UCLA Basketball: Why Dismissing Reeves Nelson Helped the Bruins

Things aren't going as planned in Westwood, California.

Well, I guess I should say Anaheim, California and Los Angeles, California since those are the locations of the Honda Center and the Sports Arena. That’s where UCLA is playing their basketball games because of the renovations to Pauley Pavilion.

The UCLA Bruins are currently 9-7 with a 2-2 record within the Pac-12. That’s not a horrible record—unless you started the season ranked 17th by the AP Top 25 and were also picked to win the Pac-12. And you guessed it, UCLA was.

The Bruins started off the 2011-12 campaign by being on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s college basketball preview issue. Power forward Reeves Nelson was prominently displayed on the cover of the western regional issue. Once the games began, the Bruins started off the season with two losses. The first came to LMU by 11 and the second loss was to Middle Tennessee by 20.

If losing by a combined 31 points to two no-name schools doesn’t sound bad enough, don’t worry, the story gets worse.

The Bruins’ best player, former Pac-10 Freshman of the Year (2010) and Pac-10 First Team selection (2011), the Sports Illustrated cover-boy, power forward Reeves Nelson got suspended after the loss to LMU for missing a team meeting. Then, after being reinstated, he missed the team bus and flight to Maui for the Maui Invitational. He caught a later flight but it obviously left another bad impression.

The rift between Nelson and head coach Ben Howland (pictured) seemed to grow exponentially after that. On Dec. 6th, Nelson was suspended yet again after laughing on the bench during a loss to Texas.

Turns out, that would be the last time Nelson, a one-time 4-star recruit, would wear a UCLA uniform. On Dec. 9th, Howland dismissed him from the team. In 2010-11, Nelson led the team in scoring with 13.9 points per game and in rebounding with 9.1 boards per game.

But back to the games. UCLA started off an abysmal 1-4 and then 2-5. Distractions were everywhere as the Reeves Nelson drama unfolded. Their new transfers from North Carolina, David and Travis Wear, weren’t fitting into the rotation correctly because of the logjam down in the low post—Howland was unsure how to use them along with Joshua Smith, Anthony Stover and Nelson. Point guard Lazeric Jones had never shot worse, shooting above 50 percent just twice during the first seven games. But that was all before Dec. 9th.

Remember, that was the day that Nelson was dismissed along with the day that finals ended for UCLA students. It was also the day that the Bruins turned their season around.

Ever since the Bruins lost their top-returning player, they have gone 7-2. UCLA went on a five game winning streak against the rest of their non-conference opponents. Those opponents included the Richmond Spiders who made it to the Sweet 16 in last year’s NCAA tournament. After that, Pac-12 play started and the Northern California schools swept the Bruins, but UCLA turned around and swept the Arizona schools.

You see, UCLA isn’t really that bad. I know, I just spent half the article outlining everything the Bruins did wrong to start the season. But all of that is in the past. UCLA can move on from that and focus on Pac-12 play. Something like dismissing your most talented player can break a team. But in the Bruins case, it helped them.

They got rid of a distraction and have been able to solidify roles as a team. With Nelson around, there were a lot of expectations that surrounded him. As the leading scorer and rebounder, he needed to come in and set an example for the team.

But when he wasn’t putting up the numbers expected of him, the team had to scramble to fill his spot in the rotation—all while still giving him unproductive minutes. But without Nelson, UCLA and Howland could focus on what actually was working and improve the play of those who were actually willing to listen.

In the low post, David and Travis Wear are both fitting in very well now that their roles have expanded—the two are now UCLA’s starting forwards. David leads the team in rebounds per game with 6.4 and Travis is second in points per game, averaging 11.

When center Joshua Smith is healthy and out of foul trouble, he is very tough to guard at 6’10” 305 pounds. He recently had a great game against Arizona State, scoring 18 off of the bench as Howland elected to start a three-guard lineup.

Speaking of the backcourt, Lazeric Jones (pictured) has completely turned his season around, as he is now the team’s leading scorer, averaging 13.2 points per game. None of the Bruins’ guards are terribly great scorers but they hit shots when given the opportunity. That opportunity goes back to their great size inside the paint.

Earlier in the season, against Cal, the Bears double and sometimes triple teamed anyone who got the ball inside near the basket. This opened up shots along the perimeter for the guards and for the first half, kept the Bruins in the game. Shooting guard Tyler Lamb scored 26 points, but it wasn’t enough as Jones hurt his ankle early in the second half and the Bruins were never the same. 

Given the Pac-12’s weakness this season, no team has come out as a clear-cut favorite. Cal and Colorado both have good teams but they have yet to hit their stride or potential. And the exact same thing can be said about these UCLA Bruins.

They have played well at their “home” courts and haven’t lost at either one since a December 3rd loss to Texas—back when the Bruins were still having problems. UCLA is 0-2 on the road in Pac-12 play but one was on a last-second missed shot against Stanford and against Cal, Jones wasn’t 100 percent.

And that 0-2 should become 1-2 after UCLA visit’s their rivals, USC, and takes on one of the worst offenses in the country. UCLA can easily steal a couple of games here and there to put themselves in a solid position headed into the Pac-12 Tournament.

Look, UCLA isn't going to go undefeated the rest of the way. But no one else in the Pac-12 is going to either—all of the teams have flaws.

But luckily for the Bruins, their biggest one has been dismissed from the team.