Thursday night, as I walked out of Pauley, I felt a sense of hope. UCLA Men’s Basketball had just beaten a good team (The Stanford Cardinal), a great player (Landry Fields), and found themselves at the top of the Pac-10 — I mean, Pac-9 (sorry $C) — with half of the conference schedule left. The freshman duo of Tyler Honeycutt and Reeves Nelson, along with veteran leaders Nikola Dragovic and Michael Roll, spread the wealth between themselves and gave The Den and all others attending a very emotional, satisfying win. All was right in Westwood.

And then there was Saturday.

From 35 rebounds to 23. 5 to 16 turnovers. It was as if first place in the conference scared The Bruins and they would rather be the underachieving underdogs they have been all season than a legitimate contender. California’s Theo Robertson, Jerome Randle, and Patrick Christopher torched UCLA and The Den had to shuffle out of Pauley with heads hanging.

Once again this season I’m going to pick up the Daily Bruin on Monday and hear about how the Bruins “Still Have A Chance.” That they could still potentially make it. That they just need to kick it into gear. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that the Men’s Basketball team is teasing us. They show us their potential, how could they COULD be, and then follow it up with disappointment. So what’s the solution? I can’t say that I have the Basketball IQ of a basketball coaching great like Ben Howland, but I think I have a solution for this season. It may work, it may not, but at least it’s a change of pace.

Tyler Honeycutt

Get the young players into the game! Tyler Honeycutt has proven that he is a legitimate basketball player, and if he chooses to stay in Westwood (Dear Tyler, STAY HERE.) he can become a star. Howland was cautious earlier this season as far as giving him minutes, but has now given him almost the entire game to assert his authority on the court. But other than Honeycutt, Howland needs to put more young guys out there.  For example, Reeves Nelson. His hustle and drive is infectious, and he is quickly become a cult hero of The Den. He may not always drop twenty in a game, but he always does the little things on the court that good players seem to do naturally. Reeves was in an extra six minutes in the win compared to the loss. Coincidence? Potentially, but if we are going to be competitive in the coming years we need to get a head-start on the future now. Starters like James Keefe and the unpredictable Nikola Dragovic (15 points Thursday, 7 Saturday) need to give up some of their time so that these young players can get experience. We have just as good of a change of winning going young, and it will be much more beneficial for future years here in Westwood.

Reeves Nelson

This season has been a roller coaster and it will continue to be a wild ride. We will win some great games with amazing play, we will lose in horribly embarrassing fashion. But personally, I’d rather see our Bruins go with the young, exciting guys on the court rather than going back to the same formula we’ve been trying all season and never knowing what to expect.

-John The Intern

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