Howland: 'I’d rather win every game and be way better than everybody else' | What's Bruin

Uclablogpixhowland_ben250 Bruin Coach Ben Howland was pleased with the wins over Oregon State and Oregon, but he knows that the Bruins haven’t won anything yet.

"This league is going to come down to the conference tournament, and how people do in that, as to whether they get invited and who doesn’t to the NCAAs," he told reporters during his weekly news conference on campus. "I was shocked that this league has never had a team that’s 9-9 that’s been invited to the NCAA Tournament, because so many of the other leagues have. We’ve had teams that were 7-9 get in from the ACC or the SEC in years past, definitely 8-8s all the time. I’m very confident that we’ll have someone in our league invited that is 9-9 this year because our league’s so good. I think that’s understood across this country that it’s the best league, top to bottom. The University of Washington is in ninth place right now and they’re a pretty darn good ninth-place team.

"Oregon State is definitely not on the level of the other nine teams. Those nine teams: anybody can beat anybody on a given night. That’s what makes it so difficult [for us] and so fun for you and the fans."

Asked about what it would take to obtain his goal of playing first- and second-round games in Anaheim and regional games in Phoenix, he said: "Winning the Pac-10. I think either Stanford or UCLA will get that path. I don’t think it will be anybody else in the West who will get that path. I just don’t want to travel across the country if we can avoid it."

Howland has said repeatedly that he isn’t concerned with being a No. 1 seed or a No. 2 seed in the West regional as long as the Bruins can play close to home. "The difference between being a one [seed] or a two, or even one through three this year," he said, "will be negligible."

>> On the injury front, Howland said, "Nikola Dragovic has a strain in his groin that he did yesterday in some shooting. He won’t practice today, or probably tomorrow; I’m not sure how long he’ll be out." He added that Luc Richard Mbah A Moute’s ankle is "still sore" but he is practicing, and that Kevin Love has a stomach virus.

>> Guard Russell Westbrook turned his ankle during the Oregon game, but came right back into action. "That was a pretty good sprain that he had in the game and he came back out there," Howland said. "I asked our trainer [Carrie Rubertino], ‘How is he able to come back out?’ but he’s sprained it so many other times –- stretched out those ligaments many times -– so therefore he’s able to come back. He had soreness and will be sore today, but he should be able to practice. When I watched on film, he really turned it good."

>> On Josh Shipp’s 0-20 shooting slump on three-point shots, Howland said: "Today I had him come in. It’s probably, in reality, my poor coaching, just not doing enough repetitions. Shooting is repetition. Today, I had him come in this morning and he was 200 for 285 shots [70.2%]. He really shot well this morning, so a lot of it is my not doing a good enough job getting him in there and getting more shots, more repetition.

"Part of that too, is when you play a guy so many minutes and you’re beaten up –- and we ask him to do everything, play really good defense –- and still knock down shots from the perimeter, When you’re playing 35 minutes a game and you’re playing really hard, it’s not easy. But I think today was a really good step back in the right direction.

"He’s been coming in to look at the film of the last three games, just to see the shots. I’m really confident that he’ll get it going again. In fact, I want him to see the ASU game; he shot really well the first time we played ASU. When he’s open, we expect him to take the shot.

"One thing I think he’s got to do, is shot fake. So many people -– because he’s so good -– are running at him and flying at him, he’s got to be able to shot-fake it and bounce it some. He’s actually doing a better job of that."

>> The Bruin coach also said that it’s likely that he’ll be able to play Love and a resurgent Lorenzo Mata-Real at the same time again this season. "I could see those guys playing together again, though, especially when you look at the bigger lineups we’ll play against here in the future."

>> Howland added that he’s thinking about conditioning at this time of the season. "We didn’t practice yesterday; our guys lifted and did some biking and that’s always good to try and get two days off, especially this time of year. We’re playing our last game in February on Thursday and we’re almost into March.

"In one way, I thought Luc benefited from being out 13 days in that he seemed to have his legs back. At the end of our season, I tell them all to take a couple of weeks off, just so they can get their bodies back. We started back in October, and it is quite a physical pounding, so there’s a fine line between making sure they get enough shots and enough repetition and then doing too much to where it affects you, especially with a limited bench. The fact that I’m not playing our bench a lot makes it more difficult, especially for Darren [Collison], Russell, Josh in particular."

>> Concerning Arizona State (17-9, 7-7 in the Pac-10) on Thursday, Howland said he didn’t anticipate substantive changes in how the Bruins will prepare for the Sun Devils in their second game of the season. "They’re still doing the same defense -- that’s a match-up, 3-2 zone with a lot of switching, man-to-man principles. Our preparation for an opponent, in terms of how we do it, doesn’t change. It’s just based on personnel, what they’re doing different, if they’re doing something different than the first time."

Even though the Bruins won easily in their first meeting at home, 84-51, Howland expects a tough game Thursday and into the future. "Look at the youth of the team right now, it’s incredible," he explained. "They have good, young players in their program. They’re going to be very good not only this year. I think we’re going to get six, seven teams in [to the NCAA Tournament] and they’ll be one of them. If they beat us on Thursday, it obviously enhances their resume to get in. So we know they’re going to play very, very hard and be very motivated. That’s the same thing we saw on Saturday; if Oregon beats us, that enhances their chances of getting into the NCAA Tournament."

>> Beyond Shipp’s slump from long range, Howland also wants his team to work on foul shooting. "We didn’t shoot the fouls well this last weekend; that’s one thing that was a sore point. We’re going to work on it today at the end of practice because we’ve got to make our foul shots and we’ve been doing a very good job of that this year. I think this is the best foul-shooting team we’ve had since I’ve been here. It can be very frustrating for a coach, I know; I’ve been there."

>> Asked about the Memphis-Tennessee game last Saturday, he said the close loss by the Tigers "probably helps them in the long run, to lose that game and get [rid of] that pressure of being undefeated. Ask the Patriots: was it important to be undefeated or to win the whole thing?"

In response to a question about whether he prefers to play a tough schedule or be much better than every team he plays, Howland intimated that he’d prefer both. "I’d rather win every game and be way better than everybody else. It would sure make me happier."

Ben Howland photo courtesy UCLA.