I really thought this was a joke.  I mean, come on, he is Timmeh and all, and it is JustSC and all, but apparently, Master P's tyke, Lil' Romeo, him of outstanding kiddie hip-hop and Lil' Bow Wow rivalry fame, who apparently is a junior now in Beverly Hills High, has just committed to the 2008 basketball recruiting class:

High school basketball phenom O.J. Mayo is most likely going to USC for one year and then bouncing to the NBA, and everyone thinks it's because that's what O.J. Mayo wants to do. Not so. Mayo's leaving after one year because he's afraid to suffer the indignity of losing his starting job to the artist that brought us Romeoland.

That's right, it's Game Time. Lil' Romeo son of Master P, has committed to play basketball for Tim Floyd at USC. He just finished up his junior year at Beverly Hills High school, averaging 13.9 points and 5.6 assists per game. He also led the league in street cred.

Hmm, I could add a litany of insightful, funny commentary, but really, is it absolutely necessary?  I mean, I dunno about you, but apparently Coach Howland needs to hurry up and get going on recruiting wanna-be rappers because as a fan, I dunno if I can stand the additional indignity of being mocked by all the JustSC fans for not having a Nickelodian "star" on our team. Good thing the concept of a JustSC basketball fan is still theoretical only.

Let the mocking commence.

How awesome is JustSC?  I mean, along with these Senora Ross geniuses, this gem found over at Deadspin just proves that JustSC isn't just a football school:

You'd have to consider OJ Mayo an extremely unlikely candidate to launch a white supremacy website, but that doesn't mean the much-heralded USC basketball recruit can't find another way to get into trouble. Mayo was busted for misdemeanor marijuana possession last night in Huntington, West Virginia. Now all USC needs is for Pete Carroll to get caught buying and selling immigrant children, and their week is complete.

The best line Will over at Deadspin comes up with:

Are we sure that he didn't commit to play for Bob Huggins at Kansas State?

The best part was that OJ2's car got pulled over as they drove suspiciously by a house where the police were serving a search warrant.  Yeah, that really speaks so much towards Timmeh's recruiting targets.  Let's make sure the guys we recruit are definitely associated with only the right type of people.  Of course, right type meaning, SUC football players.

So classic!  So chin up fellow Bruins as we move forward from here.  At least we can take comfort in the fact that JustSC will never let us down.

Bumped from the diaries. GO BRUINS. -N

Looks like we're moving ahead.  HOK Sport was chosen:

HOK Sport of Kansas City, Mo., was chosen by a selection committee from among 10 firms that responded to the school's request for submissions.

Among the renovations being considered are a retractable seating system to bring spectators closer to the court; new concession areas, restrooms and modern technology to enhance fan experience; new and expanded locker rooms, medical treatment and media rooms and dedicated practice facilities; a main lobby that would serve as a central entrance; and redevelopment of the area between the football practice field and the arena.

If you've been following new stadium/arena/convention center builds around the nation for the past 15 or so years, you probably know that HOK Sport is pretty much the "Standard" in stadium builds, or at least in securing pretty much every contract out there, including Camden Yards, Pacbell/SBC/AT&T Park, Petco Park, Busch III (my favorite of course), etc. etc.

Personally, I think HOK Sport is absolutely the right choice, and guarantees that the minute you see the new Pauley, the WOW factor is going to be incredible.  The one thing HOK Sport always does is that they incorporate one geographical quirk to work around (e.g. the Western Metal building at Petco, the view of the Gateway Arch and Mississippi River right over the outfield at Busch III), so I'm curious as to what one thing they're going to reuse.

Oh yeah, and one more thing, I GUARANTEE that the new Pauley is going to make Pauley East look like the Sports Arena as well.

Update [2007-2-6 19:28:59 by stevenucla]: Here's a link to HOK's past and current projects since I've seen quite a few requests for this list.

Update 2 [2007-2-6 22:45:59 by stevenucla]: Per BBR, one example of a college basketball renovation (as opposed to a brand-new build) is Wichita State's Charles Koch Arena. This renovation was almost a complete rebuild, since they pretty much only kept the roof, but they did it all for less than $20M.

Reacting to the latest Bengal arrest, Carson Palmer released a statement on the Bengal's website today:

"It has to stop," Palmer said hours after he heard the news. "If it doesn't stop, we're not going to have any fans left and I don't blame them. It's ridiculous. We can't get through a month without getting a guy arrested. It happens on another team and they're shocked and surprised to hear about it. With us, you hear about it and it doesn't surprise you and you just shake your head and say, 'Another one.' "
...
"Talent isn't everything, and we've got talent but we're sitting home for a reason and we have to do something about it."
...
What set Palmer off and put the Bengals back in the crosshair of jokes came overnight Monday when Joseph was arrested in Boone County, Kentucky overnight on a marijuana possession charge.
...
Joseph became the ninth Bengal to be arrested since Dec. 15, 2005.

Really? I thought 4 years at SUC would have prepared Palmer well for playing on a football team that gets frequent flier points with the local bail bondsman.

BTW, Carson, you shouldn't worry about losing fans. I mean 1) all the arrests at your alma mater didn't stop all the lemmings jumping on the bandwagon; and 2) are there really Bengal fans out there?

Maybe the Bengals can become our new savior by coming to get KD to clean up house.  I mean, he can't coach worth shit, but hey, he'll make sure your team doesn't turn into the Raiders or SUC.  It's not like the Bengals win anyway, so at least they would solve one problem.

From the diaries. -N

As many of you know, many diaries, stories, and comments here have been dedicated to the ass-clowness of Jay Bilas.  Somehow, by stroke of luck or possibly being in possession of incriminating photos, this assclown has managed to convince the WWL to renew his contract every year.  Of course, it goes without saying that the same DSPN execs also continue to hire Lavin, so that really says a lot about them.

Anyway, as you may or may not know, DSPN puts out their Power 16 poll, which is a composite of their various "experts" (who of course, were all surprised that UCLA had a 2 seed last year, much less make it to the NC game).  Also, last year, I started a weekly analysis to hold the various poll voters accountable for handing over their polls and #2 pencils to monkeys (literally, and I don't mean the Koko kind either) to fill out, since UCLA barely made it on the radar screen until nearly halfway through the season.  N asked me to do it again this year, but I didn't really see a need to since UCLA was getting the recognition it truly deserved.

Until now, thanks to Jay Bilas, DSPN assclown.

This is his poll for this week (top 5 included only):

1. North Carolina
   
2. Florida
   
3. Ohio State
   
4. UCLA
   
5. Pittsburgh

North Carolina, Florida, and Ohio State?  WTF?   Considering last week he had UCLA and Pitt over NC, Florida, and Ohio St, what the hell is he actually thinking?  I mean, since last Thursday, look at what each of these four teams had to do:

1. NC: Win against then 6-3 High Point.  No offense, but who the hell is High Point?  I actually had to check to see if they were even Div 1, much less a college.
2. Florida: Guess what?  NOTHING!  THEY HAVEN'T PLAYED A SINGLE GAME SINCE LAST THURSDAY.  Also, not only is Brewer out with mono, but they ALSO have lost Horford with a high ankle sprain.  Yeah,  I wonder who would be the heavy favorite if we redid that UCLA-FL NC today...
3. Ohio State: Beat then 5-5 Cleveland State, with the help of Oden's return.  A ONE-HANDED ODEN.  How the hell is a one-handed Oden supposed to suddenly make you a Final Four contender at this point?  Talk to me when he actually has two hands.
4. UCLA: Do I even have to say?  TAMU was #6 BTW for those DSPN execs reading this, because I know you only keep track of the ACC.

But guess what, we are blessed with the inner working's of Bilas's "mind" (emphasis mine): Is this supposed to be some kind of weekly reward system that fluctuates based upon how a team is playing at the time, or is it my rankings of the teams that I really think are the best teams? It is probably a combination of both, but I prefer to term this as a ranking of the teams, in order of how good I think they are. If the best team plays at home against the second best team and wins by one, why should the second best team be dropped several spots? So, I plan on ranking the best teams as I see it, and the games they play will provide me with more evidence to chew upon.

Hey assclown, what phantom games were you watching that made you flip from last week?  I'm betting NONE.

Finally, for your viewing pleasure, here's what he had to say last year about the Power 16 (emph mine):

I still can't figure out what a Power 16 really is ... is it a projection of which teams will be the best or a reflection of this week's scores? Heck, if there is no projection in it, who needs it? All you have to do is look at records. For me, it is a combination of both schools of thought. I try to consider how good a team really is, balanced with how they have played this particular week -- and I do it all in less than three minutes. That's what I think of polls ...

And as I said last year, "Obviously.  You are definitely an idiot."

Update [2006-12-6 3:6:25 by stevenucla]:: As some of you may already know, Bob is UNABLE to provide video because ABC threatened to sue (which I pretty much was sure was going to happen), but has provided a link to the radio broadcast for download (which I pretty much thought was going to happen) here.

Saw this over at Bruin Gold:

Hey guys,

I'm the prod guy at AM 570. I've skimmed a couple of threads to see there's an interest in the game on tape. (both tv and radio perhaps). I can provide both. TV with commercials edited out, and radio edited up (with pregame and postgame).

Just email me your name and mailing address to bobschmidt@clearchannel.com and I'll start getting stuff together to mail out. Thanks to everyone who came out and stopped over at the broadcast site. Here's some post victory promos to enjoy.

http://media.putfile.com/UCLA-Beats-USC-Horse-Killed-

http://media.putfile.com/UCLA-Beat-USC-Long-Walk-Pier

http://media.putfile.com/UCLA-Beats-USC-Remix-Promo

http://media.putfile.com/UCLA-Beats-USC-Caller-Montage

Bob Schmidt
AM 570 Production Guy

He gives permission to repost his entire post, so here you go.  I have no idea if this guy actually speaks for AM 570 or on behalf of any actual copyright owners, or even works for AM 570, but just putting this out anyway.

I also checked iTunes, and I don't see the game there (yet).  I have no idea if they ever plan to put it on there, but that would be great if they did, so I can put it on my video iPod to remind all my Southern Cal friends for the next 363 days.    Even a 10-minute condensed game version would be great.

Anyway, the promo clips are great, especially the "UCLA Beat USC Long Walk Pier" clip.  I'll probably be using that as a ring tone.

First the good news: the point/foul/timeout tracker boards finally work again.  Even then, it only started working 10 minutes into the game.

OK, now to the dirty biz:

1. Slow starts: This is the second game now where we just looked absolutely out-of-sync for the first half.  Actually, we were even out-of-sync for the first few minutes of the second half as well.  These slow starts are going to catch up to us if we don't fix this quickly (namely, this upcoming Saturday).
2. FT shooting: better, but definitely needs improvement
3. Zone-D penetration: The ugly zone-D issues are back again.  We did penetrate a few times, but when we definitely gave up several ugly turnovers trying to pass on the perimeter.  Considering our size and strength advantage, we could have been bullying our way to the basket more often.
4. Fan support: OK, I know this was the game after the GAME, but still, when I checked after asking a prof sitting next to me, this is only the week before dead week, yet the Den had at least 100 or so seats empty.  Come on, these are your #1 UCLA Bruins!

I'll end this on some positive notes.  It was awesome to see our FB seniors during half-time (though McNeal was strangely absent, considering he probably would have gotten the biggest cheers).  Our athleticism looked great, some insane moves by AA, Shipp, Luc, shoot even DC dunked near the end (I didn't even think he could do that). Mata is back. Definitely. Monster tough, getting his touch back. Lots of good vibes at the game, especially coming off yesterday's win.  Um, I'm sure I'm missing quite a bit, but honestly, I spent quite a bit of time talking with my seatmates about yesterday. Update [2006-12-3 21:13:36 by stevenucla]: Oh yeah, we're defintely going to be unanimous #1 tomorrow. That's DEFINITELY positive!

Just want to insert a little humor going into our battle this weekend. Our good-natured friends over at UCR has some "interesting" things to say about Ben-ball. UC Riverside Media Notes for Sunday's game (make sure you read the last paragraph as well) (emphasis mine):

About the Opponents

• UCLA, short for California - Los Angeles, is a small, research based institution located in Westwood, CA. They are 5-0 on the season, but have been largely overlooked by the callous media. They most recently took the tournament title at the Maui Invitational, capping it with an 88-73 win over Georgia Tech, with guard Darren Collison earning Pacific-10 Player of the Week honors following a 13.3 point, 7.0 assists per game performance that earned him tournament MVP honors. On Tuesday they defeated the Long Beach St. 49ers, 88-58. Their head coach, Ben Howland, is perhaps best known for several years of quality work as the top assistant to Jerry Pimm at UC Santa Barbara during the Gauchos glory years in the 1990's.
• The Bruins have defeated the Highlanders in their two previous meetings. During the 2001-02 season, the Highlanders fell by 15, 65-50, then in the 03-04 season, UCR lost by 14, 84-70. Both games were played at Pauley Pavilion.
• Please note the above is written completely tongue in cheek. UCLA is the number one team in the nation and on the cover of virtually every magazine except Ladies Home Journal. You don't need these notes to tell you about them.

After kicking SC's ass on Saturday, looking forward to a fun time at Ben-Ball Sunday! Hope to see all of you there!

Well, duh: (emphasis mine)

We have graded Love as the No. 1 player in the Class of 2007 because we believe he is the most fundamental high school basketball player in the last 25 years. He is the poster child for what is right with basketball today. The movement in our country is toward skill development and skills academies. Love has been in a skill development program from a young age with his dad, former NBA player Stan Love. Young players should study Love and use him as a role model to learn how to improve their own games.

Mayo gets the following "awesome" review from DSPN (emphasis mine):

Since playing high school basketball as an eighth grader, Mayo has been deemed a can't-miss prospect and has had more attention than anyone in the Class of 2007. He has been a physical specimen since an early age, but it appeared this summer he was not as dominating as he had been in previous summers.

Despite what the cocksuckers (and I mean that literally) at the LA Times believe, which is that the "other" OJ deserves twenty times more space in the sports section than our #1 UCLA Bruins, and that doesn't even count the endless cocksucking of Pom-pom's program, how the Galen Center will solve cancer, or how Floyd is the next John Wooden, this obviously shows that BH had no interest at all in a clearly-overhyped, immature, probably-refering-to-himself-in-the-third-person teabag.  Probably sucked this summer because he was too busy picking colors for his new car.

In about 30 minutes, some of you will probably undergo the hell that many of us had to do at some point in our lives: check to see if you passed the California bar exam.

Just to give you a heads-up: the Calbar site doesn't say "Hey Joe Bruin, you passed!"  It's more like "This name does appear on the list of applicants who passed the July 2006 California State Bar Examination" or some crazy nonsense like that.

Anyway, keep this in mind:

1. Don't freak out if you don't get into the site at first.  It can take up to an hour.

2. Drinking heavily before you check is OK, as long as you have a (relatively) sober person with you to confirm that yes, you actually did pass.

3. When you find out you passed, the calling rules are:

  A) First call all non-bar-taker friends and family

  B) Second, call all non-friends who thought you would fail to gloat

  C) FINALLY, ONLY IF you've exhausted the first two, may you contact other bar takers.  I always recommend the text message first, with a simple "Call me if everything is OK", and then wait for the other person to call.  And, definitely, ALWAYS ASSUME THE OTHER PERSON FAILED before you say anything in glee, because it really, really, really sucks to hear from someone who passed when you failed.

4. If by some terrible twist of fate, you didn't pass (probably because you went to Southern Cal), don't forget that no one has to know until Sunday morning.

Good luck to all of you!

Ps As a corollary to all of you that knows a bar taker, DO NOT CALL THEM FIRST. You can check yourself on Sunday morning at www.calbar.org. If they did pass and didn't call you, don't be offended. They probably just passed out before they got to a phone.

Update [2006-11-17 21:59:1 by stevenucla]:For the public list that comes out on Sunday morning, 6 AM PST

Poll

Just for S&G

87%

PASS!

7 votes

12%

Not so good.

1 votes

8 votes | Poll has closed

Finally got tix in section 170 for Game 3.  Flying in from LA tomorrow.  Look for me with my Viva El Birdos shirt (although it may be underneath 5 layers of clothes)!  

I would have gotten Game 5 instead, but I'm concerned about the weather.  I'm assuming that a Game 4 rain delay would move to Friday, but I'm flying back that morning.

Also, thinking of getting Coca Cola Scoreboard patio tix for Game 4 or 5 if the weather holds up.  What's the story with the free beer and food?  Is it all game or just before the game?

Where's everyone else going to be?

Bumped. Light up the switchboards today, tomorrow, and specially Monday (TODAY).

Please be polite and respectful when you are making these calls. Please use the viral tools at the bottom of the post to share it with every UCLA related family and friends you know. This diary will stay up top for next 72 hours. Turn the heat on. - N

I'm going to do my part and call the Athletic Office that the football program is now DTM, or "Dead To Me", and that I refuse to spend another dime on that program until Dorrell goes.  Too bad I can't just cut them off completely since I still need tix for Ben Ball.

In the meantime, I'm going to sell every last of my football home tix on Stubhub.

The office number for the Athletic Fund office is:

(310) 206-3302

These are the people (click on read more - N) that makes things happen.  No happy alum, no $$$ for the program.

e-mail this page :: del.icio.us :: digg this

Continue reading this post »

Davy just got his second All-star pick (albeit really, really late)

It also means we now have 4 straight years with a SS at the All-Star game.  I'm sure it didn't hurt that being pesky at the plate all throughout the Cards-Astros series this past weekend gave Garner all the support he needed to make this pick!

Looking at the latest All-Star Balloting results, El Hombre's way out in front at least 300,000 votes over ANY other player in EITHER league.  But what I'm still wondering is how 220,484 people think Carlos Delgado is a better first baseman with his whopping .257 BA?

Eck and Rolen are also in the lead.  Get voting people!

Sorry Nestor, but more proof that your team's star pitcher is still an a-hole:

Big Unit Get Stingy With Love Child

Seattle PI's take on the situation:

Randy Johnson is exposing secrets from his past to public scrutiny because of his snit over a financial pittance. The Yankees ace and former Mariner is suing the mother of his now 16-year-old daughter to recover less than $100,000 in child-support payments.

Johnson earns $16 million annually. That means he's become inflamed and litigious over what amounts to roughly $375 for a person making $60,000 a year.

Maybe he's standing up for a principle. Or maybe he's being a selfish jerk.

I swear SUC must have an "A-hole 101" class for its athletics program.

The biggest factor why Florida will win, according to 99.9999999999999% of the world out there, is because Florida is "more balanced".  Like this assclown from Fox Sports (emphasis mine):

Breakdown: [Florida] is the most well-balanced team in the country. All five starters average in double figures and any of them can go for 20 on any given night. On the flip side, only Jordan Farmar and Arron Afflalo have scored 20 in any game this entire season for UCLA. Joakim Noah has emerged as the go-to guy since the tournament began, but the other four starters are still all putting up double-digit points on a regular basis.

Hey douchebag!  If you bothered to actually do any research, maybe you'd notice what our our good friends at BBR bothered to figure out:

In five tournament games, four UCLA players are averaging double figures in points scored: Afflalo (11.8), Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (11.8), Ryan Hollins (11.8 and 85%FG), and Jordan Farmar (11.4).

And if we look at Florida's tourney stats:

PLAYER         PPG
Joakim Noah    16.2
Corey Brewer   14.4
Lee Humphrey   12.4
Taurean Green  12.2
Al Horford     11.4
Chris Richard   3.4

Uh, yeah, REAL balanced.  I threw in Chris Richard, just to continue to highlight another point: the reason WHY Florida scores in the "high" double-digits from its starters is because THEY HAVE NO BENCH.  In fact, the entire bench has only scored 15 FG and 1 3PT in the entire tourney up to this point.

Yeah, if our bench was that pathetic (shoot, even Fey had a FG), AND, we weren't running out clock in the last ten minutes against Belmont, Memphis, LSU, AND our starters were playing 30+ minutes a game like FL, we'd probably need a lot more production from our starters.

So to all of you in the MSM who clearly don't know what the F**K you're talking about, here's yet another middle finger from me, my friends at BN, and of course, the "unbalanced" team that's still f'ing up your party (courtesy of Hollins):

To quote Jim Breuer's Brian character in the award-winning movie, "Half Baked": FU, FU, FU, [Belmont] you're cool (at least you recognized that we'd win), and FU.

OK, after the intial flurry of more of the usual, and Vegas of course, naturally pinning us as a 2 point DOG, the bandwagon is starting to get a little full.

Although Ray Glier at MSNBC jumped back onto the Gator bandwagon last week, he still somehow manages to shake off the effects of drinking the MSM Kool-aid and experience a moment of clarity when he states that enough's enough, people need to stop underrating UCLA (emphasis mine):.

I know, you hate the Bruins. It's why all the feel good stories this week were about Big Baby, Cinderella George Mason and the floppy-haired Joakim Noah. People talked about this Final Four being a dud because none of the big names were here -- Duke, UConn, North Carolina. It was as if UCLA and 11 national championships were nothing. The greatest dynasty in the history of the sport and people were worried about TV ratings.

Yeah that's what we thought America.  You all F-ing hate us.  Well, here's a big F'ing middle finger from me and the rest of BN:

Fuck Florida.  Go Bruins!  Bring back number 12. Oh yeah, Diane Pukin' also has a UCLA Gets No Repect article too, but she's a teabag.

Even the Chinese DSPN guy here in Taiwan picks Florida.  Whatever.  Teabags.

Saw this in ESPN Insider today:

UCLA defeated Memphis 50-45 Saturday to reach the Final Four via the Oakland Regional. It was the fewest points scored in an NCAA men's regional finals game since 1973, when, in the pre-shot-clock era, UCLA advanced to the Final Four by defeating San Francisco 54-39 at Pauley Pavilion. (That was the Bill Walton-Larry Farmer-Keith Wilkes team that went on to win UCLA's seventh consecutive national championship by defeating Memphis State in St. Louis.)

How funny are all those coincedences?  UCLA being on the winning end of both low scoring games, Walton at both games, both runs going through Memphis.  Well actually, considering the COACHING in both games, we shouldn't be surprised.  All we need now is a NC to make the comparison complete.

Surprise, surprise (emphasis mine):

The hyper Howland, who has turned around the program in three years, slid along his bench all game. He even raised his arms in the air late as a call for the fans to get more involved in the program's first final eight appearance since 1997

HUH??  As true followers of UCLA Basketball, we ALL know that Howland raises his hands, NOT to fire up the fans, but as a constant reminder to the players to play TENACIOUS D.  Dumbasses.

Classic!

Most important info bit (emphasis mine):

A part-time business lecturer at the University of Southern California was arrested Friday for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme that authorities say bilked at least $1.5 million from real estate investors, some of them students who took his class.
...
Authorities said Landreth's business was actually a Ponzi scheme, in which any money paid to investors comes from money put in by other investors. They said many of those who invested were USC business students who also worked briefly for Landreth but did not earn the salaries they were promised.

Idiots.

From Stephen Dilbeck's LA Daily News column today (emphasis mine):

After leading by as many as 17 in the first half, the Bulldogs seemed in control. For all the UCLA faithful that missed Steve Lavin, the Bruins gave you Thursday's first half.

In truth, they were confused and outplayed. They were most definitely outshot. Mostly they looked really, really lost against the zone.

During my research for the post regarding KD's raise, I came across this article from two years ago, during BH's first year.  I was just thinking that it's nice to reflect on BH to see that he's the same coach that year as this year, so all the MSM ass-clowns and BH-haters/KD-lovers can see for themselves what most of us have known all along.

The article has GREAT quotes, not just from BH, but from DG and Don MacLean, like this one (emphasis mine):

At UCLA, the legacy is quite daunting. Lavin was fired even though he had gone to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament five of his final six years with the Bruins. Howland will get at least a one-year honeymoon, perhaps two, thanks to the oddball collection of talent Lavin left him.

"That kind of faded away because of how Lavin left the program," said former UCLA center and All-American Don MacLean, the team's radio analyst. "There aren't any expectations. When [former UCLA coach Jim] Harrick was here, we were back to prominence. Now, it's like, hopefully, we can get in the Pac-10 tournament. That's sad by UCLA standards."

Howland is trying to raise the standard. He already has recruited four of the top 100 high school players in the country for next season, all from southern California. One of the recruits, Jason Farmar, is considered one of the top point guards in the country. Another is shooting guard Arron Afflalo, who averaged 26.2 points as a junior at Compton Centennial High School.

Quote from Jamie Dixon, BH's protege:

"One guy asked me, 'Do you think he'll get it done?' and I said, what's getting it done at UCLA? The last guy went to five Sweet 16s in six years and they wanted to fire him from day one. Is he the right guy for the job? Is he the best coach? Yes. That's for sure. He's the right guy for the job."

And of course, these changes aren't new at all.  They were evident even two years ago:

Still, compared to last season, the Bruins are much improved. MacLean, who played at UCLA from 1989-92, said the difference in their intensity, their discipline, is noticeable to anybody who watches them play every game.

And last, but not least, the glaring difference between BH's attitude towards coin, unlike some posers who don't need to be named for the millionth time (emphasis mine):

To be sure, Pitt tried to keep Howland. The university was prepared to up his annual compensation package from $850,000 to $1.3 million. He could have earned another $300,000 for winning the Big East title and getting to the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament. He also had a $1 million annuity that was payable if he stayed for the duration of the seven-year contract extension he signed in 2002.

In the end, though, all that money couldn't keep him at Pitt.

...

At UCLA, Howland is making significantly less money than he was at Pitt. His annual compensation is $950,000 with few incentives. If he would get fired, the remaining years on his contract would pay three times less than what he would have been paid under a similar situation at Pitt.

"It wasn't about the money, obviously," Howland said. "I had more security there. We had something really good there. I could have made more money at Pitt. But this is the only job I would leave Pitt for."

From the diaries. Took the liberty to change the post of the title a bit. Great find by Steve. 29 more hours to go. GO BRUINS- N

Following Nestor's suggestion, I'm putting up a link to a great article in insidebayarea.com (I think it's the website for a group of bay area papers, including the Oakland Trib):

UCLA finally has coach worthy of Wooden's seat

I think this article by Monte Poole more clearly makes the point that Michael Ventre's MSNBC article tries to do awkwardly, which is that BH is finally the worthy successor to Wooden that we have looked for, and not just because he's going to be a great coach at UCLA, but because every other program in the nation will now have to bend over for their ass-raping for the forseeable future.

For one thing, Poole quickly gets to the point:

MIKE MONTGOMERY left Stanford a couple years ago. Arizona coach Lute Olson can't be far behind. And thanks to a new NBA rule, college basketball coaches once again have exclusive access to the most gifted recruits.

Can you hear the engines humming? Feel the earth move?

It's as if a path is being cleared for a coach to assert supremacy over West Coast hoops.

It's refreshing to see that someone else other than us realize that Viagra Lute's prescription is running out.

 It's a recipe bound to attract recruits who long for the glories of the higher league. A nauseating thought for the other nine schools in the Pac-10. Just as one impact coach, Montgomery, departs and another, Olson, approaches his 72nd birthday, here comes a bully waving the big blue UCLA banner.

The indication is UCLA got it right this time. That the Bruins knew what they were doing upon hiring Howland away from the University of Pittsburgh in 2003.

(emphasis mine)

And I think Poole captures best what I thought Ventre was trying to say in his article, but failed miserably at that message, as evidenced by our earlier debate (emphasis mine):

In 1995, 20 years after Wooden, UCLA won another championship, that coming behind coach Jim Harrick, liked by a few and trusted by even fewer.

The seventh post-Wooden coach, Steve Lavin, a Harrick assistant promoted in the aftermath of scandal, got no respect and less acceptance.

And of course, Poole gets why we've been championing BH all this time:

 It appears Wooden, 95 and still going, finally has met the coach who can stand up to his legacy. The rest of the Pac-10 had better buckle up. As should the rest of college basketball.

We own all those bitches.

My girl and I are in Chicago this weekend.  Anyone know if there are any UCLA-friendly bars around here so we can watch the game?

Well, the first thing you have to know, is that Belmont's mascot is, get this:

the Bruins

I'm not joking.  You think the committee thought this would be funny?

Also, Belmont's never been to the NCAA before.

This article nicely sums up what SUC basketball is all about:

In particular (emphasis mine):

USC's Nick Young, however, wants something he was denied a year ago when the Trojans failed to qualify for the Pac-10 Tournament.

"I want to see the gifts we get," Young said. "I've been talking about that since we didn't make the Pac-10 Tournament."

And, yes, Young meant participation gifts such as iPods or Playstations, but most other players and coaches seem a little more interested in the basketball presents that can come from their presence in a conference tournament.

And of course, our boys know what it's really about:

And for a surging school such as UCLA, the Pac-10 Tournament represents another step toward what the Bruins hope to accomplish.

"We set three goals at the beginning of the new year - Pac-10 champion, Pac-10 Tournament champion and national champion - and we hope to not fall short of any of those," UCLA guard Arron Afflalo said.

In today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Lavin actually picked UCLA as one of his top 5 picks to win it all (and he wasn't talking about the Pac-10 tourney):

http://www.ajc.com/wednesday/content/epaper/editions/wednesday/sports_44e0a769d2c1804600e7.html

Either a Duke Vitale, classic "cover-his-ass-right-before-the-Final-Four-in-1995" move, but I'm sure it's much more sinister than that.  Of course, if that was true, that would take actual intelligence on his part.

I'm leaving town for a few weeks, and I still haven't found an appropriate person to take my WVa tix.  

I've decided to give the tickets to someone here on the board as some sort of spirit-lifting promotion, but I haven't really thought of an appropriate contest to "win".  The moderators of BN thought I should ask to see what the fairest way to give them out would be.  Of course, this would have to end by next Wednesday for the person to get his/her tix, so we'll have to come up with an idea in the next couple of days.