Congratulations to the Oregon State Beavers, who snapped their 21-game conference losing streak today with a 62-58 win over USC.

via www.latimes.com

Would the basketball season still be fun, if UCLA didn't have a great chance to win the national championship?

I was thinking about this the other day:

I think we have a good team, potentially a really good team.

But it isn't quite as good as last year's team. How could it be, we lost three NBA players in Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love and Luc Richard Mbah A Moute. Love, in particular, was a dominant force for the team and as much as I enjoy Alfred Aboya, there is no comparing the two as centers.

But, my question is, so what?

See, I really like watching this team. In some ways, I find it more interesting and enjoyable to watch this team come together and seek to fulfull its potential. Last year's team, to me, was championship or bust. It was so good and it was coming off two straight final fours and the hype around Love was so spectacular, that it felt like anything less than a title run not going to satisfy. Just watching the games was tense -- I didn't just feel that the team could win every game, I felt like it had to win every game.

This year, it is a little bit different, there's more mystery. Coach Ben Howland is still experimenting with different combinations and he's even toying with some motion offense. We've won most of our games so far and even the losses haven't hurt that much.

So, the question is, what if the team isn't quite as good as last year and isn't predestined for a run at the championship. By the way, I'm not ruling out a championship. I'm just not sure we're one of the two or three favorites like we were last year, when us, Memphis, Carolina and a few others were clearly the best teams in tne country. We might be in the next five or ten this year, a team with a shot, but not the odds on favorite.

I'm wondering what readers think. No doubt, some will respond by telling me I'm wrong, that we are one of the odds on favorites. That's fine, but that's a different question. My question is more, is it possible that watching a young team with a lot of freshman grow and look to meet it's potential in some ways as enjoyable as a great team on a title quest -- or is a title quest the only thing that's fun about UCLA basketball and anything else is unacceptable.

The Los Angeles Daily News has a story on UCLA recruit Tyler Honeycutt today:

PASADENA - It may be hard to imagine now, but there was a time when Sylmar High senior Tyler Honeycutt wasn't considered one of the best players in the nation, much less Southern California.

Honeycutt has a scholarship to UCLA awaiting him after this season, and is ranked among the best 30 players in the nation. But that wasn't the case just a few years ago. As a freshman, he played on the junior varsity. When he made it to varsity the next year he was overshadowed by older players.

Though he averaged 17 points and 12 rebounds as a junior last year for the Spartans, the 6-foot-9 didn't get noticed until he began playing travel ball for Pump and Run a little over a year ago.

"I wasn't rated before that summer, I didn't have any offers before the spring started," said Honeycutt, who had 11 points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots as Spartans lost to Etiwanda 79-48 in the championship game of the Pasadena Tournament. "They called me like the biggest sleeper because nobody knew who I was. My coach was trying to tell people about me, but they weren't paying me any attention. Then I started getting exposure, and people started noticing me."

ESPN's Bruce Feldman has put up a Q&A with Chris Joseph, who recently earned a Rhodes scholarship.

Here is an excerpt:

Feldman: When did you first set getting the Rhodes as a goal?

Joseph: I was first made aware of it by professor Don Morrison of the UCLA Anderson School of Business. He encouraged me to pursue it for the better part of two years, but I didn't actually commit myself to the process until after I had finished playing football and graduated in June of 2008. I figured that I might as well try if I had even the faintest shot at getting it. So during the summer I did some research but only really began working full tilt on it from the beginning of August all the way up until the due date in early October.

Feldman: In what way has playing major college football helped you as a student?

Joseph: It has made me disciplined, especially in terms of managing my time and energy and applying them where and when it is needed and will be most beneficial to me. It's also kept me very focused and regimented, because while I was playing and also taking a full academic workload, there was little time for anything else, and also, one tends to breed success in the other. A focus and drive in either field creates success, so I was basically trying to do the same thing whether it was directed to football or school.

Here is a link to the whole story. (HT to MexiBruin).

Now -- back to Beat 'SC Week and back to UCLA-Texas.

Not sure how many Bruins Nation readers are NBA fans, but ...

Achilles is definitely an NBA fan.

I don't have a favorite team really, but I do watch games all the time. I root for teams that have players I like, but mostly I just like to watch the best players in the world play basketball.

I'm in SoCal, so I see the Lakers, mostly, and the Clippers sometimes. But I look at TNT (love Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller, too), ESPN and even NBA Channel sometimes.

It's even better now that there are so many UCLA guys in the league, many from the Ben Howland era.

With that in mind, I'm wondering what NBA teams you plan to follow this year, that you wouldn't ordinarily follow. (See, I'm trying to figure a way around all the Lakers fans just putting Lakers, even though they are following them because they are Lakers fans, not Jordan Farmar/Trevor Ariza fans.)

Just answer the way you want -- the poll isn't scientific or anything -- we're just curious.

Feel free to add any thoughts in the comments below.

(BTW -- Do you think that Luc and Gad ever sit around talking about the food at Ackerman or anything like that? It's weird -- their UCLA era were so different and so far apart, it's like they played for different programs. Same with Russell and Earl, I guess.)

I got to get a few things off my chest about Cal.

Let me start with:

Why do Cal fans hate UCLA so much?

There was a thread on their blog and one on ours a few months or a year ago and basically they went off on why they hate UCLA so much and we sort of responded. (If someone has the link, post, it, because I can't find it.)

I don't get it.

Confession: I sort of like Cal, as much as you can like a school that isn't your school. I have Cal friends, I'll root for Cal when UCLA isn't playing.

I've always seen Cal as the admittedly better academic school, while UCLA was the better athletic school. I'm a Southern California person all the way, so I've always preferred UCLA's campus and locaton, but I like going up to Berkeley and the Bay Area and always thought that Cal's campus was cool and the neighborhoods nearby were perfectly fun to visit.

Even more than that, I always felt their was a kinship between UCLA and Cal -- a kinship that ran a little deeper than the fact that they are both part of the same University of California.

Let's face it, a lot of people who went to Cal also were admitted to Berkeley and a lot of people who went to UCLA also were admitted to Cal. I'll concede that the numbers favor Cal. (Personal note: I applied only to UCLA and probably couldn't have gotten into Cal, but then again, I don't like hirsute women, so I wasn't going to Cal no matter what) But underlying that, I always thought there was a similarity between a set of really bright and interesting students who preferred the public school setting offered by both universities. If you want to leave the state, I've always sort of thought Michigan and Texas were cool, too, in the same "top public university" sort of way.

To me, whatever sports rivalry existed between Cal and UCLA was sort of a fun rivalry. Here's an analogy. UCLA-USC is more like a soccer rivalry, where the fans just don't like each other much and really don't want to associate with each other. But UCLA-Cal was more like a rugby rivarly, where you try to beat each other on the field, but after the game, you go to the pub and get drunk together.

And, let;'s be honest, I'm mostly being generous when I say there is a sports rivalry between UCLA and Cal. C'mon Cal fans, you don't have to have a higher SAT score to do that math on this one.

So, why do Cal fans hate UCLA so much?

If I recall correctly ...

1 - They don't like the fact that we "stole" their fight song.

Well, I don't like the fact that we stole their fight song either, because our fight song is weak. So, is Cal's. I've always thought it was a weak ass fight song. If fight songs are your thing, you really should have gone to a Big Ten school. (For the record, both of UCLA's fight songs sort of suck.)

2 - We stole the name, because Bruins is just another word for Bears.

Really? This bothers you?

I mean, there are bears in California. So, the first University of California nicknamed itself the Bears. So, the next school in the system ended up with Bruins. Is this a big deal? Besides, there are people upset about this who were born 30 years after the schools were named -- or 50 years after. I mean, this is silly. The Boston Bruins aren't mad at us and the Chicago Bears aren't mad at you ... how many school nicknames are there? Do you know how many teams are called Cougars? I don't know either, but there's a bunch of 'em.

This is no reason to get mad.

Then, there is the football rivalry thing.

Let me go on record as saying that Jeff Tedford is a top coach and Cal's football program is as good as its ever been in my memory. At this exact moment in time, Cal has the better record and has this decade basically had the better team.

But, it really takes a short memory to think that historically Cal has had a better football program than UCLA. It hasn't. Saying that Cal has traditionally had the better football team than UCLA is as dumb and misinformed as someone trying to prove that UCLA has had better academics over the years. It hasn't.

It's not clear why otherwise really smart Cal folks are so myopic when it comes to football.

Why can't UCLA and Cal compete and have a fun, friendly rivalry and save our mutual hate for USC.

I'll tell you what Cal fans, I don't really care about Stanford, but I'll hate them just for you.

~~~

This week's video:

Someone I don't want to mention wanted me to go with a Counting Crows song.

Because their lead singer is a Cal grad or something.

But, earth to you know who: Counting Crows are lame. They're lamer than our fight song. Sorry. I don't care if the guy did date Courteney Cox and Jennifer Aniston. I mean, Courteney Cox married an Arquette and Jennifer Aniston dates John Mayer -- clearly they're into some weak-ass dudes.

Then, I thought about going with a video of the band playing the fight song, just to piss off the Cal folks, but ... naaah ...

Instead I'll just go with this:

Creedence Clearwater Revival- Midnight Special (via luvzCCR)

~~~

This week's guesses:

1 - True or false: UCLA will score a touchdown on offense of 20 yards or more

2 - Name a Bruin with an interception

3 - Which team will rush for more yards, Cal or UCLA?

Put your guesses in the subject line. Guessing ends before the kickoff.

I'll have the Cal guessing game up in a couple of hours

In the meantime, here are the results for Oregon and Stanford.

In case anyone cares, the bonus question for Stanford regarding the video went like this:

White Punks on Dope is one of those songs the Stanford band is known for playing. The Tubes are a Bay Area band ... oh, forget it. The answer was: It was a song played by the Stanford band. No one got it, but one person was close so if I ever get to the totals, I'll give that person an extra point.

Here is Stanford:

Here is Oregon:

There is a story up on the Rivals site that asks says:

Is Lute Retiring? Lute Olson Stepping Down

Word is that Dick Vitale talked about the story on ESPN this morning.

In addition, a usually impeccable source within the UCLA basketball community has confirmed to Bruins Nation that, in fact, Hall of Fame Arizona Head Basketball Coach Lute Olson is stepping down, most likely tomorrow.

Assistant coach Mike Dunlap, formerly of Metro State in Denver, Colorado will reportedly be the "interim" head coach and the school will conduct a proper, national search for Olson's replacement (though it is perfectly possible they already have their man in Dunlap.)

~~~

While I've rooted hard against Lute Olson's teams over the years, I've great respect for what he accomplished. Arizona was not a basketball powerhouse when he went there, but he turned them into one. At their peak, Arizona teams played exciting, uptempo basketball. Olson also deserves respect as a top recruiter with an eye for talent.

More than anything else, it is sort of sad to see him go out the way he is now. Try and find his most recent press appearances on an Arizona site or YouTube. He's become practically incoherent and appears to be in poor health.

I'll personally prefer to remember him as a fiery, rival coach, prowling the sidelines for some really great UCLA-Arizona match-ups.

~~~

One recruiting note:

Arizona has a commitment from top prep point guard Abdul Gaddy. Gaddy chose Arizona over UCLA. You can expect UCLA coaches to get in touch with Gaddy to gauge how the Olson retirement will impact him.

Gaddy, in case you didn' t know, is young for his class and will be a two year college player at minimum, as he won't be old enough to declare for the draft after his freshman season.

UPDATE (A): ESPN now has this story.

There are also reports on the Scout network that Abdul Gaddy is telling people that the Olson retirement does affect his recruitment.

UPDATE II (A):

Fox has the story now, thought keep in mind, Arizona sources in some of these links are still denying it.

UPDATE III (A): The Arizona Daily Wildcat has a story up now that includes a denial of the Olson retirement story. It says:

ESPN.com reported that sources told Dick Vitale of the would-be retirement, but UA sports information director Tom Duddleston said the news is not true.

"Dick Vitale is wrong right now," Duddleston said in a phone interview with the Daily Wildcat.

When asked if there is any indication that any of the reports may be true, Duddleston said no.

If more news emerges, we'll keep updating the story.

UPDATE IV (N): The Arizona Daily Star has a story up "confirming" that  Lute is gone:

Lute Olson will step down as head basketball coach of the Arizona Wildcats, according to the fathers of two top UA recruits who said they were informed by the assistant coaches this morning.

Abdul Gaddy, Sr., father of Top 10 point guard Abdul Gaddy, said Olson’s impending departure was confirmed by assistants Reggie Geary and Mike Dunlap. Meanwhile, Solomon Crawford, father of forward Solomon Hill, said Geary told him the news this morning.

"He just told me it was official — that Lute was out, that (associate head coach Mike) Dunlap was interim," Crawford said.

It also includes the following note re. Gaddy and UCLA (confirming what A wrote above):

“We’re wondering what’s next,” Gaddy Sr. said. “I know my son is concerned now. I told him that after school, we would come down and decide as a family what to do.”

Gaddy Sr. said his son is “definitely not happy with what’s going on at the university” and would probably re-open his recruitment. He said he has already heard from several schools interested in re-recruiting his son, including Washington, Memphis and UCLA.

Keep in mind before committing to Zona, UCLA was one of his two finalists. Bruin coaches had been recruiting him hard (following his intial decommit from Zona earlier in the year IIRC). So they have an advantage in terms of build in relationships. This also will make recruiting options interesting for Inland Empire guard Michael Snaer, who will have to keep an eye on Gaddy, in terms of the last available scholie (as of right now) from UCLA in this year's class. If Snaer or Gaddy wants to become Bruins and join with one of the elite programs in the country, they will not have a lot of time (IMHO) to snatch up that last scholarship. GO BRUINS

UPDATE V (N): It's now official. From Arizona's official site:

Lute Olson announced today that he will retire as head coach of The University of Arizona men's basketball team, effective immediately.

UA Athletics Director Jim Livengood announced that a national search will begin soon to find a permanent replacement.

Rest of the press release is here. Good luck to Lute.

GO BRUINS.

There are a few reasons:

1 - Kevin Craft is relatively weak at throwing the deep pass. He just doesn't have a big arm. Consequently, defenses play relatively tight against the Bruins' offense and don't worry too much about Craft going over the top.

This makes it more difficult for Craft to operate in the short game most of the time.

But, the two minute offense can coincide with the defense dropping back a bit. Stanford (and Tennessee, if I recall correctly) were concerned that an end of game deep ball could beat them, so they played deep. This opened up the shorter passes for Craft.

2 - Craft throws pretty well on the move, both on designed roll outs and when he improvises. In the two minute offense, when defenses rush fewer guys, he either has time or he has the room to move around:

So, the combination of facing defenses dropping back and also rushing fewer guys makes the two minute offense suited to Craft.

The more I watch him, I think Craft is a tough, heady kid with some physical limitations. If he had Cowan or Olson's arm, he's really be a good quarterback. As it is, he's getting better.

As a fan, I'm starting to really warm up to him.

Bumped. GO BRUINS. -N

Work has been a six-ten, 280 bummer this week, I feel like I've been sacked seven times and thrown three picks.

But I wanted to get this up in advance of tomorrow's game, so here goes.

Hmmm ...

I already wrote the Stanford is a must win thing, so I'm covered on game thoughts.

I think it's a must win.

What about a video?

What video says Stanford?

I was thinking about some Grateful Dead / Bay Area tie-n, but that would be so obvious.

I hate obvious.

Okay, this is about as not-obvious as I can get on short notice:

The Tubes doing White Punks On Dope (via idflux)

I'll give a bonus point to the first guesser who gets the video tie in.

Here are the questions, and I'm doing this fast so don't laugh if the questions are lame:

1 - Name a Bruin with at least four receptions.

2 - Name a Bruin with a rushing touchdown.

3 - True or false, Stanford will run for less than 160 yards.

Thanks for being cool on the brevity this week. I'll total last week and this week next week.

Put your answers in the subject head and this ends 11:30 tomorrow.

Late ...