Adam Zagoria of zagsblog.net writes that KU will begin a home-and-home series with UCLA in 2009-10.
KU senior associate athletic director Larry Keating, who is charge
of the Jayhawks’ scheduling, said if that series happens, it’d be part
of the Big 12/Pac 10 Hardwood Challenge series.
“We’d like to play them,” Keating said of the Bruins. “We’ve talked
in general about it with them in the past. We play Arizona this year
(in the challenge) and will get a new opponent the following year (in
Challenge). The schools talk, the leagues talk, and TV is involved (in
making attractive matchups).”
Kevin Love has lost 20 pounds since we last saw the UCLA center in the Final Four. He said on ESPN's "Pardon The Interruption" that it's helping him with the ladies. Yeah, because a basketball star at UCLA struggles mightily in that area. — John Ryan
After quizzing some of the top men in the local sports scene, nobody seems to know the answer to this great trivia question:
When was the last time a UCLA/USC player was traded in any sport for another USC/UCLA player?
Obviously Love-Mayo is making headlines today, but there have been a lot of Bruins and Trojans in the NFL, NBA and MLB. The first person to answer
will prove once and for all which school is better. Just kidding ...
but it will be appreciated.
UPDATE: Steve Vanderpool of STATS has the answer —
In
the NBA, it was a three-way, multi-player deal that had Rodrick Rhodes
(USC) going from Vancouver to Orlando and Don MacLean (UCLA) going from
Orlando to Houston on August 27, 1999.
The two previous trades were multi-player deals involving USC's Robert Pack:
Pack from New Jersey to Dallas for Ed O'Bannon on February 17, 1997.
Pack from Denver to Washington for Don MacLean on October 30, 1995.
If you've got any other stories about USC-UCLA trades, feel free to share them in the comments.
I hesitate to call this late-night deal a "blockbuster," as some have
already labeled it. After all, the two biggest names involved have
played a total of 0 minutes in the NBA. They combine for a whopping two
seasons of college ball. Still, the move looks pretty good for both
teams and gives both sides something to build upon.
OK, maybe not quite first reactions — but close enough. I pulled the audio from some UCLA conference calls this evening to give you an inside look (err, listen) to how some very happy Bruins are feeling on this big day. Some of the audio is a little garbled at the beginning, but hey ... this is as raw and unfiltered as it gets!
Ben Howland discusses the first-round picks:
Russell Westbrook on going to Seattle:
Kevin Love on going to Memphis:
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute on going to Milwaukee:
Huge congrats to these three Bruins for making it to the Association!
UCLA issued two news releases tonight, one after Russell Westbrook (4th overall to Seattle) and Kevin Love (5th overall to Memphis) were drafted and another after Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (7th pick in the 2nd round to Milwaukee) was drafted. You can read both after the jump.
We'll be busting out plenty of multimedia coverage from the NBA draft. For starters, here's a look at Kevin Love and his family getting custom-tailored for the draft. Not much to see here, but it's definitely a unique look into the life of a soon-to-be (now officially) NBA player.
Kevin Love joined Joe Alexander and Anthony Randolph to ring the opening bell on Wall Street the other day. They're in New York for tonight's NBA draft. Check out the video from MarketWatch.com.
UCLA redshirt sophomore offensive tackle Sean Sheller will miss the 2008 football season due to injuries suffered in a vehicle accident last Friday.
An MRI showed that Sheller’s left knee sustained a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament and the medial collateral ligament. Surgery to reconstruct the ACL and repair the MCL will be scheduled at a later date. His left ankle also sustained a wound which is being treated on a daily basis to prevent infection.
“Our hearts go out to Sean and his family,” said head coach Rick Neuheisel. “The young man is devastated. I am confident that his surgery will go well and he will come back better than ever.”
“It really hasn’t hit me that I won’t be able to play this year,” said Sheller. “I am anxious to have the surgery so that I can begin my rehab and get back with my teammates as soon as possible.”
Sheller was the projected starter at right tackle.
The NBA draft is in about an hour and for you truly dedicated gamblers, you can throw some bills down on where different players will go. Sportsbook.com has these lines as of this posting:
Kevin Love drafted ahead of Brook Lopez: -160
O.J. Mayo picked third overall: -220
O.J. Mayo picked anywhere else: +170
All other bets are off.
They're also running these odds on where Love will be drafted:
The Bruins of UCLA finished runner-up for the third straight year, and the sixth time overall. UCLA has finished in the top-six of the standings since the inception of the Directors’ Cup in 1993-94. The Bruins scored in 18 total sports, the maximum 10 women’s sports and eight men’s sports for 1182.00 points. UCLA took home three national championships this year – men’s golf, women’s tennis and women’s water polo, and finished runner-up in women’s golf and men’s tennis.
Stanford has won for a bazillion years in a row (give or take), but UCLA did have the most points in spring sports this year.
The Pac-10 lived up to its well deserved billing of "Conference of Champions" by capturing 13 NCAA titles during the 2007-08 academic year, second-highest total ever for a conference and just one title shy of the all-time record of 14 set by the Pac-10 during the 1996-97 academic year. The Pac-10 total of 13 NCAA titles far outstripped any other conference. The Big Ten was runnerup with five NCAA crowns, followed by the ACC and SEC with four each. It marks the eighth time in the last nine years that the Pac-10 has topped all conferences in NCAA championships won. In addition to the 13 championships, Pac-10 teams posted runnerup finishes 11 times.
Seven former Pacific 10 Conference players made the NBA Finals this month and seven more — USC's O.J. Mayo, UCLA's Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook, Stanford's Brook and Robin Lopez, Arizona's Jerryd Bayless and Cal's RyanAnderson — are projected to be first-round picks tonight. . . .
Among the seven Pac-10 players in the NBA finals were Bruins Jordan Farmar and Trevor Ariza.
The UCLA women's water polo, women's tennis and men's golf teams were honored Tuesday at the White
House along with fellow NCAA champions for their
accomplishments over the last year.
Alfred Aboya is leaving Los Angeles on a high note. After turning in a solid three-game performance in a gym near downtown, he was named Player of the Week in Rico's Get Better League. You can see some of his highlights at the beginning of the video above. UCLA Radio's Kyle Hyman broke the news to Aboya, and you can hear his surprised reaction here.
On Wednesday, Aboya will head to a training camp in France with the rest of the Cameroon national team. After that it's on to Athens and hopefully Beijing for the nation's first trip to the Olympics in hoops. The interview breaks down Cameroon's Olympic qualifying road and what will factor into Aboya's decision to play for the Bruins next season.
Last week UCLA announced that jumps coach Mike Powell is stepping away from the track and field team to focus on some of his other responsibilities. With the Olympics right around the corner, the long-jump world-record holder is going to be a hot commodity on broadcasts and at special events. Powell is also a motivational speaker and shares the story of how he achieved greatness.
After this spring's dual meet against USC, Powell has showed that he's one of the nicest guys you'll ever find around the track. I dug into the archives and found this quick interview ...
A UCLA official has confirmed that offensive lineman Sean Sheller was involved in an ATV accident this weekend. The extent of any injuries is still being determined at this time.
Also, Donovan Edwards, an O-lineman at Diablo Valley CC, announced that he will be coming to UCLA in the fall. First he needs to go to summer school to gain admission. Click here for more from Chris Foster.
Somebody made an interesting point that most top players have been signed by this point in the year, and pondered how good Edwards could be. Remember that schools usually like to get young offensive linemen and develop them for four or five years. The Bruins are in a unique situation because of depth concerns, and have been the biggest name in the market for O-line talent this off-season — which could have been ample reason for a solid JUCO player to postpone his decision.
UPDATE ON SHELLER: UCLA said Monday afternoon that Sheller injured his left knee and ankle. The severity of the injuries still hasn't been determined.
Another Bruin is representing at Rico's Get Better League. Lorenzo Mata-Real sat down with UCLA Radio's Kyle Hyman after playing a summer league game and agreed with Alfred Aboya that graduation was his personal highlight of the year. The interview also goes in depth about what it's like going to NBA draft workouts.
Aboya and Mata-Real may not be the only Bruins participating in the league. Alex Stepheson, a UNC transfer considering UCLA, will also play there this summer.
Rico's Get Better League debuted this week, becoming the second major summer league for college players in the L.A. area. After playing a tough game, UCLA's Alfred Aboya talked about the league, his graduation, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and more. Asked if he's coming back next year, Aboya laughed before answering, "It's a step-by-step process. The next challenge for me is the Olympics.... We'll go from there." The Olympics start for him July 14.
We have, it appears, our first known promise of the draft. Multiple sources say that UCLA's Westbrook has shut down all workouts and has a promise in the mid-lottery range.
Apparently the promise isn't coming from the Knicks. They like Westbrook at No. 6, but they're also looking at Mayo, Bayless, Alexander and Eric Gordon.
The promise isn't coming from the Bucks or Pacers; neither team was able to get him in for a workout.
That leaves the Clippers at No. 7 and the Bobcats at No. 9. As noted above, the Clippers are trying to move up to get Mayo, so I doubt it's them. That leaves the Bobcats as the most likely to have made a promise to Westbrook.
One other possibility: The Seattle SuperSonics have taken a strong interest in Westbrook, according to sources. Although No. 4 is a little higher than expected for him to go, one source said it's possible that the Sonics will trade down a few spots and take Westbrook.
He adds that the Suns are also interested in Westbrook, but would need to trade up to get him.
Sports Blogs Nation is a large network of — you guessed it — sports blogs. They recently underwent a major overhaul that made their sites more visually appealing and added a lot of functionality. Apparently one of the major things they were looking for is cross-talk in their community.
I'm not sure if this is how they expected it to play out, but a pair of their sites have gotten one heck of a debate going. One is Bruins Nation, which many of you should be familiar with as the most active independent UCLA blog. It proudly declares itself the "blog of the Bruins, by the Bruins, for the Bruins." The other is Sunday Morning Quarterback, an irreverent site that has established itself as one of the top national college football blogs (I've never tried to rank them, but they're easily a top three and a perennial contender for No. 1). Both are excellent blogs that I have a lot of respect for.
It all started last Thursday, when Bruins Nation posted about expectations for the 2008 football season, and SMQ posted about the Bruins coaching changes in its series called "Mandate for Change." Over the next few days, these college football blog heavyweights started reading each other's work, taking offense and responding. It's all friendly sports talk, of course. There are a lot of posts now, so it's hard to keep track. I've tried to create a Cliffs Notes version below for those of you who enjoy a good debate (don't we all?). The original posts contain a lot of great links and more information. If you love a good sports debate and have the time, I recommend checking them out.
Kevin Lovejust worked out for the Timberwolves. Check out the photo — he clearly has lost some weight and is getting into amazing basketball shape. [Minnesota Star Tribune]
Apparently Love has upgraded from dorm food to Mr. Chow ... and he's made it to TMZ status. [TMZ]
How busy has this off-season been? Ask Andy Katz.
His first 2008-09 rankings had USC at No. 10 and UCLA at No. 17. Now the
Bruins are No. 3 and the Trojans don't crack the top 25. [ESPN]
After just four NBA workouts (Chicago, Milwaukee, Charlotte and Dallas), Luc Richard Mbah a Moute decided Monday to leave his name in the NBA draft. He will forgo his senior season, but is just a few classes from graduating and expects to complete his degree in one or two summers. He's doing fine academically and wont' hurt UCLA's APR.
Mbah a Moute, who has at least two more workouts scheduled with Portland and Detroit, spoke with the media Monday, as did UCLA Coach Ben Howland. Some quotes after the jump lend some insight into the decision. Also, for more on the story:
During a conference call Monday about Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (more on his departure in a moment), UCLA Coach Ben Howland broke down the roster for next season.
We're very lucky to have three seniors in our program in Darren
Collison, Josh Shipp and Alfred Aboya. Those will really be the three
guys leading us into next season. We have the junior class, which
assuming [Michael Roll] gets his redshirt year back he'll be part of along with
James Keefe and Nikola Dragovic, and the five freshmen.
So there's 11
guys on scholarship which again leaves us a little short-handed. We
signed one over the limit in the fall, and because of Chace's departure we end up being two under at the end of the day! That really makes it
difficult. I would rather have 13 guys on scholarship than 11. Maybe
something else will happen in the future, you never know.
When reporters asked if that last remark was a prediction, Howland gave a clear "no." When pressed about Alex Stephenson, he declined to comment because of NCAA rules prohibiting coaches from talking to the media about recruits.
I'd like to take a moment to say thank you to this blog's No. 1 fan. My dad is, to say the least, far outside of the demographic that you'd expect to read blogs — much less one about college sports. Yet I don't think he's missed a single word I've written. He was never much for playing sports either, but when I was little he would go outside with me and toss a ball around even though I suspect it was the last thing on earth he wanted to do.
A couple weeks ago. I was at the unveiling of a mural dedicated to John Wooden. The artist was also a teacher, and spoke about working with troubled kids. He said that if you ask the people on the front lines, the biggest risk factor for children isn't gangs or drugs, it's the lack of an involved father figure.
Dad, thank you for being so involved.
The day of the unveiling, Coach Wooden read a poem that was very meaningful to him. I thought it was perfect for today. Enjoy.
Various late-week announcements from Morgan Center:
UCLA senior tight end Logan Paulsen and
senior defensive tackle Brigham Harwell will serve as captains for the
2008 football season. The two players were selected by team vote. In addition, Coach Rick Neuheisel will name additional captains on a weekly basis.
Chris Horton, selected by the Washington
Redskins in April’s NFL draft, has signed a contract, the team announced.
Jim Rome took a rip (or four) at Rick Neuheisel on his TV show Thursday. The commentary had to do with a fundraiser in which Neuheisel auctioned a sideline pass for the showdown against USC — and an opportunity to call the first play of the game.
Here's where we first heard about it. Of course, it seems the Neuheisel might have been kidding and his stipulation that "we may audible your call" is proof that he's still putting his law degree to use.
UCLA great Jonathan Ogden has announced that he's retiring from the NFL. Ogden made an immediate impact as the first player ever selected by the Baltimore Ravens, and went on to make 11 Pro Bowls in 12 seasons. The offensive tackle also was an All-American as a shot putter, had his number retired by the Bruins, and is in the UCLA Athletics Hall of Fame. Five years from now, he also should be in the NFL Hall of Fame.
In the videos above and below, ESPN provides highlights of the news conference and some commentary on Ogden's career.
What made the 6-foot-9,
345-pound tackle so great was that he was so much more dominating than
those who went against him. He towered over his opponents but was able
to lower his basketball-style body into blocking stances that prevented
even the shortest defensive ends from getting past him. His ability to
consistently nullify the opponent's right defensive end or best
pass-rusher without blocking help from teammates opened up offenses to
where they are today
Just a reminder: "Scully & Wooden: For the Kids" will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. The evening will feature Vin Scully and John Wooden, with our own T.J. Simers as the host in a rare "Inside the Actor's Studio"-style event. Some tickets are still available online. The 7,000-seat theater is expected to be sold out. The $25 seats appear to be gone, but there are a number of other levels up to $200.
If you can't make it, the event will be televised on FSN West.
With Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen joining a couple of other key college football figures in retirement, could the BCS change? Not likely. [NYT Quad Blog]
Josh Shipp has signed paperwork to withdraw from the 2008 NBA draft and will return to UCLA for the coming season. The full news release is after the jump.
Here's the first four minutes of Ben Howland's conference call. I'll try to add some more audio and/or quotes later (it was a long call) ...
Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen will retire next summer.
Hansen's 26-year reign has seen the Pac-10 firmly establish itself
as the nation's top all-sports conference, with UCLA, Stanford and
USC dominating the NCAA's list of schools with the most championships.
Of the 32 titles awarded so far this year, the Pac-10 has claimed a
whopping 13. That's second place on the historical list behind ... the
Pac-10 in 1996-97 (14 championships). It's the fifth time the Pac-10
has hit double digits, a mark no other conference has reached.
Oh, track and field (both men's and women's) and baseball still haven't wrapped up this season.
Some people will remember Hansen's last few years as a time when the
Pac-10 stood in the way of a football playoff. Others will look at this
as an opportunity to catch up with other leagues in terms of TV
contracts and bowl tie-ins.
For the way Hansen wants to be remembered, check out the news release after the jump.
Here's a fun look back at Russell Westbrook's career from high school kid to NBA lottery pick. There are a lot of grainy YouTube videos out there, but this one's editing stands out and is worth a few minutes if you want to reminisce.
Rivals.com recruiting guru Rick Kimbrel shared some perspective on UCLA football and Rick Neuheisel during an interview (scroll down a few questions). [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]
A 25-foot-long mural was unveiled Friday at John R. Wooden High School in Reseda honoring the life of the school's namesake. Coach Wooden was on hand for the ceremony and shared some wisdom with the assembled group of students and local dignitaries. Click the play button to hear his 12-minute speech, introduced by one of the school's seniors:
The mural was done by local artist and teacher Hector Rios. More on the school — and one of Wooden's little-known legacies — after the jump ...
J'Mison Morgan is now "officially" going to UCLA after signing a non-binding piece of paper. Click here for the L.A. Times article and click here for the UCLA news release (including a link to full audio of a conference call with Ben Howland). Things will be 100% set when Morgan starts summer school. He's expected to enroll in Summer Sesson A, starting June 23.
Other quick quotes and player updates from Howland's conference call (held Thursday afternoon):
The fact that Russel [Westbrook] is now slated to be a lottery pick I think precluded any chance of him coming back ... it's quite amazing to see how far he's come in a short amount of time ... Russel lived up in the men's gym last summer, playing against NBA [players] everyday.
Kevin [Love] is the best outlet passer in the last 20 years in college basketball. I can't even think of who's even close ... it's ridiculous how good Kevin is, skill-wise.
You've got to have weight to hold your ground. This young man, Bobo [Morgan], is 248 pounds right now — today ... he will definately be competing for that position.
[Malcolm Lee] and Drew Gordon will be in the second [summer] session ... Malcolm and Drew are trying out for the Olympic team (18-and-under) and if they make that they'll be going to Argentina during that first session.
It looks good that Alfred [Aboya] will be back for his fourth year of eligibility and will be working on a masters program.
I saw Michael [Roll] yesterday and again today. His foot is coming along real well.
I saw Josh [Shipp] today ... he was out shooting and had his shirt off. His body looks better than I've ever seen it. Josh is in tremendous physical condition right now.
Luc [Richard Mbah a Moute] is in Chicago today working out for the Bulls.
UCLA forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is in Chicago for a workout Thursday with the Bulls, according to his brother Armel Minyem.
Minyem,
who played basketball at Rider College in New Jersey and now works
in marketing for a sports club in Washington, D.C., said Mbah a Moute
is also scheduled for a workout Monday with the Charlotte Bobcats.
He said the Boston Celtics also have expressed interest in the
6-foot-8 forward, who has started on three Final Four teams. Mbah a
Moute must decide by June 16 whether he wants to keep his name in the
draft or withdraw his name and play his senior season at UCLA.
Minyem
said the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks have indicated that they
would like to see Mbah a Moute. "Right now," he said, "the Celtics are trying to
schedule something in Los Angeles next week when they play the Lakers."
Toronto and Portland, Ore., also are possibilities. "I'm trying to
get as many done as possible before June 16," Minyem said. "After that,
we'll see." Minyem said his brother is truly undecided about whether
to return to UCLA. "Even if I wanted to, I couldn't tell anybody," he
said. "Because I don't think Luc knows."
Last week UCLA announced that jumps coach 
