Los Angeles – After Ben Howland arrived at UCLA four years ago, he immediately went to work. He rolled up his sleeves, dug in his heels in the concrete of Westwood and did the one thing, the most imperative first step, in bringing UCLA back to glory.
He held a barbecue.
No, Howland didn’t get sucked into that same Malibu mentality many felt dragged down the program during a five-year slump. He wanted his players to realize how special those four light-blue letters are on the front of the jersey. He brought in a lot of burgers and hot dogs as well as former Bruins.
“I want our players to realize how lucky they are and how blessed they are and how special they are,” Howland said recently in his office, surrounded by UCLA memorabilia, from photos of former coach John Wooden to blown-up Sports Illustrated covers. “I grew up wanting to be a UCLA player and was never good enough. That’s a very, very special fraternity to be part of and is second to none.”
So when the current Bruins gathered at Howland’s home in Bel-Air, munching down with them were the likes of Bill Walton, Marques Johnson, Don MacLean, Mike Warren, Rod Foster and Ralph Jackson. Even Eddie Sheldrake from the 1950s and Wooden dropped by.
Howland’s players knew Walton and Johnson. The problem was they knew them only as TV commentators.
“It probably impresses them more, though, when I tell them Mike Warren’s son dates Jessica Alba,” Howland said. “That they relate to.”
Reaching back into the past has become a growing trend for first-year coaches. There’s a reason why. It works. Another first-year coach did it two years ago and it paid off a little bit.
A football coach at Florida named Urban Meyer.
But, unlike Florida football, a funny thing happened to UCLA basketball on its return to glory. In only his third season, Howland guided the Bruins to last year’s national championship game. But after defending their Pac-10 regular-season crown this season, the Bruins have taken a dip. Fourth-ranked UCLA (26-5) has lost its past two games, to Washington and California, neither of which will likely make the NCAA Tournament. The Bruins also might lose an expected No. 1 seed when the tournament bracket is announced at 4 p.m. today.
“After two losses, I think we lost the No. 1 seed,” center Alfred Aboya said after Thursday’s overtime loss to California in the Pac-10 Tournament. “I just hope we can stay in California.”
The problem is the two players who have lifted UCLA back into the national elite this year have been awful of late. Point guard Darren Collison is in a 16-for-55 slump. Backcourt mate Arron Afflalo, the Pac-10 player of the year, went only 1-for-7 for a season-low three points in the Cal debacle.
Afflalo, still leading the team in scoring (16.7), is the key. He went only 4-for-14 for 12 points at Washington, and while the game meant more to the Huskies than the Bruins, the Cal performance gave hints of a disturbing trend.
A dangerous trend.
“I need to find a way to get involved because my team looks to me for a lot of different things,” Afflalo told reporters after the Cal loss. “If I’m not providing that, we’ll struggle as a unit.”
It’s not the only area where UCLA is struggling. The Bruins made 15-of-29 free throws against Cal, dropping its percentage to 64.7, ninth in the Pac-10.
UCLA’s saving grace for the NCAA Tournament, however, is defense. Howland took the blue-collar, gritty, defensive work ethic he adopted in four years in the Big East Conference with Pittsburgh and planted it in L.A.
Then he drew a line in the sand.
Turns out, the blue and gold could play black and blue. UCLA held opponents last season to an average of 58.7 points, fourth-lowest in school history, and a 41.5 shooting percentage. This season, opponents are scoring 60.6 a game, second-lowest in the Pac-10, and shooting 43.3 percent.
Don’t get the wrong impression. Howland isn’t an East Coast gym rat, raised in hardscrabble playgrounds where taking charges and gravel burns are badges of honor.
“I’m from Santa Barbara,” he said.
The son of a Presbyterian minister, Howland, 49, played at Weber State, where he was a two-time MVP – defensive MVP – and spent his entire coaching career in the West before going to Pitt in 1999. A long-time defensive coach? His Northern Arizona teams in the late 1990s led the nation in 3-point shooting three years in a row.
“But that was the players we had,” he said. “We weren’t getting great athletes. We made a focus to get really good shooters from small towns. It was hard for us to play that pressure man (defense).”
That’s no problem now. Howland hasn’t locked up the borders for California prep talent, but kids think UCLA’s campus is looking good these days. The first recruits he landed were guard Jordan Farmar from Taft High School in Los Angeles and Afflalo of Compton’s Centennial. Both were McDonald’s All-Americans.
This year, the early rap on UCLA was it had no go-to player after Farmar left early for the NBA (Los Angeles Lakers) and 7-foot Ryan Hollins was gone from the middle.
“Hollins was more of an offensive factor than probably the current centers, but defensively (Lorenzo) Mata and the others do a great job,” Arizona coach Lute Olson said Tuesday. “So the biggest thing is they’re a year older, have another year in the system, and I just think they’re better than they were a year ago.”
However, that killer defense has gone the way of their backcourt’s offense. After Washington forward Jon Brockman dominated inside for 20 points, Cal guard Ayinde Ubaka lit up the Bruins for a season-high 29, two weeks after Afflalo held him scoreless in a win at Cal.
“Mentally, I’m not sure where we are as a team,” Afflalo said. “Me, personally, I need to get myself back into the right mental state to help my team win.”
John Henderson can be reached at 303-954-1299 or jhenderson@denverpost.com.
