Bruins Nation

UCLA at St. John's Preview

2012-02-17T14:42:27Z

While USC was one of the worst basketball teams in the country, St. John's is merely one of the worst in the Big East. St. John's is 10-16 (4-10 in the Big East) and has lost to the only common opponent both teams faced: Arizona (although Arizona was at home for that game). St John's is a completely different team from last year, literally. Last year the Johnnies' four of five starters were seniors (depending on matchups), whereas this year they start five freshmen.

Last year Steve Lavin was the coach, this year he has been ill and limited in what he can do. Regardless of how we feel about Lavin the coach, we all wish him a full recovery from prostate cancer. There is really nothing the same from the team last year.

Lavin's Noah's Ark recruiting strategy did not quite work as problems, such as players being ineligible, occurred. The team has lost three of its last four by 20 or more points. However, the Johnnies have played some good teams well, such as at Georgetown where they gave #11 Georgetown all they could handle last week.

The Johnnies are led by 6'8" Moe Harkless. A potential nightmare for the Bruins. Moe is listed by many as a freshman of the year candidate, including number 4 on this list:

4. Moe Harkless, St. John's (Last Week: 4): 15.6 ppg, 8.5 rpg
Despite being the focal point of defenses, Harkless is still managing to carry the young Johnnies offensively. He averaged 17.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in his last two games.

While Harkless is the star, he is not alone. 6'3" guard D'Angelo Harrison has also been good. The Johnnies also gave Duke a run for their money causing Coach K to say:

Harkless scored 30 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the Red Storm's 83-76 loss to eighth-ranked Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium. His brilliant individual performance prompted the Blue Devils' Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski to suggest Harkless was "as good as any freshman in the country." The dynamic 6-3 Harrison scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half as the Johnnies rallied from a 22-point deficit, outscraping and outhustling the ACC power (18-3) down the stretch on its home court.

The kids are all right. Actually, they were a lot better than all right.

"The summer before our senior year in high school we were kind of still under the radar," Harrison said. "We were nowhere in the national rankings. At the end of the summer, we had people talking."

Harkless, from the Springfield Gardens section of Queens, built his AAU reputation playing for the Panthers. Harrison, from Dulles High in Missouri City, Tex., played for The Franchize All Stars. The two have been critical pieces for a young St. John's team with five new starters that is starting to grow up. No one is saying the Johnnies (9-12) are ready to play in the NCAA Tournament, but this season has become a study in character and a preview of a promising future. That all hinges, of course, on both young stars staying on campus next year, and head coach Steve Lavin, who is recovering from prostate cancer surgery and has not been on the bench since late November, adding some size and depth to the roster.

Good thing Anthony Stover and Norman Powell will get a lot of minutes today in this non-conference game to cover these guys on defense. Wait, Howland is our coach: never mind.

CBS commentator Bill Rafferty who will call the game was asked about the St. John's team and said this:

Q: What have you made so far of St. John's, who enter the game with a 10-16 record, 4-10 in the Big East?

A: I love watching them play and there's a lot of talent, but they're young and not seasoned. They're prone to maybe taking trips off and maybe the concentration level isn't quite what they'd like. There are just lapses that young teams seem to make. They've got a nice group, but if they get in foul trouble or fatigued, it's going to show.

But the problems with St. John's aren't with the best players, it is with everyone else:

The young Red Storm have experienced much tumult since arriving on campus: Steve Lavin underwent surgery to treat his prostate cancer and has been on the sidelines for only two games, three players were declared academically ineligible and Stith is the second player to leave the program - Nurideen Lindsay left the team in December.

In their last close game with Georgetown, four out of five starters played 35 or more minutes. Two subs only played because two players fouled out and then only for a minute. In reality the entire bench was one player named: God'sgift Achiuwa. The other starters include another all name team player Sir'Dominic Pointer, a 6'5" swing. Phil Greene a 6'2" combo guard forced into being a point which is part of the reason the Johnnies rank at the bottom in the country in assists. 6'6" Amir Garrett was recruited as a small forward but really has forced to play more inside.

Actually the only other true inside big outside Moe is God'sgift (not a typo folks). They also don't shoot well outside except for Harrison. This is really a team where a zone might be a good idea. They are decent athletes, just young, inexperienced, out of position, and a bit disorganized.

This is a game the Bruins should win but there are a lot of danger signs. Will the Bruins be just as tired as the Johnnies? Will CBH use his superior bench? Will CBH force the Johnnies to beat UCLA outside, or will Moe and company tear up UCLA tired bigs on drives like USC did in the second half?

Go Bruins!

UCLA Welcomes Maryland To Town In 2012 Season Opener

2012-02-17T02:00:01Z

When UCLA takes to the field on Friday to kick off their 2012 season, it will have been 257 since they last played a game and considering the way their 2011 season ended, that is a long 257 days. From sluggish start to roaring finishing and Pac-10 title and ending in a disappointing exit in a home Regional, the Bruins have had a lot of what ifs to think over since June 5. On Friday, they get to start working on putting those what ifs away, though, when Maryland visits Jackie Robinson Stadium for game one of a 56-game regular season that the Bruins hope will only be a prequel to a Regional, Super Regional and the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.

It won't be an easy start for the Bruins. Cold-weather programs haven't had a ton of success in college baseball and Maryland is no exception, but they have a solid squad in College Park this season. Last season wasn't exactly a banner year for the Terrapins with their 5-25 ACC record, but it was a learning season and while they are not going to be near the top of the conference this year either, you can't beat them by rolling out the bats and balls anymore. In his second season, Erik Backich is working on turning around the program and has a ton of experience to go with the improved young talent that you would expect from a team led by one of the top recruiters on the east coast.

It is not as if UCLA is short on talent themselves. The question is whether the Bruins can get the most out of that talent, and most importantly, turn their inexperienced talent into contributing talent. A trio of sophomores will churn out good start after good start and Beau Amaral, Cody Regis, Jeff Gelalich, Cody Keefer and Pat Valaika should bounce back with big years to keep the offense ticking, but where is the bullpen help going to come from? Can the Bruins keep the bottom of their lineup from becoming a black hole? We will finally start getting some answers to those questions this weekend.

Adam Plutko is going to get his first ever Friday night start against the Terps (6 pm PT), not that the spotlight will be too bright for him. In his first collegiate appearance last season he threw six innings of two-hit, shutout ball and in his first postseason appearance he tossed 7.2 innings of one-hit ball. Plutko has no problem with pressure. With a 2.01 ERA and .193 batting average against last year, Plutko proved he can pitch with the best of them, but the key will be making sure he can get through seven innings. He's going to have to lessen the load on the bullpen on Fridays, which he proved he could do last year, but will have to do each and every time out this year.

Opposite Plutko will be Brady Kirkpatrick, who was the Terps' Sunday guy by the end of last year. The right-hander is the first of three that the Bruins will face this weekend, which is a boost for their left-handed heavy lineup. Kirkpatrick was 2-5 with a 5.71 ERA as a freshman in 2011, pitching very well out of the bullpen to start the year before tailing off some after being moved to the rotation. He rung up nearly a batter per inning so he can make guys miss, but early on in the season when pitchers aren't quite there and against a guy who gave away 5.5 walks per nine innings, the key will be to make him work.

Saturday's contest (2 pm PT) will feature Nick Vander Tuig making his first collegiate start. The sophomore worked as the Bruins' closer last season after missing his high school senior season with Tommy John surgery and is now moving back into a starting role for the first time since his junior year of high school. Vander Tuig was effective last year, picking up nine saves and pitching in some high pressure situations, but he did run into problems when he pitched deeper into games. Of course, he wasn't conditioned to go several innings last year, but now he is and he's ready to show why he was so highly thought of by the pros before he hurt his elbow.

The Terps will counter with experience in their senior right-hander David Carroll. The junior managed a 5-5 record and 4.70 ERA last year despite walking 4.5 batters per nine innings and opponents hitting .291 off of him. He didn't do such a great job working deep into games last year, lasting just 5.1 innings per start so this is a guy that the Bruins can get on and get into the bullpen against.

Wrapping up the weekend for the Bruins on Sunday (10 am PT) will be Zack Weiss. UCLA has had a ton of success on Sundays in the last two years with Rob Rasmussen in 2010 and Plutko last season and they expect Weiss to keep that up in 2012. He was the Bruins' midweek starter last year and added 13 relief appearances for a a 5-3 record and 2.86 ERA. As good as Weiss may have been during the year, the right-hander really showed off his potential with eight strong innings in the Bruins' elimination game of the Regionals. With the series possibly falling on his shoulders each Sunday, the Bruins will need Weiss at the top of his game.

Maryland will also be depending on a pitcher to be at the top of his game, who it isn't really fair to depend on. Brett Harman was the Terps' best pitcher in 2010, but he missed all of last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery and Sunday will be his first time out. He only went 5-8, but he managed a 4.50 ERA, but he did strike out nearly 10 per nine innings and kept walks down too. If healthy and back to form, Harman is the Terps' best pitcher, but can he really be healthy in start number one of his return?

If the Terps can't get good pitching they are going to to need the offense to get it going. Ryan Holland hit .282 and has a bit of pop, while Alfredo Rodriguez brings speed with 20 stolen bases a year ago, but the key could be what highly touted freshmen K.J Hockaday and Andrew Amaro bring to the table.

Maryland gives the UCLA pitchers a good match-up, but the question will be whether the Bruins can some quality innings from the bullpen and begin to establish some roles in relief. Scott Griggs will be the closer, but the Bruins will have to sort through Ryan Deeter, Zack Ortiz, Chase Brewer, Eric Jaffe and the rest down in the bullpen. There is also Grant Watson, who is the Bruins' only left-hander, but with him slated to start on Tuesday it will be interesting to see how UCLA uses him.

In all, this is a good test to start for the Bruins. If they play well, Maryland is a team UCLA should beat, but it is no walkover. Tickets for the three games this weekend at Jackie Robinson Stadium are $7 for adults, $5 for children and free for Wooden Club cardholders and students. For those looking to follow along, John Ramey and Tim Wilhelm will have the callonline, GameTracker will be going and I'll have updates, notes and observations all weekend on my UCLA baseball twitter.

Illinois's Bruce Weber Showing Howland a Graceful Exit from UCLA

2012-02-16T21:15:37Z

In his post on Valentine's Day, gbruin showed how an AD is supposed to set the tone for his department. Illinois has had success in football and basketball, but nowhere near what UCLA has achieved. Yet here was Illinois AD Mike Thomas, responding to fans and calling for high standards, while Chianti Dan straps on a fanny pack for a tour of Italy.

Well, it seems that Mike Thomas is not the only one who gets it. After getting essentially a public vote of no-confidence from his AD, Illinois basketball coach Bruce Weber knows that his days in Champaign-Urbana are numbered. Following a loss to Purdue, instead of regurgitating cliches and things that went wrong in the game, Weber essentially provided a synopsis of what has gone wrong in his program and the regrets he has over not dealing with certain things the way he should have.

His mea culpa, detailed by Jeff Eisenberg in Yahoo Sports, has some eerie resemblance to the woes in Westwood (emphasis mine):

Under fire from fans dissatisfied that the program has slipped from the top of the Big Ten to the middle of the pecking order, Weber said he erred by coaching to save his job the past three years rather trying to make players better for the future. In particular, he noted that he regretted keeping sophomore center Meyers Leonard in the starting lineup all year rather than disciplining him for lackluster effort and "horrible body language."

"The sad thing about the whole thing, and I guess it's my fault, is instead of creating toughness and developing a team, I coached not to lose all year," Weber said.

"Instead of developing people, I'm worried about winning. Maybe sit Meyers down three weeks ago or a month ago or two months ago. And Brandon (Paul). But that's my fault. You've got to develop a culture and I think the last three years all I did was worry about winning instead of developing a culture and a toughness. And that's my fault."

Sound familiar? It should...after the jump.

This isn't just Weber saying he should have played so and so more during a game, like Howland likes to do after nearly every game. This is a man who knows that he has not performed up to his program's standards and is taking responsibility for it, gracefully and without pointing fingers.

If you don't think this applies to UCLA, just think about how it would be if Ben Howland made this quote. It would look something like this:

Under fire from fans dissatisfied that the program has slipped from the top of the Pac Twelve to the middle of the pecking order, Howland said he erred by coaching to save his job the past three years rather trying to make players better for the future. In particular, he noted that he regretted keeping sophomore forward Reeves Nelson in the starting lineup all year rather than disciplining him for lackluster effort and "horrible body language."

"The sad thing about the whole thing, and I guess it's my fault, is instead of creating toughness and developing a team, I coached not to lose all year," Howland said.

"Instead of developing people, I'm worried about winning. Maybe sit Nelson down three months ago or a year ago. And Dragovic (Nicola). But that's my fault. You've got to develop a culture and I think the last three years all I did was worry about winning instead of developing a culture and a toughness. And that's my fault."

Obviously Howland never made that statement. But how scary is it that he easily could have? Something is rotten in South Centr...uh, Westwood. You would have to be blind to not notice when the storied basketball program in the country is floundering.

And for those of you who try to shift the blame onto the players, for not being in shape, for not having the talent, for not getting the system, I offer you once again, Bruce Weber:

"Sooner or later, (Illinois' players) have got to take accountability and do things that they practiced," Weber said. "It still comes down to myself and the staff. If they're not doing it, I guess we're not instructing them well enough."

Finally, if for nothing than for adding to the whole surreal feel of these statements, Jeff Eisenberg adds...

The last time any coach sounded as defeated Weber did by mid-February, it was Steve Lavin suffering through a dreadful 19-loss season in the final year of his tenure at UCLA.

I leave it to you to discuss. And remind you just for kicks that Ben Howland is 10-10 against U$C in his time at UCLA. Chew on that.

Devastating Podcast Discussion on ESPN U: Ben Howland Has Totally Lost UCLA Fans

2012-02-16T19:53:41Z

Click here and start up the ESPNU college basketball podcast. Set the play button around 11:20 mark and just listen. Eamonn Brennan and Dana O'Neil had follow-up discussions on putting Ben Howland in ESPN's "Bottom 10." The discussion was a devastating one for those who still think Howland is long term viable answer at UCLA.

Brennan started the discussion by reporting how UCLA fans pretty much universally agreed with his gloomy take on Howland. They then talked about how Howland has been a "disaster" in how he "handled things" this year. Dana O'Neil agrees that "it will not be a surprise" if Howland is fired this season.

Eamonn agreed that this "team never got better" under Howland this season. He also rightly held Howland and his training staff accountable for the condition of Smith adding "may be his players never respected him." Dana O'Neil agreed that Smith has some personal responsibility but also said it will be wrong for Howland and his cronies to throw Smith under the bus suggesting "it is hard to get back respect" once you lose it from players. O'Neil ended with the observation that Howland has come to a "point of diminishing return" and Howland is "nearing it."

Give it a listen. It's fascinating and completely in sync with the discussions we have been having on BN. It appears everyone except Chianti Dan and his delusional staffers are in coming to realization that Howland's time is ending at UCLA. It is time for UCLA alums to turn up the heat on Chancellor Gene Block and get him to remove Guerrero. This way we can have a competent AD who can make the pivotal decisions around firing of Howland and the hiring of next basketball coach at UCLA.

GO BRUINS.

Who Will Be Next To Flee Ben Howland’s Miserable & Irrelevant UCLA Program?

2012-02-16T18:07:55Z

Well so much for the argument that UCLA playing in a garbage tournament like the NIT could be helpful for the Bruin program because it will give young players a chance to get meaningful minutes. As noted by DC Bruins, last night playing against the worst JustSC team in decades, Howland once again ran up the minutes of his starters. He drove up their mins to the point that he let an injured Tyler Lamb play 34 minutes.

Howland played Norman Powell - the talented freshman - for just 15 minutes [boxscore]. He did not even bother putting in Brendan Lane. Apparently Anthony Stover is still suffering from a mysterious injury. From Tracy Pierson at BRO (article not behind premium subscription firewall as I blog this):

UCLA beat USC, 64-54, but it was a very strange game.

There were quite a few head-scratchers - things that you just can't explain.

Of course, the biggest elephant in the room is: With a team that's obviously showing fatigue, Ben Howland played all five starters 33+ minutes, against perhaps the worst team in the Pac-12 and one of the worst teams in Division 1. The Bruins were up by 20 points at times, but Howland stuck with his starters. He only played two other players - Josh Smith and Norman Powell - and they played just 15 and 11 minutes.

In his post-game comments, Howland stressed that he was very worried about losing this game, and that the Trojans kept hanging in, and that led him to playing his starters so extensively. When asked about Anthony Stover not playing at all, if it had to do with his injured ankle, he pretty much avoided the question, saying, "No, you know what, that was just more, uh...you know he came back Monday, and was little off, but he's going to play. I just went with the Wears tonight for the most part. If you see their minutes, they played a lot of minutes, and executed well. But yeah, definitely he'll play. "

On Smith's lack of minutes: "I thought Josh really got caught playing against the smalls a lot. It was tough for him defensively, from the standpoint of ending up guarding #33 (Garrett Jackson) a number of times."

Baffling.

Baffling and boring. I tried my best watching the game last night, staying up past bed time here in the East Coast. I fell asleep few times because the quality of basketball was so freaking ugly and unwatchable. It wasn't helping the fact that Donnie Mac was sounding tonedeaf, when he tried to parrot party line of how this disgraceful season can still be "interesting" for UCLA.

When I watched our guys - I saw something that has been pretty apparent for anyone closely tracking this team for last few years. Our guys look miserable. They look unhappy on the court. They almost look disengaged and disgusted with the toxic vibe around this program on the sidelines. Stover and Lane, who have been doing their best to cheer on their team-mates, looked despondent on the bench. The looked lifeless. Joshua Smith looks like someone who just hates the game. While everyone else on the court looked to be going through the motions against a crippled, outmanned, and (usually) irrelevant basketball program.

While watching the game - I kept coming back to one question. How many of our guys will actually return to play for Howland's miserable program. There are few fans who are hoping for a miraculous resuscitation of the Howland era in UCLA through the arrival of bunch of 5 star mercenaries such as Shabazz Muhammad, Tony Parker and Kyle Anderson. Many of us honestly don't care what Shabazz and Parker will decide. It won't matter because their one year "service" will be nothing more than lipstick on this pig. The question is who will be left as their "team-mates" when they arrive in Westwood?

After the end of last season, there was a lot of "hope" following that "moral victory" against Florida. There were people dreaming of a wire to wire top-10 season. Then reality caught up when Malcolm Lee and Tyler Honeycutt became the latest Bruins to flee Howland's nest. No, they didn't leave because they were sure fire first round picks. They left because they did not want to spend an extra minute in Howland's joyless program. They made the same decisions as numerous other players who either jumped to the pros early or just ran to another NCAA program.

So who is it going to be next year? Will Powell bother to come back in a program where he has been miserable and mismanaged all season? Or should he run when there is still time and prosper at a place like San Diego State (his hometown team) or at UNLV?

Why should Stover come back for another miserable season in Westwood when he knows that Howland is not going to give him any mins due to his unhealthy Dragovic like infatuation with the Wear Twins? He has all the tools to emerge as a dominating defensive enforcer with more upside than PAA. Why should be come back at UCLA to tweet and ride the pine, when some other program will love to use his skills?

There is of course Lane, who has been mismanaged through all his career at UCLA. He reportedly is scheduled to get his degree by the end of this year. It may not be a bad idea for him to seek a transfer to another Pac-12 program, offering graduate course not available at UCLA. I imagine a great coach like Mike Montgomery will find a way to utilize his talent in the Cal program.

Those are the questions UCLA alums, students and fans who care about the Bruin program, should be wondering as the disgraceful 2011-12 stumbles to a pathetic end. It doesn't really seem to be worth it to put all our hopes in the shoulder of mercenaries, when a toxic atmosphere continues to persist in Howland's deeply infected and irrelevant program in Westwood.

If you are in New York City and have a chance to interact with Chianti this weekend, may want to bring this issue up when he puts out his BS spin about "Howland and his charges."

GO BRUINS.

UCLA vs. Southern Cal Roundup: Nice For Anderson, Not so Much for UCLA

2012-02-16T13:59:19Z

First let me start off with the good, that also has a bit of a bad component. Jerime Anderson again had a good game, with the exception of weak finish, and it was important for the senior.

This was the way to go out. UCLA senior guard Jerime Anderson was adamant about that.

The world will little remember what happened at the Sports Arena on Wednesday. UCLA has often put the "me" in mediocre this season. USC is barreling fast toward a school record for losses.

Anderson, though, will always have this memory. UCLA's 64-54 victory over USC allowed him to leave the rivalry with a 5-4 record against the Trojans - barring a matchup in the Pac-12 tournament.

"It means I won," Anderson said. "At the end of the day, I have one more win.

"I have had a lot of ups and downs against USC in my career. It means a lot to go out with a sweep (this season). It doesn't matter to me what my numbers are, or how I was individually."

We are happy for Anderson. But really CBH, it took the worst Trojan team in recent memory for UCLA to have a winning record over USC for the last four years?

Another player that had a nice game, at least at the start, was David Wear. On the positive side you have to give the Wear twins credit. They fight and play hard and both had double-doubles against Southern Cal.

David Wear had also wrestled with an upset stomach in recent days, the source of his indigestion a 10-point, 1-rebound effort in a 73-63 loss to Cal last Saturday.

"That's just unacceptable," Wear said.

Wear and the Bruins took out their frustrations on the Trojans from the opening tip, at one point scoring 10 unanswered points in a key second half stretch. . . .

"We had an advantage on offense and were able to run our sets and get tip-outs for offensive rebounds," Travis Wear said.

All of which enabled the Bruins to build a 51-28 lead with 11:28 left. It was a big enough lead for UCLA to hold off the Trojans' late runs.

Bu what was not acceptable was CBH playing the Wears and the starters so many minutes. The decision is baffling and even worse Tyler Lamb was playing on a sore hamstring:

Going up against a team with only one conference victory, you figured this might be a game where some of the starters got some much-needed rest before the team heads to New York to play St. John's on Saturday.

Instead, the Trojans forced Howland to keep his starters in the game the whole time and not only that, but Travis Wear played a season-high 37 minutes and David played 34, the most he has played since he played 37 in the season opener.

"I was a little gassed a couple of times," Travis Wear said.

. . .
Tyler Lamb, nursing a strained hamstring, played 34 minutes, Anderson played 36 and Lazeric Jones played 33. Howland used a seven-man rotation and got only 24 minutes out of his bench, but he said he wasn't concerned with so many players playing so many minutes days before a cross-country trip.

Did fatigue play a part in the Bruins' let down and let the Trojans come back in the second half?

The Bruins held the Trojans to 24 percent shooting in the first half while building an almost-double-digit halftime lead on their way to a 19-point win, the team's third straight at the time.

This time around, the butterfly fought back.

UCLA similarly steamrolled USC early Wednesday night at the Sports Arena, but the Trojans made a game of it, eventually succumbing to the Bruins 64-54 in front of 9,064. . . .

"A little bit was fatigue, a little bit it was us not staying as intense as we should have," Anderson said. "Kind of just going with the flow of the game and not forcing the issue."

While it is great for the players and students to get a sweep of Southern Cal, Vincent Bonsignore writes a devastating piece on how little this game meant. He argues the game was not even the battle of the best team in LA as that goes to LMU. While he is a little over the top in his critique, there is more than a grain of truth to what he wrote.

It was two mediocre to downright bad teams playing a game to decide nothing.

UCLA isn't nearly as bad off as their cross-town rivals, but it's beyond maddening how they've spent the past three seasons mired in mediocrity.

. . .

But 2009 is now 2012 and if there has been any improvement, it's of the incremental kind.

The Final Four seems a million miles away, the Sweet 16 almost as far.

And that is unacceptable.

Go Bruins.

UCLA Hands Southern Cal a Moral Victory

2012-02-16T05:46:37Z

Southern Cal is a bad team. UCLA held Southern Cal to 16 points in the first half on 24% shooting. But in the second half last place Southern Cal out-played UCLA and shot 56% and outscored UCLA 38-33.

Why did this happen? One reason: Coach Ben Howland only played seven players! See the ESPN box score. Are you kidding me: Zeek played the least minutes of any starter and that was 33?!?!? I realize Anthony Stover may be hurting but why not more minutes for Powell and any minutes for Lane? CBH do you really need to play the Wears 71 minutes?!

But that is just the point. We only beat a terrible Southern Cal team by 10 points. What keyed Trojans' second half comeback? Let's discuss that after the jump.

They drove the ball. Memo to CBH: the Wears are not centers. They can’t play good help defense at center and block shots. We need Stover. Does CBH have a Wear crush? Why zero minutes for Lane? I think the Wears are better players than Lane but they are not 37 and 34 minutes better. I realize the Wears had double-doubles but they also had zero blocks against a Southern Cal team that drove at will in the second half.

The tired legs may have helped them drive as well. Jerime Anderson had a nice game but again finished shooting cold as he tried to do too much. And that is just it: the Bruins finished bad again against a really bad team.

The Bruins got the win but in some ways the terrible Southern Cal team got the moral victory.

Go Bruins

Game Thread for USC vs. UCLA

2012-02-16T03:07:01Z

January 16, 2010 was the low moment in Jerime Anderson's career. In a game at home against USC, UCLA lost 67-46. Anderson had the ball stolen from him at half court just trying to bring the ball up the court. Anderson himself called it his worst moment. In only nine minutes he had two turnovers and 0 points.

Well it is 2012 and tonight UCLA is at "home" for the last time in Jerime Anderson's career against USC. Jerime is a better player now and hopefully he can do his part to make sure the Bruins beat USC by more than the 21 points they lost to USC by in his sophomore year. The official preview is here and gametracker is here. The Bruins Nation mini-preview on this awful SUC team is here.

The game is at 7:32 p.m. PST on FSN Prime Ticket. Anthony Stover is probable for the game tonight. Great chance for the Bruins to rest some tired legs.

Go Bruins, Beat SC!