A lot of people take this week off, especially as school is out for most places in LA. It's also UC Davis and they won't play for a week after, so they can get done early and get started on rest before the first Pac-12 road trip of the season.
Maybe the same "get a game in, stay sharp" rationale that sees #5 Houston playing McNeese St, #6 Tennessee playing Austin Peay, #10 Arkansas playing UNC... Ashville, Ohio State playing Maine, and Kentucky playing Florida A&M that same night... jus' sayin'
pathetic. not just ucla, but all those schools. At least make it a Mountain West School or even WCC. Don't like the huge dip in competition right before conference games start when we were playing at such a high level of competition last week.
Great write up. Got to watch the full highlights. Another game for me to eat some crow. I bash on tyger a lot, but he was the only one making shots for a few stretches. I still think that Andrews is better for the offense and needs to see more play time, but understandable that it’s a risk agains Kentucky.
Jaquez seemed to own the paint and is looking so much better than he did to end the season last year. Just a joy to watch.
The refs looked to let them play it out on the boards. In the first half ucla didn’t look so good, but they definitely adjusted in the second half and you could tell that the refs were letting them play so they were pushing based on what was being allowed. Some great adjustment.
Offense struggled at times, but Kentucky is the 6th most efficient defense according to kenpom, so this offensive showing was not surprising. What was surprising is ucla defense… as you stated, 8 pts in 10 minutes to end the game is an amazing feet against a high caliber team. Pretty amazing defense as they were not giving any open looks.
Ucla defensive efficiency has jumped from the mid 20’s to 12 on kenpom. They should be in the top 10 after two very convincing wins thousands of miles from home. Some great wins after the lull in vegas
I can say this with utmost confidence. This year, our UCLA basketball team will go a long way , if not all the way, to the Final Four.
Etienne gave us some scare at the closing minutes when he kept missing free throws. But ultimately, we beat a talented Kentucky team at either ends of the court. Coming into the game, Calipari may have his fame, the heralded recruits and the entire state of Kentucky behind him. But this afternoon, Mick Cronin made Calipari say uncle because Cronin showed a packed Madison Square Garden that he is the better coach in this game. A statement has indeed been made.
Ironically, if my memory holds true about what I heard during the coaching search after Steve Alford was dismissed, Calipari also wanted the UCLA job then although it turned out merely to be a ploy, as I was told, to get Kentucky to redo his contract for another hefty raise. I remembered they did.
Nevertheless, we got the right guy and the right coach. Look at the hard nosed, diligent defense, outstanding offensive plays and the on court leadership of Jaquez and Campbell. Etienne is raw. He will improve as the season progresses. So do other players. This is why I am bullish on this team.
It was great to see Mac make some big plays. He was a key element in the Final Four run and when he was technically a senior in high school! The road to recovery is long and frustrating, but I think he's turned the corner based on his recent play. Foul shooting will improve when that massive brace is off his leg IMO.
What happened early on in Vegas stays in Vegas. The Bruins have gained more experience and are learning how to play stingy defense, which is what enabled them to control this game and beat Kentucky. Being a NY native, I'm sure Etienne had a lot of incentive to play well in front of his family and friends, so no surprise that he had a positive impact. Also nice to have 3 bigs to call upon in case of foul troubles. Cronin can always rely on his veterans (Jaquez, Tyger, Clark, and Singleton), but hope we'll see more action from the talented freshmen (and Stong!) against UC Davis. Go Bruins!
That shutdown of KY's scoring in the last minutes was awesome! When we first saw Jaime I called him our Energizer Bunny. Then came the year of the twisted ankles. Now it looks like Mr Energizer is back. Watching Jaylen's long arms snatch rebounds was cool, too! Go Bruins!
Mac as a freshman literally was playing for Brewster Academy one week, and on the court against #3 to-be pick Mobley the next week. Thus no fear of Big Oscar.
Does Mac lead the team in rebounds per minute?
Great game management by Mick. His team mirrored his focus.
Not only that, but Chips transfer class is ranked 2nd in the nation and overall class is 22 on 247sports. Looks like Chip has decided to hit both hs and transfer recruiting trail hard this year.
Also, men’s bball only went to #13 after our massive week and women’s bball drops a spot despite beating USC at Galen center. Our basketball teams really gets no respect in the polls
yes but that illustrates how dumb the recruiting rankings are. The difference between 50s or lower and 20s can be 1 recruit. And I think the HS recruiting class rankings mean even less when teams no longer need to stack their class with volume because they know they are going to get 10+ transfers. I mean what would you rather have a 3 star high school recruit (who probably wont see the field for at least 2 years) or a former 3 star who is transferring after 2 years with 3 years of eligibility left and you actually have tape of him from college?
The reason we jumped so much is because the recruiting sites weigh five stars much more heavily than even four stars, given how few there are per year.
A quick look at 24/7 shows there are only 35 five stars out of the thousand HS prospects, and a five star is worth essentially 3-6 four star guys. Having even one come in to your program historically changes the trajectory for the next several years so I can see why we made the jump we did with Dante’s commitment.
I'm a little confused that we got both Moore and the Kent State QB. A big factor in Moore's de-committment was he was not going to play right away at Oregon because of Nix. He obviously thinks he will play right away at UCLA. Which means that Schlee won't. But why would Schlee transfer to be a backup when other solid programs had offered him? Maybe he will de-commit. Look for Garbers to enter the portal.
Moore said that Oregon’s OC going on to be ASUs coach was also a big factor since Dillingham had been recruiting Moore hard for 3 years.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Garbers or Justyn Martin, our 4-star QB recruit from last year, transfer out. We also have a QB commit from this year that might be reconsidering his options now too. We’ll see what happens between now and end of spring ball, but having too many good QBs is definitely a good problem to have
yeah one of them has to be gone. As for our other QB commit, he's only a 3 star. He can't have any playing time expectations. He's coming either just to have fun or develop and be able to transfer to a mid major in 3 or 4 years after he graduates.....on the other hand it's like who cares if Garbers or Martin transfers?
also picked up a nice RB transfer and an EXCELLENT offensive line transfer from Purdue who will start right away. Spencer Holstege. According to Pro Football Focus, Holstege was the No. 2 pass blocker in the Big Ten, the No. 1 pass blocking guard in the Big Ten and the No. 6 pass blocking guard in the country. Chip is plowing.
I'm writing a whole football thing rn and probably won't talk about Schlee in it, but the thinking is that at least one of Garbers or Justyn Martin is going to enter the portal, and while Moore is likely good enough to take that starting job right away, Schlee will offer experienced depth while getting a degree from a prestige university (his only scholarship offer out of HS was Kent State, so he is getting a huge upgrade on that front for a guy who likely is not going pro).
Plus both Schlee and Moore knew about UCLA recruiting each other, so they were clearly both going into the situation with clear eyes.
Out of all my favorite teams, only the Bruins are bringing me joy (and entertainment) this holiday season. The Dodgers, Lakers, and Rams are simply not very much fun. Go Bruins. Be great.
Collin gets into a pretty deep discussion about his sports and academic career at Kent State. He redshirted 1 season and played 3 seasons at Kent State and as everyone knows, he's classified as a junior with 2 seasons left. However, this was his 4th year on campus; academically he was a senior and in his interview, he essentially said he was finished with his degree requirements. He said that after this school year, he would have to either do internships or enter graduate school to work on his Masters.
IMO, that's why he's coming to UCLA. Academically, he was done at Kent State and had to enter the transfer portal unless he wanted to do his graduate work at Kent State again. Coming to UCLA gains his experience in Chip's pro-style offense at the nation's best university. His major is sports administration. An MBA from the Anderson School of Business will go a long ways towards helping him reach his life goals beyond football.
It's totally obvious that Dante Moore will be first in line for the QB job, being that he's the #3 player and #3 QB in the country per 247 Sports. Collin was the #81 QB when he came out of high school, but he developed over his 3 active seasons and he's a capable starter, but on the videos I watched, Dante looks like he's ready to go now. But if he's not ready, Schlee could jump right in and produce at a high level.
While he might have NFL aspirations, I got the impression that he's a bit more grounded in his expectations. Guys who don't start until their 4th year of college usually don't make it to the big show. But he played well in his one year as a starter at Kent State and he seems to be a really intelligent kid. I don't think not starting is going to kill him.
Side bar: Dante Moore is listed at 6'3". He looks taller than that. I could be wrong. Maybe his high school lineman are short or the camera angles were bad.
I suspect it is still a football move. He's too good to submit the remainder of his football career to a backup role in the name of academics. He could have transferred to plenty of other comparably academic schools and started. Maybe he thinks he will win the job. Maybe he's planning to develop under Chip as a backup and transfer again next year. Also, unfortunately, the Anderson school is not one of the grad programs that the athletic department has the power to essentially compel admission for transfer athletes. My understanding is that not very many athletes transfer in to go to business school at UCLA. My guess is he will enroll in a different masters program, or pick up a minor/second major.
I should note that this post is already out of date.
Because UCLA moved up to #3 in KenPom after Tennessee lost to Arizona, with the offense now up to #3.
What's the rationale for a 2PM start?
A lot of people take this week off, especially as school is out for most places in LA. It's also UC Davis and they won't play for a week after, so they can get done early and get started on rest before the first Pac-12 road trip of the season.
Get out of town?
What’s the rationale for playing UC Davis?
Not taking two weeks between games before going back into conference play and staying sharp I'd imagine...
Again, what is the rationale for playing UC Davis?
Maybe the same "get a game in, stay sharp" rationale that sees #5 Houston playing McNeese St, #6 Tennessee playing Austin Peay, #10 Arkansas playing UNC... Ashville, Ohio State playing Maine, and Kentucky playing Florida A&M that same night... jus' sayin'
pathetic. not just ucla, but all those schools. At least make it a Mountain West School or even WCC. Don't like the huge dip in competition right before conference games start when we were playing at such a high level of competition last week.
It's a setup.
Great write up. Got to watch the full highlights. Another game for me to eat some crow. I bash on tyger a lot, but he was the only one making shots for a few stretches. I still think that Andrews is better for the offense and needs to see more play time, but understandable that it’s a risk agains Kentucky.
Jaquez seemed to own the paint and is looking so much better than he did to end the season last year. Just a joy to watch.
The refs looked to let them play it out on the boards. In the first half ucla didn’t look so good, but they definitely adjusted in the second half and you could tell that the refs were letting them play so they were pushing based on what was being allowed. Some great adjustment.
Offense struggled at times, but Kentucky is the 6th most efficient defense according to kenpom, so this offensive showing was not surprising. What was surprising is ucla defense… as you stated, 8 pts in 10 minutes to end the game is an amazing feet against a high caliber team. Pretty amazing defense as they were not giving any open looks.
Ucla defensive efficiency has jumped from the mid 20’s to 12 on kenpom. They should be in the top 10 after two very convincing wins thousands of miles from home. Some great wins after the lull in vegas
I can say this with utmost confidence. This year, our UCLA basketball team will go a long way , if not all the way, to the Final Four.
Etienne gave us some scare at the closing minutes when he kept missing free throws. But ultimately, we beat a talented Kentucky team at either ends of the court. Coming into the game, Calipari may have his fame, the heralded recruits and the entire state of Kentucky behind him. But this afternoon, Mick Cronin made Calipari say uncle because Cronin showed a packed Madison Square Garden that he is the better coach in this game. A statement has indeed been made.
Ironically, if my memory holds true about what I heard during the coaching search after Steve Alford was dismissed, Calipari also wanted the UCLA job then although it turned out merely to be a ploy, as I was told, to get Kentucky to redo his contract for another hefty raise. I remembered they did.
Nevertheless, we got the right guy and the right coach. Look at the hard nosed, diligent defense, outstanding offensive plays and the on court leadership of Jaquez and Campbell. Etienne is raw. He will improve as the season progresses. So do other players. This is why I am bullish on this team.
Etienne was outstanding in this game. He made pkays on defense and on the boards that saved our bacon.
It was great to see Mac make some big plays. He was a key element in the Final Four run and when he was technically a senior in high school! The road to recovery is long and frustrating, but I think he's turned the corner based on his recent play. Foul shooting will improve when that massive brace is off his leg IMO.
What happened early on in Vegas stays in Vegas. The Bruins have gained more experience and are learning how to play stingy defense, which is what enabled them to control this game and beat Kentucky. Being a NY native, I'm sure Etienne had a lot of incentive to play well in front of his family and friends, so no surprise that he had a positive impact. Also nice to have 3 bigs to call upon in case of foul troubles. Cronin can always rely on his veterans (Jaquez, Tyger, Clark, and Singleton), but hope we'll see more action from the talented freshmen (and Stong!) against UC Davis. Go Bruins!
Reminded me of Howland’s final 4 teams
Indeed, Steve.
Good call
That shutdown of KY's scoring in the last minutes was awesome! When we first saw Jaime I called him our Energizer Bunny. Then came the year of the twisted ankles. Now it looks like Mr Energizer is back. Watching Jaylen's long arms snatch rebounds was cool, too! Go Bruins!
Mac as a freshman literally was playing for Brewster Academy one week, and on the court against #3 to-be pick Mobley the next week. Thus no fear of Big Oscar.
Does Mac lead the team in rebounds per minute?
Great game management by Mick. His team mirrored his focus.
So right!
Strange football news today
We are ranked 13 now. And amazing football recruiting news from over the weekend. Will this increase our recruiting ranking to top 20?
nope. 27. not that it matters in this day and age though.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/35286366/touted-qb-prospect-dante-moore-flips-oregon-ucla
Interesting, is football recruiting turning around? #3 prospect
Not only that, but Chips transfer class is ranked 2nd in the nation and overall class is 22 on 247sports. Looks like Chip has decided to hit both hs and transfer recruiting trail hard this year.
Also, men’s bball only went to #13 after our massive week and women’s bball drops a spot despite beating USC at Galen center. Our basketball teams really gets no respect in the polls
Well the recruiting class was 52 apparently before the moore pickup, so that jumped us up a lot.
Agree with the basketball polls. We should be top 10 at least for men's! (Don't know about our women's team)
yes but that illustrates how dumb the recruiting rankings are. The difference between 50s or lower and 20s can be 1 recruit. And I think the HS recruiting class rankings mean even less when teams no longer need to stack their class with volume because they know they are going to get 10+ transfers. I mean what would you rather have a 3 star high school recruit (who probably wont see the field for at least 2 years) or a former 3 star who is transferring after 2 years with 3 years of eligibility left and you actually have tape of him from college?
The reason we jumped so much is because the recruiting sites weigh five stars much more heavily than even four stars, given how few there are per year.
A quick look at 24/7 shows there are only 35 five stars out of the thousand HS prospects, and a five star is worth essentially 3-6 four star guys. Having even one come in to your program historically changes the trajectory for the next several years so I can see why we made the jump we did with Dante’s commitment.
Exactly.
I'm a little confused that we got both Moore and the Kent State QB. A big factor in Moore's de-committment was he was not going to play right away at Oregon because of Nix. He obviously thinks he will play right away at UCLA. Which means that Schlee won't. But why would Schlee transfer to be a backup when other solid programs had offered him? Maybe he will de-commit. Look for Garbers to enter the portal.
Moore said that Oregon’s OC going on to be ASUs coach was also a big factor since Dillingham had been recruiting Moore hard for 3 years.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Garbers or Justyn Martin, our 4-star QB recruit from last year, transfer out. We also have a QB commit from this year that might be reconsidering his options now too. We’ll see what happens between now and end of spring ball, but having too many good QBs is definitely a good problem to have
yeah one of them has to be gone. As for our other QB commit, he's only a 3 star. He can't have any playing time expectations. He's coming either just to have fun or develop and be able to transfer to a mid major in 3 or 4 years after he graduates.....on the other hand it's like who cares if Garbers or Martin transfers?
also picked up a nice RB transfer and an EXCELLENT offensive line transfer from Purdue who will start right away. Spencer Holstege. According to Pro Football Focus, Holstege was the No. 2 pass blocker in the Big Ten, the No. 1 pass blocking guard in the Big Ten and the No. 6 pass blocking guard in the country. Chip is plowing.
I'm writing a whole football thing rn and probably won't talk about Schlee in it, but the thinking is that at least one of Garbers or Justyn Martin is going to enter the portal, and while Moore is likely good enough to take that starting job right away, Schlee will offer experienced depth while getting a degree from a prestige university (his only scholarship offer out of HS was Kent State, so he is getting a huge upgrade on that front for a guy who likely is not going pro).
Plus both Schlee and Moore knew about UCLA recruiting each other, so they were clearly both going into the situation with clear eyes.
Out of all my favorite teams, only the Bruins are bringing me joy (and entertainment) this holiday season. The Dodgers, Lakers, and Rams are simply not very much fun. Go Bruins. Be great.
talk about a lame off season for the Dodgers. Justin Turner was to the Dodgers what Paul O'Neill was to the late 90s Yankees. You don't let him walk.
Here's an interesting podcast with Collin Schlee as a featured guest. He comes on around the 22:00 minute mark.
https://www.fnppodcasts.com/finalscore/2022/9/21/collin-schlee-kent-state-quarterback-oakdale-graduate
Collin gets into a pretty deep discussion about his sports and academic career at Kent State. He redshirted 1 season and played 3 seasons at Kent State and as everyone knows, he's classified as a junior with 2 seasons left. However, this was his 4th year on campus; academically he was a senior and in his interview, he essentially said he was finished with his degree requirements. He said that after this school year, he would have to either do internships or enter graduate school to work on his Masters.
IMO, that's why he's coming to UCLA. Academically, he was done at Kent State and had to enter the transfer portal unless he wanted to do his graduate work at Kent State again. Coming to UCLA gains his experience in Chip's pro-style offense at the nation's best university. His major is sports administration. An MBA from the Anderson School of Business will go a long ways towards helping him reach his life goals beyond football.
It's totally obvious that Dante Moore will be first in line for the QB job, being that he's the #3 player and #3 QB in the country per 247 Sports. Collin was the #81 QB when he came out of high school, but he developed over his 3 active seasons and he's a capable starter, but on the videos I watched, Dante looks like he's ready to go now. But if he's not ready, Schlee could jump right in and produce at a high level.
While he might have NFL aspirations, I got the impression that he's a bit more grounded in his expectations. Guys who don't start until their 4th year of college usually don't make it to the big show. But he played well in his one year as a starter at Kent State and he seems to be a really intelligent kid. I don't think not starting is going to kill him.
Side bar: Dante Moore is listed at 6'3". He looks taller than that. I could be wrong. Maybe his high school lineman are short or the camera angles were bad.
I suspect it is still a football move. He's too good to submit the remainder of his football career to a backup role in the name of academics. He could have transferred to plenty of other comparably academic schools and started. Maybe he thinks he will win the job. Maybe he's planning to develop under Chip as a backup and transfer again next year. Also, unfortunately, the Anderson school is not one of the grad programs that the athletic department has the power to essentially compel admission for transfer athletes. My understanding is that not very many athletes transfer in to go to business school at UCLA. My guess is he will enroll in a different masters program, or pick up a minor/second major.