Dump Dorrell

It’s Final Four week and so its the season for UCLA basketball. We want to keep the focus on that. And we will. We have to interrupt our programming though to bring you something of note. If you haven’t heard about the ugly hit piece on Ben Howland by Dennis Dodd of CBSSportsline.com you have to give it a read. It’s unbelievable how a national sports journalist can turn what appears to be a personal vendetta against a college basketball coach into a front page article and pass it off as fact. Two flashpoints appear in his article. First, he calls BH “an a–hole” in the very opening sentence. Second, he writes that BH treats his players “like dogs” later in the piece as if it were fact.

We can write pages on (more…)

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Final Four Baby!! Howland will take our basketball team to the Final Four for the second year in a row, and the second time in his 4 years as our coach. Both times have been unbelievable. Last year, no one expected it, yet we all knew it was possible. The pundits picked us to lose nearly every single game … the bigs would be too much … the fast pace would be too much … etc. etc. This year, after losing 3 starters to the NBA (two of which would never have made it were it not for a great coach and mentor in Howland), we at DD certainly expected a Pac-10 championship, but a win after the Sweet 16 … not so much. And yet, here we are … depleted …. without the point guard (Farmar) who supposedly was our only game winner, the force, the determination of our team … without any seniors … going to the Final Four again! What other coach in the NCAA today could do what Howland has done with these two teams??? With this team???

And that is the difference … great coaching!!! Sure, we have an (more…)

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Kentucky basketball coach Tubby Smith is leaving for Minnesota. Or was he pushed out?! It’s gameday and what we should be talking about is Benball. Tough great game today but we have to mention the Kentucky situation. The Tubby Smith story is instructive for UCLA Football, as was Amaker’s firing at Michigan though to a smaller degree. It’s another example of “good guy, wrong coach” for a storied program. Now, Dorrell can’t hold a candle to what Tubby has done at KU. There is no comparison whatsoever based on record or performance. The reference to Kentucky is important in that programs that have standards require that those standards be constantly met. Just like Nike or Microsoft or GE. Kentucky is a brand in basketball and that brand has been diluted in their fans eyes.

Similarly, UCLA football has been diluted by the mediocrity of Karl Dorrell, “good guy, wrong coach.” Take a quick look at (more…)

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Speedpost for today’s Monday Roundup.

1. Congratulatory piece about recruiting in the Daily Bruin giving very recently hired WR coach Eric Scott a ton of credit for helping bring in our ‘08 recruiting commits. We will give EScott his due, but we remain on the sidelines on ‘08 recruiting and against the EScott hiring for WR coach.

2. Speaking of recruiting, anyone catch CSTV’s Tom Lemming piece on our ‘07 recruiting class?? While Morgan Center, the Daily Bruin and all the Dorrellistas were praising Dorrell for his 10 signings, others weren’t so hot on the class. Read Lemming’s view on our ‘07 class and the rest of the conference. Hint: He has us ranked 7th. Ouch.

3. Spring practice will be opening up late this year in April. We will be talking about it soon. We have received some interesting emails on this. More later.

4. We are in the Sweet 16 … Win And Move On!! Go Bruins!!

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We made it too close in the end, but the determination of AA and DC and the Prince to win was the difference. Another tournament victory for the Bruins who now need 1 more, 4 more times. On to the Sweet 16 where we meet Pitt, who got lucky themselves in closing out a scrappy and determined VCU. No matter, in March its about moving on. No one remembers the close ones unless you win, just like ‘95. We remember Mizzu and Tyus’ mad dash for the win in the second round. That second round, always a tough game, tough matchup, especially mentally. And today we got one in Indiana. Even though they made some huge and lucky shots to get back in the game, they worked for them. Hats off to the Hoosiers for not giving up.

But congrats go to AA, DC, the Prince and the boys for a heart fought win. You could see from the outset they were not going to take IU lightly. And even though our offense disappeared amidst mistakes in the second half to give IU time, did you see AA’s determination at the end to not lose??!! Solid, solid contribution by AA and DC when it mattered. The box score wont show it, but we all saw it. We like our chances against Pitt. Sweet 16! Yeah Baby!!

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We will pass on talking football during the season of UCLA basketball, the NCAA tournament. Big game on Thursday against Weber St. We know nothing about these cats other than they seem to score a lot, and allow a lot to be scored on them. Vegas oddsmakers have UCLA -20 to -21, depending on the service. We think Ben Howland will have our boys ready to play. Now is the time to bring it. One game at a time. We will be following here.

More Vegas odds (as of Sun night):

• UCLA to win it all: 7-1 (#3)
• Others to win it all (#1-7): Florida 7-2, NC 5-1, GTown 8-1, Kansas 8-1, Ohio St. 8-1, Texas A&M 10-1
• UCLA to win West Regional: 6-5 (#1)
• Others to win West Regional (#2-5): Kansas 8-5, Pitt 6-1, Duke 10-1, Southern Ill. 10-1

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What a difference a great coach makes. Pac 10 champions last 2 seasons, better record, seeding and RPI (#2) this year than last year’s NC game run. In Ben Howland We Trust. This is how it’s supposed to be. Our expectations in line with our tradition and strength. We don’t expect to win them all, but we know we will challenge for everything. And that is what we are doing in basketball, even with our 2 game losing streak, even when we lose 3 starters, even when we don’t expect to make it to the final four. The disappointment of the last week highlights the renewed optimism and excitement we have with our basketball program. Right where we want to be. And challenging for #100?!! Get out of here … only in Hollywood. Wait, THIS IS HOLLYWOOD!! Go Bruins!!

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As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we are on a once a week (Monday) schedule for the off-season, although we will post things of note no matter when. Towards the end of last week there was some activity regarding Dorrell, specifically a somewhat chastising article on ESPN.com regarding Dorrell’s now solid reputation for churning assistant coaches. Many of you have sent in links to the article, thanks! Other sites have picked it up and have reported on it. It was one of those weeks where DD editors had business trips and a funeral of a close friend that left us too early and we just couldn’t get to the news. We will address the ESPN article in a couple of days in more detail.

Like everyone, we are watching our basketball team. A win against UDub and we would have locked our #1 seed in the West. Now we have some work to do to get that important seed. Who cares about #1 overall seed, it doesn’t matter at all. Ben and the boys will get it done. Ben Howland has shown what a real coach can do. 2 Pac-10 championships in 4 years, 2 in a row! 1 Final Four appearance, 1 Finals appearance in 3 years! First home court undefeated season since the 70s. We’d say Dan Guerrero can check off Howland on his performance review as getting the job done. What a stark contrast we have in Karl Dorrell, 0 Pac-10 championships in 4 years - not even a 2nd place finish. No BCS bowl games … and well you know the grim details. We will just keep pointing to the man, Ben Howland, and his tenacious teams and his elite program. Go Bruins!!!

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The season is not over, but it is at Pauley. Undefeated!! A big congratulations to Coach Howland and the team for making this season at Pauley one for the record books. We all know how our undefeated seasons at home turned out in the past. Not to put too much pressure on our guys, but they have got their groove back! It starts with defense. Today against Stanford and two 7 footers we played Howland defense. Points off turnovers was the difference in the game.

We did not expect our team to be where it is today, 25-3, 14-2 in the conference. Losing 3 starters hurts most teams, and we expected a bigger learning curve. We thought maybe 14-4 in conference (which, of course, could still technically happen). But Coach Howland has this team playing better than last year’s team at this time. And the proof is in their record and how they are playing in a tougher conference this year. Yes, there are still question marks, weaknesses. This team has character though, and that belief in Howland’s defensive scheme is making teams pay again. Two big games remain up North. If the team wins both a #1 seed in the West is a lock regardless of what happens in the conference tournament, where at most we can only notch one more loss.

But Howland’s teams never give up, so we don’t expect a letdown. Their groove is back!

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This is a departure, but Dennis Johnson has left us far too early. DJ was a hated Celtic to Lakers fans during the great days of the Lakers-Celtics rivalry of the ’80s. But he was respected. He played tough and hard and guarded Magic better than anyone in the league. He also would make clutch shots like Robert Horry.

He loved the game so he stayed close to it. He coached the Clippers unsuccessfully and then took a job in the D-League to rebuild his coaching resume. That was AFTER having already coached in the NBA. Not many guys these days want to build their coaching resumes before taking the big pro job. Fewer still would go down in status to get back to the top. DJ, an NBA champion with 2 different teams, a multiple All-Star, respected the game so much that he didn’t see the D-League as beneath him, nor did he see it as a demotion. He saw it as a chance to master the game in another way. Champions always want to better themselves. DJ was a champion as a player and with the greatest of determination and respect for the game he was going to make it someday as a coach. Hats off to a great player and a determined coach, Dennis Johnson, RIP.

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