The UCLA basketball season came to a crashing end last Saturday as the Bruins were destroyed by Villanova 89-69 in a game they really never had a shot in. While some (extremely) biased fans will argue that the draw was unfair as UCLA had to play the Wildcats in Philly in a building they play three home games in every year, the reality is that UCLA was just not very good. And really that was to be expected this year despite what most people thought. After all, the Bruins lost Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute to early entry to the NBA draft, plus athletic center Lorenzo Mata to graduation. Westbrook and Love were top five picks, and all three guys are making an impact on their respective teams as rookies. So even though the Bruins won 26 games, it was a mirage as the team had no impressive wins. Their non-conference schedule was soft (a Howland tradition), the showdown games turned out to be battles of disappointing teams (Texas and Notre Dame), and they lost all their real challenges in league (Arizona St., Washington on the road). I guess what I'm getting at is that UCLA met their expectations this year.
So how did this year happen. I already talked about losing the three NBA players and Mata, and that level of talent is difficult to replace. However, I think three issues were really to blame for the (relatively) average season in Westwood. Number one: Collison didn't seem to be himself at all this season. For the first time in four seasons he was the number one option and having defenses gameplan for him seemed to be too much to handle. While his numbers were similar, I think Bruin fans were just expecting more from him when he declared he was returning for his senior season. Number two: Jrue Holiday playing out of position. I don't think this was mentioned nearly enough. Holiday came in as a combo guard who felt most comfortable playing point. However, when Russell left and Darren came back, a hole was opened at the two so Jrue filled the spot. Overall, Holiday played good defense, rebounded well for a guard, and was a great passer. However, he left something to be desired as a scorer. I think this is more a product of Holiday not feeling as comfortable on the wing rather than playing point. And Howland's system requires so much from the point guard that other players often don't get the ball in their hands enough to make plays. And that's what Jrue Holiday is, an excellent playmaker. We saw it against VCU when Collison was in foul trouble as Holiday had one of his best games with 13 points and 6 assists while consistently getting into the lane and wreaking havoc. So if Holiday comes back, which I don't think he will, I would love to see him playing the point full time. Number three reason: The lack of a killer UCLA defense this year. This can be attributed to three things: 1. Westbrook and his incredible on-ball defense leaving early, 2. Mbah a Moute and his defensive versatility leaving early, and 3. The lack of any shot-blocking presence. Alfred Aboya and Nikola Dragovic mostly take charges. Drew Gordon will be an elite shot-blocker but he was foul prone and out of control this season. In fact, no Bruin averaged more than 0.6 blocks per game. And when your perimeter defense isn't as good as usual you need someone to challenge shots and that just wasn't there this year.
In my eyes the Bruins really didn't underacheive this season. In reality, they were basically what we should have expected to begin the season. However, at UCLA, most folks expect a championship every year (which is ridiculous) and so they were dissapointed. Next year will probably be similar to this year but I will touch on that later.
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