A familiar challenge

The year was 2005.

After suffering a sound defeat to Texas Tech in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Ben Howland entered his second season as coach of the UCLA men’s basketball program, with a team composed mostly of freshmen and sophomores.

Entering the 2005-2006 season as the No. 18 team in the country, not much was expected from a Bruin team that finished with a 18-11 overall record and tied for third place in the Pac-10 the season before. Add in the overwhelming presence of youth and inexperience, and the Bruins appeared to be future title contenders, not current ones.

But then a funny thing happened.

Tomorrow became today, inexperience transformed into experience, and the same Bruin team that seemed too young to contend found itself in the NCAA championship game against Florida.

Despite losing to the Gators, that team began a run of three consecutive Final Four appearances for the Bruins, a streak that came to an end last year, and one that this year’s Bruin team hopes it can start again.

“We’re young, but still, young don’t mean nothing,” sophomore guard Malcolm Lee said. “We really don’t have the experience as other teams do, but experience comes along with the journey.”

This year’s Bruin squad contains a number of similarities to the 2005 team.

Like 2005, the Bruins are coming off a humbling loss in the early rounds of the NCAA Tournament, this time an 89-69 drubbing at the hands of Villanova.

Much like in 2005, when not much was expected from the Bruins, this year’s team enters the season unranked and picked to finish third in the Pac-10.

But perhaps the most important similarity between the two teams is the level of inexperience. Like the 2005 squad, this Bruin team has five freshmen, four sophomores and three seniors on scholarships, constituting one of the youngest teams Howland has had in his six full seasons at UCLA.

Does the high level of youth and inexperience make this season potentially one of the most challenging Howland has had?

In a word, no.

“Every year is a challenge,” Howland said. “This year we’re very young, and because of that we have a lot of growing to do. We got six games coming up in 13 days. It’s really not the ideal thing for a young team.”

That stretch begins tonight at 9 against Cal State Fullerton at Pauley Pavilion.

Starting for the Bruins will be Lee, sophomore point guard Jerime Anderson, senior guard/forward Michael Roll, senior forward Nikola Dragovic and sophomore forward Drew Gordon.

Roll is the lone Bruin player left from that 2005 team that made a magical run to the championship game in Indianapolis, and while he admits that every team is different, he believes in what this year’s Bruin team is capable of.

“We definitely have good talent to get there,” Roll said.

When asked if he saw any similarities between the two teams, Howland was quick to point out the NBA talent of the 2005 team. Six players from that team have spent time playing in the NBA ““ Jordan Farmar, Darren Collison, Arron Afflalo, Ryan Hollins, Cedric Bozeman and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute.

While Howland noted that he does not know what the NBA-level talent of his current team is, he emphasized the high amount of confidence he has in his players.

“When guys get the opportunity to come in, they’re going to take advantage of it,” Howland said.

One player who will be counted on to run the Bruins’ offense is Anderson, taking over for the departed Collison. Anderson has already had to overcome an injury to his groin, which forced him to sit out a number of practices and the Bruins’ opening exhibition game against Concordia.

In that game, a thrilling 62-61 win for the Bruins, the lack of a stable and steadying presence at point guard was noticeable as the Bruins failed to execute many of their offensive sets.

In his first game back against Humboldt State last week, Anderson gave the Bruins that level of fluidity, scoring nine points and dishing out two assists while committing just two turnovers.

Now completely healthy, Anderson does not want to use injury as an excuse why this team may struggle at the beginning of the season.

“I think we’re definitely ready,” Anderson said. “All teams have injuries, all teams have adversities to go through, and I’m sure we’re going to have more injuries during the season and more adversity to go through. Once we get on that floor, none of that matters, and it’s just what we do between those lines.”

Lee is also expected to step up offensively. With dependable scorers Collison, Josh Shipp and Jrue Holiday now gone, Lee will need to improve upon the 3.2 points per game average he amassed in 29 games last season.

After a summer spent in the gym and running the Santa Monica dunes, Lee, who Howland considers to be the most conditioned player, said he is prepared to play at the next level this season.

“I feel that I can bring intensity on both sides of the floor,” Lee said. “We have a lot of established players that are gone so we’re going to have to have players step up this year, and I feel that I’m one of the players that has to step up and take control as leadership as well as my play. I just feel that we’re going to have to do all the stuff starting in practice to get where we want to go.”

The Bruins say they want to go back to the top of the Pac-10, a place that until recently had been their domain. Yet after their first exhibition game in which the team needed a late 3-pointer by junior Mustafa Abdul-Hamid to hold off Concordia, some of the Bruin players realized how difficult it may be to achieve that goal.

“We came out and didn’t perform as well as we’d like to,” Gordon said. “Obviously people kind of second-guessed our team, coming as underdogs this year. But it’s going to be a good season because we’re going to be able to prove a lot of people wrong.”

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