From: matthew@base.cs.ucla.edu (Matthew Merzbacher)
Subject: Lotsa Stuff
Keywords: O'Bannon Colson Kal Kidd
Organization: UCLA, Computer Science Department
Date:  6 Jan 93 01:15:46 GMT

Notes and Thoughts from a holiday when I spent too much time
eating and watching and not enough time playing hoops...

[1] Cal stinks.  Actually, more accurately, Lou Campanelli stinks.
He seems to have decided to put all of his eggs in Jason Kidd's
basket.  Probably not such a bad idea, since he'll be fired "real
soon now" if Kidd doesn't produce.

[2] On the "Cal Stinks" note, I had the chance to hear Gary Colson's
show on the radio while driving from Berkeley to LA yesterday.  Colson
is coach at Fresno State, now of the WAC.  He's really a delight to listen 
to.  Some of his comments:
  a. His players are all STRONG students.  It's a first for him, and he
     thinks it's really neat that they'll all probably graduate on time.
     One student took 20 units last semester(!) which Colson said was a
     bit of a mistake.  Nonetheless, he seems to really be interested in
     what the students are studying.  
     "These kids always have books under their arms - well, they used to
      do that before, but it was always Superman or some other comic book.
      Now they carry textbooks."
  b. He dislikes the WAC schedule of games on Wednesday & Saturday.
     "Every other week we have to go away on Wednesday and return on
      Sunday.  There's a lot of time in the middle where the kids will
      have to study and keep up on their own."
  c. Toughest place to play in the WAC - Air Force [altitude] (honorable 
     mention to Hawaii [travel] and New Mexico).  Easiest place - Brigham 
     Young! "Their fans are just so polite."
  d. On refs, "The Pac-10 had a couple of refs that went into the game
     saying, 'I am the LAW here'.  You couldn't question them at all...
     I don't like working the refs.  I'll argue if they've made a bad
     call, but don't bother 'em much other than that.  They do a hell of
     a job...  A coach who is spending all of his time with the ref isn't
     paying attention to his players.  I don't know about the rest of 'em,
     but I can't do that."
     Coach best a working the refs: Don Haskin (UTEP). "He just plants
     seeds in the refs mind, like, `Don't you think he took an extra
     step there?'"
  e. On game day, "I get this bad feeling in my stomach - I really hate
     it.  My doctor says it's nothing to worry about, but it really
     makes me hate the game day."
  f. On timeouts, "With the TV timeouts, you only get three to call yourself.
     I used to have players call a timeout if I fell behind by 4 points early,
     0-4 or 8-4, or something.  Now I have to wait for it to be 10 or so -
     I just have to hope the players can reorganize themselves on the court."
  g. On assistant coaches. "They're the best.  But an assistant has to be
     careful in a game.  A ref will throw an assistant out right away, but
     he won't throw the head coach out so fast."

There was more, but I can't remember it now.  Gotta love Colson.  He didn't
seem to have a strong grasp of things like rules, though.  He wasn't sure
about the kicked ball rule, for example, when a caller asked about it.
He said he leaves most of "that stuff" to the assistants.

[3] UCLA and Arizona both have "sleepwalk" disease, where they tend
to sleep through games.  Arizona has it slightly more acutely than
the Bruins.  Both teams can get up for the big games, though, which
could make Thursday's meeting in Pauley a good one.

[4] Ed O'Bannon's knee is just fine.  Against (admittedly pathetic) Santa 
Clara, he had one of the greatest moves I've seen in a college game.  UCLA
were doing their typical "we can play bad and make the game close" 
maneuver.  In fact, Santa Clara had cut the Bruin lead to 1 point with
successive threes.  Momentum was all with Santa Clara (and I mean *all*).
After the second three, UCLA pushed the ball upcourt and it ended up in 
O'Bannon's hands on the wing about 25 feet out with one defender five feet
in front of him and another under the basket.  Since he was ahead of the 
rest of the team and had a one-on-two, he paused, as if to wait.  Both
defenders relaxed -- BIG MISTAKE.

   Ed blew past the first one and then, instead of charging, went baseline
past the second for a reverse slam.  The play was certainly sensational, but
more importantly, it single-handedly brought UCLA back to life.  I really
like players who can take over a game without losing it completely.  Had
Ed been (say) Trevor Wilson, he would have charged into the defender under
the basket.

[5] The Pac-10 is really poor this year.  Admittedly, I challenge most any
conference to send 5(?) first-round picks to the NBA and have an "up" year, 
but this is absurd.  Oregon State is finally beginning to play like they 
should.  UCLA has lost to two of the four (reasonable) quality teams 
(beat UTEP and Florida State, lost to Pitt and Seton Hall) they've played.
Stanford and Cal are staggering (Stanford seems to be in a season-long funk, 
in spite of wiping up the aforementioned Santa Clara the other night).
Arizona State is winning with mirrors and the three-point shot (maybe Frieder
can coach after all?).  Gary has cogently let us know about Arizona.
Washington, USC, Oregon and WSU are living up to their relative potentials,
nearly.  The sad thing?  The Pac-10 will probably get 4 invites to the NCAA
tourney, since *somebody* has to win the conference games.

[6] Leading the charge for most disappointing (to me, at least):
  Bob Fife (Oregon) -- Fife wasn't projected as a great player, but I
      had hope for him.  I figured the extra minutes would help him
      get better.  Maybe next year.

  Mitchell Butler (UCLA) -- Butler has been reinjuring his wrist 
      over-and-over.  Sure, it isn't his fault, but most of the Bruins'
      weakness points to shallowness at the guard spot.  I don't *blame*
      him, but he's still a disappointment in a season when he could have
      been a strong team leader.
  
  Brian Hendrick (Cal) -- Injury again.  Not his fault again.  Still,
      makes me sad after seeing his promising first couple of years.
  
  Scott Haskin (OSU) -- I thought this guy would *DOMINATE*.  I mean having
      20/20 nights.  I haven't seen the Beavers play yet, but the impression 
      I get is that Haskin gets his points, but not much else.  What's
      the story from Corvallis?
  
  Ed Stokes (Arizona) -- See this "\"?  That's an ASCII plot of Stokes'
      career in Tucson.  Now watch him go ape against UCLA.
--

Matthew Merzbacher	ARPA:	matthew@CS.UCLA.EDU
Moo - Moo Moo  		UUCP:	...!{uunet|rutgers|ucbvax}!cs.ucla.edu!matthew
               		This time, *with* the oys
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.college