According to BruinReportOnline.com, UCLA head coach Ben Howland has dismissed oft-troubled junior forward Reeves Nelson from the team. That report, however, has been contradicted by CBSSports.com, which spoke with Howland and quotes the Bruins head coach as saying Nelson has been "suspended indefinitely."
UCLA’s Reeves Nelson Suspended Indefinitely
Talented but troubled UCLA junior forward Reeves Nelson finally received the boot from head coach Ben Howland on Tuesday.
Nelson entered the season as the Bruins’ leading returning scorer and rebounder, but has spent most of the first month of the season in the news for his off-the-court issues. He was suspended for UCLA’s season-opening loss to Loyola Marymount for unspecified disciplinary issues, and then did not play in the follow-up loss to Middle Tennessee. He then missed the team flight to the Maui Invitational and was suspended for the first half of the Bruins’ first round game against Chaminade. The final straw may have come on Saturday when Nelson was benched for the second half of UCLA’s game against Texas and was repeatedly seen laughing as his teammates trailed and eventually lost to the Longhorns by ten.
"[Nelson's] behavior is totally uncharacteristic of what we want from a UCLA basketball player representing this history and tradition," UCLA coach Ben Howland said in Tuesday's Los Angeles Times. "It's something that is going to be dealt with when we get together again. It's been an ongoing problem the past two years which has gotten worse."
The Bruins opened the season with a national ranking and as the favorite in the Pac-12. They currently sit at 2-5 with just one victory over a Division-I opponent.
We’ve seen in-season addition by subtraction work before, most recently when North Carolina point guard Larry Drew announced he was leaving the team last February. The Bruins are lacking in talent, but they weren’t winning even Nelson was on the floor and playing well. This was an inevitable move that probably should have been made three weeks ago, and it’s one that will benefit both this team and next year’s Bruin squad.
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