LMU kicks off the season with an upset of UCLA

UCLA once again entered the season with a fair amount of hype and expectations, but as we have become accustomed to since UCLA's last Final Four in 2008, the Bruins disappointed.

Ben Howland's club collapsed against a hot-shooting Loyola Marymount team, losing 69-58 to a team that was missing their most talented player. Drew Viney, a forward that averaged 17.2 ppg last season, is out until December with a foot injury.

But before I get into the game, we need to address the Josh Smith situation.

UCLA's big-boned big man managed just five points on 2-4 shooting and four rebound in 16 minutes. After the game, he tweeted out "Just lost to some straight bums lol...". He's since deleted the tweet, but I captured it in all its glory for you right here.


This isn't the first time that we've discussed Smith's maturity issues, but it is becoming abundantly clear that he didn't grow up during the offseason. He looks even bigger than he was last year, making a UCLA jersey that's baggy on the rest of his teammates look like Under Armour. He's also in poorer shape. The ironic part about Smith calling an opponent a "bum" is that, until he decides to shed the 30 or 40 extra pounds he's carrying, the rest of the country will be referring to him as a "bum".

Well, maybe "bum" is the wrong word. How about a colossal waste of god-given ability? Even as arguably the fattest player in college basketball, Smith is nimble, he's quick, he's powerful and he showcases good footwork. Now imagine if he was able to jump over a phone book and last more than three trips up and down the court. His affinity for fatty foods is the reason he's not an all-american and a lottery pick.

Back to the game, there are a couple notes that need to be taken into consideration. UCLA was playing without Jerime Anderson, meaning that they didn't have another option at the point to spell a struggling Laz Jones (he finished 1-11 from the floor with three turnovers). LMU was also unconscious from beyond the arc, hitting 10 of their 15 threes. The game also wasn't played at Pauley Pavilion, which is under renovations. It was played at something called the Sports Arena.

But that's no excuse. The Bruins were atrocious offensively, scoring just 58 points on 67 possessions. 37 of those points (and 21 rebounds) came from Reeves Nelson and the Wear twins. Beyond that, the Bruins had no offensive attack whatsoever. They shot a dismal 2-15 from beyond the arc and just looked out of sorts on that end of the floor. As bad as the numbers are, they don't do just how ugly UCLA's offense was justice.

We also need to give credit where credit is due: Loyola played a heck of a game last night, and they did it without their most talented front court player. I'm very high on the Lions this season. I was high on them last year, too. They struggled to just 11 wins and a 2-12 finish in the WCC, but chemistry and injury issues plagued them throughout the season. The only player they lost from that team was Vernon Teel, which may have actually been addition by subtraction.

Once they get Viney back and get to full strength, this is a team to be reckoned with. Sophomore point guard Anthony Ireland (my WCC breakout star!) picked up where he left off last season, finishing with 21 points, five assists and five boards, while swingman Ashley Hamilton led the way with 23 points, hitting a number of big threes late in the game to help the Lions pull away.

Gonzaga is probably the WCC's favorite this year, with St. Mary's, BYU and San Francisco in the mix.

Don't count out this group, however. If anything, LMU proved tonight just how much fun the WCC race is going to be this season.
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Josh Smith still battling weight problems

Coming into this off-season, there were three talented-but-oversized big men whose weight was being closely monitored.

The first is Jared Sullinger, who not only told people that he was shedding the pounds, he took a picture to prove it. There was some discussion that losing the weight would be bad for Sullinger and the Buckeyes, which was silly. He's not losing any strength or size. He's getting rid of the baby fat, which will only help his endurance, explosiveness, and quickness. Be afraid, Big Ten. Be very afraid.

The second big man whose weight has made headlines this offseason is Renardo Sidney. The oft-troubled Mississippi State Bulldog spent a large part of May and June working out with John Lucas in Houston. He shed 23 pounds, although he had also ballooned up to 320 lbs prior to changing venue. But Sidney also made the decision to continue working out with Lucas instead of joining Mississippi State on a trip to Europe, which leads one to believe that this weight loss is happening with the goal of succeeding in the NBA, not winning the SEC West.

The third player on that list?


UCLA's Josh Smith.

And let's just say the summer isn't going quite as well for Smith as head coach Ben Howland would like. Smith -- who was listed at 6'10" and 305 lbs, which may have been generous considering how snug his jersey was as a freshman -- has apparently put on 10 pounds since the end of the season, which is more-than-likely the exact opposite of what Howland was hoping for.

Now to be fair, those added lbs are probably weight that he will lose once the season begins; with the amount of work that a basketball team puts in during the first weeks of practice, just about everyone loses some weight, including the guys that are already in great shape. But the fact that Smith hasn't been able to get his act together to lose weight on his own is quite disconcerting.

You see, for a guy his size, Smith is incredibly talented. He's a load to handle on the block, getting to the offensive backboards at will and being almost impossible to prevent from getting position in the post. He also had great hands, a soft touch, and a solid-yet-developing back-to-the-basket game. He's got almost everything you look for from an NBA center.

Except for his belly.

What does it say about his work ethic that he has been unable to get into shape? What does it say about his desire to become a better basketball player? Making light of a kid that is battling weight issues is not ok. But Smith is an athlete, and has the potential and the physical gifts to be a very profitable one. He stands to make a great deal of money in the NBA if he puts in the effort to eat better, work out more, and lose that extra weight.

If he can't be bothered to get into the gym, just how promising is his career?

(This isn't the first time we've questioned Smith's maturity in this space. He had issues during the season as well.)
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Time for Joshua Smith to grow up

UCLA's freshman center Joshua Smith has all the tools for a terrific future in the sport of basketball.

Anyone that watched him manhandle a good Kansas front line back in November will agree. Smith is big enough and strong enough to establish and hold position against just about anyone at this level. He has good hands, a nice touch around the rim, and solid footwork for a 6'11" 18 year old.

Smith's issue isn't his god-given tools, its maturity.

For starters, he still needs to cut a lot of weight. In this day and age its saying something when you make a basketball uniform look like spandex. He's reasonably quick and athletic as it is, so dropping 40-50 pounds -- which is very possible to do -- should make him just that much more explosive.


More concerning, however, were his actions after a tough loss to USC.

The first thing that we heard about was Smith complaining about USC's premature celebration:

"When the other team starts to celebrate with 40 seconds left, that's just kind of a slap in the face," UCLA center Joshua Smith said. "Don't get me wrong. They won fair and square. Nothing against them. But with 40 seconds left, you just let the clock run out, shake our hands and go celebrate in the locker room."

Fair enough.

So USC showed you up. You have a right to be pissed. I'd probably be pissed. Keep to yourself and within the team and use it as motivation. Keep it in mind when USC comes back to Pauley Pavilion later in the season. Don't go spouting off to reporters about it, because now that quote is probably hanging up in the USC locker room.

That wasn't the only complaint Smith had after the game. He complained about the refs as well, saying:

"the refs were terrible. The one where I fell and [USC's Nikola] Vucevic fell on me, the refs said, 'Well, I had to call it because you fell.' They're giving me [ridiculous] answers. They're telling me this, this and this. I mean, I'm a guy who will own up to it when I foul."

As you can probably imagine, Ben Howland was none to pleased to open the paper and see those quotes, saying Smith used "totally poor judgement":

"He has to be a big boy," Howland said Tuesday. "You cannot say something like that and not expect it to come back."
...
"He was like, 'I don't think I fouled him,' " Howland said. "Yeah, your arm is coming right down and you're hitting him. So he was still in denial after seeing it and seeing that he's fouling.

"So he's got to grow up and learn that that's uncalled for and inappropriate."

I wish I could say that was it, but there is still more. After the game, a fan said something to Smith was "personal" and about his family, and Smith reacted. By flipping the fan the bird. He said on Tuesday that he regrets it and that he is a "bigger person than that."

Well, Joshua, its time to show it.

I'm sure I'm not the only one that has noticed poor body language out of the big man. There are times where it looks like he is sulking on the bench -- be it a result of fouls, playing time, or touches -- and it doesn't seem like he is always playing hard. Its frustrating to watch.

And I understand that he's only 18. College is a time when you grow up, when you go from being a kid that lives with his/her parents to the young adult that is getting ready to enter the real world. Maturation doesn't magically occur because you've finished a semester of college. Its a process, and for some it takes longer than others.

But for Smith, it needs to start happening soon.

He's a talented kid. He has a chance to make a lot of money playing this game. But he has to get to a point where he understands that it is unacceptable to flip off fans and displace blame on the refs by spouting off to the media.
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UCLA's Joshua Smith is shedding lb's

J'Mison Morgan was one of the best centers in the country when he came out of high school and headed to UCLA. But Morgan was never able to make a significant impact with the Bruins, in large part due to being out of shape and having a poor work ethic.

This season, Ben Howland brought in Josh Smith, another very highly regarded high school center with weight and conditioning issues. Many believed that Smith would face some of the same problems that Morgan dealt with throughout his time in Westwood. But according to this article from Yahoo!'s Jason King, all of that has changed:

Josh Smith has gotten in shape since arriving at UCLA.
(photo credit: SeaTown)

The noticeably-leaner Smith has an extra bounce in his step. It certainly didn’t come easily.

UCLA's dietician devised a meal schedule that Smith said he adhered to for the entire summer. Dinner in the Bruins dining hall often consisted of two chicken sandwiches along with rice and fruit. If Smith was still hungry, he ate additional apples, oranges and bananas "instead of sucking down extra cheeseburgers." Much like that pizza from B.J.'s, Smith said those kinds of foods hardly appeal to him anymore.

"He's dedicated himself,” Howland said. "He's changed his lifestyle."

Smith's efforts didn't end with healthy eating. ... While his teammates played pickup games, Smith went through cardiovascular workouts three times each day under the watchful eye of strength coach Wes Long. Sometimes it was running, other days he was on the stationary bike or in the pool. For more than two months, Smith’s only off days were on Sundays.

If Smith can become a force in the paint, it should once again put the Bruins in the thick of the Pac-10 race. UCLA already has a number of talented perimeter players and a bulldog of a power forward in Reeves Nelson.

But Smith is a different beast. There is a reason that he was a top 25 recruit and a top five center in the class of 2010; strong and talented 6'10" kids don't exactly come a dime a dozen.

An effective, slimmer, Josh Smith will make a huge difference for this UCLA team.

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