappear offensively against high quality teams. When ucla plays with 4 players on offense, it’s much easier to defend because the opposition can just double jaquez, put a fast guard on the other perimeter guard to prevent the three ball, put a big on bona who just stands there trying to make picks for tyger to dribble and put up a floater… it’s just too easy to defend when Clark is worthless on offense.
The iso offense only works when every player on the court is a threat. Bona and Clark are not currently a threat. Something new needs to be done.
Usc played amazing offensive basketball in the second half, but that’s also the trend against them in both games. Other teams have realized that they can just switch a fast guard to jaquez or bona and exploit the mismatch. Clark gets switched to a player that just goes and stand in the corner making his value on defense non-existent as well. UCLA can’t be switching all the time. I’ve seen several times in this whole month that tyger switches to guard their big man underneath while bona or jaquez stay on the small guard at the perimeter. Teams have started to figure out how to attack tyger. This is why a defensive minded team that is struggling to score would be better with Andrews on the court… of course he was sick last night.
I hope that mick can make the offensive and defensive changes needed to turn this around. He was yelling at the refs a lot last night and should have had more than one technical thrown his way. The game wasn’t reffed poorly for a change… ucla just sucked
8 turnovers in the 2nd half. I don’t think that has been stressed enough. More than just shooting, the Bruins were sloppy with the ball leading to points in transition for SC and got Boogie rolling. We are a very good defensive team in the half court. We made it easy on SC in the 2nd half with turnovers.
I was at the game last night with seats very close to the court. Perhaps it is just my perception but in the second half breakdown, I saw confusion, frustration and resignation on the face of our players. Clark was a prime example. So I am wondering if a part of the problem is that the players have a poor mental team outlook at this point which would reflect their poor effort? I did not want to use the words "gave up" but that was rolling around in the back of my mind. Of course, I am not an expert on facial expressions and I have not seen the players' faces up as close as last night, but as a layman, that is a very distinct impression I got in the second half.
It's more than the offense is a problem. The whole team is a problem.
Yeah, the offense has sucked. When was the last time the Bruins played 40 minutes of consistently good offense against a decent opponent? Nothing really stands out to me, which suggests that if/when they did, it was the exception and not the rule. They looked lost for a lot of the game, including all the second half, suggesting that they have no recognition and no answers when other teams turn up their intensity. The adjustments are nonexistent, the shot selection is bad, the shooting is abysmal, and there is no go to guy to put the team on his back and weather the storm.
But last night the defense sucked too, and that worries me even more. Defense is this team's calling card, and that's what has saved us in previous games like WSU and CU when the offense went cold, and it's what eventually kick started the offense back to life in those games. But last night the team defense was lazy and disinterested and apathetic, and another rando got hot and singlehandedly outscored us in the second half. We saw one guy beat us with Illinois and UNC last tourney. When one guy is beating you, you'd like to see the team (players and coaches) do something to address that, but they don't. It's even worse when it's like AZ and a few guys become threats. Shooting can have an off night but defense and effort don't have to. The fact that this team is letting it happen is really concerning.
And the coaching sucked. Yes we have some veterans, but I expect a coach's view of the game from the sideline to be a lot clearer than the view of the game from the floor by a kid, and Cronin has done a crap job lately when the team needed someone to fix things when they started to come apart in the game. He is the one who needs to recognize who is hot, who is not, who is engaged, who is checking out, how to use the bench, how the game flows, and which direction his five on the floor are taking. So the fact that we are now consistently having bad shooting, lackadaisical spells on defense, horrible second half starts, and the absence of a top end offensive talent on this roster falls on him. I especially don't like hearing him blame the players and the referees after another loss due to the same old problems that he isn't fixing. There's one constant in this program now, and that constant is the head coach, and he needs to start making more positive differences during the game.
I hope this game put to rest any of the “Bona needs to touch the ball more” arguments. On offense, Bona is good for rebounds and put back dunks. And if it’s not a dunk, chances are he’s missing the shot. He’s not a good passer, as evidenced by his multiple TOs that jump started the SC run. And he does not have any interior moves or midrange shots which makes it easy for defenders to help off him. He also has trouble holding onto the ball when he brings it down on rebounds. Keep the ball high!! That’s something they teach centers in middle school! Frustrating to see that. Right now he’s essentially Alfred Aboya with only slightly more athleticism and a lot less defense
Dylan Andrews didn't play vs. $c because he was sick on Wednesday and unable to practice. We certainly could have used him, to say nothing of the fact that Canka never sees the floor (although he is certainly an excellent shooter as we all see in every pre-game warm-up).
I wrote in the game thread that I wasn’t pushing the panic button yet on the season, and today, the rest of the college basketball world showed why:
#2 Alabama is down 29 currently with 3 mins left to unranked Oklahoma just a week after Kansas got walloped at home.
#3Houston is getting a fight from unranked Cincinnati at home.
Xavier, Marquette and Auburn, all top 20 teams, all lost to unranked teams today. And #12 Iowa State down 16 late in the game to an unranked team also.
So taking in the totality of college sports, I don’t think our team has more or worse flaws than any other team that might be trying to get into the 2nd and 3rd weekend of the NCAAs.
And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’ll be rooting for Kentucky to beat Kansas tonight
The Bruins certainly haven't been playing or coaching very well lately, but hoping this past weekend was used for some much needed introspection and improvements. It absolutely sucks that they gave U$C a signature win that they were desperately seeking, and it's also disappointing that Cronin still hasn't been able to secure a victory at Galen Center in 4 years and counting. The departures of Juzang and Jules have hurt this year's team, but if the Bruins can somehow figure out how to complement their tough defense with a more effective and consistent offense, they'll be in great shape for March Madness. And yet, even with the recent losses, as of this writing they're still a top-10 nationally-ranked team, are #3 on KenPom.com, have a #5 NET rating, and are #7 in RPI. Rooting for a strong regular season finish and a respectable showing in the Pac-12 tourney. Go Bruins!
The offense has been junk in conference play. Two poor shooting outings in a row is quite disheartening.
Teams figured out can double team perimeter since there is no threat down low. There isn't anyone that can takeover a game like Boogie Ellis did.
Teams figured out can double team perimeter since there is no threat down low. There isn't anyone that can takeover a game like Boogie Ellis did.
Teams figured out can double team perimeter since there is no threat down low. There isn't anyone that can takeover a game like Boogie Ellis did.
UCLA didn’t fall as far as I thought they would in their efficiency rankings. Not too surprising since it was two losses on the road to quality opponents. UCLA only has good losses. They unfortunately haven’t beat any teams that are currently ranked either.
The sky isn’t falling, but ucla basketball hasn’t been fun to watch in several weeks. Clark going 0-7 is a big part of why ucla lost this game. UCLA scored all of 6 points in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Jaylen Clark is a huge problem because he’s needed to be on the court for his defensive energy. The problem with him being on the court is that he seems to disappear offensively against high quality teams. When ucla plays with 4 players on offense, it’s much easier to defend because the opposition can just double jaquez, put a fast guard on the other perimeter guard to prevent the three ball, put a big on bona who just stands there trying to make picks for tyger to dribble and put up a floater… it’s just too easy to defend when Clark is worthless on offense.
The iso offense only works when every player on the court is a threat. Bona and Clark are not currently a threat. Something new needs to be done.
Usc played amazing offensive basketball in the second half, but that’s also the trend against them in both games. Other teams have realized that they can just switch a fast guard to jaquez or bona and exploit the mismatch. Clark gets switched to a player that just goes and stand in the corner making his value on defense non-existent as well. UCLA can’t be switching all the time. I’ve seen several times in this whole month that tyger switches to guard their big man underneath while bona or jaquez stay on the small guard at the perimeter. Teams have started to figure out how to attack tyger. This is why a defensive minded team that is struggling to score would be better with Andrews on the court… of course he was sick last night.
I hope that mick can make the offensive and defensive changes needed to turn this around. He was yelling at the refs a lot last night and should have had more than one technical thrown his way. The game wasn’t reffed poorly for a change… ucla just sucked
8 turnovers in the 2nd half. I don’t think that has been stressed enough. More than just shooting, the Bruins were sloppy with the ball leading to points in transition for SC and got Boogie rolling. We are a very good defensive team in the half court. We made it easy on SC in the 2nd half with turnovers.
I was at the game last night with seats very close to the court. Perhaps it is just my perception but in the second half breakdown, I saw confusion, frustration and resignation on the face of our players. Clark was a prime example. So I am wondering if a part of the problem is that the players have a poor mental team outlook at this point which would reflect their poor effort? I did not want to use the words "gave up" but that was rolling around in the back of my mind. Of course, I am not an expert on facial expressions and I have not seen the players' faces up as close as last night, but as a layman, that is a very distinct impression I got in the second half.
Cronin needs to get his act together
It's more than the offense is a problem. The whole team is a problem.
Yeah, the offense has sucked. When was the last time the Bruins played 40 minutes of consistently good offense against a decent opponent? Nothing really stands out to me, which suggests that if/when they did, it was the exception and not the rule. They looked lost for a lot of the game, including all the second half, suggesting that they have no recognition and no answers when other teams turn up their intensity. The adjustments are nonexistent, the shot selection is bad, the shooting is abysmal, and there is no go to guy to put the team on his back and weather the storm.
But last night the defense sucked too, and that worries me even more. Defense is this team's calling card, and that's what has saved us in previous games like WSU and CU when the offense went cold, and it's what eventually kick started the offense back to life in those games. But last night the team defense was lazy and disinterested and apathetic, and another rando got hot and singlehandedly outscored us in the second half. We saw one guy beat us with Illinois and UNC last tourney. When one guy is beating you, you'd like to see the team (players and coaches) do something to address that, but they don't. It's even worse when it's like AZ and a few guys become threats. Shooting can have an off night but defense and effort don't have to. The fact that this team is letting it happen is really concerning.
And the coaching sucked. Yes we have some veterans, but I expect a coach's view of the game from the sideline to be a lot clearer than the view of the game from the floor by a kid, and Cronin has done a crap job lately when the team needed someone to fix things when they started to come apart in the game. He is the one who needs to recognize who is hot, who is not, who is engaged, who is checking out, how to use the bench, how the game flows, and which direction his five on the floor are taking. So the fact that we are now consistently having bad shooting, lackadaisical spells on defense, horrible second half starts, and the absence of a top end offensive talent on this roster falls on him. I especially don't like hearing him blame the players and the referees after another loss due to the same old problems that he isn't fixing. There's one constant in this program now, and that constant is the head coach, and he needs to start making more positive differences during the game.
I hope this game put to rest any of the “Bona needs to touch the ball more” arguments. On offense, Bona is good for rebounds and put back dunks. And if it’s not a dunk, chances are he’s missing the shot. He’s not a good passer, as evidenced by his multiple TOs that jump started the SC run. And he does not have any interior moves or midrange shots which makes it easy for defenders to help off him. He also has trouble holding onto the ball when he brings it down on rebounds. Keep the ball high!! That’s something they teach centers in middle school! Frustrating to see that. Right now he’s essentially Alfred Aboya with only slightly more athleticism and a lot less defense
Dylan Andrews didn't play vs. $c because he was sick on Wednesday and unable to practice. We certainly could have used him, to say nothing of the fact that Canka never sees the floor (although he is certainly an excellent shooter as we all see in every pre-game warm-up).
I wrote in the game thread that I wasn’t pushing the panic button yet on the season, and today, the rest of the college basketball world showed why:
#2 Alabama is down 29 currently with 3 mins left to unranked Oklahoma just a week after Kansas got walloped at home.
#3Houston is getting a fight from unranked Cincinnati at home.
Xavier, Marquette and Auburn, all top 20 teams, all lost to unranked teams today. And #12 Iowa State down 16 late in the game to an unranked team also.
So taking in the totality of college sports, I don’t think our team has more or worse flaws than any other team that might be trying to get into the 2nd and 3rd weekend of the NCAAs.
And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’ll be rooting for Kentucky to beat Kansas tonight
The Bruins certainly haven't been playing or coaching very well lately, but hoping this past weekend was used for some much needed introspection and improvements. It absolutely sucks that they gave U$C a signature win that they were desperately seeking, and it's also disappointing that Cronin still hasn't been able to secure a victory at Galen Center in 4 years and counting. The departures of Juzang and Jules have hurt this year's team, but if the Bruins can somehow figure out how to complement their tough defense with a more effective and consistent offense, they'll be in great shape for March Madness. And yet, even with the recent losses, as of this writing they're still a top-10 nationally-ranked team, are #3 on KenPom.com, have a #5 NET rating, and are #7 in RPI. Rooting for a strong regular season finish and a respectable showing in the Pac-12 tourney. Go Bruins!