UCLA Basketball: Rebuilding or Reloading?

Rebuilding or reloading. It is a matter of semantics these days in Westwood.

Just over a year ago, the height of euphoria surrounded the mighty UCLA Basketball program. After three straight Final Four appearances, UCLA had landed arguably the number one recruiting class in the nation, bringing in Jrue Holiday, Jerime Anderson, Malcolm Lee, Drew Gordon, and J'Mison Morgan. UCLA's own version of the "Fab Five" had Bruins fans dreaming of not just another Final Four appearance, but the school's first national title since 1995.

Fast forward one year. Holiday is in the NBA, and Gordon has left the program. Anderson, Lee and Morgan have not lived up to the lofty expectations that came with their recruiting class. Morgan has played a grand total of 28 minutes in UCLA's seven games this season, and is averaging 1.5 ppg.

More damning for fans of the Bruins, who are used to a dominant basketball tradition, the squad has a record of 2-5, with losses to Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State in the mix.

In the blogosphere, some have even criticized Coach Ben Howland, which would have been blasphemy in Westwood just two months ago. Some may be starting to wonder if Coach Howland has taken the UCLA program as far as it can go. Will his hard-nosed, defensive-minded style eventually start to turn off recruits, who would rather play in more flashy systems where they can put up better individual numbers to audition for the NBA?

The Bruins have been painful to watch at times on offense, as they lack a solid go-to scorer that they have had in past years (such as Jordan Farmar, Arron Afflalo, Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, and Darren Collison). What might be even more painful for Coach Howland is that this team has shown a lack of defensive effort, and has nowhere near the defensive abilty of teams that made Final Fours a habit in Westwood.

The recent departure of Drew Gordon, who seemed to be the best player on the Bruins squad this season, was a final nail in the hearts of UCLA fans.

But in their most recent loss, to number one ranked Kansas, the Bruins may have given their fans their best glimmer of hope yet.

Addition by subtraction definitely seems to be case for the Bruins. Losing Drew Gordon has created playing time for freshman Reeves Nelson. In a game where he suffered a horrid eye injury and had to wear glasses that harkened back to a UCLA great named Kareem Abdul Jabbar, the freshman pulled down nine rebounds (six of them offensive) and scored nine points in 23 minutes of action. Reeves is a guy that plays bigger than he is (6'8", 225 lbs) and his performance against a very tough Kansas frontcourt impressed everyone who was watching (except for Jayhawks fans of course). Nelson seems destined to be one of those guys that is loved by the home fans, is booed on the road, but plays for winning teams.

Another freshman who got into the mix for the Bruins was Tyler Honeycutt, seeing his first action of the season after being sidelined by injury. He showed some obvious rust, only going 1 for 6 from the field. But he showed tremendous bursts of athleticism on both sides of the ball.

Although he did not get playing time against Kansas, Mike Moser is another freshman forward who has shown length and athleticism when he has received playing time.

This freshman class seems able to provide some depth, athleticism, and length on the wings for the Bruins, qualities that have been lacking even on squads that made it to the Final Four. They already seem poised to make a greater impact on the Bruins than their more-heralded counterparts from a year ago.

And some serious reinforcements are on the way, in the form of Josh Smith, who is arguably the top center in the Class of 2010 and has verbally committed to UCLA. Top shooting guard Tyler Lamb is also on his way to Westwood.

And as for the criticism surrounding Coach Howland, I think he deserves some more patience from Bruins fans. Judging by the pick up of Smith and Lamb, he still has the recruiting magic. Yes, one could argue his style may turn off recruits. But then again, last time I checked, defense and winning were valued in the NBA. And Coach Howland definitely has a track record of producing winning, defensive-minded players.

Rebuilding has become somewhat of a dirty word in the world of sports. There are franchises that seem to be rebuilding every year, and have gotten stuck in a form of sports purgatory. Reloading, on the other hand, has become the fashionable term to describe a team that has temporarily depleted its talent, but is quickly stocking up on more talent to make a run in the future.

In what has already been a confusing season in Westwood, it would be fair to say that UCLA basketball is doomed to a rebuilding season, but is also reloading for the future. And that should be enough to give optimism to fans of the blue and gold.