New head coach Ben Howland is starting from the ground up in his
reconstruction of the UCLA men’s basketball program: a
defensive foundation. “If you’re going to be good in
any sport, you need to be good on the defensive end,” he said
Thursday at the Pac-10 Media Day. Important to improvement in the
Bruins’ defensive scheme is starting small forward Dijon
Thompson. Last year’s leading scorer, Thompson will be needed
just as much on the other side of the court. “He has shown
that when he wants to, he can play good defense,” Howland
said. “I’ve told him if he ever wants to play on a
successful UCLA team he’s going to have to play better
defensively.” One light at the end of the proverbial tunnel
for the Bruins lies in junior Cedric Bozeman, who will start at
point guard entering the season. Bozeman, who is returning from a
shoulder injury sustained last February against USC, is one of the
Bruins top on-ball defenders. “I think Cedric, with his
athleticism, has the chance to be an outstanding defender,”
Howland said. “I feel very confident in his ability.”
Bozeman has fully recovered and is slated to start “every
game this season,” according to Howland.
LAVIN ON HAND: One familiar face to the UCLA
men’s basketball program was also at the Pac-10 media day
Thursday, but in a capacity still a little foreign to the former
Bruin coach. Now a college basketball analyst for ESPN, Steve Lavin
described his feelings toward the situation in metaphor.
“It’s a little bit like reading a good book 15 years
later. You bring more to it because you bring experiences,”
he said. “It’s refreshing to step back and
reflect.” He will work as a studio analyst three days a week
and predominantly cover Big-10 games. He also plans to return to
Westwood to sit in on one of Howland’s practices later this
month. When asked if Lavin’s presence might be disconcerting
to his team, Howland paused for a moment before responding.
“Probably,” he said.