RebKell's Junkie Boards

[GlennMacGrady]

I've seen many lucky shots. Io gets a lucky assist.

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http://www.youtube.com/MagicBusBasketball

[myrtle]

I really thought UCLA would pull this one out. Surprised. Well congrats to Oregon.

Fun to watch a game like this, but heart attacks for fans on both sides.

_________________
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.
- Amanda Gorman

[cthskzfn]

[myrtle]

Definitely NOT Ionescu's best game. But somehow they pulled it out. Cazorla and Hebard both with really nice performances.

_________________
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.
- Amanda Gorman

[GlennMacGrady]

[myrtle]

[linkster]

31% 24% 58%

UCLA shoots like shit.

[GlennMacGrady]

[myrtle]

[patsweetpat]

Well darn, you guys. Darn darn darn.

[ArtBest23]

[ucbart]

[LitePal]

Close's contract is said to be up in April. It will make for some interesting decisions in Westwood, as the mens soccer coach Salcedo is equally underachieving.

Close has had Canada and the #1 class for four years. If they're still not playing team ball and have no half court offense, Close isn't teaching correctly, her plays are too complicated or she doesn't have the respect of the team. Maybe all of them. She's had seven years at UCLA and four with this class. That's enough time and talent to demonstrate who you are as a coach.

I don't think UCLA and Close are the best fit, anyways. For both, it may be best to thank each other and walk away.

[myrtle]

Close seems like a really nice person, maybe too nice, which makes it hard to fire her. I think the players like her, the admin like her, the fans like her...as a person, if not as a coach. Hard decision to make there. And while we may think she underachieves, this team will be good enough to get into the ncaas and win a game or two...which will likely be enough to keep her employed.

_________________
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.
- Amanda Gorman

[myrtle]

Also Mary said something at one point in the game that I actually agreed with. UCLA misses having Korver as a kick out shooter.

_________________
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.
- Amanda Gorman

[LitePal]

They didn't do that well with Korver as the kick out shooter either. They definitely miss her leadership and poise but it didn't change their results. Last year, they finished fourth in the Pac.

Olivier was nice, Mora was nice, Neuheisal was nice. Howland was not, Caldwell was not. So what.

[fancy_daniel]

[cthskzfn]

There's something about the way Billings plays w/ the ball that bugs me. It's like having no court vision or something.

Granted I've had limited views over her 3+ years, but it seems like she's too quick to try to score each time she touches the ball.

I of course defer to our resident PAC12 experts.

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Silly, stupid white people might be waking up.

[fancy_daniel]

[ArtBest23]

This isn't football where winning is all that matters, this is WCBB where, unfortunately being "nice" and liked is often at least as important and mediocrity is often good enough to keep your job forever.

My rhetorical question was intended to make the point that if they have the same coach I don't expect to see any meaningful improvement in their quality of play. She'd better kill it on the recruiting trail because success will continue to depend on the raw talent of her players, just as it does now.

[fancy_daniel]

[Nixtreefan]

Billings has always been raw. She is better now than she was but there is only so much you can catch up on as a player and you cannot give someone an IQ, just look at this years Stanford team.

I thought Canada blew the game with a couple of bad decisions on offense.

[RavenDog]

Looks like you all got this one covered...

[LitePal]

I think right now there is a serious recruiting issue at UCLA. It's not an accident that the staff is now focusing out of the area. While there are now more talented players outside the Socal area than before, the fact that top local players and coaches are turning a blind eye to this staff isn't good. Trakh is more popular and USC may be a much bigger local recruiting threat than before. If the program passes UCLA within the next few seasons, which is definitely possible with Close at the helm, that becomes even more of a problem.

But is this staff simply chasing numbers instead of evaluating talent, potential and appropriateness? They didn't offer Amber Melgoza, who is tearing it up at UW this season and she often said UCLA was her dream school. They offered her a preferred walk-on and she wisely told them to take a hike. Even still, I would seriously doubt if she could have risen to the challenge as a bench player. She needed time to play, as grad transfer Paulina Hersler said and she's now in the midst of surpassing all her UCLA totals in a few months at Florida. Plum and Osahor were not offered but neither was Kelsey Minato or even a 3 point specialist like UCSB's Sarah Porter. But as it turns out, they all made the right decisions because I seriously doubt UCLA could have developed any of them the way their programs did.

Close has a middle of the Pac salary, which means she's paid what she's worth.

[willtalk]