Basketball kaleidoscope: Have a bash in Phoenix!

Bruin fans going to (or already in) Phoenix can attend a UCLA pregame party – the Bruin Bash – not far from the U-S Airways Center before the Sweet 16 game tomorrow with Western Kentucky.

The event will be held at Coach and Willie’s Restaurant at 412 S. 3rd Street in Phoenix from 2-4 p.m. tomorrow. Prices, which include pre-game activities, food and so on, are $45 for adults in advance ($50 at the door) or $20 for children. Admission for students with a Bruin Card is $38.

There will be a similar party for the Regional finals on Saturday if the Bruins advance. For questions and reservations: (310) 206-2873.

>> ESPN announced that about 3.65 million brackets were entered in the 13th Men’s Tournament Challenge on ESPN.com and of those entries:

• 2 entries picked all Sweet 16 teams correctly;
• 72 entries picked 15 of the 16 teams correctly.

In the most popular Final Four projection, all four no. 1 seeds – Memphis, North Carolina, Kansas and UCLA – make it to San Antonio. North Carolina was picked 67.7% of the time to defeat Kansas in its semifinal and the Bruins were picked 61.8% of the time to defeat Memphis. Of those who picked UCLA and North Carolina to reach the final, the Tar Heels were picked 64.4% of the time.

>> This is UCLA’s 42nd NCAA tournament appearance and the Bruins have won the title in 11 of their prior 41 tries. Of the 30 times that UCLA has been eliminated, 11 have come in the first round, five in their second game and eight times – the second most – in their third game, including three in a row from 2000-02.

>> A pair of future Bruins will be on view tonight starting at 6:30 p.m. as the McDonald’s All-American High School Game from the Bradley Center in Milwaukee is shown on ESPN. Gatorade National Player of the Year Jrue Holiday and guard Malcolm Lee will both play, so you can see some of the new talent that will enroll in the fall.