Recruiting news has become more popular in the past decade, resulting in more pressure on reporters to break stories on the latest and greatest teenager. I couldn't help laughing when a UCLA spokesperson had to release the following statement after multiple reporters asked for info on an u'nidentified r'ecruit:
To All Media:
UCLA does not comment on prospective
student-athletes until such time as he or she has signed a National Letter
of Intent or written offer of financial aid.
This is huge news for the Bruins, because they need somebody to fill in for Kevin Love (assuming he goes pro). Alfred Aboya may leave for graduate school, but even if he remains Morgan seems likely to get plenty of time on the court. He's ranked as one of the top centers in the nation and joins a recruiting class already considered the best in America.
As much as this is a sigh of relief, it's still frustrating to see what the NBA has done to Ben Howland's team this past month. It's not just that players are leaving early, it's how they're leaving early.
It can be hard to have a meaningful impact on college athletics, but one Bruin fan is waging a campaign to get Louisiana State University to let J'Mison Morgan out of his letter of intent. It's no DumpDorrell, but it is ... ReleaseMorgan.com
In related news, the Shreveport Times has an article with lots of news about LSU hoops, including the following bits on Morgan (a.k.a. BoBo):
LSU Coach Trent Johnson still thinks he can keep Morgan, but he's not "going to beg."
Johnson denies Morgan's mother's claim that the coach hasn't called BoBo enough.
"He's a very good young man, but is he by any means Shaquille O'Neal? No, he's not," Johnson said.
The 6-foot-10 center may wind up in Westwood if things fall UCLA's way.
[New LSU coach Trent] Johnson, speaking before the kickoff Tiger Tour event at the Alexandria
Riverfront Center, said he planned to talk late Wednesday night or this
morning to 6-foot-10 center J'Mison Morgan of Dallas in the wake of
Wednesday's report that his mother is seeking a release from the letter
of intent and scholarship agreement her son signed last November.
The article is in Thursday's edition of the Daily Advertiser in Lafayette, La.
Nobody knows where Kevin Love will play next year, but the presumptive NBA first-rounder already has a huge fan in Dallas.
A friend of Jason Kidd tells us that while sitting at the premier of "Gunnin' For That #1 Spot" at the Tribeca Film Festival, Kidd "was waxing poetic about Kevin’s outlet
passing, saying that he is easily the greatest outlet passer in the history of the
game ... and that he’d love to play with K-Love."
Kidd is also a big fan of Michael Beasley and Brandon Jennings. The soon-to-be NBA players all star in "Gunnin' For That #1 Spot," a documentary set to be released June 27. We'll have a full review before the opening.
Top prep center J'Mison Morgan may be getting out of his letter of intent with Louisiana State. Rivals.com is reporting that Morgan, "a class of 2008 five-star prospect from South Oak Cliff (Texas) High
School, will ask for his release from LSU, according to his AAU coach,
Jazzy Hartwell."
UCLA was on Morgan's short list before he committed, and the 6-foot-10 center could help fill the void created by Kevin Love's departure. There's a lot of Internet buzz right now, but remember he hasn't even been granted the release yet. Stay tuned ...
My in-box seemed pretty tame today ... Kevin Love is in a new documentary ... Terry Donahue is named alumni of the year (more on that later) ... Ben Olson officially decides to have surgery on his foot ... Chace Stanback is transf... Wait. What?
According to UCLA, the freshman swingman who came in with a ton of potential has decided to leave after the spring quarter. He hasn't decided where he's going, but he isn't coming back to Westwood. He didn't see a lot of action last year and there's one heck of a recruiting class coming in, but with all the other departures I'm a little surprised. It'll be easy to speculate that he might have been influenced by the return of Darren Collison, but Collison only has one more year left. Stanback has three.
The full Stanback news release is after the jump.
Also, what appears to be the NBA's final list of early entries to the draft appeared on NBC today. No surprises for UCLA.
Josh Shipp has put his name in the 2008 NBA draft, but will not hire an agent so as to retain his eligibility. He is the fourth Bruin to do so this month, joining Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute.
UCLA point guard Darren Collison will be back in blue and gold next season. The junior announced today that he will return for his senior season and forgo the NBA draft, which many had expected him to enter.
Kevin Love went to the UCLA softball game against the U.S. National Team on Tuesday night.
At the end of the fourth inning, the public address announcer had to ask the crowd to leave the basketball superstar alone. A lot of people laughed as the 6-foot-10 center hadn't made himself inconspicuous by sitting in the front row behind home plate. Love quickly relocated to another section.
Love seems to be really enjoying (what would appear to be) his last days before heading to the NBA, smiling and cheering loudly for some of the players.
Kevin Love and O.J. Mayo came to Los Angeles on the covers of magazines. They'll drift away (unless the Clippers draft one of them) on the airwaves. Set to the tune of — you guessed it — "Love and Marriage," it's time for "Love and Mayo."
Dick Banks is the man behind the music. He creates a lot of great parodies for the Dave Dameshek Show on 710 ESPN (weekdays 4-7 p.m.).
In a column this weekend, The Times' Bill Plaschke argued that college basketball is suffering under the current system in which insta-stars spend only one year in school before bouncing to the NBA.
Would college basketball be better if all those one-and-done freshmen
were once again allowed to go from high school to the pros? Thus
leaving the college game for the kids who will at least spend a couple
of years in college and allow for the building of a system and the
continuation of a tradition? I vote yes and yes.
Right now, guys like Kevin Love don't really have a choice. In fact, Love had said that if he wasn't forced to sit out a year, he would have gone straight into the NBA draft from high school. Heralded incoming freshman Jrue Holiday could also be a one-and-done. Coach Ben Howland has suggested that a middle ground might exist in which a high school player can enter the draft, but opt to go to school if not picked in the top 20 or so.
The NBA probably won't change anything, but college coaches do have the choice to say "no" to a player who may threaten the team concept and even APR (academic progress rate). On the other hand, these guys are really, really good.
Our friends at the Dave Dameshek Show on 710 ESPN just passed us this interview with Kevin Love. In it, Dameshek and Love talk about this year's loaded freshmen class, Love's love for the Lakers (or Clippers, or whoever will sign his paychecks), and what he still wants to accomplish as a student. Let's just say he's setting himself up to be a broadcaster. Maybe one day he'll replace another former Bruin who's doing NBA color commentary.
The interview runs about 10 minutes. You can catch more Dameshek from 4-7 p.m. weekdays on KSPN-AM (710).
Posted by: Adam Rose Photo by: Ric Francis / Associated Press
UCLA's Luc Richard Mbah
a Moute put his name into the NBA draft Thursday along with Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook, though he did not announce it until Friday. Like Love and Westbrook, he will not immediately hire an agent.
The NBA draft lottery will be May 20.
Players can have private workouts with teams starting June 3. Undergrads may withdraw their early draft entry up until June 16. UCLA Coach Ben Howland estimated that a player could squeeze in as many as 10 workouts in that time. There also is a pre-draft camp May 27-29 in Orlando, Fla.
Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook both announced Thursday afternoon that they are entering the 2008 NBA draft.
Neither will hire an agent at this time, meaning they could potentially return. Westbrook said he might stay if it looks like he will fall below the 20th pick in the draft.
Both intend to earn their degrees, but Love made a very big point about it. He also said he's been having the best year of his life on several levels, and looks forward to giving back to UCLA in the future.
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute also was expected to disclose his plans Thursday, but has postponed the announcement until Friday or Monday.
In between the announcements, UCLA presented Nikki Caldwell as the new women's basketball coach. When asked if she was ready to take on her first head coaching position, Caldwell said that as an assistant in Tennessee, Pat Summit put her in a unique position to deal with recruits, boosters and even make big calls during games.
Norm Chow obviously wasn't thrilled about the players walking out.
He talked about that and a whole lot more on PMS ("The Petros and Money
Show") on KLAC-AM (570). Click here to hear the audio (about 14 minutes).
The courtside angle has gotten a lot of play on YouTube, but here's one that a lot of people missed ... the overhead view of UCLA's Kevin Love hitting some amazing shots in practice.
UCLA recruits accounted for more than a third of the total scoring for the United States in Saturday's Nike Hoop Summit.
The
annual all-star game pits the top American high school players against
the best under-19 international players. This year's contest was held
in Portland, Ore., and ended in a 98-78 win for the U.S.
The American squad featured a starting lineup with three Bruins: Drew
Gordon
(15 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks, 2 steals), Jrue Holiday (13 points, 5
assists, 3 steals), and Malcolm Lee (2 points, 4 rebounds). Fellow UCLA
commit Jerime Anderson came off the bench to add 4 points, 2 rebounds
and 3 assists.
Seven of Holiday's points came during an 11-0 run to open up the second half and help put the game out of reach.
The four comprise a heralded UCLA recruiting class ranked top in the nation by Scout.com and second by Rivals.com.
The top scorer in the game was DeMar DeRozan with 17 points. He will face
the Bruins a couple times in 2008-'09 as the top recruit at USC.
Victories in a single year: 35 (previous: 32 in 1995 and 2006)
Victories in a three-year span: 97
Total games played: 39 (tied with 2006)
Individual records
Consecutive starts: 39 by Josh Shipp (breaking 38 by Aaron Afflalo and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute in 2006)
Games played: 39 by Shipp, Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook and Alfred Aboya (tied 2006's record by Afflalo, Mbah a Moute and Darren Collison)
Points by a freshman: 681 by Love (previous: 577 by Don MacLean in 1989)
Rebounds by a freshman: 415 by Love (previous: 318 by Mbah a Moute in 2006)
Three-point field goal percentage: .525 by Collison (previous: .500 by Tracy Murray in 1992)
Minutes played: 1,318 by Westbrook (most since this statistic was first tracked in 1979)
Also of note, Ben Howland is the first UCLA coach since John Wooden to win three straight conference championships. He joins Kentucky's Adolph Rupp and Memphis' John Calipari as the only coaches to win at least 30 games in three consecutive seasons.
UCLA Coach Ben Howland’s longest news conference of the season continued Wednesday with a look at the future and what he expects out of some of the current players going into next season.
>> Asked about a timetable on personnel, he said, "We’ll probably have decisions along the way [during the next week] as we have in the past and, as soon as we do, we’ll let you know. I hope you would respect the privacy of the parents and their children and the opportunity to make a carefully thought-out decision without feeling the pressure that ‘I have to come up with something now because everybody wants me to.’ It’s an important decision that affects the rest of their lives."
>> Asked about the possibility of signing another player for next season, Howland said, "It’s really hard now, in terms of senior-wise. We were unbelievably lucky to have signed Russell Westbrook the way we did a couple of years ago. There aren’t that many Russells; there must be one right now, because the next Westbrook is out there still. But I don’t know how he is right now.
"Someone asked me today, ‘Are you going to take some time off, relax?’ I said no, that’s not what I am going to do.
"There’s not really a plan in place to follow from past years from other programs. Right now, we have the potential to lose a lot of guys, or not that many and we’re continuing to recruit players. But there aren’t that many guys that are available to come in and help us for next year.
"We would [entertain a junior college player], but it’s very hard because of our entrance requirements. When you have to transfer a significant amount of JC units into a UC, a lot of kids in junior college are put into physical education classes to make sure they get a good start because typically a lot of kids who are high-level, high-major players who ended up in junior college, the typical kid wasn’t a good student coming out of high school. So there aren’t that many guys that would academically qualify from the junior college level, especially big guys; they’re so hard to find. There’s such a premium on them. And we’re not just relegated to big guys, I mean just good player, period.
"Believe me, we’ve been looking all year. There’s a few kids, a couple guys that are big bodies, strong. But big kids are hard [to get] in general. That also applies at the next level. When you have all these big guys that are coming out, usually what NBA programs do for the most part, in the lottery, is they draft based on the best player. And then as you move down the draft further, you draft more on need. But there’s an incredible amount of big guys out there. I had seven guys 7 feet or bigger; if they all come [out] are first-rounders in this year’s draft. And there’s a bunch of 6-10 guys. It’s an impressive draft. If you’re an NBA exec right now, you’re pretty excited, especially if you’ve got two picks like some of them do."
>> There were a lot of hypothetical questions about what would happen in various scenarios. Howland summarized the personnel issues by saying that "James Keefe came out at the end of the year and was terrific. Mike Roll we really missed this year and he still is having issues with his foot. It’s still not completely good. We’re getting a second opinion on his foot sometime here in the next week. There’s still issues with that thing, but I’m confident he’ll be awarded his redshirt year and have two years of eligibility.
"I think Nikola [Dragovic] and Chace [Stanback] plan to be here next year and will work really hard in the spring. We’ll see about Josh [Shipp], Alfred [Aboya] and Luc [Richard Mbah A Moute]. There’s a good chance that they could be here, but there’s also a chance that they could test, go, etc. So there is a lot of uncertainty, which doesn’t make my job fun at this time of the year.
"Our program will be fine. I want what’s best for them and that’s what they have to decide. That’s what they have to figure out and my job is to help them do that, but, ultimately, it’s the player’s families and the players themselves that make decisions about their future, just as they did when they elected to come to UCLA.
"I’m hoping that things work out. Our recruiting class is very stellar coming in. Drew Gordon is going to get a lot of playing time as a freshman, which is what all freshmen want. I think all four of our freshmen — we have two McDonald’s All-Americans in Jrue Holiday and Malcolm Lee — and I am really high on and impressed with Jerime Anderson."
>> Howland added a few more details on his discussion with Kevin Love on Tuesday: "He was really upset ... because things were reported that weren’t true and so he was calling his mother and calling his dad. I’m expecting that he’ll have some decision early next week.
"What I will explain to him and explain to every player is that when you put your name in and you go through the whole process, you see guys that go and guys that go down based on the workouts. But most of it is based on how they perform during the year and not one game changes how a kid is viewed. They look at the body of work as they should. This is an anomaly here [this year], especially of big guys. Like the kid at Nevada-Reno [7-1 JaVale McGee] — not many people have heard of him; he’s a top-20 pick. The Lopezes: one’s a lottery, one’s a top 20. There are a lot of exceptional big guys out there this year; it’s incredible.
"I think every kid’s dream is to be an NBA player, as it was for moi. The reality is very few kids are able to get to that level and stay at that level. That’s the key. You see guys who go in for a year or two, they don’t make it and they don’t last. The key is once you get there, to perform and do well. That’s why you want to hit the ground running when you get there. And that’s key, in my opinion, for every player to consider that puts his name in. You always want to leave the door open for yourself if you determine that, for whatever reason, you want to come back. What worries more than anything is when you have this Brandon Rush deal [blowing his knee out before the draft]. Would they have won it this year without him? Probably not, and he was not coming back. Ed O’Bannon, there’s another.
"I just think you should keep all your options open if you elect to put your name in.... Jordan Farmar, for example, didn’t decide until the day before the last day before you could take your name out. You know, you send in a fax saying you’re taking my name back out. It was the last minute on him. And I’m so proud everything has worked out so well for him."
>> About this year’s starting guards, he noted of Westbrook: "His mom and dad are really solid people. They want to do what’s right for their son. Russell’s an exceptional kid, he’ll be honor roll too, by the way. He had one test outstanding that still hadn’t been graded, but he’ll be on there." And he said of Collison, "There’s definitely a chance that Darren will come back. Nothing’s been decided yet. We’re going to meet in the next couple days with him and his parents."
>> About the future situation at center: "[Keefe is] 227 pounds, so I think it would be hard for him. Alfred can. Alfred’s 245 pounds and much stronger in his lower body than James is. And obviously, Drew Gordon will be thrust into that role of having to match up with other teams’ five-man [centers]. And there aren’t that many true Lopezes running around out there in college basketball. I thought, for example, that Joey Dorsey was an absolute animal against us and when you looked at him, and how physical it was. If you go back and watch the film, you would be astounded at what he was doing in terms of pushing and shoving and slamming his body.
"James has got to get bigger and stronger in the off-season. I think that what he showed at the end of the season, including the SC and Stanford games in the [Pac-10] tournament and especially the Western Kentucky performance, he has a very bright future in his last two years at UCLA and I know he’s excited about next season."
>> About Alfred Aboya, the Bruin coach said, "Let’s project and say Kevin did leave; Alfred you would look at, right now, as our leading candidate to be our starting center next year. If we were to lose him, we’ve already lost Lorenzo, that would be obviously, a huge loss. I hope that Alfred does come back; I hope he finishes his last year of college. I think he’ll have a great year, but again, that’s his decision. He has issues within family, for example; his dad is a diabetic and his mother has high blood pressure and they both need medications and they cost significant amounts of money. So he has that; that is a stress on him. There’s a lot of things that are hard of these kids to know and he has to make that decision. He still may not be able to finish the classes. For example, if Alfred goes and plays for the national team, he may not be able to finish the classes in the summer and he would have to come back because graduation from college is the No. 1 priority for that young man.
"He’s given way too much and has been so key in our last three years and the success we’ve had; Alfred can take whatever time he needs. He’s talked about law school; he’s not certain what he wants to do in that respect, so there’s some uncertainty as to what he wants."
>> Concerning Mbah A Moute: "It was a tough year for him with the two ankle injuries. I was just so proud of the way he fought back and powered through those and dealt with them. The first ankle injury against Arizona was the first time he’d ever sprained that ankle. Whenever you have a first-time sprain, it’s serious. He was out nine days, 10 days and then he re-did the same ankle; that was coming down on somebody’s foot in that SC game. He had the concussion that kept him out a week and that was the game at Oregon; that was an unbelievable win, we had eight guys on scholarship eligible to play that night."
>> On Dragovic:"I think he wants to come back, that’s been his thing. His parents are not poor, so he doesn’t have to go home. They’re fairly well to do; his dad’s a successful businessman. They want their son to get his college degree. They really appreciate — and have been here — the great opportunity he’s been given at UCLA. My thing is for him is to be more committed as a basketball player. I thought he came in here this year and expected to produce and give us more than he was able to and that’s something he knows already. He’s going to have to work really hard because he would have more of an opportunity this year if things work out where we would lose guys."
>> On Stanback: "Chace has improved during the year and those are the two guys that would be thrown in the forefront in terms of opportunity."
>> As for a retrospective on the season, Howland said, "As I reflect upon it now, obviously, I couldn’t have been more disappointed to have gotten there [the Final Four] again and not won a national championship. It was very frustrating. I thought this was our best chance. That being said, we lost to a team that was a free throw away from being 39-1 and a great team and better than us on Saturday.
"And we had a fantastic year, especially when you consider that we didn’t have the depth that was probably necessary in the backcourt. Our back-up guard was our starting power forward and that was tough. All things considered, we started out the season with nine guys on scholarship that were able to play in the first six games and we were at 10 for most of the year, although at times we were at eight. For example at Oregon, we had eight guys; we had nine numerous times. Right now, it’s just too early to say how many guys we’re even going to have here next year who are from this current team. We have one senior, that’s all I know. Lorenzo Mata[-Real] — I couldn’t be more proud of a kid the way he handled this season with Kevin Love, a first-team All-American, MVP of the Pac-10, to come in and basically beat him out at the starting center position. He had a great attitude, all about winning and all about team, just an unbelievable kid who is going to be three courses short of graduation going into this quarter; he’ll have one course this summer to complete and he’ll graduate in four years and that’s really, really — to me — special, considering how far he’s come in that sense. I’m so proud of him.
>> Howland acknowledged that he has read and heard about criticisms of the Bruins’ offensive approach, but said, "In collegiate athletics or professional athletics, one of the great things is that everybody has the right to their own opinion. Everybody can express what they want to feel. Every year is different; every team is different. I look at our field-goal percentage offense; I think we were third in the league this year in overall games in scoring behind Cal, which was the ninth-place team, and Oregon, which finished second and finished wherever they finished. But it’s funny. I look at a Hall of Fame coach, who I think is an outstanding coach and very successful in Roy Williams and they’ve been to the Final Four — either at Kansas or Carolina — six times and won once. Now they play very, very fast — we would all agree — so what does he need to do, play slower? Or what about Dean Smith in his first six attempts; he played very, very fast. And you can go down the list and look at it, so that’s part of being in athletics. People are going to be critical. You’re always looking to improve, so I’m always looking to do things better and will always reevaluate at the end of the year what we can do to improve at both ends of the floor. And we’ll always try to also tweak things to our talent level and skill level and depth of our teams."
Slightly outside the realm of the Bruins on the floor:
>> On the role of agents, Howland said, "The agents don’t affect where you get drafted; they don’t affect your first two years. You definitely need an agent if you’d like to stay in the draft and there’s a cut-off date and I forget when it is in June. Once you determine you’re not going to return, you can sign with an agent because they represent marketing opportunities and shoe contracts, etc., etc.
Asked why players sometimes sign with an agent so quickly, he quipped, "If you sign today, I’ll give you $100,000. Actually, I’ll let you borrow against your future earnings, $100,000."
>> Howland said he didn’t have all the facts concerning a possible change in the NBA draft rules requiring players to be age 20 or older, but added that "if a young man at 18 years of age can be asked and sent to another country to fight for his country and die for his country, I don’t think it’s fair to require him to go to college for a year if he has a chance to go pro. That said, it’s definitely been the best thing for the culture of basketball and kids in general by far if you look at the last couple of years. Kids were thinking more about college or the pros? That thing was spiraling out of control, but there’s a happy medium. I think all kids should be eligible for the draft coming out of high school. If they’re picked in the top 20, great, if not then maybe there’s a provision that they can still attend college. There aren’t that many LeBrons [James], the [Kevin] Garnetts, the Kobes [Bryant] and a lot of people would say they would all have benefited from a year of college and I’m sure that’s right, but that’s their choice. But I don’t have the facts and the information like David Stern does, so I’m sure there are good reasons why the rules are in place that I’m unaware of."
His final thought: "I think about all those wins and the great wins we had this year in tight games and was really proud of this group of kids. I’m excited about honoring them on Monday night at our banquet."
Bruin head basketball Coach Ben Howland held his longest news conference of the season Wednesday — and immediately launched into the topic of the day, about whether Kevin Love and/or Darren Collison will or have entered the NBA draft:
"I met with Kevin on Monday and basically went over all the information I had in my possession in terms of where he’s projected and here are the pluses, here are the minuses and my role in his decision — and his family’s decision — is basically to give him as much information as possible. I’ll support whatever he does, but it was not accurate that he told me on Monday that he was leaving to go to the NBA.
"He left today, about an hour ago, to go home to spend time with his family; his Dad’s birthday is tomorrow — he’ll be 59 years old tomorrow — and he’s excited to go home and see his family and friends. And he’s going to sit with his parents over the weekend and, at that time, formulate some decision as to what he wants to do. So it was an erroneous report that he had said that, along with Darren Collison.
"I never met with Darren on Monday. I never spoke to Darren on Monday. I did not see him; I did not e-mail him; I did not text him. So that was not accurate and it was unfortunate because last night. It was reported last night that he had already made a decision and had told me that on Monday. First of all, he was very upset and he was calling frantically because everybody was calling him and, secondly, his Mom and Dad got off the plane — they didn’t get back until late last night; Dennis has a daughter who lives in London who came all the way out for the Final Four, so they had to drive her two hours from San Antonio to Austin for a 2 o’clock flight, then they drove back and got on a plane that got back at 7 or 8 o’clock [p.m.]. So when they off the floor, she called this morning, really upset about it. My whole thing is, I understand there is competition in this room to break the first information as to what these players are going to do, but in doing so, in some cases — as in this case — it compromised the players and their families and their feelings. I would just ask you to please give them the time and space that they deem necessary to make their decision as to what they want to do.
"And that’s not just Kevin and Darren, it’s Russell Westbrook, his family; Luc [Richard Mbah A Moute] and his family; Josh [Shipp] and his family, so on and so forth. The April 27 date is the last day to put your name into the draft and the draft is not until June. So they actually have a lot of time and there’s really a lot of pressure that has been put onto them because of everybody’s interest in wanting to know what they’re going to do. It’s been a little frustrating."
>> On Love specifically, Howland added, "He’s going to go high. He’ll definitely be in the lottery. Based on today, he could go as high as four or five and no lower than probably the end of the lottery [14th]. Most likely, somewhere between five and 10, five and 12, I’ve heard eight and 14. At the end of the day, he’s definitely in the lottery.
"His comment to me was basically — and they really do want their privacy and they deserve it — ‘I have a great problem here, because it’s a win-win situation. I really believe that. I love going to school at UCLA, I love my teammates, I love the fans, I love being a college student, but there’s also a lot to think about in terms of my dream of being an NBA player and the opportunity to enter the NBA and the financial rewards are significant.’ "
>> On the other Bruin prospects, Howland noted that "Darren is probably somewhere, right now, between 15 and 25 and Russell would probably be in that same range. And that’s going to be based, if they do put their name in, how they perform in each of the individual workouts for each of the teams. Obviously, it’s another outstanding draft; look at all the players who are coming out early this year.
"Right now, [Luc and Josh] are not projected in the first round, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t go in and knock somebody’s socks off in a workout. I’m meeting with all the players by a week from today and discuss the future and what their plans are, including Darren and Russell, who I still haven’t met with.
"Alfred [Aboya] is going to graduate, provided he passes all three classes this quarter, which is obviously likely, since he’s a very good student. [Leaving] is something he’s talked about in the past and that’s a possibility."
>>Howland also have his view of the decision-making process concerning the draft:
"My recommendation, one of the things I told Kevin and I will tell the Westbrooks and the Collisons when I meet with them here in the next few days, is they should definitely not sign with an agent, even if they put their name in and then also keep going to school. You can’t even work out for a team until June; we don’t get out of school until June 13. But you’re not allowed to have an individual workout with an NBA team, I think it’s June 3 or June 5, but after Orlando [draft camp]. They are allowed May 3, if you put your name in the draft, to then schedule a workout with a player, but that workout cannot take place until June, after Orlando.
"The reason I don’t recommend they don’t sign with an agent until the draft, or after the draft, if they did leave their name in is because, like Brandon Rush, for example, last year. One of the reasons Kansas is national champion this year is Brandon Rush. [He] was gone; Bill Self told me that on Thursday at the Final Four. He was leaving, he blew his knee out playing basketball and therefore had the rehab and came back. You saw that — what’s the kid out of the University of Miami — [with Willis] McGahee. He was really compromised in his draft pick because of his blown knee in football for example.
"A lot of it for me comes down to how are you going to best enhance — they’re all into the second contract. An NBA rookie now, if you’re a first-round pick, you’re guaranteed two years; after that, they have the right to you as a third and fourth-year player. And then you are a restricted free agent and they have the right to match. I actually had a guy in the NBA who’s the top stat guy in all the NBA [who says] the biggest factor in getting a good second contract — meaning after your first four years — is your performance and how well you do during your first three years. Because that’s what happens, you sign after your third year to get the money the great ones are getting like Carmelo [Anthony], like LeBron [James], etc., etc. So it’s all about going into the league and hitting the ground running if you really want to enhance your opportunity to make the most money and have the most success."
>> The Bruin coach also noted that he hopes all of his players will finish their academic work as well: "We all want our players to continue to matriculate and get their degrees at whatever time they are able to complete that, hopefully sometime in the near future. For example, Arron Afflalo is calling our academic coordinator, Kenny Donaldson, and planning to take a couple of courses this summer, which is great and glad to see that. We want all our players to get their degrees here from UCLA at some point and continue that, so that’s a positive.
"I was really proud that our team, this last quarter, during the most difficult time in terms of travel, had a team GPA of 2.97 and we had five players on the honor roll, including James Keefe, Nikola Dragovic – who are on scholarship — and one other whose name escapes me; maybe Luc. But I’m really proud not only of how they performed on the floor this year, but how they performed off, and how they carried themselves and how they represented this university at all times.
>> In terms of future scheduling, Howland said, "We had our last team meeting yesterday in the locker room and, at that time, I just talked about what the plans are in terms of we’re going to take the next few weeks off, the players will have available to them our strength coach and the assistants if they want to start doing any individual workouts after this week. But we’re not making them required until the 28th of April. After a six-month grind like what they’ve been through, it is very important for their body to have a chance to recover and take some time away and get back on top of their academics. I mean we missed the first week of school essentially this week."
More coming in Part II on Wednesday’s news conference.
Imagine the great matchup if UCLA and North Carolina played for third place in college basketball. It's a lot more satisfying to determine things on the court than in the polls (or listed as a tie in the NCAA books). It also would make a lot of sense for the teams and their fans after sinking so much money into travel expenses.
Consolation games used to be common, but they weren't popular with coaches and players. They eventually got the ax. The Final Four had a third-place game up until 1981. Regionals used to have them too — until 1975.
Today, the NCAA is a lot more savvy about how they generate revenue. There are even new consolation tournaments. So how about another big game on national TV between two of America's best teams? Some people love the idea, but others understand the reasons why not.
The question of adding the extra game to the NCAA Tournament came up on the BRO message boards, with mixed opinion as to whether people would watch. So we ask ...
The Times' Diane Pucin has an exclusive that reports both Kevin Love and Darren Collison told UCLA Coach Ben Howland
on Monday that they are turning pro. The official announcement isn't expected until after Howland's final news conference of the season Wednesday afternoon. From the article in Wednesday's Los Angeles Times:
NBA team officials risk seven-figure fines for speaking publicly about
college players, but an East team scout said Love had raised his draft
position steadily during the Pac-10 season — from a possible low first-round pick to a lottery pick. And even being held to 12 points and nine
rebounds in a 78-63 UCLA loss to Memphis last Saturday in an NCAA
semifinal didn't change that.
There's no official word on Russell Westrook, but, according to to the article, his family "has indicated that he would probably leave school if expectations were that he would go early."
ESPN Insider is predicting Westbrook and Love as lottery picks and Collison as lottery to mid-first round.
According to NBADraft.net, a widely cited draft projection that was last updated Monday before the national championship game, here's where UCLA's top players may land:
9 — Chicago: Russell Westrook
13 — Portland: Kevin Love
20 — Denver: Darren Collison
Anything is possible, thanks to the lottery system, and NBADraft.net
does not take team needs into account until the NBA season is over. It claims to be unique because it is the only website providing
year-round projections of both the first- and second-round rounds, and they do
it for the upcoming and next year's drafts.
I didn't mean to start with quite so many videos, but I saw this episode recently and have been raving about this new style of programming.
FSN's Sport Science is less than a year old and it's a breath of fresh air in sports TV. In this episode, they see if UCLA alumnus Jason Kapono (with Jordan Farmar on the assist) can beat the NBA's Trent Tucker Rule. Enacted in 1990, the rule basically says that a player cannot score if he receives the ball with less than 0.3 seconds to go on the game clock.
Plot spoiler: What's cool about this episode — like so many of them — is that they "break the rule." Kapono does beat 0.3 seconds. Although 0.22 seconds wasn't quite enough to challenge the NBA's rule book, it's enough to make you go hmmmmm, and maybe enough to argue for a clock that measures in hundredths of a second instead of tenths.
Ben Howland received another piece of hardware last week, this time at the 710 ESPN Southern California Sports Awards.
The UCLA basketball coach was named Coach of the Year, edging out Randy Caryle of the Anaheim Ducks (who won the Stanley Cup) and Norv Turner of the San Diego Chargers (who recovered from a slow start to win a pair of playoff games).
Awards were handed out in 12 categories based on fan voting (more than 18,000 votes were cast). Full results and a podcast of the event can be found here.
Everybody's been ooh-ing and aah-ing over Kevin Love's half-court and full-court shots in this video taken at practice just before UCLA ran into the Memphis massacre. Are they his last as a Bruin?
In today's projections from NBADraft.net, Love could go to Philadelphia as the 17th pick. He has until April 27 to declare that's he's going pro, but could change his mind again up until June 16 (provided he doesn't hire an agent).
On one side of the debate is a giant payday. There's not much else for a freshman to prove after he's named an All-American and Pac-10 Player of the Year. It's also been widely reported that he would have gone straight to the NBA out of high school if that were an option.
On the other side of the debate, scouts are saying that Love could use some more development (especially after getting knocked around by Joey Dorsey). It's still not clear how his abilities will translate at the next level, so one more year could mean a bigger draft-day jackpot. That would also give him another shot at the national championship (bolstered by Jrue Holiday and the nation's top recruiting class). And if his family can afford a dozen extra tickets to the Final Four, Lloyds of London shouldn't be a problem.
UCLA’s hopes for its 101st national championship were dashed on Saturday and there was bad news on the baseball diamond as well. But spring football has started and the two no. 1-ranked women’s teams just keep winning. Here's the full report on all the Bruin teams:
Baseball:
>> Last week: No. 23 UCLA started the week well with a 6-2 over San Diego State on Tuesday (Garrett Claypool was the winning pitcher, 1-0) in the first game of a 13-game homestand at Jackie Robinson Stadium. But the Bruins lost both of the first two games of its weekend series with USC, 6-1 on Friday night (Tim Murphy had 10 strikeouts in 7 1/3 innings, but took the loss and is 2-2), and 7-4 on Saturday (Charles Brewer, 3-4, too the loss.
>> This week: The Bruins are now13-12 on the season and 2-3 in the Pac-10. They finish the series with USC today at Jackie Robinson Stadium at 1 p.m. UCLA will play UC Irvine on Tuesday at 6 p.m. and then has a three-game series with UC Riverside over the weekend, all at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
Football:
>> Last week: The Bruins started spring practice on Thursday and two juniors, linebacker Reggie Carter and cornerback Alterraun Verner were selected for the Lott Trophy Watch List.
>> This week: Spring ball continues with afternoon practices on Monday and Tuesday, both starting at 3:55 p.m., a day off on Wednesday and sessions on Thursday (3:55 p.m.) and Saturday (11 a.m.). All sessions will be held on Spaulding Field and are open to the public.
Rowing:
>> Last week: UCLA is ranked 13th in the nation and won both varsity four races and was second to Virginia in both eight-oared races in the Pac-10 Challenge on March 29-30. Yesterday at the San Diego Classic, the Bruin varsity eight boats finished second in separate races to Stanford and Washington and the open eight boat won its race.
>> This week: Competition continues at the San Diego Classic today and then the Bruins are off until the Stanford Invitational on April 19-20.
Softball:
>> Last week: Top-ranked UCLA continued its winning ways with three victories at Easton Stadium: 7-6 in eight innings over Washington last Tuesday (Anjelica Selden won, now 16-2), then sophomore Megan Langenfeld (5-0) pitched 3 2/3 innings of relief to help the Bruins score a 3-1 win over no. 7 Stanford Friday and freshman Donna Kerr (13-1) picked up the win in UCLA’s 2-1 victory over no. 21 California on Saturday.
>> This week: UCLA is now 34-3 overall and 6-0 in Pac-10 play and will face Cal once more today at noon to conclude a seven-game homestand. The Bruins head to the desert to face Arizona State in Tempe on Friday and then have back-to-back games with Arizona in Tucson on Saturday and Sunday.
Men’s Basketball:
>> Last week: The Bruins’ hopes for a 12th national championship ended in the national semifinals in a 78-63 loss to Memphis in San Antonio. UCLA finished 35-4, winning the most games in school history, but fell short of its goal. The 2004 recruiting class that included Jordan Farmar, Arron Afflalo, Josh Shipp and Lorenzo Mata-Real (Farmar and Afflalo left early, but Shipp and Mata-Real were on this year's team) had a four-year legacy that included three Final Fours, three Pac-10 regular-season titles, two Pac-10 Tournament titles, three consecutive seasons of winning 30 or more games and an overall record of 115-28 (.804).
Men’s Golf:
>> Last week: The third-ranked Bruins led the Administaff Augusta State Invitational in Evans, Georgia by two shots after the first round on Friday, but heavy rains cancelled the second round and the tournament will be completed on Sunday as 36-hole event. Junior Lucas Lee was leading the field at -3 after Friday’s round.
>> This week: This Blue Team (second squad) will be in Scottsdale, Arizona for Wyoming Cowboy Classic on Monday and Tuesday.
Men’s Tennis:
>> Last week: The no. 4-ranked Bruins had a good weekend, disposing of no. 31 California, 6-1, on Friday and no. 25 Stanford, 6-1, both at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. It was the 11th straight win for UCLA since losing its only match of the season to no. 1 Virginia.
>> This week: The Bruins are now 17-1 on the season and 4-0 in Pac-10 play, with four dual matches left before the Pac-10 Championships. Next weekend, UCLA travels to Arizona on Friday and no. 22 Arizona State on Saturday.
Men’s Track & Field:
>> Last week: UCLA is ranked seventh in the nation and the throwing corps had a strong showing at the Texas Relays in Austin. Boldizsar Kocsor won the hammer throw against a good field on Thursday and discus thrower Greg Garza and shot putter John Caufield finished second in their events.
>> This week: The Bruin team will compete in the Rafer Johnson-Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational at Drake Stadium from Thursday-Saturday.
Men’s Volleyball:
>> Last week: No. 7 UCLA defeated 14th-ranked UC Santa Barbara in four games on Wednesday, but fell to second-ranked Cal State Northridge on Friday evening on Senior Night in Pauley Pavilion in straight sets. All-American libero Tony Ker was honored before the game, but the Bruins could not win a set from the Matadors and fell to fifth place in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation standings.
>> This week: UCLA is now 16-12 on the season and 11-9 in the MPSF. It will complete its regular-season play with matches at Stanford on Friday and Pacific on Saturday. The Bruins are 1-0 against both teams this season, winning in Pauley Pavilion in January.
Women’s Basketball:
>> Last week: Senior Lindsay Pluimer was selected to participate in the WNBA’s Pre-Draft Camp in Tampa this weekend in advance of the WNBA Draft on Wednesday.
Women’s Golf:
>> Last week: The Bruins ranked no. 1 in the country, but are playing in the PING/Arizona State Invitational without freshman star Maria Jose Uribe, who is playing as an amateur in the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Through two of the three rounds, the Bruins are in sixth place, 15 strokes behind tournament leader USC.
>> This week: UCLA finishes up in Tempe tomorrow and then has a week off prior to the Pac-10 Championships in Palos Verdes on April 21-23.
Women’s Gymnastics:
>> Last week: Bruin gymnasts Ariana Berlin, Anna Li, Jordan Schwikert and Tasha Schwikert were named to the Pac-10 All-Conference team. Berlin, Li and Jordan Schwikert received first-team honors in the all-around, while Tasha Schwikert was named to the first team on vault and uneven bars.
>> This week: Ninth-ranked UCLA will compete in the Southeast Regional in Gainesville, Florida on April 12. Third-ranked Florida is the top seed in the regional and UCLA will also compete against Nebraska, North Carolina State, West Virginia and North Carolina. The top two finishers in the regional will advance to the NCAA Championships in Athens, Georgia from April 24-26.
Women’s Tennis:
>> Last week: No. 9 UCLA split a weekend series with higher-ranked opponents, upsetting no. 6 California in Berkeley, 4-3, thanks to freshman Andrea Remynse’s three-set win (including a second-set tiebreaker) over Cal’s Claire Ilcinkas. Yesterday, the Bruins lost to fifth-ranked Stanford, 5-2, in Palo Alto for their first loss in Pac-10 play this season.
>> This week: The Bruins are now 15-5 overall and 4-1 in conference and have three dual matches left in the season, all at home. UCLA will face Arizona on Friday at 1:30 p.m. and Arizona State on Saturday at noon, both at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
Women’s Track & Field:
>> Last week: A limited team competed at the Texas Relays and Stanford Invitational. Senior Ingrid Kantola had the best performance with a win in the university section of the pole vault on Friday and a fourth-place finish with a season best of 13-5 1/4 in the open pole vault on Saturday.
>> This week: The Rafer Johnson-Jackie Joyner-Kersee Invitational will be held at Drake Stadium from Thursday through Sunday.
Women’s Water Polo:
>> Last week: No. 1 UCLA continued to mow down its opponents, beating California 10-4 behind three goals from Katie Rulon at the Sunset Canyon Recreation Center on Saturday.
>> This week: The Bruins are now 23-0 overall and 9-0 in Mountain Pacific Sports Federation play. They’ll take on Pacific today at Sunset Canyon at 1 p.m. and then finish their collegiate dual-match schedule next week with games against San Diego State (1 p.m.) and Sonoma State (3 p.m.) on Saturday, April 12 and Arizona State on Sunday (1 p.m.).
UCLA’s 78-63 loss to a Memphis team that was clearly superior today ended a remarkable season that held great promise and delivered on most of the possibilities:
>> With a team that returned four starters from a Final Four team and added Kevin Love, UCLA finished 35-4 and won the most games in the school's history, winning the Pac-10 Conference regular season and Pac-10 Conference Tournament.
>> The Bruins had their second consecutive season with a consensus, first-Team All-American in Love, who also was the Pac-10 Conference Player of the Year as a freshman.
>> UCLA made its third straight Final Four, only the third time that has been done since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams.
>> In the last three seasons, UCLA has an NCAA Tournament record of 13-3, losing to Florida twice and Memphis once.
>> In five years at UCLA, Coach Ben Howland has a record of 126-45 (.737) and an NCAA record of 13-4 (.765).
>> The 2004 recruiting class that included Jordan Farmar (left after two years), Arron Afflalo (left after three years), Josh Shipp (has one more year) and Lorenzo Mata-Real achieved:
Three Final Fours
Three Pac-10 regular-season titles
Two Pac-10 Tournament titles
Three consecutive seasons of winning 30 or more games
An overall record of 115-28 (.804)
>> What about the future?
As of now, the Bruins could return all five starters plus the No. 1-ranked recruiting class in the country. That’s probably not going to be the lineup come fall. Kevin Love, Darren Collison and Russell Westbrook are the three most likely to leave, but all may have had their draft status altered by the NCAA Tournament.
Collison showed brilliantly in the wins over Texas A&M and Xavier, but was overwhelmed today by a much bigger (i.e., NBA-sized) guard in Derrick Rose. He’s projected in the lower half of the first round, but if he slips toward the second, there’s no reason for him to come out; remember, the only guaranteed money is for first-round selections. That said, he’s the most likely to opt for the NBA.
As for Love, we are told that he and his family have not discussed the NBA as yet (really!) and, recognizing the financial difference between being picked in the middle of the first round and in the top seven, may yet opt to stay in school for another year. Given his height (about 6-8 1/2) and likely NBA position at power forward, he could benefit (in the millions of dollars per year) from raising his efficiency with a mid-range jumper and developing more versatility in making moves facing the basket. But he’s a sure first-round pick if he wants to go.
Westbrook is the most interesting player of the three because he is incomplete. His skills, length and athletic ability are unquestioned. However, his NBA position is almost surely point guard and NBA teams would like to see him at the point for a season before committing to him in the draft. He also shot only 33% on his three-point shots, as aspect of his game that could be improved. He’s likely to at least test the waters.
UCLA will have an outstanding team next season, but what pieces will be available and how the newcomers will be integrated will be fascinating. But a starting five of Love, Shipp, Luc Richard Mbah A Moute, Russell Westbrook and Jrue Holiday is tantalizing, with much better depth available in Drew Gordon, James Keefe, Alfred Aboya and Nikola Dragovic on the front line and Michael Roll, Chace Stanback, Malcolm Lee and Jerime Anderson in the backcourt.
UCLA's Luc Richard Mbah A Moute was asked about today’s loss to Memphis by FSN West’s Sean Farnham:
"I don’t want to say that we got caught off our guard. All they did is what they do. They run out, get out in transition, run, score easy layups and drive; they’re very athletic. I just think we didn’t do a good job of defending them, especially getting back, stopping the ball and stuff like that. We poorly blocked them out and had some offensive rebounds and they made plays."
Asked about starting on three straight teams that made it to the final weekend of the season, but haven’t won a title, he said, "It’s very frustrating, trust me. You’re talking about [UCLA players who started three straight Final Fours], who I’m sure all those guys at least won one championship. Getting here three years in a row and not winning is very frustrating, very disappointing. There’s nothing you can do about it. It’s just painful.
"Hopefully, next time we come out here we’ll have a better game. I mean, there’s not really much you can take out of these two years. The games have been different. We came out in the first half and played well; we were down three, and the second half we came out and it just wasn’t going our way. We made a lot of mistakes, and every time we made a mistake, they took advantage of it."
Farnham also spoke with the lone senior on the team, Lorenzo Mata-Real:
"It's definitely a disappointment. Three years in a row and three years losing this thing, especially in my last year doesn’t feel good."
"It was real frustrating. There were times when I wanted to go sub myself in and try to help my team, but it’s real frustrating. But it’s all past now. So it’s definitely going to be in the back of my mind for the rest of my life, three times and not winning the whole thing; but it was real tough."
Asked about his college experience now that his career is over, Mata-Real said, "I feel real good. The first day I came into UCLA, I couldn’t believe it. Right now, I still feel like I’m living a dream and I haven’t woken up from it. So it’s been a great run."
Bruin Coach Ben Howland in his second segment in the postgame interview room after UCLA’s loss to Memphis:
"They ended up shooting 42%. They were at 40 [in] the first half and those two guys are their key guys, [Chris Douglas-] Roberts and [Derrick] Rose, and they’re just really, really good players. They are hard to match up with with their length and their strength. We tried to double them when they got into the post. A couple of times we were late to do so, and there’s a reason why they’ve lost only one game and won 38. They’re a very, very good team."
>> Asked if Memphis is as good as Florida was the last two seasons, he said, "Memphis is really, really good. They both have strength in all areas; they are very well coached, both teams. They can play fast; they can play a half-court game. They have good low-post [play]. I was really impressed with [Shawn] Taggert, the way he came off the bench last year and helped them. So, they are similar in a lot of respects."
>> Howland was asked if there was a specific change to get the Bruins over the top. He responded: "Every year is different. I don’t know if there is some sweeping change that we need to do. It’s very difficult to get here; there are only four teams that make it here each year and that’s a very difficult thing to do in itself. Unfortunately for us, we’ve run up against three really good teams. The first year we got here three years ago, we were fortunate. We were down 17 to Gonzaga and made a miraculous comeback to win that game, and we ended up beating Memphis to get here and ran into a very good Florida team. The following year, we had one starter back off of that [2006] team and we met Florida again and they had every starter back. In this modern day, it’s really unexpected when you win a national championship and you had players like Noah and Horford and they didn’t come out. So, we ran into a team at the same time that had all five starters back and we were retooling. I was really proud of the way we came back last year and got here and this year we ran into a great Memphis team. So every year is different."
He added, for comic effect, "Get a new coach, maybe," which drew a roar of laughter in the room.
>> How do you defend Memphis? "You have to take good care of the basketball and try and stop their transition game. We failed to stop their transition game early sometimes off of a quick shot. We were at 26-23 and we came down and shot a flying three, and we don’t have a lot of depth in the backcourt, so we had to play at maybe a little slower pace than Memphis would like to give ourselves a chance.
"They made a couple of big blocks, and every time we jumped in the air to pass, it was a turnover that led to a basket going the other way. We had 12 turnovers, and I would bet that half of those led to dunks or layups at the other end. They did a really good job of capitalizing on your mistakes. And that’s what good teams do."
"As I told our team after the game, only one team is going to leave San Antonio completely satisfied and I’m just sorry it isn’t going to be us because our kids had a great week of preparation and have had an unbelievable year. But, again, I have to credit Memphis State and Coach Calipari. They’re very, very good and have had an unbelievable season thus far."
Comments from UCLA's Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook in the postgame interview session after the Bruins’ 78-63 loss to Memphis today:
>> Westbrook looked like someone at a funeral on the podium, but was asked about Memphis’ outstanding guards, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Derrick Rose:
"I mean they are two great players. They came out and were ready to play tonight. Like coach said, they had 25 each and they’ve been consistent all year long. They’re just real tough players."
Asked about the pace of the game, he said, "It started off in the first half: they got a lot of transition points, a couple of buckets when we weren’t getting back in transition; that’s their game. They really took opportunities for that in the second half and finished the game off."
>> Love was first asked about the play of Memphis’ Joey Dorsey, against whom he was matched most of the day:
"He had 15 rebounds in 27 minutes and he was going in and out of the game; I didn’t even realize it. I felt I did a good job on him defensively along with the rest of the team, but he just kept getting to balls; he had a couple of blocks and just played a pretty good game for only playing 27 minutes.
"I wouldn’t necessarily say they threw me out of their comfort zone. I had two or three shots that went in and out. They were double-teaming me; they were swarming me, coming at me, and there were a couple plays where I threw the ball away. I had two turnovers, but other than that, we just needed to step up and hit big shots. Like coach mentioned, we had a couple down the stretch that went in and out and we needed to keep executing and we could have cut it to four a couple of times, and we just didn’t do that.
"At this stage, I feel like Memphis is definitely the best team we’ve played. They're just up and down the court very well. It seems like every time we shot a quick shot or shot an uncharacteristic shot on our team, they were down the floor in less than five seconds in transition, scoring another bucket. So that was tough for us. We didn’t drop our heads; we kept fighting, but it seemed they got some breaks and sometimes you need that."
Love also was asked about what was said between he and Rose in the postgame handshake and said, "Derrick, all he said to me was — just being a good friend of mine — ‘You’re a winner, keep your head up.’ I feel like I am a winner and so is he, but just didn’t happen to come out on top today."
Love also was asked twice about whether this was his last college game and said, "The season just ended, so I haven’t given any thought about if it’s my last college game. As of right now, I’m still a UCLA Bruin and I’m enjoying my time and I’ll be at class on Monday.
"This has been the best year of my life. I know we didn’t come out on top, and coach mentioned that there’s only one team at the end of the year that feels truly satisfied, and we’ve had a great year and we have a bunch of great players and we’ve been a true family. Just being a part of the UCLA program has really been huge for me and, like I mentioned, it’s been the best year of my life for basketball, outside of basketball and family-wise as well."
