It Is Officially Time For UCLA To Panic

UPDATE: Panic has set in. Howland has reinstated Nelson.

Yesterday. we discussed the fact that UCLA forward Reeves Nelson was suspended indefinitely from the team.

It was capped off with these few sentences:

"UCLA better get it together quick. Because a season that had a whole lot of promise is in a whole lot of trouble. If you think it’s bad already, it could get worse.I mean, they do play Middle Tennessee State tonight."

Well folks, it got worse.

MTSU rolled into the L.A. Sports Arena last night and completely dismantled the Bruins, 86-66, and while they may not have shown it on TV, there’s no doubt that someone ran and hit the big red panic button in the corner after the game.

So a team that was picked by a lot of people to win the Pac-12 is now 0-2, and quite honestly, neither of those games have been close.

Yes, they play more than two games in a season. And they still have time to turn it around. But it doesn’t seem promising given all the problem areas with this team right now.

There’s still no way of knowing when Nelson will return. Joshua Smith, while effective, isn’t gonna be able to make the impact he needs to make playing only 20 minutes a game. Their defense simply hasn’t been there in two games thus far.

And that’s just to name a few of their weaknesses.

It appeared that this might be the year for Ben Howland to get this team back on the national radar. Well, they’re back on the national radar. But for all the wrong reasons. And the worst part is, it doesn’t seem like these are problems that can be fixed overnight.

Unless some major changes take place soon, it might be a longer year than anyone could have expected for the Bruins.

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