By Jon Gold, Staff Writer
The Los Angeles Daily News
Posted: 10/13/2010 11:54:55 PM PDT
Updated: 10/13/2010 11:55:11 PM PDT
The UCLA basketball team media day was held Thursday at Pauley Pavilion and, as always, hope springs eternal.
UCLA sophomore forward Tyler Honeycutt, left, mingles with teammates during media day at Pauley Pavilion on Wednesday.
Picture by ROSE PALMISANO, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER (link)"I'm really excited, most excited I've been about any season that I've been a part of," said small forward Tyler Honeycutt, who returns for his sophomore season out of Sylmar High after averaging 7.2 points and a team-high 6.5rebounds per game as a freshman. "We have a great group of guys. Everyone is really looking forward to playing with each other.
"We get along great off the court. It can only get better on the court."
It can't get much worse. UCLA stumbled to a 14-18 record last season, head coach Ben Howland's seventh with the team, and first with a losing record since Year 1 in 2002-03.
After three consecutive Final Four appearances followed by a second-round loss in 2008-09, the Bruins plummeted last season.
There were embarrassing losses to Long Beach State and Cal State Fullerton, West Coast patsies that UCLA has always demolished.
There were crushing home losses to USC by 21 and Arizona by 14, and disappointing road defeats, including a 29-point letdown at Washington.
There was inconsistency and dissension and infighting.
Now what's left is only 10 scholarship players, headed by Honeycutt, junior Malcolm Lee, power forward Reeves Nelson and freshman center Josh Smith.
And no seniors.
"Everybody talks about us not having seniors, but that's kind of benefited us in a way," said Nelson, who averaged 11.1 points and 5.7 rebounds as a freshman. "Every single person on our team, I don't have to call them my teammate, I can call them my friend. That's going to help us a lot on the court this year."
The all-for-nothing attitude stems both from the collective disappointment of last season and the youth of many of the players, as the Bruins have only one player in the projected nine-man rotation older than 21 - junior point guard Jerime Anderson, who'll be competing with junior-college transfer Lazeric Jones for the starting role.
The youngest of the young is Smith, born May 14, 1992, but expected to carry perhaps the biggest load. Expectations are high for UCLA's highest-regarded post recruit since Kevin Love in 2007-08.
The 6-foot-10 Smith lost extensive weight during the summer as Howland had him working out three times a day, not even letting him touch a basketball for months.
Now he's lighter but still built like an ox, and will surely be a heavy burden for opponents.
"This is a different stage, and obviously I'm not coming out here expecting to score 30 points," said Smith, one of three projected impact freshmen, along with Tyler Lamb and Matt Carlino. "This is college; I'm not playing in my high school league any more. If I do all the little things, the big things will open up."
With Smith moving into the middle, the biggest change probably goes to Nelson, who's changing from a thoroughly undersized 6-foot-8 freshman center to a decent-sized sophomore power forward.
"Last year, I did what I had to do at first to get playing time," Nelson said. "I thought our team needed that, and I got forced into that. Maybe not forced, but pushed into the role. I was a 6-8 guy playing center against 6-11 guys. I had to do that. This year, I'm going to try to go back to what I did in high school. That's a lot more on the wing, skill stuff.
"I was very comfortable doing it, but last year I did what I had do to. Now I'm going to do a lot of different stuff, and I think it will surprise some people."
Maybe the Bruins can, too.
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