On second string

I went to the UCLA vs Oregon State men's basketball game today with my mom, and the Bruins won 69-61! Sounds like a pretty good game, huh? Well, as much fun as it is to win, the game was pretty sloppy by both sides; there were a lot of turnovers and mental mistakes.

With about a minute and a half left in the game, we were up by about 16, so Coach Ben Howland decided to put in the second string players. It's ironic that the minutes that these players are usually given are known as "garbage time" because that's the best way to describe the way these guys performed today. Oregon State scored six points in about ten seconds as a result of multiple turnovers by our second string. We didn't even get the ball past half court- it was pretty embarrassing. Howland agreed, and about thirty seconds after he sat his starters, he sent them back into the game to finish it out, forcing the second string to take that long walk back to the bench.

I understand that being second string and having to come off the bench cold can be difficult. However, you need to play harder and smarter, or you're just going to embarrass yourselves. A win is a win and it will always be that way, but you have to take advantage of the opportunities you're given.

Major props to Tyler Honeycutt for eight blocked shots.

Go Bruins!