Official UCLA Bruins Thread:

[qrich]

Ok we lost, time to put in the focus on next season and hope Afflalo stays. Kevin Love will really complete this team IMO. Stanback is solid as well

[qrich]

Afflalo is gone, so next year, we are going to really need Mike Roll, Shipp, Prince Luc to step up and hope Kevin Love can come in and make an impact, hopefully he won't be a one and done player, which I doubt he will either way. Chase Stanback can log in some minutes for us at the 2-spot, pity the Bruins didn't go after a backup point guard this recruiting class, Westbrook is nice and all, but he's more of an off-guard, not a point and with Afflalo gone, there really is no one to help him out much if Collison is on the bench, Shipp most likely. I wonder what Coach Howland will do next year?
Collison - Shipp - MBah A Moute - Love - Mata
or
Collison - Roll - Shipp - MBah A Moute - Love

[dab0yech0]

Shipp will step up and be the man for UCLA like he was at Fairfax HS. I also cant wait for his fellow HS Fairfax buddy Chase Stanback put on the Bruins uniform.

[bruinballer]

well, we have Love/Mata banging in the 5 spot, Mbah a Moute/Aboya vacuuming the boards at 4, Collison/Westbrook running the 1, and then Roll/Shipp/Dragovic/Stanback at perimeter, so I'm looking forward to a deep, powerful team in the new year... yeah, Shipp gave us a taste of what we can expect from him next year during the dance...

[qrich]

Ryan Wright has transfered to Santa Clara if I'm not mistaken so that should open up a scholarship[he wasn't a walk on was he?]. Let's get a PG now, I don't care if it's a 3-star.

[qrich]

It's a long offseason so far

[UCLAlegend32]

U C LLLLLLLLLLLLL A UCLA fight fight fight

[cabz]

http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/news/...s_commit_ucla/

What, none of you are interested in getting Jrue MUTHA-FU(KIN Holiday?!!!

Ben Howland is the man. I'm happy to know UCLA is his dream job, because I would not want to lose this guy. UCLA is finally building back to becoming a national title threat year in and year out.

[UCLAlegend32]

Ucla Is Back

[dab0yech0]

Watch out for Malcolm Lee. Kinds of reminds me of Kobe Bryant... sometimes a little too much because he at times forgets the meaning of pass

[cabz]

Now I just want to see this article, about Jrue, but it's an Insider article.... gah!

Here's the lead-in:

http://proxy.espn.go.com/ncaa/recrui...ory?id=2947119
Holiday leaves camp mesmerized
LAS VEGAS -- Every once in awhile during the summer AAU circuit, a performance occurs that leaves you mesmerized for hours.

That very performance was demonstrated by none other than 6-3 UCLA commit Jrue Holiday (North Hollywood, Calif./Campbell Hall). Holiday is arguably the most complete two-guard in the country, and the exhibition that he put forth in Cox Pavilion on the campus of UNLV supports that notion.

[qrich]

Bruins Keefe To Have Surgery

OS ANGELES -- UCLA sophomore forward James Keefe will have surgery on his left shoulder Friday after tearing cartilage while playing this summer.

The 6-foot-8 Keefe will undergo the outpatient surgery at UCLA Medical Center. His injury was discovered Tuesday, the school said Thursday.

Recovery will take about four months. The Bruins, who made a second consecutive Final Four appearance in April, open the season Nov. 9 against Portland.

"James had a great spring and summer and I was very enthused with his improvement during the offseason," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "Although this is a tough setback for him, I'm confident that he will handle it well and be ready to go in December."

Keefe averaged 1.0 points and 1.6 rebounds while appearing in 32 of 36 games last season.

"This is disappointing because I've been working hard this spring and summer in workouts getting my body stronger," he said. "Hopefully I'll be able to recover quickly and be back at full strength by the time Pac-10 play starts."

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2968126

Sucks as Keefe could have gotten some more playing time this season, but with the Bruins having Mbah A Moute, Aboya, Love, Shipp, Dragovic being able to play the 3 and the 4, this injury isn't that horrible for the team, but Keefe is a damn solid player, and hopefully he's able to rehab.

[qrich]

UCLA
First game: Nov. 9 versus Portland State

Tournament choice: The Bruins chose wisely in going to the CBE Classic (Nov. 19-20, ESPN/ESPN2/ESPNU). UCLA will play Maryland on the first night and then either Missouri or Michigan State in Kansas City. Plenty of other teams are looking rather weak with their home tournaments. UCLA's decision to go neutral shows Ben Howland's willingness to be challenged early.

Conference decision: The Pac-10/Big 12 Series put Texas at Pauley (Dec. 2) in their scheduling agreement. That's good news for UCLA to get a home game and a quality opponent instead of, let's say, Colorado.

Wooden wild card: Gonzaga says it wanted to get into the Wooden but UCLA wasn't that interested. Well, UCLA chose Davidson, a decision that earns high praise here. Davidson will be a quality mid-major and playing in Anaheim (Dec. 8) should provide an entertaining matchup.

True road: Howland can't get rid of John Beilein. He regrettably agreed to play West Virginia home-and-home two years ago and then lost both games. Now, he still has to coach against Beilein, this time at Michigan (Dec. 22).

Home slate: Eh. George Washington (Nov. 28) should get the Bruins up and down and the season ticket holders do get Texas as part of the home slate. So that's all good, but the rest is all fodder for padding the win total, which is to be expected.

Grade: Solid B. Sure, the Pac-10 is the best conference in the country next season, so UCLA didn't have to go too crazy. But there is a chance that UCLA could play only one high-major team likely destined for the NCAA Tournament (Texas) if UCLA doesn't meet Michigan State in Kansas City.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/column...ndy&id=3026792

Katz gave us a B for our schedule. Let's see how the Bruins do in their quest to return to the Final4 and hopefully take the National Championship this year.

[qrich]

Injury Update:

UCLA guard Michael Roll is expected to miss three to five weeks after tearing the plantar fascia in his left foot during practice Saturday.

Roll, a junior vying for a starting job, scored 16 points and went 3-for-5 from behind the 3-point line in the second-ranked Bruins' exhibition opener against Azusa Pacific on Friday night.

"He just jumped up and then boom, he fell into a pile," UCLA coach Ben Howland said in a conference call with reporters. "It is terrible timing because he has been playing so well. Mike, clearly, is one of the guys that makes our team the best offensive team it can be."

Junior point guard Darren Collison sprained his knee during Friday night's game, but the team learned Saturday that he would miss only four to five days with the injury, making him likely to be available for UCLA's opener against Portland State on Friday night.

"It is an unbelievable relief," Howland said. "As you can imagine, I was sick to my gut just thinking about all of the possibilities, but didn't want to talk about them until I knew what the facts were."

Junior Josh Shipp sprained his thumb and may miss the Bruins' Monday night exhibition game against Chico State.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=3093583

Hopefully none of these are major.

[qrich]

Bruins start out 1-0 with a 21 point victory over Portland St. this past Friday. Bruins were led by Kevin Love who got a double double getting 22/13.

Bruins will host Youngstown St. on Monday then host Yale on the 23rd.

After that, the schedule toughens up with a home game vs Georgetown, then again vs Texas. Rest of the non-conference schedule includes: Davidson, Idaho St., W. Illinois, @ Michigan and UC Davis before the Pac-10 Schedule kicks off. Let's go Bruins