What they do JC Nation! I am going to let all you West Coast biased, John Wooden looking, UCLA loving, Bruin blue bleeding mofos in on a little secret–UCLA will never win a national championship under Ben Howland.

That’s right, I said it. Ben Howland does not have an offensive guru on his staff, and I am openly questioning his player development ability.

Don’t give me that Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Jordan Farmar were 1st round draft picks and consistent contributors in the league stuff either. K-Love could have been drafted out of high school, Westbrook was top 5 primarily because of his family and high school coach, and Farmar really didn’t get that much better in two years at UCLA and is just now beginning to hit his stride as a basketball player. Luc Richard Mbah Moute got progressively worse during his four years, but rallied during the pre-draft process to solidify himself as a second round pick.

My point is that Ben Howland may be an defensive genius, but has fielded teams lacking any offensive ingenuity. Say what you will about Steve Lavin as a defensive coach, but he let his players play on the offensive end, and did a phenomenal job of recruiting and sending talent to the next level.

Granted, 3 Final Four appearances is very impressive and an accomplishment that should be noted. But the reality of the basketball SNAFU that took place last season with the K-Love situation, should be viewed as a tragedy by Bruin homers, a basketball sin that is unforgivable.

How is it possible that the best passing big man since the likes of Wes Unseld and Bill Walton, was an afterthought on the offensive end the entire season? Love was a once in a generation talent, that special player who can affect the game in all aspects. But during his only season at UCLA, he was relegated to a glorified garbage man with a sick outlet pass. I blame Ben Howland. I blame his innate desire to micro-manage all aspects of the offensive side, Darren Collison incessantly pounded the air out of the ball.

How does he fix it?

I say let Jrue Holiday run the point and put Collison at the shooting guard position. Holiday is a special talent, a hybrid of D-Wade and BD. He has the handle, the vision, and the defense to hold down the most important position on the floor. He has more heart than Collison, and is a proven winner. Anybody that can elevate a small private high school program like Campbell Hall into the top 25 nationally, is the real deal.

Dragovic has to play a bigger role on the offensive end for the Bruins to be effective. Big, skilled, and equipped with one of the wettest jumpers on the West Coast, Drago just needs game reps and confidence builders to find his rhythm. He’s the kind of kid that will drop 30 on you at any given time, home or away. Howland needs to believe in him.

It seems that Alfred Aboya has freed himself of the offensive shackles of the past 3 seasons at UCLA. Once laughed at and jeered for his lack of offensive skill, Aboya shut up all the haters by dropping 24 and 10 at the Garden last week. He is an example of the anti-Ben Howland type player, recruited as a garbage man and role player, but eventually develops into a more complete basketball player. This is Aboya, and expect him to shat on many a dudes head during the course of this season.

I am not here to bash Ben Howland or UCLA, but as a keen and accomplished basketball observer, I have to call it like I see it. Howlands needs to stop micro-managing his teams on offense, and let his players make plays. If not the Bruin Nation will have to suffer through that re-occuring nightmare it knows far to well, and be faced with the prospect of never hanging another National Championship banner while Ben Howland is coach.

tags: Basketball, Ben Howland, UCLA4 Responses to "UCLA Will Never Win A Title Under Big Ben"
wow..

By Kris Johnson on Nov 28, 2008