“A team with youth, you have to be patient; they're learning," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "Everything is new to them."
ROD VEAL, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
By RYAN KARTJE / THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Published: Dec. 3, 2012 Updated: Dec. 4, 2012 8:20 p.m.
LOS ANGELES – In a world where high school basketball players are supposed to enter college as superstars – a notion that was even further justified when a freshmen-heavy Kentucky team won last year's national championship – UCLA coach Ben Howland has learned that one thing is especially important in coaching a roster with four freshmen and just three seniors.
Patience.
Patience.
Howland had to be patient when his Bruins dropped an inexcusable home matchup with Cal Poly last weekend, and his patience has had to build through the few practices the team has had this season.
When Lew Alcindor first stepped on the court at Pauley Pavilion, it was already December. This team's freshmen don't quite get that luxury, so Howland has had to learn to deal with their growing pains. And there have been plenty.
"We've got to be patient and keep pushing hard," Howland said Monday. "A team with youth, you have to be patient; they're learning. Everything is new to them. The things you take for granted sometimes that are just things you'd normally think a freshman would know, you can't take anything from granted."
And for Howland, that patience has been extended on the defensive end especially, as his personnel has forced him to employ a zone defense at times already this season — something he rarely has done in the past.
Sophomore guard Norman Powell said he can tell Howland has been frustrated at times with having to play zone. But being patient is something the whole team has had to deal with so far this season.
"We have to do it with the personnel that we have," Powell said. "He's been a man defense coach. ... He doesn't like going zone."
With three losses already on the books, the Bruins' patience may be pushed a few more times before conference season kicks off in January. That may test the patience of UCLA fans as well — many of whom expected the team's freshmen to click right away in the Bruins' offense. Those sky-high expectations, in some part, are due to the success of freshmen-heavy rosters like last year's young Kentucky team. But Powell made it clear that that's not how it is for all freshmen-laden rosters.
"We know that Kentucky was great last year," Powell said. "We're no Kentucky. We don't have Anthony Davis. We don't have Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. We don't have that type of players. Shabazz and Kyle, they're great players, but Shabazz isn't Anthony Davis. Nobody is Anthony Davis. With the personnel that we have, we're going to do the best to win games.
"We know that the hype was there. We know we were supposed to be a top-10 team with the recruiting class we had coming in. But we know that everything is not going to be done right then and there, like, 'Oh, we got the players, it's going to happen.' ... It's going to take a process."
EXHIBITIONS IN DECEMBER
It's quite unusual for a college basketball team to play an exhibition game as late as December – as UCLA prepares to take on Cal State San Marcos on Tuesday — and it certainly wasn't something the Bruins would do an a normal basis, Howland said.
It was so strange, in fact, that freshman guard Jordan Adams thought a few days ago that UCLA had cancelled the game. But alas, the Bruins will play in their "practice game," as they've coined it, on Tuesday to try and work out the kinks on both sides of the ball that left them with three losses already this season.
"Even though it doesn't count toward our record, we're able to focus on what we need to do and make adjustments," Powell said.
PARKER BACK
It looks as though UCLA won't have to go with a seven-man rotation for much longer.
Howland said freshman big man Tony Parker returned to practice for the first time in a week Monday after spraining his ankle in pre-game warm-ups against Cal Poly. Parker struggled with conditioning at practice, Howland said, but his return is a good signal for UCLA's depth going forward.
"It was good to have him back out there," Howland said. "When you sit out for a week, it's tough.'
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