Ben Howland is just having a blast.
During Saturday’s press conference after the victory over
Arizona, Howland was laughing, and his face was glowing with pride
as he talked about how well his players have played, and how they
have battled back this season.
Beating Arizona will do that to you, and doing it in front of
two of the biggest recruits in the country, Kevin Love and Kyle
Singler, will do that to you, too.
“This team is a special group of guys,” Howland
said. “After you’ve gone through what we’ve been
through, and to sit here 19-4, we’re pretty happy right
now.”
The atmosphere around UCLA basketball is just different now that
anything I’ve seen before. A player like Cedric Bozeman, who
has gone through multiple knee operations, could finally crack a
smile after Saturday’s victory. It was the first time he had
beaten Arizona since his freshman year.
Arron Afflalo, who’s confidence was falling by the
wayside, could be seen laughing again after struggling with his
shot the last few games.
And then you have Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who is never unhappy
about anything, just joking with reporters even after being saddled
with foul trouble during the majority of Saturday.
It was all in the presence of Love and Singler, the two
Oregonian prospects who are among the top six recruits in the
nation for the class of 2007. The high school juniors were taking
standing ovations, and enjoying the passion of the UCLA students,
and that was just icing on the cake.
It’s a fun time to be around UCLA basketball, and
Saturday’s victory over Arizona has shown just how far
Howland’s program has come.
You certainly don’t have to ask the recruits, Love and
Singler, what direction is program is doing.
“For a couple of years, UCLA had fallen to the middle of
the pack, and were struggling,” Singler said. “But with
coach Howland, this team is back to the top, and they certainly are
building something here.”
Prior to Saturday’s game, there was a special electricity
in the building as the students chanted out the recruits’
names, and painted the players’ names on their chest.
In fact, six girls had the slogan “˜We’re Singler,
and we need some Love,” painted on their T-shirts.
The emotion carried out onto the court as the more physical
Bruins pushed around the Wildcats in the first half, and Pauley was
rocking louder than it has been in recent memory.
“This is my second time here, and it’s just awesome
to be in this environment,” Love said. “The fans and
the players have really been showing me some love.”
More than what they saw on the court, however, is what the
recruits can take from watching the cohesiveness of the team.
Howland, afterwards, talked about how he would do
“˜anything’ for Bozeman after what he has done for the
team this year. He followed that up by saying how he would hug
Afflalo for being his first-ever recruit, and getting this program
to where it is.
He is not just saying these things. He does by his actions. He
was at Afflalo’s high school ceremony for the retirement of
his jersey on Friday night, and later that night, he made it to a
similar ceremony for senior Ryan Hollins.
Those are the type of relationships few coaches have with their
players, and that makes Howland the special type of coach that
players want to play for.
“You can just see the class, and dignity about his
program,” Love said. “I wanted to play for a program
that knows how to carry themselves, and treat their players
well.”
“UCLA certainly does that.”
Now you see why Howland was hired three years ago to coach these
Bruins. Coaching basketball is not rocket-science, but building an
elite Division-I program, filled with its academic challenges,
certainly is. And nobody has the track record of Howland, who is in
the middle of turning around his third program.
Now it is apparent, after seeing the Bruins on Saturday, why
both recruits have UCLA listed among their top-five school choices
and are anxious to see what the Bruin program can do in the
future.
“UCLA is where it’s at,” Singler said in a
shoutout to the fans. “This place is awesome.”
E-mail Parikh at sparikh@media.ucla.edu if you would give
anything for Singler and Love to come to UCLA.