Ben Howland
Ben Howland
Benjamin Clark Howlandis an American college basketball coach for the Mississippi State Bulldogs and former player. He served as the head men's basketball coach at Northern Arizona University from 1994 to 1999, the University of Pittsburgh from 1999 to 2003, and the University of California, Los Angelesfrom 2003 to 2013. Howland became the first men's coach in modern college basketball history to be fired shortly after winning an outright power-conference title. He is one of the few NCAA Division I...
ProfessionCoach
Date of Birth28 May 1957
CityLebanon, OR
They need to understand this is a unique fraternity and it is truly an honor to be part of it. And I really think they get it. They totally get it. They understand.
They must have eight guys who are long, athletic, bouncy and can block shots. It's like walking into a human fly swatter.
The repair to Alfred's left knee is less severe than his right, so the rehabilitation time will be less. This will be a quicker healing process. It's all good news, much better than expected.
It means something. These kids are playing for themselves. But we're also playing for the program. They represent those four letters. It's a very special fraternity.
I told them just basically what was announced. I got a little emotional. But that didn't affect our performance.
It's that magic third year. That's the plan. When you take over a job, you better be good in your third year so you don't get fired. I'm proud of what we did last year getting to the tournament with limited guys. We had four guys on the perimeter playing down the stretch. Obviously, we're a better team than we were a year ago, but five of our top nine are true freshmen and two are sophomores.
This is what they've worked so hard for, to get a chance to continue to play. We've got our work really cut out for us in playing one of the top teams in the country in Gonzaga.
They're coming at you in waves of athletes.
They're obviously a great shooting team. Any time you shoot 39 percent on the year from three as a team, that's outstanding.
It was brutal. I was uncomfortable just standing there . . . And the kid is playing like you can't believe, just the fundamentals.
The normal fan out there has no idea how hard they work and how committed they are to the academic side.
That's the best defense we played all year.
That's one of the things I think that you're going to continue to see, the George Mason run. I think they had three players that were fifth-year seniors. It's such an advantage to be older than your opponent both mentally and physically, and to have that experience of having gone through the ups and downs.
They took it to us physically. They beat us on the glass. We seemed to be a step slow.