We've finally reached the end of the 2011-12 athletic year for UCLA, with only a couple of our non-revenue sports still in action (baseball, men's golf, track-and-field), and so far, it's looking like another sub-par year for UCLA, with only the women's volleyball team able to bring a NCAA national title home to Westwood.

While the men's golf team is in a strong position (currently fourth after the first round of stroke play at the NCAA championship tournament, being played in Los Angeles) to challenge for UCLA's 109th NCAA national title, unless Savage's baseball squad can put together an improbable run deep into Omaha, it looks increasingly likely that another year will pass without UCLA bringing home a NCAA men's national title. As Nestor pointed out earlier this week, no men's program has won it all since 2008, which at first blush doesn't seem so bad, until you compare Chianti Dan's decade of mediocrity (5 men's titles) to the preceding decade (11 men's titles). Of course, when you look at the winning percentage of our men's programs, it's pretty sad the way UCLA has slid toward irrelevance under Chianti Dan's "leadership."

In any event, let's take a look at how our non-revenue programs performed during the 2011-12 athletic year:

• Starting with baseball, thanks to Coach Savage (who UCLA will likely lose to a big-time program since Chianti Dan and his moronic drones at the Morgan Center have offered little-to-no-support for the baseball program), the Bruins find themselves looking strong as the #2-overall national seed, getting ready to march toward Omaha as the host of the Los Angeles Regional. Despite the high-seed, the Bruins have a tough regional draw to make it through, giving UCLA a pretty tough road to a NCAA title.
• Moving on to the cross-country team, it was a middling year, one that passed without any real distinction (in other words, par-for-the-course for Chianti Dan's Morgan Center). The Bruins went to the Pac-12 championships, with the men finishing in 4th, while the women struggled, finishing in 10th. The NCAA western regional wasn't much better, with the men coming in tied for 6th, while the women placed a lowly-18th, leading the Bruins to miss out on the NCAA championship. End result? No NCAA title.
  
• As mentioned above, super sophomore Patrick Cantlay and the men's golf team find themselves tied for 4th place with Oklahoma at +5 strokes, trailing pace-setters Alabama by four shots, after the opening round of stroke play at the NCAA championship tournament, being held at La Riviera Country Club here in Los Angeles. As it stands, this is UCLA's best shot at picking up UCLA's 109th NCAA national title and the first Bruin men's championship since 2008.

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It's Tuesday morning, and sadly, it's time to head back to the grind after the long holiday weekend. On the plus side, we're already closer to the weekend. So, let's turn to the various bits and pieces of news from around the UCLA-iverse.

• Starting with college football, we're about 90 days away from the start of the Jim Mora era in Westwood, as the Bruins will kick-off against Rice on August 30. As such, Richard Cirminiello at College Football News has come out with his 2012 UCLA preview, which is a pretty solid and comprehensive take on the program. Additionally, Cirminiello has individual looks at the offense, the defense, the depth chart, as well as the 2012 season preview for our first opponents of the year, the Rice Owls.
• Sticking with football, Matt Hayes at Sporting News put together a list of players poised for a break-out campaign in 2012, including stand-outs like LSU's QB Zach Mettenberger and Baylor's RB Lache Seastrunk. Of the five on the list, it comes as no surprise that UCLA stand-out freshman QB Brett Hundley checked in as one of Hayes' players to keep an eye on as the season progresses.

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It's Monday morning and typically, this is the time and place for the Bruin Bites round-up of various tidbits of news from around the UCLA-iverse (or as some of you prefer, the Bruin-verse). But today is not an ordinary Monday. Yes, it's a three-day weekend, so my usual quips and gripes about returning to the weekly grind wouldn't fit today (as they usually open Bruin Bites), but today is a very special day to all of us.

Today is the day that we, as a nation, take a step back to remember and give thanks to the men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we can enjoy the great promise of the radical experiment our forefathers embarked upon in 1775: that we can live in freedom; that we all can enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

In the history of our democratic republic, it is estimated that 1.3 million (1,300,000) Americans have died in the service of their nation. 1.3 million in just 236+ years. How many people is that? It's roughly the population of either San Diego (the 8th largest city in America) or San Antonio (the 7th largest). More Americans have died for liberty than the entire population of the cities of San Francisco, Dallas, Baltimore, Boston, or Denver.

Those that died in America's name have come from all races, all creeds, both genders, and all walks of life. They are united in their service to the cause of liberty and in the solemn honor of giving the last full measure of devotion for their country.

So, today, many of us will enjoy barbeques on a warm, sunny day, probably with a beer and hot dog in hand. We'll spend the extra day of our weekend with friends or family. Our enjoyment of this day is the fruit of their labor, of their dedication, and of their selfless love for our nation.

So, cherish it and remember all of the brave men and women who gave up the chance to throw the ball with their child, to sit by the pool, to drink an ice-cold beer on a hot day, all in the name of our liberty. And remember, that right now, on the opposite side of the world, young men and women in uniform are prepared and willing to join that honored fraternity of heroes, all in the name of liberty.

Enjoy your Memorial Day and God bless America.

Yes, it's Monday morning and for most of us, we'll be getting back to the grind sometime this morning. For our tennis teams, they're way ahead of the game, having been in the grind that is the NCAA tournament. For both the #1-seeded and #1-ranked women's team and the #4-seeded men's team, Sunday brought tough quarterfinal opponents, in the form of the #9-seeded California Golden Bears who had played the women tough all year long, and the #5-seeded Ohio State Buckeyes for the men.

And for both teams, victory would take them to the semi-final where hated cross-town rival U$C waited. And once again, both Bruin squads will take on the Trojans, this time with a spot in the national championship game at stake.

For the women, they will take on #5-seeded U$C today at 10:00 a.m. PST at the University of Georgia. You can track the women's action live via the Bulldogs' GameTracker here. As for the men's team, they'll take the #1-ranked Trojans, playing the underdog role, at 2:00 p.m. PST, also in Athens. You can keep track of the men's live statistics here.

Follow after the jump for a recap on how both squads made it out of the quarterfinal.

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It's Monday afternoon, so if you're like me, you're probably having a hard time staying focused and not succumbing to the mid-afternoon siesta urge (don't worry, this won't turn into a cheesy ad for one of those BS energy shot drinks). So, as we shake off those Monday afternoon cobwebs, let's go over the bits and pieces of news from around the UCLA-iverse:

• Let's start with non-revenue play-off action: while both of our tennis teams and golf teams have made strong runs as part of UCLA's bid to pick up its 109th NCAA national title, our women's softball team, once the most-vaunted program in the nation under Sue Enquist (who is more-or-less the John Wooden of softball), has struggled, getting eliminated by Florida State, 2-1, on Saturday. Despite hosting a regional, the Bruins could not get their act together, losing two straight games (first to Hofstra, 7-2), to get dumped out of the NCAA regional as quickly as possible. Once again, Jessica Hall (6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 5 K) took the hill and gave the Bruins a strong effort, only surrendering two runs. But the Bruins' bats were silent, as only Katie Schroeder (1-3, 1 RBI) could drive in a run, with the usual big bats (LaRosa, Harrison, Bates, Camuso) all impotent. With the loss, the Bruins finish the year at a disappointing 36-20.
• Following up on the last couple of editions of Bruin Bites, there are no updates in the search to locate former UCLA basketball player Gavin Smith, who mysteriously disappeared on May 1. If you have any information that will help the authorities locate Gavin Smith, please contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department at (323)-890-5500.
  

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Bumped. Our post went up on Armed Forces Day this past weekend but we wanted to make sure folks don't miss this. If you have a story to share, please do. GO BRUINS. - BN Eds.

Today marks Armed Forces Day, held on the third Saturday of May each year, which conveniently builds up nicely to Memorial Day the following weekend, where we honor the men and women who, to paraphrase Lincoln, made the ultimate sacrifice upon the altar of freedom.

As some of you may know, our parent network, so to speak, has rolled out a pretty neat YouTube channel and SBN is hoping to put together a collection of videos from veterans recounting their favorite sports memory while deployed.

So, if you've served in our great military, first, thank you for your service, and second, if you've got a particularly favorite or interesting sports memory from your time overseas, feel free to head on over to SBN and share. Did you catch the Super Bowl from Kabul? Watch a dramatic Game 7 in the World Series aboard the USS Bunker Hill? Did you watch 13-9 from Okinawa? Tell us, because (I'm sure I speak for everyone on this) we'd love to hear.

All the details can be found on the SBN main page here.

GO BRUINS

The Bruins got their weekend road trip to Berkeley started right, with a 7-2 win over the Golden Bears in Friday's opener. Today's game will give UCLA an opportunity to boost their regular season resume, with a road series win up for the taking. But more importantly, if the Bruins can pick up a series sweep over Cal, it will help UCLA close to game on conference-leader Oregon heading into the final week of the season and give the Bruins a good shot at repeating as Pac-12 champs.

In any event, turning to today's game, Nick Vander Tuig (7-3) will take the hill for the Bruins, facing off against Cal's Justin Jones (4-7). For more information on the series match-up, check out Ryan's series preview here. The game gets started at 1 p.m. PST and you can listen to it live here, or follow it on UCLA's official GameTracker here, or follow Ryan's UCLA baseball Twitter feed here.

Fire away with your thoughts, observations, and takes as the Bruins get underway in Berkeley.

GO BRUINS

It's a sunny Saturday in California and for most of UCLA's remaining non-revenue sports still in action, the weekend is going well. As it stands now, UCLA is looking like it has a very good chance to pick up NCAA championship #109 by the end of this academic year, with the outside possibility of adding #110 as well: both the tennis teams and both golf teams are looking very strong as we come down to crunch time, while the softball team will need to turn it around fast to keep their season alive.

Let's start with the #12-seeded softball team. The ladies are hosting the Los Angeles NCAA Regional, but despite the home-field advantage and having previously played, and beaten, Hofstra, the Bruins stumbled out of the gate, losing their opening game, 7-2. Jessica Hall (7.0 IP, 12 H, 7 ER, 9 K) went the distance but got pounded, while UCLA's offense couldn't do much, with only Stephany LaRosa (2-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR) and Andrea Harrison (1-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR) able to generate anything by way of solo homers. The ladies will now take on the daunting task of having to win out, starting with an elimination game today against Florida State at 3:30 p.m. PST. If they can make it past the Seminoles, they'll take on the winner of the San Diego State-Hofstra match-up right away at 6 p.m. PST.

As for the men's golf team, they find themselves in the lead after the second round of the NCAA Central Regional in Bowling Green, Kentucky. As it stands after yesterday, the Bruins have a two stroke lead over Texas A&M. They'll finish out the third and final round today, with a spot at the NCAA championship, being played in UCLA's backyard at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, at stake. A strong final round should put the Bruins through and give UCLA a strong shot at picking up #109 in what amounts to a home tournament.

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It's Monday morning, Mother's Day is over, so it's time to put down the fork and knife from yesterday's brunch and it's time to get back to the grind. So, as we shake off those Monday morning cobwebs, let's go over the bits and pieces of news from around the UCLA-iverse:

• Following up on last week's Bruin Bites, there has been no development in the disappearance of former UCLA basketball player and current 20th Century Fox executive Gavin Smith. The Hollywood Reporter has an updated summary of the few developments, including more dedicated manpower from the L.A. County Sheriff's Department. Also, the Smith family has set up a website with updated information here. If you have any information that could help locate Gavin, please contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department at (323)-890-5500.
• Turning to football, the Charlotte Observer has an update on undrafted UCLA utility man Nate Chandler, who seemingly was moving to a new position every season he was in Westwood. Chandler, signed by the Carolina Panthers as an undrafted free agent, who are looking to fill a position of need on their defensive front interior. Nate talked about his time at UCLA, from entering as one of the top-five TEs in the nation, to becoming a seldom-used defensive tackle for a mediocre Bruin squad. If there's a glaring example of UCLA not utilizing and developing talent, it's Nate Chandler.
• Flipping to our non-revenue sports teams as they work through NCAA tournament action, the #4-seeded men's tennis team, coming off a 4-0 demolition of Eastern Kentucky, Coach Billy Martin's squad turned to their attention to San Diego in their second round match-up. But, like in the first round, it wasn't much of a match, with UCLA sweeping through the Toreros, 4-0, to advance to the Sweet Sixteen, where they'll face off against #13-seed Ole Miss on Friday in Athens, Georgia. Against USD, the Bruins opened it up with a pair of doubles victories to take the opening point, before Dennis Novikov (6-4, 2-6, 6-3), Adrien Puget (6-1, 6-2), and Dennis Mkrtchian (3-6, 6-2, 6-2) picked up their singles wins to give the Bruins the first four points, making the balance moot.
  

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While most of us were enjoying a sunny Friday and end to the work week, for many of our UCLA non-revenue sports, their work got underway in earnest yesterday, with the women's water polo and women's tennis team joining their lady counterparts on the golf squad in NCAA action yesterday.

The top-ranked women's golf team struggled yesterday, with their score rising from +2 after the first round to +10 after the second round. Fortunately, the rest of the field followed suit and the Lady Bruins remain in third place after two rounds. Stanford remains in the lead, but now hold a six shot lead over UCLA, while North Carolina's +10 second round dropped them into a tie with our Bruins. LSU made the most headway, climbing into second, now five shots ahead of UCLA and just one behind the Cardinal. The Bruins will be back in action today, in the third and final round in the NCAA West Regional.

While the women's golf team's day didn't go as planned, for the women's water polo, their post-season play couldn't have started any better, with the #2-seeded Bruins dismantled #7-seeed Iona, 14-3. KK Clark was the star (of course), leading UCLA with four goals, while Sarah Orozco chipped in a hat trick, and Emily Donohoe notching a brace. In goal, Caitlin Dement came up with five saves, as the Bruins surged to an easy first round victory. The ladies will be back in action this afternoon at 5:15 p.m. PST against #3-seeded U$C in the semi-final, at San Diego State's Azetc Aquaplex. On the year, the Bruins are a perfect 3-0 over their Trojan rivals, but every win has come on a one-goal margin. Let's hope the ladies can make this next one a much less stressful win over hated U$C.

At the same time yesterday, the #1-ranked women's tennis team started their NCAA tournament off with a first round destruction of Eastern Kentucky at the L.A. Tennis Center, sweeping EKU 4-0. The Bruins got things started off right with a dominating show in doubles action (8-0, 8-0, 7-1) to take the first point, followed by dominating wins across the board for Skylar Morton (6-1, 6-1), Chanelle Van Nguyen (6-0, 6-2), and Carling Seguso (6-2, 6-2). The ladies will be back in action, taking on Long Beach State in the second round at the L.A. Tennis Center at 3 p.m. PST.

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Yesterday, our top-ranked women's golf team got the Bruins' march toward (what we hope is) UCLA's 109th NCAA national championship. Currently, after the first of three rounds, the ladies find themselves in third, just three shots behind leader Stanford, and only two shots behind second-place North Carolina. They'll be back in action today, hoping to gain ground on Stanford.

Meanwhile, as we mentioned yesterday, both our #1-ranked and top-seeded women's tennis team and our #2-seeded women's water polo team will get their NCAA action started today. The official website has a preview up for the women's water polo, and if you're in San Diego, cheer on the Blue and Gold at San Diego States' Aztec Aquaplex at 12 noon PST. Likewise, you can find the official preview for the women's tennis team here, and if you're in Westwood, the women's tennis team will get the first round of the NCAA tournament started at the L.A. Tennis Center, starting at 1:00 p.m. PST.

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It's that time of the year folks. The big-money sports are long since done, but in Westwood, the Bruins are looking to add to the top-of-the-nation haul of 108 NCAA championship titles. It's going to be real busy for our spring non-revenue sports as they get their post-season NCAA play underway, beginning with our #1-ranked women's golf team today.

The ladies golf team, the consensus #1 team in the nation, will look to defend their crown, repeat as national champs, and bring Westwood its 109th NCAA championship trophy. Coach Carrie Forsyth's squad will get underway in Colorado as the top seed in the West Regional:

"We're very happy to be the No. 1 seed in the West Regional this year," Forsyth said. "This looks to be the toughest Regional based on the teams selected and the strength of the field, but I believe that our team will do very well and that it will have the chance to represent UCLA in the 2012 NCAA Championship.

"The team is excited to get out there and play, and improve from its performance at the Pac 12 Championship," Forsyth continued. "We know that we have what it takes to not only make it, but put ourselves in a great position entering the championship."

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It's Monday morning, and it's back to the grind. So, if you're like me, and unable to really focus first thing on a Monday morning, let's get to the bits and pieces of news from around the UCLA-iverse to get you going this sunny Monday here in the Golden State:

• Starting on a serious note, former UCLA basketball player and current 20th Century Fox movie executive Gavin Smith, has been missing since last Tuesday evening. Smith, a former player under Coach Wooden, is approx. 6'6", 210 pounds, and was last seen in Agoura Hills/Oak Park area in a black Mercedes (California license plate 6EKT044). More information available from the Hollywood Reporter and the Los Angeles Times. Let's all keep our fingers crossed that Gavin returns home safe and sound. Anyone with any information that can help locate Gavin Smith, please contact the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department at (323)-890-5500.
• Turning to another former Bruin with a current student athlete, former UCLA football head coach Rick Neuheisel was at UCLA's spring game, ostensibly to cheer on not just his own son, freshman QB Jerry Neuheisel, but also the many guys on the field who he recruited to wear the Blue and Gold.
• While the biggest question at the start of the Jim Mora era at UCLA is who will be the Bruins' starting QB on August 30 against Rice, one former Bruin QB, Chris Forcier (who ironically left Westwood before Neuheisel implemented an offense, the pistol, built for someone with his skill set), was signed as an undrafted free agent by many Bruins' favorite NFL team, the Jacksonville Maurice Jones-Drews Jaguars.

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It's Monday morning, which once again, sadly means a return back to work. But, this Monday is also the first post in our combined Bruin Bites/non-revenue roundup/softball roundup series. For those of you who have been following BN for a while, our Bruin Bites series originally started with a mix-up of everything, including the non-revenue sports, so we're returning it back to our original formula.

In any event, we've got a lot to cover in this Monday morning edition of Bruin Bites, especially with the non-revenue sports in conference tournament action, so let's get right to it and take a look at the various bits and pieces of news from around the UCLA-iverse:

• Starting with football news, in the minds of Trogans, the November 17 rivalry matchup against our Bruins at the Rose Bowl is being lumped in with the rest of the home games. The apologists will say it's simply because it's a game in the greater Los Angeles area and U$C wants to get their fans out, but the folks at Larry Brown Sports see it slightly different: a subtle jab at UCLA in light of U$C's dominance on the football field the past decade plus.
• Moving to our own spring practice, Fox Sports' Rahshaun Haylock profiled hard-hitting dynamic Bruin linebacker Eric Kendricks recently, talking to the up-and-coming Bruin defensive star about watching his older brother, Cal stand-out linebacker Mychael Kendricks, get drafted to the NFL as the reward for all of his hard work, a feat Eric hopes to emulate. Good to hear Eric is ready to get out there and make a name for himself.
• But, on the other side of the coin, Kendricks will have to learn to play fast, passionate, hard-hitting, but controlled, as he found himself unnerved and in the middle of a brawl that marred UCLA's practice and infuriated Coach Jim Mora. As WWL's Peter Yoon reported, Mora isn't playing around, climbing on the backs of the players the most culpable, especially offensive lineman Al Cid, who threw a punch during the melee (which isn't a shock since he managed to get suspended for his role in the embarrassing Debacle in the Desert).

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It's late April and we find ourselves in the middle of conference championship time for our UCLA non-revenue sports. Our women's tennis team got things started on Thursday, while our men's tennis, both golf teams, and women's water polo team got underway on their march toward (we hope) UCLA's 109th NCAA national title.

As it stands this morning, our #1-seeded men's tennis team got started with a clean sweep over #4-seeded Cal on Friday, dropping the Golden Bears 5-0. UCLA started with winning the doubles point, followed by singles victories by Clay Thompson, Dennis Novikov, Adrien Puget, and Dennis Mkrtchian. They'll take on #2-seeded U$C today at 4:00 p.m. PST at Libbey Park in downtown Ojai in the Pac-12 conference tournament final.

On the women's side, the Bruins were unable to advance on the singles' front, but still have two doubles teams alive going into this Saturday morning. Courtney Dolehide and Pamela Montez will face U$C's Valeria Pulido and Zoe Scandalis in the quarterfinal, right now in Ojai. Holly Fleming and Morgan Thomas will take on Washington's Julija Lukac and Samantha Smith, also this morning at 9:00 a.m. PST in the invitational draw.

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The eleventh session of this year's spring football practice - and of the Jim Mora era in Westwood - is going to begin later today, at 3:45 p.m. on "What's Wrong With" Spaulding Field. If you're lucky enough to be in Westwood today, you can make your way down to the 80-yard practice "field" and take in some UCLA football action (practices, as always, are open to the public). If you do, feel free to fire up your observations from Spaulding.

While the QB battle has narrowed down to Prince, Brehaut, and Hundley, most of us are still anxious to find out who the Bruins' QB will be to open the first year of the Jim Mora era in Westwood. In that vein, Miguel Melendez, who is filling in for Jon Gold this week got some post-practice quotes from Brehaut on a handful of topics as the QB corps transitions from the Neuheisel era to the Mora-Mazzone schemes:

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It's late April and it's that time of the year again: where UCLA's spring non-revenue sports teams all gear up for their respective conference championships, the first step on, what we hope, will be a journey that ends with UCLA securing its' 109th (and maybe 110th) NCAA national titles. Here's what the schedule looks like after the jump.

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Following last Sunday's loss to Washington, the #15-ranked UCLA softball team got right back into action in mid-week, taking on Cal State Northridge before taking on Utah in the weekend series. The Bruins found their groove during the week, putting up 35 runs in just 4 game.

Starting on Wednesday, the Bruins wasted no time in jumping down the throats of their San Fernando Valley opponents, knocking in 8 of their 10 runs in the first three innings, en route to a 10-3 win. Ally Carda got the start for UCLA and despite a solid performance (3.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 K), she left early enough to not be able to notch the win. Destiny Rodino (1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 K), coming on in relief in the fourth inning, kept CSUN at bay to earn her fourth win of the year. Jessica Hall came on for the final two frames, throwing two perfect innings (2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K). Offensively, it was a fireworks show for the Blue and Gold, let by Katie Schroeder (3-3, 4 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR), Talee Snow (2-2, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR), B.B. Bates (3-4, 1 R, 4 RBI), and Stephany LaRosa (3-3, 3 R, 1 RBI).

Turning to the weekend series, on Friday, UCLA took on Utah at Easton Stadium and the Bruins, on the strength of the long ball and a pitching gem by Jessica Hall, picked up a 5-0 win. Hall (7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 11 K) went the distance for UCLA, blowing the Utes away and flashing her pitching dominance. At the plate, UCLA used the long-ball to lead them to victory, with Dani Yudin (1-3, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 HR), Samantha Camuso (1-2, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR), and Alyssa Tiumalu (1-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR).

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It's Monday, and for many of our programs, the regular season is over, and it's time to get post-season play underway, although the events of the past week put a serious damper on UCLA's hopes to capture its 109th NCAA national title this spring (although women's golf is looking certain to repeating). So, let's get to it and take a look at how UCLA's non-revenue teams fared this past week:

• Starting with, as always, Coach Al Scates and his men's volleyball team. As mentioned in this morning's Bruin Bites, sadly, Coach Scates' final game at the helm in Westwood didn't have the same story-book ending that Coach Wooden's did, with UCLA falling to UC Irvine, 3-1 in the MPSF conference tournament quarterfinal. The Anteaters came out strong, blowing the Bruins away in the first set, 25-14. UCLA put up a fight, clawing out a close 25-23 victory in the second set. UC Irvine responded in force, winning the third set 25-16. The Bruins didn't go out without a fight, but came up short, losing the forth and decisive set, 25-23. While UCI's Kevin Tillie (20 kills) and Carson Clark (14 kills) were able to put up big numbers, the Bruins were unable to do the same, with Gonzalo Quiroga and Nick Vogel leading UCLA with just 7 saves each. With the loss, Coach Al Scates' legendary career comes to a close, and UCLA's season ends earlier than we'd all like, standing at 22-8.
• Turning to the #2-ranked women's water polo team, their final regular season game against #1-ranked Stanford doubled as "Senior Night" for Caitlin Dement, Nicole Barker, Hannah Sebenaler, Sarah Orozco, and KK Clark. Unfortunately, their last match at Spieker Aquatics Center only revealed the wide gulf between the #1 and #2 teams in the country, as Stanford slaughtered the Lady Bruins, 8-1. Despite splitting the prior two games against the Cardinal, Stanford game out guns blazing to grab the MPSF regular season crown and secure the top seed in the upcoming MPSF conference tournament. KK Clark grabbed the only UCLA goal to prevent the shutout while Caitlin Dement notched 9 saves to the 8 goals conceded in her final home match for the Blue and Gold. With the loss, the ladies' regular season record stands at 18-3 overall and 5-2 in conference play. They'll next be in action as the #2-seed in the MPSF conference tournament, taking on #7-seed San Diego State this upcoming Friday in Palo Alto.
• In a repeat of last year, the women's gymnastics team made it through the NCAA semifinal in strong fashion, only to be up-ended in the national final, once again coming up short against the Alabama Crimson Tide, who repeated as national champs, finishing at 197.850 to Florida's 197.775 and UCLA's 197.750. In other words, UCLA came up a tenth of a point (.1) short of grabbing UCLA's 109th NCAA national title. In the semi-final on Friday, UCLA pulled out a 197.400 victory over Utah (197.200) and Stanford (197.125), with all three advancing to the Super Six national championship round. In the final, UCLA's Vanessa Zamarripa was the individual highlight, scoring a perfect 10 on the vault, taking top score on the uneven bars (9.950), top score on the balance beam (tied with teammate Samantha Peszek at 9.950), with a strong score on the floor exercise (9.875). All-in-all, the Bruins once again came up painfully short, something that Coach Valorie Kondos-Field knows all too well the last few seasons.

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It's Monday morning, which once again, sadly means a return back to work. We've got a lot to cover in this Monday morning edition of Bruin Bites, so let's get right to it and take a look at the various bits and pieces of news from around the UCLA-iverse:

• We'll start this week's Bruin Bites with, as typical of the non-revenue roundups (which will be coming later today), a look at legendary men's volleyball coach Al Scates. Sadly, this weekend marked the last game of Coach Scates' remarkable 50 year run as UCLA's head coach (with 19 national titles in the bank) with a loss to UC Irvine in the MPSF conference tournament. Scott Reid over at the Orange County Register has an extended profile on the Volleyball Wizard of Westwood. But more than dominating the game, Coach Scates, part-John Wooden, part-James Naismith, part-Vince Lombardi, is the father of volleyball in the United States: all-in-all not too bad for a football player cut from the volleyball team at Santa Monica City College for not knowing how to play in the late 1950s. It's a sad day not just in Westwood, but in the entire volleyball world with Coach Scates finally hanging it up.
• Moving on to another former UCLA coach and following up on last Monday's Bruin Bites, Larry Brown (who with just two seasons in Westwood, among 14 other coaching stops, is the polar opposite to Coach Scates' 50 years at UCLA), has accepted the head coaching job at SMU, making his return to the college game after leaving Kansas following his national title winning 1987-88 season.
• Speaking of basketball, Shabazz Muhammad, the 18-year-old who Ben Howland hopes will save his job in Westwood, has been working on improving his game with Jeremy Russotti at the Sonoma Academy, since he will no longer be able to rely on elite athleticism to dominate lesser competition (although, given how abysmally poor the Pac-12 projects to be, maybe he really doesn't need to worry). And while Phil Barber at the Santa Rosa Press- Democrat gets in the obligatory Adidas-Muhammad-UCLA link, what's key in his story is that Shabazz is demonstrating the kind of commitment to his craft that UCLA hasn't seen since the days of AA. Which is good for Ben Howland, because he'll need an AA-style determined-to-win-at-all-costs-no-matter-the-amount-of-work-it-takes kind of player to stay employed at UCLA.
  

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It's Thursday morning, which means we're getting real close to finally making to what looks like a picture-perfect sunny spring weekend here in the Golden State. Our spring sports are gearing up for post-season play and it's crunch time as UCLA looks to pick up its 109th national title (if not more) by the time classes wrap up at the end of spring quarter. So, let's get right into your bits and pieces of news from around the UCLA-iverse:

• Starting with football, Jon Gold has an interview with redshirt freshman center Jacob Brendel, who has all the tools to be the next great UCLA center, but is suffering through some mental roadblocks in getting the snaps down. Gold has some good sound bites from Brendel and offensive line coach Adrian Klemm, as Brendel finds himself on the outside looking in, trying to get his snaps down before he loses his spot on the depth chart. What's great about this is that, unlike prior coaching regimes, you can get a sense that there is real accountability at Spaulding from Coach Klemm: either you perform or you get replaced, which is refreshing for Bruin fans used to favoritism regardless of on-field performance.
• Turning to the boss, Coach Mora was profiled by the Sporting News' Matt Hayes, in which he talks about his transition to the college game, what he's enjoying about college life, and some valuable lessons he got, from all places, his former player in Atlanta, Warrick Dunn, and the time he spent rehabbing his knee in Seattle with Washington Huskies players. It's an interesting read. Oh, and they throw an Ellis McCarthy quote in at the end for you recruiting junkies.
• The other half of "Two Fat Guys Talkin' Football," the Daily Bruin's Sam Strong, has a really good piece on freshman QB Jerry Neuheisel. Strong got some real good quotes from Jerry Neu and Mora, discussing Jerry's decision to stay at UCLA, what he wants to do while in Westwood, how he dealt with his dad being fired, and Mora's decision to change the culture around UCLA football without disparaging one of UCLA's own in Rick Neuheisel. Good read and it really makes you appreciate how classy Rick, Jerry, and Mora have been in this transition period. Unlike Karl Dorrell, who more-or-less fell off the face of the Earth after he was terminated, you get the sense that Rick is going to be very vocal in his support for UCLA.

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The #16-ranked UCLA softball team didn't wait until the next weekend to get back into action, doubling up their games for the week with a mid-week series against #15-ranked Stanford. Fortunately for UCLA, the extra action didn't hurt as the Bruins picked up a pair of series wins, first by taking two of three against the Cardinal before following it up with a pair of wins to take the series in Seattle against #7-ranked Washington. Needing to pick up some momentum after last weekend's crushing sweep in Tempe against then #5-ranked Arizona State, the Lady Bruins answered the call.

Starting on Tuesday, the Cardinal started strong, picking up the first game of the series in a high-scoring affair, dropping our Lady Bruins 11-9. Ally Carda took the hill for the Bruins, and despite getting hit well by the Cardinal, giving up 5 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks over 4.0 innings (to go with her 5 Ks), she managed to do well enough to put herself in position for a win, with UCLA up 7-5 after 4 innings. Jessica Hall came on in relief in the fifth, but was unable to close out the Cardinal, as Stanford blasted 6 runs in the fifth and sixth innings to take the lead for good. Hall (3.0 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 1 HBP, 4 K) picked up her sixth loss on the season to run her tally to 12-6 for the year. Offensively, the Bruins easily out-hit their Palo Alto counterparts (14-7) but stranded too many runners (10 total to Stanford's 1). Stephany LaRosa was once again the offensive star (4-5, 2 R, 5 RBI, 2 HR) blasting off her 11th and 12th homers of the year. Dani Yudin (2-4, 1 R, 2 RBI) also launched one deep (her 5th of the season), but it wasn't enough as the Cardinal were able to play 11 runs on just 7 hits.

At the back-end of Tuesday's doubleheader, the Bruins were able to keep their offensive fireworks going while finding a way to keep the Cardinal offense in check enough to end the game early on the mercy rule, winning 12-4 in five innings. Destiny Rodino got the rare start for UCLA and the crafty veteran made the most of it, going 3.1 innings (5 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 1 K) and doing enough to pick up her third win of the year. Ally Carda came took over in the fourth and went 1.2 innings (1 H, 1 BB, 2 K) to close the door on Stanford and notch her first save of the year. Stephany LaRosa (2-4, 2 R, 4 RBI, 1 HR) launched her third homer of the day (13th on the season) while Andrea Harrison (2-3, 2 R, 3 RBI, 1 HR), B.B. Bates (1-2, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR), and Samantha Camuso (2-3, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 HR) all put one over the wall to help lead UCLA to an easy win to even the series up.

On Wednesday, the Bruins took on the Cardinal in the series rubber match, which didn't have the offensive fireworks of Tuesday's games. But, the lack of offense worked for UCLA, as the Bruins took a 5-2 win and grabbed the series victory from Stanford. Ally Carda took to the mound for the Bruins, and unlike Tuesday, came out strong, going 5.1 innings (6 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 3 K) to notch her 12th victory of the year. Jessica Hall came on in the sixth and closed the Cardinal out (1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K) to pick up her 4th save of the season. While the Bruins still struggled with leaving runners on base (7 LOB), it was the usual suspects leading the Bruin offense again - freshman 3B Stephany LaRosa (2-3, 1 RBI), B.B. Bates (1-3, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR), Samantha Camuso (1-2, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 HR) - but with the added help of Carda (3-3, 1 RBI), who not only pitched a strong game, but got her first three-hit game.

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Another week gone by, and we're another week closer to the end of the spring non-revenue sports' season, with conference championships just on the horizon for most of the squads and the NCAA championship for the women's gymnastics team kicking off this Friday. It's crunch time and most of our teams are in good position to make a deep postseason run. So, let's take a look at how UCLA's non-revenue teams fared this past week:

• As normal, starting with Coach Al Scates and the #3-ranked men's volleyball team, the team stumbled to a weekend split to end the regular season. Starting the weekend off in Stockton on Friday, the Bruins needed four sets to drop #13-ranked Pacific, 3-1. The Bruins were led with a 14-kill effort by Thomas Amberg, while getting solid games from the usual suspects: Weston Dunlap (10 kills, 3 assists, 1 dig), Kyle Caldwell (7 kills, 43 assists, 7 digs), Gonzalo Quiroga (11 kills, 2 assists, 10 digs), and Jeremy Casebeer (9 kills, 6 digs).
• Despite the strong start to the weekend, on Saturday, the Bruins couldn't keep their momentum going in Palo Alto, getting swept by #5-ranked Stanford, 3-0. While four Bruins (Dunlap, Caldwell, Amberg, Quiroga) notched 7 kills, no one could do better, as UCLA fell in a subpar effort. With the split weekend, the Bruins finish the regular season at 22-7 overall and 16-6 in conference play. As a result, the Bruins find themselves on the outside-looking-in, playing as the #5-seed in the MPSF tournament this upcoming weekend, where they'll square off against #4-seeded UC Irvine. For the season, UCI dropped the Bruins twice (3-1 in January and 3-2 in early March) before UCLA figured the Anteaters out in late March (3-0) to avoid the season sweep.
• The #6-ranked men's tennis team, on the other hand, had no trouble this weekend, sweeping the Bay Area schools in Los Angeles this weekend. Starting on Saturday, the Bruins took on #12-ranked Cal, blasting the Golden Bears to easily win 7-0. In a match that was never close, the Bruins started strong in doubles, sweeping all three matches in mostly dominating fashion (8-3, 8-2, 8-6) to pick up the first point. In singles action, except for a couple of matches, the Bruins easily took care of business, with Clay Thompson, Nick Meister, Dennis Novikov, Marcos Giron, Adrien Puget, and Dennis Mkrtchian all beating their Cal counterparts to complete the total sweep.
  

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It's Monday morning, which once again, sadly means a return back to work. Spring football is shaping up nicely, with a different attitude and tempo at Spaulding than we've become accustomed to in the last decade of mediocrity. Whether that translates into more wins remains to be seen, but with the storms gone and the sun back, things certainly feel like they might be turning around. We've got a lot to cover in this Monday morning edition of Bruin Bites, so let's get right to it and take a look at the various bits and pieces of news from around the UCLA-iverse:

• Yesterday marked the sixty-fifth anniversary of the date Jackie Robinson bravely smashed baseball's color barrier. With it came a lot of various pieces of how great Jackie was. You'll get no argument from us here at BN. In that vein, Sports Illustrated had an interesting take, summarizing the life and accomplishments of one of our greatest Bruins. But they did something more; while praising Jackie for what he did, Sports Illustrated reminds us that someone else came before Jackie: his Bruin teammates Kenny Washington and Woody Strode re-integrated the NFL in 1946 with the Los Angeles Rams. Interesting take that takes a brief look at why Jackie's fellow great Bruins are often overlooked.
• Speaking of football, former UCLA linebacker Reggie Carter is taking up a new job as an assistant coach at Campbell Hall in North Hollywood. The hard-hitting former heart-and-soul of the last UCLA defense to stop U$C will spend the next season coaching the JV team at Campbell Hall while the school rebuilds the program with a one-year hiatus from varsity competition.
• On the same subject, former UCLA defensive end Dave Ball re-signed with the Tennessee Titans on Friday. The former stand-out Bruin defensive end will continue to line-up with fellow former Bruin stand-out Alterraun Verner in Nashville, which will make it hard not to want to root for the Team-Formerly-Known-As-The-Oilers.

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The sixth session of this year's spring football practice - and of the Jim Mora era in Westwood - is going to begin shortly, at 9:30 a.m. on "What's Wrong With" Spaulding Field. If you're lucky enough to be in Westwood this sunny Saturday morning, you can make your way down to the 80-yard practice "field" and take in some UCLA football action (practices, as always, are open to the public). If you do, feel free to fire up your observations from Spaulding.

To get those of us stuck in exile from Southern California in the mood for some football, one of our favorite writers, Jon Gold, has a series of cool post-practice interviews on his blog; ICYMI, here's his April 10 post-practice interview with redshirt freshman QB Brett Hundley:

Inside UCLA Brett Hundley Post-Practice 4/10 (via InsideUCLA71)

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It's Thursday morning, the day following the commitment that Bruin fans have been waiting for. With Shabazz Muhammad, a long-rumored UCLA lean (with the optimists saying it's because of Howland's ability to make guards NBA-ready defensively, and the cynics saying it's because of Shabazz's prior relationship with Adidas), now formally in the fold, the expectations for Howland remain extremely high. I hate to rain on everyone's Shabazz parade, but let's not forget:

Even if Ben Howland, in his tenth season in charge at UCLA, goes on an undefeated 40-win season and wins a national title, his winning percentage at UCLA will only rise to 71.9%, or 4.1% percentage points short of the Tubby line. And let's be real: there is no way he's winning 40 games, going undefeated, and winning a national title, even with Shabazz in the fold.

76.0% and only one national title wasn't good enough for the fan base in Kentucky.

So, why is 68.1% and zero national titles acceptable in Westwood?

Naturally, this raises the question of whether Howland should be retained if he fails to win a national title after a decade in charge in Westwood. I say should because with Chianti Dan's willingness to stick with Neuheisel, even following our 50-0 drubbing at the hands of Southern Cal, I have no confidence that Guerrero will do what is in the best long-term interests of the university. In any event, let's turn to the bits and pieces of news floating around the UCLA-iverse the morning following the Shabazz announcement:

• Starting, of course, with Shabazz-related news, Ben Bolch at the Los Angeles Times has notes from his Wednesday evening media conference call with Ben Howland already up. Howland, apparently, is very happy that he reeled in the top-ranked prospect in the country, after just finishing a scandal-wracked and disappointing season. Howland's hope is that Shabazz will be the kind of elite national recruit that will convince, just by being a Bruin, to UCLA .
• You're about to see something extremely rare: me agreeing with Bil Plaschke. Following the Shabazz announcement, Plaschke had the flip side of Bolch's piece, noting that landing guys like Shabazz and Anderson were a major get for the Bruins, but one that comes with a potentially high price. As Plaschke notes, in his annoying one sentence paragraph style, is that Howland has basically gone all-in by landing these recruits:

It's the best Bruins recruiting haul since Kevin Love showed up on campus five years ago. It gives UCLA its best chance at a national championship since the Bruins played in the actual game more than six years ago. It's a great day for a coach whose tenure has been marked by recent recruiting mistakes that have led to team turmoil.

But it's not a victory, it's a mandate. And with this future blessing, there is a potential curse.

Ironically, by coaxing enough good players to campus to light up new Pauley Pavilion and go deep into the tournament, Howland has put his job on the line if they don't.

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Another week, but with radically different results than the week before. The #12-ranked Lady Bruins took the middle of the week off and traveled to Tempe for a weekend series against the #5-ranked Arizona State Sun Devils. Unfortunately, their road trip went exactly as they didn't want it to go, as ASU swept UCLA in three straight games.

Starting on Thursday, the Bruins got their weekend off on the wrong foot, getting blown out by Arizona State, 9-1, in a mercy rule shortened six-inning affair. Jessica Hall got the start for UCLA and the sophomore ace did well for the first two frames, keeping the potent Sun Devil offense in check until the third inning, when things started going downhill. In the following four innings, ASU pounded Hall for 9 runs on 10 hits, while drawing 4 walks. Hall could only manage two Ks and ultimately got saddled for the loss. On the offensive side, there wasn't much life in the Bruin bats, with only Katie Schroeder managing more than 1 hit (2-3, 0 R, 0 RBI), while the Bruins' lone run was driven in by Andrea Harrison (0-2, 1 RBI). In fact, ASU phenom Dallas Escobedo managed to hold UCLA's formerly potent offense to just four hits over six innings.

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We're in the middle of the spring non-revenue season now, which means this past week was chalk-full of action for UCLA's non-revenue sports. Without wasting any time, let's get right to the action from the past week:

• Starting with the legendary Coach Al Scates and his #3-ranked men's volleyball team, they got their final home-stand under way on Friday against #4-ranked BYU. Sadly, the final home-stand for Coach Scates did not start well, with the Bruins falling to BYU in a tightly-contested five-set match, losing 3-2. The Bruins had a lot of players in double digits, but it wasn't enough to stop the Cougars. UCLA was led by Kyle Caldwell's near triple-double (10 kills, 44 assists, 8 digs) and got double-digit performances from Gonzalo Quiroga (13 kills, 1 assist, 6 digs), Weston Dunlap (11 kills, 2 assists, 4 digs), Thomas Amberg (11 kills), and Jeremy Casebeer (11 kills, 2 assists, 4 digs).
• The next day, in Coach Scates' final home game after 50 years of being at the helm in Westwood, the Bruins picked up their game for their legendary coach and sent him out with style, sweeping BYU in the Saturday rematch, 3-0. Gonzalo Quiroga led UCLA (11 kills, 2 assists, 2 digs), while Weston Dunlap (8 kills) and Kyle Caldwell (2 kills, 27 assists, 5 digs) were instrumental in UCLA's clean sweep on Saturday. With the split weekend, the Bruins improved to 21-6 overall and 15-5 in conference play, heading into their final regular season matches, a road trip to Northern California to take on Pacific and Stanford next weekend.
  
• Turning to golf, as mentioned earlier (HT gbruin), our very own Patrick Cantlay was playing in the Masters at Augusta this weekend; however, he wasn't the only Bruin in the field, as he was joined by former Bruin Kevin Chappell in the tournament. Chappell made the cut in his first Masters' appearance, but finished +6, good enough for a tie for 44th (and one stroke behind Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy). Cantlay, finished a stroke behind his Bruin counterpart, finishing +7, tied for 47th overall. Despite finishing in the 40s, Cantlay still finished with the best score of any amateur in the field, taking the low amateur crown home, which marks the best result for a Bruin amateur golfer all-time.

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It's Monday morning, which sadly means a return back to work (except for the few of you who got today off, you lucky SOBs). Football is finally back, the pain of Ben Howland's dumpster fire isn't foremost in our mind (at least for now), and we're creeping closer to the return of nothing but long, sunny days here in the Golden State. So, to get our week started, let's take a look at the various bits and pieces of news from around the UCLA-iverse:

• Starting with basketball, as the Lexington Herald-Reader reported, feeling is building around Kentucky that the Wildcats might actually close the gap on UCLA, something the Lexington faithful once thought unattainable when Jim Harrick and King Ed brought the eleventh banner back to Pauley Pavilion, while Kentucky stood at five. So, in the time since UCLA last won a national title, Kentucky has scored three, and closed our gap in half. All while Chianti Dan fiddles away.
• On the pro side, the Salt Lake Tribune has a really good profile of former Bruin guard and current Utah Jazz back-up Earl Watson. In addition to talking about Watson's own path from a rough neighborhood to UCLA to the NBA, the Salt Lake Tribune covered Watson's interactions with Coach, his belief in basketball, and most importantly, his really heart-touching and awesome outreach efforts to get young kids out of bad neighborhoods and change the culture of his rough hometown.
• In women's hoops news, as the Los Angeles Times noted, UCLA-commit Nirra Fields was named the Times' Player of the Year after leading Mater Dei to a Southern Section Division I-AA championship and being named a McD's All-American. All-in-all, a good profile of an outstanding basketball player, who should be able to help turn Cori Close's program around after this inconsistent season.

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