Howland: 'He reminds me honestly of Jason Kidd'

To say that UCLA coach Ben Howland has a lot of respect for Memphis would be an understatement, as he showed during today’s national teleconference:

"I think, number one, they have a great team. It's really athletic, really good guard play when you look at [Derrick] Rose and you look at Chris Douglas-Roberts and [Antonio] Anderson. You have three really, really good perimeter players. Those are the three leading scorers.

"I think they play with a lot of passion. They're really hard and physical. They block a lot of shots inside, both [Robert] Dozier and [Joey] Dorsey are very, very good shot blockers. So they really get out and extend.

"When you get past those guys, you gotta deal with those two big guys that are swatting shots. So they're a team that plays really, really hard. They're very, very well coached. Because they can score you in the half-court.

"When you look at the teams, they average 79, almost 80 points a game; we average 73, almost 74. I think there's 6.5 points total difference in terms of scoring average between the two teams. We hold our opponents to 58; they to 61. This is a 3-point differential there. And we've played similar schedules. Their strength of schedule going into the NCAA was 27. Ours was 14.

"It's just an incredible challenge to try to plan to defend them and score on them because of their athletic ability.

"And also they've got older guys. They have guys that have been there. When we played them two years ago in '06, a lot of these guys were on the team and they've added the best, arguably the best, point guard in the country coming out of high school for sure in Rose.

"And I think Chris Douglas-Roberts is an All-American. We have an All-American, [Kevin] Love. It's a team that has some similarities."

>> About Rose, Howland said "He reminds me honestly of Jason Kidd. He has a Jason Kidd-type body. He's six-three, six-four, just so strong and physical. He overpowers you. I mean, I watched him get a rebound yesterday. He grabbed a two-handed rebound way above the rim early in that game and starting the fast break. He defends like Kidd, and he's a much better shooter at the same stage.

"I can't think of much higher praise to give a player, because I love Jason Kidd. What a great winner and a great player. But this kid, more than any point guard I've seen, reminds me of Jason Kidd, and I think that's who he'll be typed at the next level."

>> Asked about Darren Collison’s uncanny ability to make key baskets at crucial times, Howland noted that "First of all, he's used to it. He's done it a lot over the past couple of years. He plays a couple of minutes. But Darren is very, very bright. He's got a good feel for the end of possessions and making plays for himself and for others. I thought one of the big plays against Xavier was made by Kevin, where we were up 12 and he got an offensive rebound on a missed foul shot that we took and kicked it back out to Darren who then knocked down a long 3 to make it to 15.

"But Darren's very good. A lot of ball screens. People try to trap it or people try to plug it. They play it different ways. Try to squeeze it and go underneath it. And he's able to read what they're doing and still make pretty good decisions and you have to guard him. He's shooting 66 percent from 3 in the tournament. He's shooting over 53 percent on the season from 3. That's a pretty incredible number. You have to be out and respect his jump shot."

>> Howland had high praise for guard Mike Roll, who lost his season to injuries. "Michael had a tough year from the standpoint that he had plantar fasciitis really bad and he had it bad enough that he really felt like he wanted to try to get an injection, which was something I was against because I thought it would increase the chance for it to rupture, which it did.

"So that thing ruptured right after our first exhibition game in practice the next day and then he was playing great, too. It's the best he's ever played since he's been here in his two-plus years of being here. And then he tried to come back after a month out and rehabbing it and he actually played in a couple of games and he was back for probably another three weeks before it completely ruptured again.

"So it's been very frustrating for him the injury, but he's been a great supporter. You see him on the bench there. Always talking it up to his teammates. He's an unbelievable teammate and a great kid. So even though he hasn't been able to play in any of these games since early in December, he's been an integral part just emotionally because he's really close to these guys having been on the previous two teams. Has a great relationship with his teammates and is very, very supportive.

"So I'm really proud of Mike in that respect. And he'll have red-shirted this year, medical red-shirt, and then he'll have two years left starting next year."

>> Asked about the coaching experience that gave him the UCLA opportunity, his tenure at Pittsburgh, Howland remembered, "Well, the opportunity that Mark Nordenberg and Steve Pederson gave me to be the coach there was really a special opportunity to begin with, coming from Northern Arizona, to hire some yokel from way out West that nobody back East had ever heard of was probably unexpected for most people back there.

"And I'm really glad that they gave me the opportunity to come be the coach there and it was a great experience and I had a great four years in Pittsburgh. And had it not been for this opening here at UCLA, I would probably still be there, assuming they still wanted me.

"I'm proud to see how well the program has continued under Jamie Dixon's leadership. It's been great. Winning the Big East championship this year, which is now the second one in the last six years is really special. Seven out of eight times that program has now gone to the championship game in the Big East tournament, which is the biggest deal in the Big East.

"And prior to coming there, they had never been. So I'm really, really excited to see how the program is done and, no, there's no question it was a great experience because it allowed me to coach at the highest level. No league is better in the Big East year in, year out.

"I got to coach against some of the legendary coaches like Coach [Jim] Boeheim and Coach [Jim] Calhoun, and that was good to make you improve and challenge you.

"I had a great experience and would have easily seen myself staying in Pittsburgh for the rest of my life were it not for the opportunity to come to my childhood dream job all the way through as a young assistant coach out West."

>> Howland also noted the special nature of the UCLA head coaching position and the relationship to the Wooden legacy and to get to know John Wooden personally: "My relationship with Coach has obviously been special for me, just to have the opportunity to get to know him and be a part of his program and be the actual caretaker at this time of Coach Wooden's UCLA program, because that's what it is. It's his program and always will be. And so I'm proud that our team has experienced a lot of success these last three years and, of course, it would be very special to win a national championship. I think that's why everybody is in this business, to have that as a goal, and it's obviously a very elusive and difficult goal to reach.

"And Roy [Williams] already has one at Carolina just a couple of years ago, and the other three of us would love to get one as the head coach leading the program."