Coach Ben Howland conducted his weekly press conference on Tuesday afternoon. The key points he discussed were as follows:

• The big news is that Drew Gordon will be transferring. He will stay until the end of the quarter and finish his Fall classes. He will then transfer to another school. Coach Howland stated that this is not a spur of the moment decision by Drew. There have been several discussions over time. Howland stated there are a number of reasons for the transfer and "ultimately it's what's best for all parties."

• The Gordon transfer will substantially increase playing time for Reeves Nelson, J'mison Morgan, and Anthony Stover. Nelson's playing time will "increase dramatically". Reeves already is the most productive rebounder on the team per minutes played.

• There is a chance that UCLA will utilize a zone defense on occasion. Playing a zone is as much work as playing man to man. Having bigger players in the game when playing zone is an advantage.

• A significant problem is that the team has not had enough practice team. There have been six games in 13 days. This has been a major issue. The team took Monday off and will work largely on fundamentals the next few days before they prepare specifically for Kansas.

• The schedule this year is the toughest since Coach Howland has been here. The next two games are against Kansas, the number one team in the nation, and Mississippi another nationally ranked team. To further complicate matters, next week is finals week and it will be difficult for players to participate in every practice.

• It is only 30 days until the Pac 10 season begins and the team has considerable work to do. Fundamentals need to be emphasized and the team needs to learn to play smart and execute better.


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