UCLA-Kansas series

As originally mentioned on Zagsblog and then reported in the Lawrence Journal-World:

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).”

Monday hot links

Hoops:

• Here's a great inside look at what prompted the Love-Mayo trade. [Press-Enterprise]
• More analysis of the Love-Mayo trade. [ESPN Video]
• Jrue Holiday appears at No. 8 on Chad Ford's 2009 draft board. [ESPN]
• Pauley Pavilion ranks sixth on this list of the toughest places to play. [Prep Ticket]

Football: 

• Is UCLA-Tennessee a "toss up." [SMQ]
• Jackie Robinson teammate Ray Bartlett passed away last week. [UCLA]

Elsewhere:

• Former women's hoops star used lessons learned at UCLA for success in LAPD. [The Times]
• Angels' No-No brings up memories for former Bruin pitcher. [The Times]
• Here's an interesting look at jock dorms. [Birmingham News, h/t Da Wiz]
• UCLA is breaking ground on a new aquatic center. [UCLA]

Quote of the week:

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

Previous UCLA-USC trades?

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.

Trading places

People on the East Coast are picking up their newspapers to read about O.J. Mayo playing for Minnesota and Kevin Love playing for Memphis.

Whoops.

The two Southland sensations apparently have been traded for each other, along with a whole mess of other players.

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.

The future is bright ahead ...

Photo from the Associated Press

First reactions

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's announcements

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.

Hubert Davis on Westbrook, Love

A couple more videos from ESPN announcing who went where. Not a lot of new material, but more of the basics. Westbrook is above, Love is below.

Kevin Love suits up for the NBA draft

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's quote of the day

Kevin Love after being selected by Memphis with the fifth overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft:

I'm sure I'll have a slice or two of pizza. Or three, four ... maybe five. We'll see.