It's been a strange year so far in UCLA basketball. It's always hard to watch in the beginning of the year when the team looks unrefined, and trust that Coach Ben Howland knows what he is doing and will have the team in considerably better shape in 2 months.
Alfred Aboya is playing center. I like Aboya, and he's improved about 500% since he first came on the scene. He reminds me a bit of Lorenzo Mata, but with half the heart. Which is not to say that Aboya doesn't care, and more to say that Mata had a ton of heart. But it is also because at times Mata would gleam with promise, but in the tough games late in the tournament, unfortunately Mata was just never enough. He tried so hard, but he just wasn't big enough. He couldn't always get key offensive and defensive boards. And that is the problem with Aboya -- he's thicker than Mata, but shorter. I can see already that unless J'Mison "BoBo" Morgan gets it together soon, it's going to be a glaring problem down the road.
Morgan played 13 minutes in the UCLA game against LMU that I unfortunately missed. He has looked really rough every other time I've seen him play. Then again, Kevin Love looked lumbering and slow in some games in February of last season, and he still managed to get it together and rock the tournament. I am confident Howland can work some of the same magic on Bobo. The thing is, he's good, but Kevin Love is a once in a lifetime talent and I don't have any illusions that Morgan will become the next Love. I just want him to get to a point where we can count on him in the big games. Otherwise, we're going to be in trouble.
GO Bruins!
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