New Leadership at UCLA

Nikki Caldwell is the new Coach at UCLA and can really be summed up in these words: 6 years Assistant at Tennessee, 5 Final Fours and two NCAA Championships. Now what can she do on her own, great question, but there is no question that the background is there for success.

Caldwell's first task to make her four big post players productive. The loss of Regina Rogers, who transferred to Washington might hurt, but the talent is there, just waiting for coaching. Several of the UCLA post players are very aggressive, so that doesn’t have to be taught.

Chinyere “Ray Ray” Ibekwe is a 6-4 Sr who patterns her play after Dennis Rodman. And to be fair, her hobbies include modeling. Back to basketball, she had a poor season last year, but as a Soph averaged just short of 8 points and 7 rebounds a game. New coach, SR season, could well mean breakout year. Moniquee Alexander is a 6-6 Jr who started 15 games last year. However she only averaged 12 minutes, 4 points and 3 rebounds a game. Her high game? Against her new coach, last vs Tennessee. Christina Nzekwe is a 6-4 Soph who averaged 3 points and 3 rebounds a game. Candice Brown is 6-3, a Soph, who averaged 2 points and 2 rebounds a game.

These four post players hold the key to a successful season. If they can rebound, score and stay healthy, UCLA, with their good Guards could have a fine season.

The Point Guard is Darxia Morris, a 5-8 Soph who had a huge game against Stanford last season. She averaged 8 points a game, but must improve her assist total, she has a career high of only 5. 5-10 Sr Tierra Henderson will also play the Point, after averaging 8 points per game last year. Henderson is an outstanding defensive player, and will probably also see playing time at the off guard position.

Wings include 5-10 Soph Dorenna Campbell. Doreena averaged 9 points, 4 rebounds and 3 ½ assists in her frosh season. She also shot 43% from three, although only taking 53 shots from beyond the line. 6-1 Soph Nina Earl started half the games last year, averaging almost 9 points per game. If Morris, Campbell and Earl all start, that’ll give the Bruins 3 very good and young, backcourt athletes.

UCLA has three more fine wings in JR Erica Tukiainen, who averaged 4 ½ points per game last season. The recruiting class yielded two outstanding incoming frosh. Atonye Nyingifa is 5-11 but a very strong player who could play any of several positions. She was the # 19 High School player last year. Nyingifa is a strong slasher with a nice shot and a very strong rebounder despite being under 6 foot. Rebekah Gardner is 6-0 and was the # 66 player last season in High School. Any of these three could start, and they give the young UCLA team six solid rising backcourt players.

Morris is not playing yet, recovering from March knee surgery. UCLA edged Love and Basketball 86-80 in their first exhibition game and then beat Team SRP 107-63 on Sunday. Earl with 23 and Gardner with 19 led the scoring.

If the four post players can play good defense, and rebound well, UCLA has a shot at post season.