Eight months removed from a stinker of an inaugural season in
Westwood, UCLA coach Ben Howland has wiped the slate clean.
On the eve of the first day of basketball practice, Howland
announced that not one of the Bruins’ four returning starters
is guaranteed to keep his spot in the lineup this winter. Instead
every starting position will be up for grabs as UCLA prepares for
the upcoming season.
“It’s going to be wide open,” Howland said.
“It’s all going to be based on how guys
compete.”
Perhaps the biggest showdown figures to come at point guard
where heralded freshman Jordan Farmar will challenge three-year
starter Cedric Bozeman for playing time. Bozeman, a senior, led the
Pac-10 in assists last season, but shot just 22 percent from
three-point range. Meanwhile Farmar, a McDonald’s
All-American, may have been the best college-bound prep point guard
in the nation last season.
“It’s Ced’s position right now,” Farmar
said. “I have to compete and work for it. My job is to come
in and push him as hard as I can to make us both better.”
Besides Farmar, freshman Arron Afflalo, another McDonald’s
All-American, will likely challenge senior Brian Morrison for the
starting shooting guard position. Howland said the final two
members of UCLA’s heralded freshman class, wing Josh Shipp
and center Lorenzo Mata, will also contribute immediately.
Blending five freshmen into a senior-dominated team might not be
easy, but for the time being, the team has put up a united front.
Instead of bristling at potentially losing their starting jobs to
freshmen, the veterans seemed to embrace the additional
competition.
“It’s only going to make our practices that much
better,” said Bozeman, who will likely play some small
forward this season while he and Farmar are on the court
together.
“This is UCLA, and we want the best players here. The
competition is going to make us a better team.”
Thompson, who will likely play mostly at small forward this
season, recalled his freshman season in 2001 when then-senior Billy
Knight took him and Bozeman under his wing.
“It’s like deja vu only I’m on the other
end,” Thompson said. “The roles are reversed.
It’s going to be up to Ced and I to take these guys under our
wing.”
With the stench of back-to-back losing seasons still fresh, UCLA
will likely have to rely on its backcourt if it is going to take
the first step towards restoring its basketball legacy.
At least two-deep at each of the guard positions, UCLA cannot
afford an injury to one of its big men. 7-footer Ryan Hollins, who
is now fully recovered from offseason knee surgery, figures to
start at power forward this year. Howland said junior Michael Fey
and Mata will see the bulk of the minutes at the center position
this season.
UCLA does not open its season until Nov. 20 when it hosts
Chicago State, but the team is already anxious to wash away the
aftertaste left over from losing 14 of its last 16 games in
2003-2004.
“This is the season we are going to turn it around,”
Afflalo said. “The intensity is higher, the seniors are more
competitive, and they want to win. When you have young talent and
combine it with senior leadership, that’s a formula for
winning.”