Basketball practice report III: "The line-up is not set"

UCLA Coach Ben Howland opened Tuesday’s practice to members of the Bruin Hoopsters support group and to the media (including ESPN’s Jay Bilas and a "Total Access" crew compiling a feature on the Bruins).

They saw a carefully planned and vigorously executed practice, starting with stretching, then half-court perimeter play drills (with special low-post drills for the centers), around-the-horn catch-and-shoot drills, 5-on-0 drills to practice different kinds of plays and four periods of scrimmages of various types in which statistics are kept using varying combinations of players on offense and defense.

Much of the scrimmaging had Kevin Love, Luc Richard Mbah A Moute, Michael Roll and Darren Collison on the Blue squad and Lorenzo Mata-Real, Alfred Aboya, Nikola Dragovic, Russell Westbrook and Chace Stanback on the Gold squad. Mata-Real replaced Love after the latter was hit in the right knee and Mustafa Abdul-Hamid joined the Gold for the remainder of the day.

Bruin coach Ben Howland said afterward that what impressed him the most over the first 14 practice sessions was that, "Our guys are playing real hard, playing unselfishly. We have a core group that knows how to work hard and so they’ve continued that tradition, that they have started."

He had praise for progress being made by forward/center Aboya as well as freshman Stanback:

>> "Alfred has really improved his shot. Alfred is a better shooter, for sure, than he was his first two years here and I have confidence when he’s open from 17 and in, that it’s going to go in."

>> "The best thing about Chace’s game right now is he’s a good rebounder. It’s tough when you’re a freshman and you’re learning a lot of stuff that you haven’t done before in a new system, in a new situation. He’s working hard to improve his shot and he’s getting bigger and stronger working in the weight room, but he’s going to be a good player. It just takes time and experience."

Asked whether the Blue squad would be the starters for Friday’s exhibition game against Azusa Pacific, Howland said, "The lineup is not set."

However, he was clear about what he expects from his team beginning Friday: "Our defense -– No. 1 -– rebounding, whether zone or man . . . transition defense, stopping the ball, getting back, not giving up anything easy in transition and trying to make teams score against us in their half-court sets, to make it as hard as possible for them to score. And taking good, smart shots at the other end, trying to get easy shots whenever we can."

Howland said the Bruins have improved their shooting over the summer. "We have a lot of guys who can put the ball in the basket," citing Roll, Collison, Love, Mbah A Moute and especially Shipp, who was near-flawless for long stretches of Tuesday’s session. On the rebounding side, Howland said, Love was consistently the best of the Bruins, followed by Mbah A Moute, Aboya, Stanback and Westbrook. He noted that Mata-Real has done well, but hasn’t had as much time on the court as the others due to injury.

One reporter asked if the coach might fancy himself in a new hairstyle a la Westbrook’s new "Flaming Hawk." Said Howland, "I’m lucky to have hair. I want to keep it as long as I can."

UCLA practice photo by Rich Perelman.