Football Kaleidoscope: Joseph wins postgrad scholarship

UCLA’s two-time Academic All-American center, Chris Joseph, has been awarded an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship. He’s one of 58 fall-sport student-athletes (29 men and 29 women) who will receive the one-time grant of $7,500.

Joseph (pictured) was a starter at guard in 2006 and at center in 2007 and compiled a 3.95 GPA at UCLA with a major in geography. He earned first-team Academic All-America honors in both 2006 and 2007. He’s the 63rd NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship from UCLA and the 17th in the sport of football.

Also of note:

>> The Times’ UCLA beat writer Chris Foster reports that Bruin players will start 7-on-7 drills at Spaulding Field next week in advance of the opening of spring practice on April 3. Such sessions are strictly arranged by the players and coaches are not allowed to be involved.

>> The Bruin coaching staff has been busy with meetings with all of the returning players, as well as meetings with recruits who have signed letters of intent.

Chris Joseph photo courtesy UCLA.

Bruin SportsWire: Baseball game moves to CSUN

Don’t go to Jackie Robinson Stadium today if you’re looking for the baseball matchup between UCLA and Cal State Northridge. That game has been moved to CSUN’s Matador Field beginning at 2 p.m. because of the continuing wet conditions at the Bruins’ home field.

Sophomore left-hander Matt Drummond will start for the Bruins, facing righty Drew Muren of Northridge, a freshman making his first collegiate start. The game will be audiocast on uclabruins.com with Danny Lee at the microphone.

UCLA’s Wednesday game against UC Santa Barbara is still scheduled for a 6 p.m. start at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Also:

Softball:

>> UCLA’s Anjelica Selden struck out 17 Northwestern Wildcats on Sunday as the fifth-ranked Bruins won 6-2 against the second-ranked team in the country. She’s now 7-1 on the season and the Bruins improved to 13-2. In the three games she pitched at the Palm Springs Classic over the weekend, she was 3-0 with 38 strikeouts in 22 innings! The Bruins will face Cal State Bakersfield at Easton Stadium on campus on Wednesday, beginning at 2:30 p.m.

Men’s Basketball:

>> In the latest RPI calculation by Ken Pomeroy, UCLA ranks ninth in the nation. Tennessee and Memphis are 1-2, followed by North Carolina, Texas, Duke, Xavier, Georgetown and Kansas. Vanderbilt ranked 10th. Other Pac-10 rankings include Arizona at 17, Stanford at 20, Washington State at 22, USC at 39, Oregon at 56 and Arizona State at 69.

Women’s Gymnastics:

>> UCLA not only lost to No. 2 Utah on Sunday, 197.450-195.825, but suffered injuries to all-around stars Anna Li (ranked No. 2 in the nation in the all-around) and Brittani McCullough during the floor exercise. Both are being evaluated in advance of Sunday’s meet with Oregon State in Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins dropped to 12-1 on the season, while the Utes improved to 9-0 and 22-2 all-time against UCLA.

Women’s Tennis:

>> UCLA (8-2) is ranked seventh in the nation, but has three ranked opponents on the schedule this week, starting with No. 8 Baylor (9-1) at the Los Angeles Tennis Center today at 1:30 p.m. Third-ranked Stanford and 11th-ranked Cal come to town for matches on Friday and Saturday. Bruin senior Riza Zalameda has risen to a No. 10 national ranking in singles.

Women’s Water Polo:

>> The top-ranked Bruins (17-0) took  a thrilling sudden-victory match against No. 2 Stanford on Sunday to win the UC Irvine Invitational. Senior Gabrielle Domanic’s goal with seven seconds to play in the third (sudden victory) overtime period was the game-winner. Junior goalkeeper Brittany Fullen had a career-high 15 saves in the match and was named the Mikasa Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Player of the Week.

Basketball Kaleidoscope II: Fourth again

UCLA moved up to fourth (from sixth) in the Associated Press (writer’s) poll today, with Tennessee and Memphis ranked 1-2 and North Carolina third. Also:

>> The roster for the Jordan Classic, a high school all-star game to be played April 19 at 7 p.m. (Eastern time) at Madison Square Garden and televised by ESPN2, contained some familiar names for Bruin fans. Guards Jrue Holiday from North Hollywood Campbell Hall and Malcolm Lee from Riverside J.W. North and power forward Drew Gordon of San Jose Archbishop Mitty -– all of whom have signed letters of intent to attend UCLA in the fall –- were selected.

>> The special white-and-pink jerseys worn by UCLA for its "Think Pink" Week game against Washington at Pauley Pavilion on Feb. 10 were auctioned online after the game and raised $5,062.60. All of it will be donated to the Revlon/UCLA Breast Center to further breast cancer research. The highest single bid was $660 for Erica Tukiainen’s No. 13 UCLA jersey.

Basketball Kaleidoscope: Bruins to hang a banner?

Luke Winn of Sports Illustrated was in Memphis to see the Tigers battle Tennessee in a 1-vs.-2 match-up. Afterward, he reflected on the upcoming NCAA Tournament:

There’s only a small pack of legitimate title hopefuls: Tennessee, UCLA, North Carolina, Duke, Kansas, Memphis and Texas. Our national champion won’t come from outside that group because the drop-off to the crowd that includes the rulers of the Big East (Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame and Uconn) and Big Ten (Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana) is too big. Of the seven contenders, none has the mix of athleticism and quality depth that the Volunteers do. But if I were to fill out a bracket today, I’d be inclined to set up a Tennessee-UCLA title game with the Bruins winning, for three reasons:

• Much of UCLA’s roster already has either one or two Final Fours under its belt.

• Florida, the only team the Bruins have ever seemed to cower and hide from, is finally out of the picture.

• The lone UCLA starter without Final Four experience, Kevin Love, gives them an interior dimension that the Vols simply do not have.

On another matter, John Canzano of The Oregonian -– he who famously ran afoul of Colleen Bellotti in the Autzen Stadium press box last season -– wrote a very interesting column on Love and his quiet work with some kids at Nickerson Gardens in Southern California.

His column also included this:

No, Love's not coming back to UCLA for another year.

Get that straight now.

His father Stan said Friday, "Kevin doesn't really talk about it, he doesn't really think about it, he doesn't want the whole NBA thing to be a distraction, but I can tell there's some pressure on him."

Understand, Love is a certain NBA lottery pick, which means a guaranteed three-year multimillion-dollar contract, which means that everyone, including his coach, Ben Howland, knows that Love's college experience will amount to less than a full calendar year. So yeah, welcome to Kevin Love's life -- the inner-city pipedream.

As we have noted previously, if Love is a lottery (top 14) pick -– and many mock drafts have him at 18-20 right now – he will certainly go. If not, it’s our opinion that he’ll be about 50-50 to stay another year and be a top-10 pick.

California and Stanford game times confirmed

UCLA announced today that its regular season finale in men's basketball on March 8 versus California will begin at 12:30 p.m. The game will be televised by ABC.

The March 6 contest versus Stanford will tip at 8 pm and be televised by Fox Sports Net (FSN Prime Ticket in Los Angeles).

Bruins move up to fourth

Thanks to losses by Kansas and Duke, UCLA moved up from sixth to fourth in this week's ESPN/USA Today college basketball poll.

Tennessee took the top spot after defeating Memphis on Saturday, with the Tigers falling from first to third. North Carolina ranks second, with UCLA fourth, followed by Texas, Duke, Kansas, Stanford in eighth, then Wisconsin and Georgetown. Washington State stayed in the poll at No. 22, and Arizona and USC also received votes this week.

Sunday syllabus: the week that was and the week ahead

A soggy weekend ruined some of the schedule, but for the Bruin men’s basketball team, things couldn’t be sunnier!

Baseball:

>> Last week: The Bruins finally got to play, but the schedule was re-arranged thanks to the weather. After a Friday rainout, UCLA opened its season Saturday with a dramatic 7-5 win over Oklahoma as right fielder Gabe Cohen blasted a two-run, walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth inning. Freshman Dan Klein (1-0) got the win. In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Sooners came back to defeat UCLA, 3-2, in 12 innings. Starter Tim Murphy held Oklahoma to two runs in six innings and Brendan Lafferty pitched four innings of scoreless ball, but Klein gave up a run in the top of the 12th and took the loss (1-1).

>> This week: The Sunday game with Oklahoma was rained out, so the Bruins will play next on Tuesday at Jackie Robinson Stadium against Cal State Northridge and Wednesday against UC Santa Barbara. Game time for both is 6 p.m. On Friday, UCLA will host Southern at Jackie Robinson Stadium (6 p.m.) and then play Bethune-Cookman on ESPN2 on Saturday at 5 p.m. UCLA will have its first meeting of the season with USC at Dedeaux Field on Sunday, March 2 at 1 p.m.

Football:

>> Last week: UCLA confirmed last week that Eric Scott is no longer on the football staff and that Reggie Moore will be the wide receivers coach in 2008.

Men’s Basketball:

>> Last week: The Bruins began the week ranked No. 6 in the nation and they will move up thanks to defeats of teams ahead of them (Memphis, Kansas, Duke) and two wins against Oregon State (84-49) and Oregon (75-65). In Saturday’s game, UCLA (24-3, 12-2 Pac-10) trailed for almost 31 minutes and was down, 48-37, before dominating the final 13 minutes of the game, outscoring the Ducks, 38-17, to end the game.

>> This week: The Bruins head to Arizona for games against Arizona State (17-9, 7-7) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and against Arizona (17-10, 7-7) on Sunday at 1 p.m.

Men’s Golf:

>> Last week: The second-ranked Bruins finished second to No. 4 Alabama in the John Hayt Collegiate Invitational in Ponte Vedra, Fla., early in the week. UCLA soph Jason Kang tied for second at 214 (-2) for the three rounds and defending champion Kevin Chappell tied for 12th.

>> This week: The Bruin "Blue Team" (second squad) will play in the Cal State Bakersfield Spring Invitational at Seven Oaks Country Club on Monday and Tuesday.

Men’s Tennis:

>> Last week: The sixth-ranked Bruins had both of their matches canceled, against Arizona State and Arizona. Because these matches do not count in the Pac-10 standings, they will not be made up.

>> This week: Weather permitting, the Bruins (7-1) will be back in action Wednesday against UC Santa Barbara at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. UCLA will also send teams to the Pacific Coast Doubles Championship in La Jolla, being held from Friday through Sunday.

Men’s Volleyball:

>> Last week: UCLA (10-7, 7-6 in MPSF play) has lost four of its last six Mountain Pacific Sports Federation matches, losing twice this past week at UC Santa Barbara and at Cal State Northridge, both times in four sets. Sophomore Garrett Muagututia had a career night against the Matadors, hitting .480 with 31 kills, but UCLA failed to close out the third set despite having three set points and then lost the fourth set, 30-28.

>> This week: UCLA finishes its midseason, six-game road trip with two matches against Ball State in Muncie, Ind., on Friday and Saturday.

Women’s Basketball:

>> Last week: UCLA split two games on the road, defeating Oregon State in Corvallis, 55-52, on Thursday night and then dropping a 66-55 decision to Oregon at McArthur Court in Eugene on Saturday. As usual, senior Lindsay Pluimer led the Bruins in scoring in both games, with 17 and 15 points, respectively.

>> This week: The Bruins (14-13, 9-7 for fifth in the Pac-10) complete their regular-season schedule at home against Arizona State (17-9, 11-4 for 3rd in Pac-10) on Thursday night and against Arizona (9-18, 3-13 for 9th in Pac-10) on Saturday at 11 a.m. In the first meetings, UCLA lost to Arizona State and defeated Arizona on the road.

Women’s Golf:

>> This week: The No. 1-ranked women’s golf team will find out just how good it is starting Monday at the Wildcat Invitational in Tuscon. A total of 12 of the top 25 teams in the nation will compete, including No. 2 Duke (three-time defending NCAA champions), No. 3 Arizona State and No. 4 USC. UCLA boasts three players ranked in the top ten in the nation: All-American Tiffany Joh (5th) and freshmen Maria Jose Uribe (7th) and Glory Yang (9th).

Women’s Gymnastics:

>> Last week: The ninth-ranked Bruins eased past Arizona, 196.575 to 196.050, in Tucson to run their record to 12-0.

>> This week: No. 2-ranked Utah (8-0) comes to Pauley Pavilion today at 2 p.m. in a major test for the Bruins. The match will be Webcast live on the All-Access section of the uclabruins.com site (registration required).

Women’s Soccer:

>> Last week: UCLA’s sophomore scoring machine, Lauren Cheney, made the U.S. National Team for the Algarve Cup in Portugal from March 5-12. If she plays well, she has an opportunity to be part of the U.S. team for the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament in April in Juarez, Mexico.

Women’s Softball:

>> Last week: UCLA is ranked fifth in the nation and has been busy at the Palm Springs Classic. The Bruin defeated Massachusetts, 4-2, and No. 18 Georgia, 5-2, on Friday and then followed up with two impressive wins Saturday. First, Anjelica Selden tossed a four-hitter as UCLA stomped No. 10 Baylor, 6-1, and then freshman Donna Kerr pitched a one-hit shutout as the Bruins cruised past No. 14 Hawaii, 3-0, in the nightcap. Selden improved to 6-1 on the season while Kerr is now 5-1 with a 0.88 ERA.

>> This week: UCLA (12-2) finishes up in the Coachella Valley with a game against No. 2 Northwestern today, then hosts Cal State Bakersfield on Wednesday at Easton Stadium. The Bruins then head south to the San Diego Invitational for five games in three days from Friday through Sunday.

Women’s Tennis:

>> Last week: The seventh-ranked Bruins were rained out against Arizona State on Friday, but defeated Arizona in Tucson, 6-1, yesterday to improve to 8-1 on the season.

>> This week: UCLA will take on Arizona State today in Tempe, weather permitting, and then start a busy week at home: Baylor on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m., Stanford (5-1) on Friday at 1:30 p.m. and California (3-2) on Saturday beginning at noon.

Women’s Water Polo:

>> Last week: No. 1-ranked UCLA drowned Cal State Northridge, 12-4, and No. 9 Loyola Marymount. 11-6, on Saturday at the UC Irvine Invitational. Katie Rulon had four goals in the opener and Brittany Rowe added three goals against LMU to lead UCLA.

>> This week: UCLA (16-0) zipped past No. 5 Cal, 9-4 this morning and will play in the tournament championship match this afternoon at 5:15 p.m. Courtney Mathewson, Rowe and Anne Belden each had two goals for UCLA and goalkeeper Brittany Fullen had 11 saves. The Bruins have only one other match this week, at UC Santa Barbara next Saturday at noon.

Oregon-UCLA: postgame

The Bruins managed a 75-65 win today against Oregon, coming back from a 48-37 deficit to maintain its first-place standing in the Pac-10. The crowd of 11,355 was loud, topping out at 112 decibels, about the same as being on the tarmac as a jet plane takes off. Other notes:

>> UCLA improved to 24-3 and 12-2 in the Pac-10 while Oregon dropped to 15-12 overall and 6-9 in the conference.

>> UCLA now leads the all-time series at 79-25 and has a 44-5 record in Los Angeles (39-5 at Pauley Pavilion).

>> Bruin Coach Ben Howland is now 8-2 against Oregon at UCLA.

>> Oregon forward Maarty Leunen had a team-high 11 rebounds, moving into third place all-time on the Ducks rebound list with 863. It’s the most rebounds by a Duck in 31 years since Greg Ballard finished his career with a school record 1,114 in 1977. Leunen is the active leader in Pac-10 rebounding. His double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds was his 16th this season.

>> Bruin center Kevin Love had his 16th double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds. He has had 10 double-doubles in his last 12 games.

>> UCLA’s total of 75 points in the 18th time this season that it has scored 70 or more points. The Bruins are 18-0 in those games.

>> UCLA’s largest deficit of the game was 11 points at 48-37, but the Bruins are now 3-2 in games in which they have trailed by 10 or more points. The Bruins led for only 9:01 in today’s game; Oregon had the lead for 30:59.

>> UCLA converted 57% of its offensive possessions into points: 17-31 in the first half (54%) and 21-36 (58%) in the second half. Oregon converted 48% with 17-29 in the first half (58%) and just 15-37 (41%) in the second half. The Bruins scored on their last nine possessions and made eight of 10 free throws in the final three minutes.

>> UCLA’s junior class, which includes Darren Collison, Luc Richard Mbah A Moute, Alfred Aboya and Michael Roll, is now 86-16 in almost three seasons.

>> The only negative today was Josh Shipp's 0-1 from three-point range, so he's now in an 0-20 slump.

Quotes from Oregon Coach Ernie Kent:

"I thought we had an excellent game plan going into tonight’s contest. We executed it for the first 30 minutes; unfortunately, a basketball game is 40 minutes. We did the same thing against USC. We played one of our best games against one of the top teams in the country, but our poise has to be a lot better in the stretch of the contest. Our goal now is to get three more wins and get to the Pac-10 Tournament. That’s our only goal right now.

"We had 11 turnovers in the second half. It doesn’t take a mathematician to figure out that that’s going to hurt you eventually. We did the same thing against SC. Tajuan Porter is struggling sometimes at key points in the game. We just have to have better leadership and poise at key points of the game. It was easier last year when we had Aaron Brooks because we could depend on him for our leadership.

"Overall, our basketball team stood out; we all did a good job. Our bench really helped us out. Malik [Hairston] played well as well as Bryce Taylor. We played solid basketball for the first 30 minutes."

Quotes from UCLA Coach Ben Howland:

"That was another great example of an opposing team giving us their best shot. Oregon is a very good team and they played extremely hard. I believe they’re an NCAA team, even with their current record. We dug a big hole in the beginning, but I was proud of how our guys fought back and kept our composure.

"We did a better job attacking our basket in the second half. We also fought hard on the boards to get valuable second shots. I thought our defense down the stretch was phenomenal and our steals helped us to this win. You have to give Darren Collison a lot of credit for not only scoring, but handling the basketball, but also in slowing down Tajuan Porter. I was happy for Russell [Westbrook], especially coming back from missing a layup and rolling his ankle. He is all about the team and it was good that he made some plays for YouTube. Luc’s defense on a great player like Maarty Leunen was phenomenal. We also rebounded well and that made a difference for us all game.

"Kevin Love’s last eight minutes were very important for us in our comeback. Mata-Real’s minutes were also extremely important for us. He was a great lift off the bench and his big blocks and tip-back shot really helped us cut the lead."

Oregon-UCLA: second half

Tajuan Porter's lightning-fast release on a three-point shot at the buzzer gave Oregon the halftime lead, and he's the leading scorer in the game with 11 points, including 3-5 on three-point shots.

The Ducks shot 48.3% from the field to UCLA's 56.5%, but Oregon had six more attempts and out-rebounded the Bruins, 15-12. For the Bruins, Russell Westbrook and Luc Richard Mbah A Moute had seven each, but the team is 0-4 on three-point tries with Josh Shipp continuing his slump at 0-1.

>> Coming back on the court for second-half warmups, Kevin Love appears to be walking normally and without any special wrapping on his left leg.

>> The Bruin offense continues to struggle, and even when UCLA had a breakaway Westbrook slipped and fell to the ground. He got up and appeared to just twist his ankle. Oregon leads, 40-35, with 15:43 to play. UCLA is 2-8 from the floor in the second half.

>> An 11-2 run sparked by Porter's ball-handling and shooting gave Oregon a 48-37 lead with 13:55 to go, but the Bruins came right back with five points, including a thunderous Westbrook dunk. Love missed two foul shots, and a Maarty Leunen basket has Oregon up, 50-42, with 11:56 to play.

>> UCLA has ratcheted up the intensity several notches, and a 13-4 run that included a Westbrook three-pointer has brought the Bruins back to 52-50 with 7:58 to play. The Bruins have missed layin after dunk after jumper and are shooting only 8-24 in the second half. The Ducks have only 11 second-half shots, but have made seven (63.6%). Oregon has 15 turnovers and the Bruins have 12 steals.

>> The Bruins have ridden a 22-6 run featuring rugged defense and a Collison three-pointer for a 59-56 lead with 3:39 to play and a one-and-one coming to Love. Oregon is now down to 7-16 from the floor in the half and the Ducks haven't made a field goal since 10:54 to play. And they're up to 17 turnovers.

>> Since trailing with 13:27 to go by 37-48, the Bruins rushed to the finish, outscoring Oregon 38-17 to win the game, 75-65. UCLA made eight of 10 free throws in the final three minutes to ice the game. Collison led four men in double figures with 17 and Westbrook added 16. Love had another double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds.

Final score: UCLA 75, Oregon 65

Oregon-UCLA: first half

The Bruins' student section is on its best behavior concerning the Ducks, but it doesn't apply to ESPN commentator and former Bruin Coach Steve Lavin. So when he showed up at courtside with a deep burgundy tie, the students started screaming, "Take off that red tie!" Somehow, a student came up with a yellow-and-blue striped tie, and Lavin appeared to promise to change! Look for it on the telecast.

>> Oregon is wearing some of the strangest jerseys in history, courtesy of Nike. They're black, with black lettering and individual names, which makes them unreadable! At least the numbers are in a contrasting yellow!

>> The Bruins are down 10-4 at the first TV timeout, with the Ducks shooting 67% (4-6) and UCLA only 2-6 for 33%. UCLA is having a difficult time with the Oregon defense, which packed in to try to handle Kevin Love and drives by Darren Collison.

>> It's 17-17 with 11:38 to go as the Bruins already have four steals to slow the Ducks, which are shooting 7-9 from the field (77.8%). Josh Shipp brought the house down with a thunderous breakaway tomahawk dunk to bring the Bruins even.

>> It's 25-23 for Oregon with 3:50 to go in the half, and Alfred Aboya on the line for two shots. The teams have come down to earth with Oregon now at 43.5% (10-23) and the Bruins at 55.6% on 10-18. But the Ducks have controlled the tempo and are out-rebounding the Bruins, 12-10. It's still a challenge for the Bruins to get a good shot at the offensive end.

>> Bad news with less than a minute to go, as Love crumbled to the ground with a left leg injury. The Bruins tied the game at 31-31 on a Russell Westbrook dunk, but Tajuan Porter threw in a long-range, three-point shot to give the Ducks the halftime lead.

Halftime score: Oregon 34, UCLA 31