UCLA: Alcohol, Ecstasy, Fighting and Reeves Nelson Is A Jerk

The big UCLA story is out and it’s ugly for the program John Wooden built. It’s real ugly.

SI.com writes about how ugly it has been behind-the-scenes at UCLA during the Ben Howland era, including players popping ecstasy at a rave the night before an 8am practice, drinking and smoking weed before other practices, L.A. nightclubs, and Reeves Nelson acting like the biggest asshole in America.

Have an excerpt:

On the final day of 2008, Howland met with the team and told players not to go out on New Year’s Eve. The Bruins had an early-morning practice scheduled for New Year’s Day and were departing for Oregon in the afternoon. Howland stressed that it was time to get serious.

Three members of the team, not all of them freshmen, ignored Howland’s orders and attended a giant rave at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. “We did what you do at a rave: We took Ecstasy,” says one of the players. The trio did not get back to Westwood until between 4 and 5 a.m. and barely slept before arriving at Pauley Pavilion for an 8 a.m. practice. The players bragged about their night to teammates and commented on how they were still feeling the effects of the Ecstasy.

A few days later an assistant coach phoned the players who attended the rave and asked if they had gone out on New Year’s Eve. They denied it, but soon afterward each was ordered to submit to a drug test. “I took something that was supposed to get [the drugs] out of my system,” says one player. “I never heard anything about the results [of the test], so it must have worked.”

If there is anyone who really needs to read this unbelievable tale of how not to run a program, it is Shabazz Muhammad. UCLA is right at the top of Shabazz’s list of destinations, and this piece shows exactly why no kid in the country should want to go play for Ben Howland. The way he’s handled his team at UCLA is almost sickening.

Check it out.