So much for Ben Howland really taking off. He had the Final Four run, but right now, they might not even sniff the NCAA Tournament.

11-point loss to Loyola Marymount and 20-point loss to Middle Tennessee. Their best player suspended for disciplinary reasons, "indefinitely."

What's even worse, is for a "Blue Blood", nobody cares. Even without the NBA in town, nobody cares. LA sports this year have been a debacle, from the Lakers disappointing, Clippers sucking, Dodgers being a complete mess, the Angels underachieving, USC being on probation and being down, etc...

Still, NOBODY goes to UCLA basketball games. You watch on TV and the stands are half-empty...

Is Howland on the hot seat anytime soon?

He has to be. They have too much history to put up with this.

They have lots of history because of John Wooden. Also, being in Los Angeles. It seems outside of that, they have a pretty apathetic student body and overall fan base.

In comparison, Indiana was a train wreck and and is still not nearly to the level anyone considers them a threat. They have a lot of loyalty and support than UCLA.

Azubuike24;975209 wrote:They have lots of history because of John Wooden. Also, being in Los Angeles. It seems outside of that, they have a pretty apathetic student body and overall fan base.

In comparison, Indiana was a train wreck and and is still not nearly to the level anyone considers them a threat. They have a lot of loyalty and support than UCLA.

UCLA is Wooden. Seems that school doesnt give a shit about basketball. Howland is failing miserably after those 3 Final Fours, I dont know what happened.

Indiana is a good comparison. UCLA feel off because they just started sucking. IU fell off when Knight was fired, but recovered quick....then Sampson got caught. But the student body/university/state never backed down. Still up at the very top in terms of support and attendance, etc. Indiana wont let them be down, where as UCLA doesnt seem to care.

Larry Drew II will revive this program next season!

Howland is as good of a coach as there is. But a change of scenery may be in his and UCLA's best interest.

thedynasty1998;975822 wrote:Howland is as good of a coach as there is.

No he's not

thedynasty1998;975822 wrote:Howland is as good of a coach as there is.

Disagree. He is a good coach, and had a nice, short run with Pitt, but it always ended up in poor tourney showings (upset 2 years in a row in S16). UCLA he came in and was an immediate success with the 3 straight Final Fours. But the top coaches dont have stretches where they are THIS bad, for THIS many years. I know he has made the tourney 2/3 and this year is still possible. But UCLA hasnt been worth anything, going on 3 years now. The end doesnt appear to be in site.

He is a solid coach, but not close to "as good as there is"

He's a good coach, but he's not a great recruiter. That's what separates him from others.

Laley23;975298 wrote:Howland is failing miserably after those 3 Final Fours, I dont know what happened.

Early draft jumpers are a killer when you aren't a great recruiter to begin with. This is a different team with Honeycutt and Lee back, and realistically they both should have come back because neither was even a 1st round pick.

I think he actually did a really good job in 2008 though (the 1st season after the Final Four 3-peat). They won 26 games after losing Love, Westbrook, and Mbah a Moute.

2009 was a disaster, but that was the only really bad year.

Nelson reinstated...after 2 straight losses to begin the season, one of which he missed...

Azubuike24;975105 wrote:So much for Ben Howland really taking off. He had the Final Four run, but right now, they might not even sniff the NCAA Tournament.

11-point loss to Loyola Marymount and 20-point loss to Middle Tennessee. Their best player suspended for disciplinary reasons, "indefinitely."

What's even worse, is for a "Blue Blood", nobody cares. Even without the NBA in town, nobody cares. LA sports this year have been a debacle, from the Lakers disappointing, Clippers sucking, Dodgers being a complete mess, the Angels underachieving, USC being on probation and being down, etc...

Still, NOBODY goes to UCLA basketball games. You watch on TV and the stands are half-empty...

Is Howland on the hot seat anytime soon?

Surf's up!

thedynasty1998;975906 wrote:He's a good coach, but he's not a great recruiter. That's what separates him from others.

In college sports, recruiting is half of what you are made of as a coach. Maybe more, imo.

"Good Recruiter" is the ultimate compliment for college coaches. "X's & O's" guys are a dime a doz. and don't last long in the HC chair.

UCLA athletics as a whole are having a hard time competing in the Pac12. I read an article a few months back about how they are having a hard time with donations/funding, particularly compared to Oregon who has Phil Knight money and private schools like Stanford and USC. As a result of the lack of funds, their facilities have suffered an they have no money to hit the recruiting trail (meaning legitimate budget for travel, etc.).

The donation/funding issues are the result of an apathetic alumni base and financial crisis in the state of California.

Laley23 wrote:In college sports, recruiting is half of what you are made of as a coach. Maybe more, imo.

Agreed. This is why Gary Williams will go down as a really good coach and not a great one. (The word "great" is thrown around way too liberally, imo.) He didn't put nearly enough emphasis on recruiting as he should have at a program like Maryland, which sits in the center of some of the most fertile ground for high school basketball talent in the country. Had he, Gary Williams might have won a couple more national titles and be right there with Calhoun, Roy Williams, Pitino, Izzo and Boeheim on that second-tier of greatest coaches of all-time, right behind the first tier which I think includes Wooden, Knight, Krzyzewski, Dean, Rupp, Phog Allen and Henry Iba.

As it is, Gary is usually an afterthought. He was a notoriously underachieving -- or complacent -- recruiter, and that hurt is overall consistency at Maryland.

Ben Howland inherited some pretty good talent, got Kevin Love to come on board for one year, and never left the state of California for NCAA tournament games until the FF. He's an above average coach, but there's a reason UCLA got completely mauled in each of those Final Four trips.

I honestly thought the Ben Howland hire was a mistake for UCLA.

Also, isn't UCLA playing away from their home arena this year? I think they're renovating or making a new arena.

hoops23;985768 wrote:I honestly thought the Ben Howland hire was a mistake for UCLA.

Also, isn't UCLA playing away from their home arena this year? I think they're renovating or making a new arena.

Yeah, they are playing at the old LA Sports Arena or whatever it's called. Poly is being renovated.

I actually think Howland's recruiting has been amazing considering that their fan base could care less, the media exposure is minimal at-best nationally and the style of play is flat out boring. He's recruited BETTER than I expected with those things against him and has still underachieved. Wait until the recruiting tapers off just a bit from where it has been the last 2-3 years (where it's been pretty decent, but not top tier).