[valentine]

Why are they in the preseason top twenty-five?  Did the voters forget that Steve Alford is their head coach?

[Robb_CParticipant]

They were pretty young last year and beat some pretty good teams.. Ucla returns most of the roster, add lonzo ball to the mix and this UCLA team will be pretty good. 

[ph90702]

Even if they do make the NCAA Tournament, they will be knocked out early.  Steve Alford always underperforms in March.  I also don’t see how he’s an improvement over Ben Howland.

[Robb_CParticipant]

 Ben Howland wasnt a great long term fit for UCLA.. UCLA  and  Howland have different identities , Howland is the complete opposite of a Hollywood Coach and If anyones had the opportunity to meet him or speak with him you’d understand why the UCLA and Howland relationship was destined to burn quicker than Rocket Fuel.. Alfords hire was a stop gap hire for UCLA, Howland left UCLA in shambles when he left, No High Major talent coach was going to leave their current situation to coach at UCLA which was a dumpster fire after Howland left.. 

I agree Alford isnt the best coach in the NCAA, but he’s good for UCLA to rebuild relationships in the Region.. 

 

[llperez]

 not a fan of alford either, but this season the squad is solid and he better havea great year. Just getting to the sweet 16 like he has 2 of his 3 years at ucla wont be enough this year.

As for last year, They beat qulaity teams  like kentucky, gonzaga and arizona so there was defenitely talent. They return 4 of 5 starters with only tony parker graduating. Then add in a top 5 recruting class with 2 mcdonalds all americans in lonzo ball and tj leaf who should come in and start and lead the way from day 1.

 

 Ive been watching clips from their austrailia tour they just went on and ive been reading up on it as well and tj leaf looks fantastic, hitting threes and showing good low post moves. Ball really struggled shooting though, he finished shooting just 25% from the field and 19% from three and apparently was even worse on defense. Ive read two different reports that said ball looked like the bruins 4th best gaurd behind aaron holiday, bryce alford and isaac hamilton who looked like the best bruin gaurd. All accounts are that tj leaf looked like best overall ucla player and only real knock was he was a little too trigger happy. 

 

 

[ph90702]

They won’t make the Sweet 16 let alone surpass it.

[ChewyParticipant]

 has a big effect on how you rate teams. As a midwest guy, I almost always back KU and the Big 10 when I’m filling out my bracket in March. I usually am a non believer in Gonzaga and the Pac 12 in general. 

On paper UCLA looks good. But they looked good on paper last year too. They are a year older and that should help their overall team strength.

 I am REALLY interested in seeing how Ball adjusts to college ball because UCLA clearly won’t play like Chino Hills. I almost wish (in a hypothetical that would never happen) Ball would have commited to play for Grinnell (DIII who plays a ridiculous system- look it up).

TJ Leaf looked good in the 2 HS games that I saw. He has the shooting and passing to fit in with the team vets right away.

But like always, a Steve Alford UCLA has to prove it to me on the court before I buy into their hype. However, I could see them ending the season in the top 10 if they somehow put it all together. If Ball plays like the lottery pick he is supposed to be and Alford is able to become a sharp shooter off the ball and TJ stretches the floor with his shoot and doesn’t get overwhealmed rebounding wise and Welsh finally plays like a MCDAA.

 

 

 

[Robb_CParticipant]

 Grinell College plays basketball like a 10 year old kid playing NBA 2k

[Author]

Posts