LAist: The Fat Man Cometh

kim

Sun, 19 Dec 2004 12:35:32 -0800

So much for a sleeping giant. USC will now be lucky if they get Pepperdine's coach. And now the glory of a new arena will be met with silence from all the empty seats and the lackluster b-ball program that the school hates.

john

Wed, 15 Dec 2004 13:00:35 -0800

Fair and honest? Sounds suspiciously like Fox News' "Fair and Balanced." Don't worry about Ben Howland and UCLA, we'll be just fine. Worry more about your sleeping (nothing giant about it) program and their average attendance of 3000 and whether your school will finally support basketball. We SHALL see.

Phil Wallace

Wed, 15 Dec 2004 12:17:26 -0800

You UCLA fans are so sensitive. Yes, I'm a USC fan. But I try to be as fair and honest as possible. I think I was here. Obviously Pauley Pavillion has a great history and tradition attached to it. It's a basketball cathedral. But it's badly in need of renovation. Once the Galen Center is completed, USC will be able to compete with UCLA in basketball facilities for the first time ever. Ben Howland has no doubt done a great job in recruiting. But I don't think his system will work all that well in LA. UCLA will not fall off the face of the basketball world. But how far can you go with a slow, ugly, defensive style in a city where flash and style generally reign supreme? Ask Trevor Ariza what he thinks of it. And it's not like Pitt ever made it past the Sweet 16 under Howland. Maybe I'm wrong, but I am not overly impressed with what I've seen from Howland so far. We shall see.

john

Wed, 15 Dec 2004 11:53:00 -0800

Phil-arino: Your last paragraph ruined a pretty decent post. Yes, Rick Majerus is a good coach. But you let your wishful thinking and your anti-UCLA bias ruin the story. It's insufferable enough having Tommy Trojan post the sports stories here, and i try to ignore them as much as possible, but here goes: The Bruins have the right coach, their last two recruiting classes have been A-1, (in another year we'll be almost top to bottom in blue-chip recruits) and as steve so eloquently posted, 11 championship banners. Yeah, Philly, we're shaking in our boots here in Westwood over Majerus signing on. I'll start reading the sports posts again when LAist gets a nonpartisan writer to contribute, not a Trojan honk.

steve

Wed, 15 Dec 2004 11:19:25 -0800

are you kidding? pauley pavilion has something that sc's arena wont have for decades.... 11 championship banners. furthermore, howland's team is getting in the right shape, just look at his recruiting classes. i understand that you're probably just anxious for sc to stop the suck at basketball, but don't try to make such wild assumptions.