Ben Howland didn’t make the schedule.
But he wishes he did.
The first-year UCLA men’s basketball coach has questioned
several components of the Bruin schedule, including starting the
season as late as Nov. 29.
“I don’t like having just six games before
Christmas,” Howland said.
Before the season opener against Vermont, the Bruins were one of
only four Division I teams (out of a total of 326) who hadn’t
started their season. Some teams had played as many as four games
by that point.
“No matter how much you practice, you can’t practice
a game,” center Ryan Hollins said. “You need game
experience.”
There were a few factors that prevented UCLA from starting this
season earlier.
According to NCAA rules, teams could not play any non-preseason
tournament games before Nov. 21 this season; That was the night
before the annual UCLA-USC football game.
According to Marc Dellins, UCLA’s sports information
director and an associate athletic director, the annual rivalry
game puts a huge drain on game staff personnel, so the athletic
department wanted to stay away from scheduling a game that
weekend.
UCLA’s schedule makers are comprised mainly of the current
coach (this year’s schedule came mostly from former coach
Steve Lavin’s input) and Athletic Director Dan Guerrero, with
input and assistance from Dellins. They traditionally try to start
the season on the Monday or Tuesday of the week after scheduling
non-preseason tournament games are allowed, but for several
reasons, no game was scheduled until Saturday.
“That’s how it worked out,” Dellins said.
Howland also complained about non-conference games during the
Pac-10 season, in which there are always two weeks where only one
game against USC is scheduled.
In those two weeks, UCLA always schedules games against USC and
another non-conference foe, limiting practices.
“It helps to get some practice during the year, and there
isn’t much time because it is all spent preparing for the
next opponent,” Howland said.
The non-conference games usually end up on a CBS national
telecast.
“It’s good exposure,” Howland said. “All
kids want to be on national TV. We will still play one
non-conference TV game in the middle of (the season). But
it’s tough to play two.”