North Carolina's defense

I'm foregoing the usual format tonight to talk about something that's been on my mind for a while.

What prompted me to write this post is a discussion on the sports forum of a popular poker message board. There's a thread there that focuses on North Carolina, and in that thread, someone posted this link to a Basketball Prospectus article claiming that the Tar Heels were the best defensive team in the ACC last year and probably would be this year. It's long been my contention that Carolina isn't good enough defensively (I'm representative of the hand-wringing blogger the author referes to in the first several paragraphs of the article), so I finally had to speak up. If you're not already, it might be a good idea to familiarize yourself with the work of Ken Pomeroy so you know the context of the discussion.

Anyway, in response to that link, I posted the following just minutes ago, after Carolina's win at Ohio State tonight. I'll let you know if the discussion leads anywhere on the message board, and I welcome your comments and observations here. Without further ado...

While I recognize that SABRmetric-style stats -- like the ones popularized by Ken Pom and the one cited in that Basketball Prospectus article -- have more utility than traditional "per game" stats, it irritates me that they've seemingly taken the place of good old-fashioned observation.The article asserts that Carolina played the best defense in the ACC last year and probably will again this year. I say "No way!" to both, and not because of any statistic. I don't need statistics to tell me that a team just down Tobacco Road from Chapel Hill is a much better defensive team than the Heels. (I don't use Duke as an example to patronize UNC fans, or because I'm a Blue Devils fan -- I'm not; rather, they're just a team that I've seen a few times this year that plays truly excellent defense).

I can see with my own eyes how Duke rotates on defense, how they defend ball screens extremely well, how their bigger guys like Kyle Singler take excellent angles when they are switched to smaller, quicker players, diverting guards away from the basket and into the teeth of the rest of the defense. It's similarly easy for me to see that these are all things that Carolina doesn't do well.

I don't want to focus too much on this season thus far, because the three times I've seen Carolina (vs. Davidson in Charlotte, vs. BYU in Vegas, and at Ohio St. tonight in Columbus) they've basically been without Ty Lawson (once because of early foul trouble, twice due to an ankle injury that limited him to two minutes against BYU and kept him out tonight against the Buckeyes, who, incidentally, haven't been able to throw the ball in the ocean in their last two outings). The jury is still very much out on this year's team, although it appears that Roy Williams -- Carolina's notoriously offensive-minded coach -- would agree that his team's defense isn't yet adequate (SI article).

But let's go back to last year, and to something the Basketball Prospectus article touches on:

"As seen above, I think part of that is simply due to the way they look
while they play. Another part, of course, is the speed at which they play. Roy Williams' teams, whether in Chapel Hill or in Lawrence, have always played fast. It's tougher to spot a good defensive team that plays fast, just as it's tougher to spot a bad defensive team that goes slow."

The Tar Heels do, indeed, play fast. And against many opponents, that is all the defense they need. Having played a little basketball myself (admittedly at the low high school and AAU level) and watched quite a bit more, I am very familiar with the negative effect that playing fast has on team's that aren't used to it. Suddenly in a hurry, teams get caught up in the tempo of the game, rushing shots and making poor passes.Where this strategy falls short -- and where I believe Ken Pom's stats are ultimately deceiving because they don't seem to take this into account -- is when Carolina (or any team whose main defensive weapon is pace) comes up against an opponent that plays at that pace itself, or an opponent with solid, experienced guards, or an opponent that plays fast and has solid, experienced guards. In those cases, the opposition's ballhandlers don't rush their shots and don't make bad decisions, because they're comfortable with the pace of the game.

This would go a long way to explaining many of Carolina's losses last year to teams with lesser offensive talent: Maryland, thanks to their athletic bigs and inability to score in the halfcourt, preferred a fast-paced game last year; Virginia Tech, to whom North Carolina lost twice, boasted a poised and experienced backcourt in seniors Jamon Gordon and Zabian Dowdell (Let's remember that Illinois, a team widely considered to be very sound defensively but that played at a relatively slow pace last year, had Tech completely flummoxed in last year's NCAA Tournament before a late run gave the Hokies the narrow first-round victory); and Gonzaga, which beat Carolina at Madison Square Garden in last year's Preseason NIT semifinals, had a deep, experienced backcourt that liked to get up and down the court as much as the Heels did.

My point is not that Carolina's defense isn't good enough to win games -- a lot of games -- in the ACC. I'm not saying they're like VMI, whose defensive strategy is seemingly to allow the opposition to make a two in order to get the ball back to shoot a three. The Heels have now, always have had, and always will have the size and athleticism to get by without being sound defensively just by playing fast. It's enough to beat the Georgia Techs and Wake Forests and Florida States all winter long, and put up good defensive numbers in doing so.

My point is that not all teams are like Tech and Wake and FSU, and that Carolina struggled against certain kinds of teams last year and will probably continue to this year unless something changes. There are teams that are comfortable playing at that pace, and if I had to choose a team to go up against them, I'd rather take one that has defensive qualities which I can point to and say "That's what makes them a good defensive team." Whenever someone tries to tell me that Carolina is very good defensively, they show me statistics. Those statistics are not going to beat Memphis in March. Sound defense will, and I haven't seen it from Carolina.

Feast Week

It's been a busy few days, but I still found time to watch all the basketball on ESPN and ESPN2 this week -- 35 games in all. I didn't have time to post all week, but I can give you my "leftover" thoughts from the week. It's not as good as turkey sandwiches, but it'll have to do.

-The Maui Invitational ended Wednesday. I hope that means that LSU freshman Anthony Randolph and JC transfer Chris Johnson got home in time for Thanksgiving dinner. At 6-10 and 6-11, respectively, and each weighing 205 pounds, they certainly need it.

-Duke beat Princeton on backdoor cuts twice in the first half on Monday in Maui. How do you backdoor Princeton? Don't they spend every day in practice defending it?

-Maryland hasn't been able to score in the halfcourt since they won the national title. This year's edition of the Terps has fewer offensive weapons than last year's, so don't expect much better than their 59-point, 21-turnover performance against UCLA on Monday in Kansas City. In their two games in KC, Maryland was 2-for-26 from behind the three-point arc. That's less than eight percent.

-Here's an odd one. South Carolina gave up 26 offensive rebounds in a 74-67 win over Penn State on Thursday, then grabbed 24 offensive boards of their own in a 63-61 loss to North Carolina State the next day.

-If there's a player who can stay in front of Marquette's Dominic James, I'd like to see him.

-For all his talents, Kevin Love has a long way to go offensively.

-Given that Billy Humphrey was suspended for just one game after being arrested on a felony weapons possession charge, I'd love to know the specifics of what Takais Brown and Mike Mercer did to get kicked off of Georgia's basketball team.

-I feel bad for David Padgett. Offline, I've been critical of him in the past, but I came around to him last year. Could be a long year at Louisville without him, particularly if Juan Palacios doesn't get healthy soon.

-In the two games of his I watched this week, Southern Illinois' Randal Falker got the most consistently deep low-post position I've ever seen. Fairly remarkable stuff for a guy who goes only 6'7", 230.

-I didn't have a stopwatch, but it sure seemed that BYU's Trent Plaisted held the ball longer on any one of his 10 field goals Saturday against North Carolina than Kansas State's Michael Beasley did on all 13 of his, combined, Thursday against George Mason.

-Speaking of Mason, they are miles ahead of VCU at this point. Eric Maynor's return made some people -- notably, those picking VCU to win the CAA -- forget that the Rams lost two-thirds of that outstanding backcourt from last year -- Jesse Pellot-Rosa and B.A. Walker. George Mason is a deep, experienced, and confident club. If they don't win the league, it'll be an upset.

-I was less than impressed the first two times I saw USC, but Sunday night's victory in the championship game of the Anaheim Classic is a different story. Southern Illinois doesn't get knocked on its ass like that very often.

Marquette's guards, DeMarcus Nelson/Gerald Henderson, Michigan St big men, Michigan St.-UCLA

1. Marquette has the deepest and most talented backcourt I can ever remember seeing. Monday against Chaminade, the starting trio of Dominic James, Jerel McNeal, and Wesley Matthews struggled early, and David Cubillan, a Venezuela native, came off the bench to the team's best guard for much of the game. James got off to a hot start Tuesday night against Oklahoma St., and then Ball State transfer Maurice Acker came in and the Golden Eagles didn't miss a beat. There are a ton of major conference teams -- fellow Maui competitors Illinois comes to mind -- that would kill for any two of these five.


They complement each other very well. At 6'5" and 6'3", respectively, Matthews and McNeal are big enough to get by defensively, allowing coach Tom Crean to play them alongside the dimunitive James (or Cubillan, when he comes off the bench). James creates well of the bounce, and has a middle game to go along with three-point range. Cubillan brings energy, playmaking, and a deep threat from off the bench -- he's kind of a poor man's James. Acker may be the best of the quintet at setting the table for others.



The amazing thing is that there's a good chance they'll all be back next year. The three starters are juniors, and Cubillan and Acker are just sophomores.

James flirted with the NBA last year but his size (he's listed at 5'11") and statistical dropoff -- a lack of improvement, actually -- from his freshman to sophomore years made his return to Marquette likely. He didn't help himself too much in pre-draft workouts, and since it's doubtful NBA scouts will have forgotten that, it seems reasonable that he come back for his senior year as well -- barring massive improvement during his junior campaign. There doesn't seem to be any early-entry talk surrounding any of the others. This group could dominate the Big East for the next two years.

2. Last year's Duke team lacked a go-to wing scorer, a guy who could take the ball, put his head down, and get to the basket when needed. I thought DeMarcus Nelson was that guy -- and he showed the ability to do so -- but he didn't seem to step up in the big moments. I remember several games in which he got off to a quick, aggressive start, then disappeared for the balance of the evening. As a result, Duke relied too much on the three-pointer, a common criticism of the excellent program in recent years.

The Devils seem to have solved that problem this year. Against Illinois on Tuesday in Maui, Nelson -- a senior -- and sophomore Gerald Henderson simply took the game over with the ball in their hands. The thing I liked most is that they routinely would finish drives that many players would have aborted. They weren't blowing by their defenders, but used their upper-body strength to get clear of the Illini and get to the hoop.

Both have good complementary games -- Nelson has a nice touch from deep, and Henderson's midrange game elicited comparisons to Kobe Bryant from the announcing trio of Jay Bilas, Bill Raftery, and Sean McDonough. But their ability to get to the basket is something that will win a few games for Duke this year. Illinois' lack of a player who could do what Nelson and Henderson were doing -- or, depending on how you look at it, their inability to stop these two -- was the difference in the 79-66 Duke win.

3. I can't decide about Michigan State's UConn-esque big-man-by-committee: Marquise Gray, Tom Herzog, Idong Ibok, Drew Naymick, and Goran Suton. On the one hand, I've always been rather unimpressed by this group (all but Herzog, who's a freshman), and they're clearly improved this year.

On the other hand, they used 15 fouls among them trying to contain Kevin Love, UCLA's stud freshman, and the kid still put up 21 points and 11 boards. The MSU quintet totalled just 16 points and 13 rebounds among them, and gave up a total of 18 offensive boards, including eight by Love.

And1 I recognize that Michigan State-UCLA -- being the first matchup between ranked teams of this young season -- was the most important game of the night, but I don't want to analyze it too much because UCLA point guard Darren Collison was out with a lingering leg injury, and Michigan State point Drew Neitzel was limited by a stomach virus.

Collison's replacement, Russell Westbrook, is an athletic, capable backup who I think tries to do too much offensively. But with Collison and Michael Roll out, the Bruins backcourt was very thin; as a matter of fact, Westbrook went the whole 40 minutes. Neitzel's illness led to extended minutes for freshman Kalin Lucas -- something that might help the Spartans in the long run. Neitzel's considerable scoring talents are best used in the two-guard slot, and as long as Lucas shows that he can handle the ballhandling responsibilities -- he was inconsistent in this regard against the Bruins -- I'd expect to see him play alongside Neitzel more and more this season, as he did Tuesday night.

Marko Kolaric, Kevin Love, Illinois/Duke preview

1. After Monday's 74-63 loss to Marquette in the first round of the Maui Invitational, Division II Chaminade has an all-time record of 4-64 in the tournament it hosts. I think this particular version of the Silverswords has a chance to notch win number five, especially if they end up playing Princeton in the seventh-place game. Chaminade hung with a very talented Golden Eagles team for most of the game, and that was despite being without Rodrick Johnson for long stretches -- the team's apparent best scorer picked up three quick fouls in the first half and his fourth early in the second. Furthermore, point guard Bussey Ellis -- a transfer from Division I UC-Davis -- can't possibly play any worse than he did against a tenacious Marquette backcourt.



The Silverswords also have Marko Kolaric, a seven-foot senior from Serbia whose name you should remember: I think he's got a chance to show up in the NBA somewhere. His junior season per-game averages are rather unremarkable for someone playing a rather low level of competition -- 11.4 points and 9.8 rebounds. He needs some work defensively -- he blocked just 42 shots in 27 games last year, and I can't imagine he's up against too many players his height -- but offensively he reminds me of a poor man's Vlade Divac, minus the touch from the perimeter. He had 19 points, 14 rebounds, and two blocks in 37 minutes on Monday night, and while Marquette's bigs aren't particularly noteworthy, those are excellent totals against any Big East program. He's a crafty around the rim, getting one basket on an up-and-under scoop shot that was very Vlade-esque. Like Divac, he's also a nifty passer who delivers the ball to the right spot deftly and calmly, even under pressure.

2. Speaking of big men who can pass, afford me the opportunity to talk about UCLA's Kevin Love. A lot is made of his outlet passing, and while his execution on such passes is tremendous, what I like most about him in this regard is his court awareness. Next time you watch him -- tonight's game against Michigan State is nationally televised -- watch Love when he grabs a rebound. He immediately snaps his body forward so that his shoulders are parallel to the halfcourt line, and his eyes are focused upcourt. So many players simply seek out the point guard as soon as they grab a board, but Love only looks for Russell Westbrook when he decides he doesn't have anyone open for a run-out.

He's also the rare young big man who understands how and where the ball should move, and how quickly -- something that was on display when Maryland applied full-court pressure.

3. Illinois looked better offensively against Arizona State Monday night in Maui than they did all of last year. Duke has been very impressive so far, but if the Illini play as well as they did against the Sun Devils, I think they could give the other Devils -- the Blue Devils -- quite a game tonight. Duke doesn't have anyone to counter the size and energy of Shaun Pruitt, Brian Randle, and freshmen Bill Cole and Mike Tisdale inside.

Both teams have nice depth this year, and both get after it defensively.

Illinois point guard Chester Frazier may be the most-important player on the floor in that one. Duke's half-court pressure defense has been effective against inferior opponents thus far this year, but Frazier's quickness and experience should be enough to counter that. The key will be Frazier being able to stay on the court. Illinois' own aggressive defensive style makes everyone on their team foul-prone, and Frazier picked up two first-half fouls against Arizona State.

The Illini were a different team without him on the floor. The absence of Jamar Smith means that Trent Meacham is playing starters minutes, and the backcourt reserves -- particularly junior Steve Holdren (a South Dakota State transfer) and freshman walkon Jeff Jordan (hereinafter referred to in this space as "Jeffrey, son of Michael") -- looked overwhelmed at times.

Jon Brockman, Washington backcourt, Memphis

1. Wow, Jonathan Brockman. I came in late last night from a pre-Thanksgiving dinner with friends, and had Nets-Celtics and Carolina-Davidson ahead of Utah-Washington. I made it through two games before crashing, and watched the Utes and Huskies tonight.

Brockman's 31 points and 18 were impressive, but what really caught my eye was the way UW's junior power forward got them. I hadn't seen too much of Brockman in his first two years, but had heard and read that he was a scrappy bruiser who got his points through effort. In fact, during the game, ESPN's Doug Gottlieb referred to Brockman as "the West Coast version of Tyler Hansbrough."

Brockman showed a lot more offensive polish and versatility against Utah than I've ever seen from Hansbrough. True, he was being guarded by Luke Nevill, Utah's 7'1" center, so you'd expect him to be able to drive and spin to the basket, as he did on a number of occasions. But he also showed a willingness and a penchant for going right at Nevill and scoring over him -- despite giving up half a foot in height.

Brockman also showed range out to 17 feet, and not the kind of range we ascribe to all big men who can make a perimeter shot. Where most big guys basically take set shots from outside the key, Brockman has a legitimate jumper. He has good form, and he releases the ball at the top of this jump.

Why do I bring it up? Because right now he's a "tweener," a post player who will be undersized at the next level. If he can score over people half a foot taller than him -- both at the rim and from the perimeter -- he has a chance at the NBA.

2. Justin Demtmon isn't a point guard. He's been playing that role for two years at Washington, but it doesn't suit him. He's a shoot-first guard, and he doesn't appear to understand how to set up his teammates.

Case in point was a three-on-two break Wednesday night vs. Utah. It was a standard break, the kind that high school teams practice in drills every day. Instead of staying in the middle of the court, stopping near the foul line, and distributing to either side, Demtmon drove left -- into the cutting lane. The Utah defender was able to guard both Demtmon and the other UW player, negating the numbers advantage the Huskies had. Demtmon ended up throwing a two-foot pass to a suddenly trailing teammate, who had no time to stop or change directions and ended up crashing into the defender, getting called for the charge.

Fortunately for Washington, the player to whom Demtmon handed the ball off on that play was freshman Venoy Overton, a local product from Seattle brought in to run the point. Overton displayed a natural "feel" for the game that I've never seen from Demtmon, and being able to slide over to the 2 will allow Demtmon to make use of his considerable scoring talents. Once sharpshooter Ryan Appleby returns from a broken thumb minutes in the Washington backcourt will be harder to come by, but I think coach Lorenzo Romar would do well to use Overton at the point all year.

3. It's been one game, and I'm already sick of watching Memphis stand around and casually toss up three-pointers.

Early on in the Tigers' sluggish win over Oklahoma Thursday night, ESPN's Doris Burke relayed a conversation she'd had with coach John Calipari. The basic gist was that coach Cal had instructed his players -- if they found themselves up in the air without a good shot -- to simply throw the ball up on the glass and let Joey Dorsey and Memphis' bigs go and get it.

Could it be that that's his entire offensive strategy? Shoot early, shoot often, don't worry if you miss because we'll crash the offensive glass?

I don't think so, but I have to wonder what the point of having all these athletes -- and make no mistake, Memphis is stacked with them -- if they aren't ever going to go to the basket. The Tigers have a chance to win the national championship, but not if their offense consists of chucking like they did tonight.

Jonny Flynn, free throws, American U update

1. Pretty precocious start to a college career by Syracuse point guard Jonny Flynn. Kid breaks a school freshman scoring record by pouring in 28 (with nine assists) against Siena on Monday, then hits a cold-blooded, game-winning three with five seconds left to beat St. Joseph's tonight.

I only saw the St. Joe's game and I'm not going to pretend I know how he scored 28 the night before; the game-winner was his first field goal and he looked horrible on some shots. But the kid caught my eye in the first half with a 40-foot lob pass to classmate Donte Greene, and then had an absolutely jaw-dropping assist on another Greene bucket that I still can't get over.

It came with the 'cuse up four, with about five minutes to play. Flynn had the ball on a 3-on-2 break, and as he reached the top of the key, he glanced right, where Greene was fading out to the three point line. Flynn then crossed over to his left and put his head down, taking the ball hard to the bucket with a St. Joseph's defender on his right hip.

As he got to the basket, instead of throwing up a difficult left handed layup or trying to draw contact, Flynn wrapped a pass around his defender. Seeming out of nowhere, Greene appeared, catching the ball and jamming it it one giant stride. And the foul.

Watching the replay, I could see that Flynn's vision of that side of the court was completely obstructed by the defender. He couldn't possibly have seen Greene cut to the basket -- I'm not even sure Greene initiated his cut before Flynn released the ball. Flynn made the pass with the understanding that Greene would be crashing the boards in anticipation of his shot. Either that or -- and this is where it gets interesting -- he threw it to lead Greene where he wanted him to go, weighting the pass perfectly as to catch Greene in stride.

This is not the stuff of normal point guards. It's not even the stuff of very, very good point guards. It's the kind of pass I haven't seen a college player make since 1994, the year Jason Kidd left California for the NBA. Yes, it was that good. I'm not saying Flynn's the player Kidd was and is, but he's clearly got a special understanding of the game. I'm excited to see what else he's got in store for us.

2. After his game-winner, Flynn was the Syracuse player who fouled before St. Joe's could get a shot off, sending the Hawks to the line with under three seconds to go. St. Joseph's didn't have a timeout to call after Flynn's shot, which also means that Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim didn't have the opportunity to instruct his players to foul.

It's long been my contention that coaches waste timeouts to tell players "common sense" type things that players should just know to do. I've always thought that coaches should coach these situations in practice, so that players know what to do down three with 30 seconds left (drive for a quick two, throw on some fullcourt man to man pressure, foul if you can't get a steal). Or, in this case, what to do up three with under five seconds left.

I finally got the opportunity to ask a few coaches about this, and it turns out that they do coach their kids to think the game in this way. The problem, they said, is that the players forgot it in the heat of the moment.

I don't suppose I'll ever know for sure, but it's my speculation that Boeheim wasn't yelling for a foul -- that it was something Flynn did based on what he had been told before. It's a little thing, but it's an indication of his basketball IQ that speaks volumes.

3. Speaking of fouling, I hate the new rule that dictates that players line up for free throws above the big block, not below it.

This was adopted in women's basketball a few years ago, and I like it there -- the average female forward/center's size, quickness, wingspan, and jumping ability isn't enough to make up for the fact that very few rebounds actually come off the rim that close to the bucket.

Men are a different story, however. They're bigger, quicker, with longer reaches, and can jump higher, on average (particularly when we're talking about players at the collegiate level). That makes up for being slightly out of position to start.

This new configuration makes it nearly impossible for a team to get an offensive rebound off of a missed free throw. The angle for the defensive team is perfect. I haven't kept track in the games I've watched thus far, but I'm going to make a point to note the number of offensive boards off of foul shots I see this year. I've got nothing to compare it to, but I'm betting it's going to seem might low.

And1 I've decided to use this space on occasion to blog about my alma mater's basketball team. After a season-opening, 75-68 win at St. Francis (Pa.) on Saturday, American University fell to Loyola (Md.) in Baltimore by a 71-67 score on Tuesday. My Eagles led by as many as 17 in the first half, but couldn't hang on.

We've got an interesting team this year. Our stars are our starting guards: Derrick Mercer had 23 against St. Francis and 22 against Loyola, and Garrison Carr had 19 points in each game. Here's the catch. They're one of the shortest starting backcourts in Division I. I'd put Carr closer to my height of of 5'8" than the 5'11" at which he's listed, while Mercer isn't even in the neighborhood of 5'9", which is what the program has him at.

Already we seem to have more offensive firepower than last year, despite losing our main scoring threat (Andre Ingram) and post presence (Brayden Bilbe). I'm not sure I'll be able to make it to the home opener Thursday vs. Fairfield, but I am looking forward to another season of AU hoops.

Duke, Ohio State, UCLA

1. So, Duke's got a ten-man rotation. (Actually, it'll be an 11-man rotation once and if David McClure can return from off-season knee surgery). About time. Last year, the Devils wore down at the end of games and at the end of the season. This year, that shouldn't happen.

It's a decent bench, too. Sure, McClure, Martynas Pocius, and Brian Zoubek are nothing but high-energy role players, but Coach K does have some more productive pieces sitting next to him on the Cameron pine. Jon Scheyer, who made 32 starts last year as a freshman, is as deadly a shooter as you'll find in the country. Against New Mexico State, Taylor King showed he is a viable outside weapon. Though he didn't have a great game on Monday, I think Nolan Smith is capable of taking over for Greg Paulus at point guard, if the up-and-down junior reverts back to his turnover-prone ways from last year.

I don't think the Devils have the size to be considered among the nation's elite. But they won't wear down this year, and that should be good for an extra win or two.

2. Michigan State and Indiana are the clear front runners for supremacy in the Big Ten, but don't sleep on Ohio State. The losses of lottery picks Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr., as well as first-round selection Daequan Cook, obviously hurt, but let's look at what is left.

It starts with Jamar Butler, who averaged 10.1 points as a sophomore point guard, before stepping aside for Conley last season and seeing his scoring average drop to 8.5. There's also sophomore wing David Lighty, whose top-50 talents were lost among last year's remarkable freshman class. Both had strong games against Wisconsin-Green Bay, as did freshman big man Kosta Koufos. Othello Hunter, under-appreciated last year alongside Oden, is also a strong inside piece.

Outside of the Spartans and the Hoosiers, the Big Ten is wide open. A third-place league finish for the Buckeyes is well within reach.

3. Every article I've read about Kevin Love mentions his outlet passing. That theme carried over to tonight's game, as I counted no fewer than three references to said outlet passing, with at least two comparisons to Wes Unseld. (It should be noted, by the way, that none of these were in reference to a specific pass that Love threw).

The major advantage a great outlet passer gives you is a quick start to a fast break. However, Howland's teams are typically known for their defense and don't run much.

It's hard to judge from Monday's game if UCLA is going to push the tempo. Starting point guard Darren Collison was out with a knee injury, which may have made Howland reticent to encourage his charges to run (the coach abhors turnovers, and backup point Russell Westbrook, a sophomore, has yet to exhibit the ability to make good decisions).

Given Love's outlet passing, Collison's speed, and the Bruins' bigs' ability to run the floor, it seems to me that failing to get out on the break more would be giving points away by this UCLA team.