UCLA men’s basketball coach Ben Howland admitted the timing of the event was a little different than he has grown accustomed to.
This past Tuesday Howland held his final press conference of the season a few weeks earlier than he has in the past. After three years of advancing to the Final Four, an early exit in the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a humbling 89-69 loss to Villanova in Philadelphia necessitated an early end-of-the-season meeting.
“We haven’t done this early the last three years,” Howland said. “That’s been really nice to be going that far every year, so it is a little different.”
Much of the time was devoted to reanalyzing the Bruins discouraging 20-point loss to the Wildcats on Mar. 21 at the Wachovia Center. It was a loss that left the Bruins battered and bruised, a game in which the Bruins were left with no answer for Villanova’s penetration or inside presence.
Howland said that he watched the film of the game on the flight back to Los Angeles last Saturday night and pointed to one aspect in particular he noticed.
“I thought that their plan to come out and hard foul our guys was evident, especially as you watch the film,” Howland said.
Howland added that he did not think that anything was dirty and done with malicious intent; it was just their style. And as the Bruins found out, it worked.
“It’s real evident that was something they were trying to do,” he said.
In that game, the Bruins were unable to prevent the four Villanova guards from penetrating into the lane. Once they were able to get past the Bruin defenders, they proved to be capable of either getting to the foul line (They attempted 27 free throws, making 19.) or passing it out to open shooters. (Villanova shot 46.3 percent for the game.)
“They’re a hard matchup because they play four guards and they can spread the floor because they shoot it well enough you got to be out on them,” Howland said. “And yet they can all bounce it and put it on the floor and create mismatches with their different matchups. And they really defend. They’re a very physical team, very strong.”
Despite the disappointment of failing to advance to a fourth consecutive Final Four, Howland said he believed the Bruins had a successful year considering the loss of three players to the NBA ““ Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute ““ and the arrival of five incoming freshmen.
“We sit here and feel bad that we were 26 wins and nine losses,” Howland said. “There aren’t many places in the country where you feel that way. UCLA is one of the elite programs and the most storied in tradition and history, so it’s unique.”
LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT SEASON: Another major topic of discussion during the press conference was the Bruins’ outlook for next season.
Of particular interest was freshman guard Jrue Holiday and whether he will forfeit his final three years of college for the NBA or will return to the Bruins next year. After the loss to Villanova in Philadelphia, Holiday said that as of right now he is leaning toward coming back next season. This season, the 2008 Gatorade Player of the Year averaged 8.5 points per game and tallied 129 assists, the second-most on the team, while starting all 35 of the Bruins’ games.
Howland said he has not spoken to Holiday yet, but that he will meet with him and his family sometime this week to discuss Holiday’s future.
“It comes down ultimately what Jrue’s comfortable with and what he thinks,” Howland said.
If Holiday does return, Howland said that he would play at both point guard and shooting guard positions with fellow freshman Jerime Anderson. While Holiday played at the shooting guard position this year due to the presence of senior Darren Collison, Holiday played the point guard position for extended moments in both the Pac-10 and NCAA tournaments with apparent comfort.
“I think it was difficult for him this year not playing some minutes at the point because where’s best is with the ball,” Howland said.
Howland also had praise for Anderson, who spent the year backing up Collison at the point guard position. Howland referred to Anderson as a leader similar to former Bruins Jordan Farmar and Arron Afflalo.
“It’ll be good to have them both,” Howland said. “They’re very, very unselfish and make plays for other people and are really pass-first point guards, both of them.”
Other than Holiday and Anderson, the Bruins next year will have three seniors ““ Nikola Dragovic, Michael Roll and James Keefe ““ five incoming freshmen ““ Tyler Honeycutt, Brendan Lane, Mike Moser, Reeves Nelson and Anthony Stover ““ and, should Holiday return, five sophomores ““ Holiday, Anderson, Drew Gordon, Malcolm Lee and J’mison Morgan.
“It’s going to be the youngest team we’ve had since I’ve been here, I think, ” Howland said.