UCLA Bruins News & Photo Stream

All aboard the Bruin bandwagon, next pick up, Devin Fuller. The New Jersey quarterback who had been considered a strong Rutgers lean for much of his recruitment shooed away hats from Arizona, Nebraska, TCU and hometown Rutgers on his table and picked up a UCLA hat. He is the second quarterback in Jim Mora's first ever recruiting class and maybe the best athlete of the entire class at 6-foot-0, 185 lbs., great speed and incredibly quick feet, but he can definitely throw the ball too. You don't get to be the third-best QB recruit in the entire country without a gun.

This is a major blow to Rutgers, who are reeling after the loss of Greg Schiano, and more importantly, a big blow to Arizona. The Wildcats were hoping that Fuller would be the cornerstone of Rich Rodriguez's new offense and not coincidentally, he's a guy who many say reminds them of Pat White. Not a bad comparison. To be able to pick up such a fantastic athlete with a big arm and one who deals a blow to a conference rival, well, needless to say it's a big deal.

With Brett Hundley a redshirt freshman in the fall and T.J. Millweard and now Fuller both true freshmen, the Bruins have the quarterback depth they need for the future. Not only is it quarterback depth, but it's a trio of damn good prospects. Consider that Hundley was the top quarterback on the west coast a year ago, Millweard was being chased by QB guru Bobby Petrino and Fuller was wanted by just about everyone (seriously, Alabama, Notre Dame and a ton of others offered him) and it's tough to complain about what UCLA has at 1) the most important position on the field and 2) a position that has been the program's bug-a-boo for a decade now.

Some are going to bring up the problem with over-signing and leaving some kids out in the cold, but cool it for now. As we're seeing with Marcus Rios and probably another couple players, some recruits are going to enroll in the winter or spring and come in as part of last year's class. Others are going to decommit, as we've already seen already, and by the time all is said and done, the Bruins will be in fine shape without dealing with the dreaded over-signing.

All is well in Westwood right now. Jim Mora and his excellent recruiting staff are putting together a tremendous class and Wednesday might bring in even more talent. The real judge of Mora's stewardship will be when the team goes out for practice in the spring and then out onto the Rose Bowl field in the fall, but as far as recruiting goes, it's all aces and Fuller is just the latest (and very important) ace. Welcome to Westwood, Devin!

It's Sunday afternoon, which means work is on the horizon, which will be no easier despite Ben Howland's squad picking up a pair of wins over the weekend. As we've talked about before, this was a game we were expected to win, and one that is irrelevant in the larger scheme of things. In short, Howland is our Jeff Tedford for hoops (good, but not great coach, who can build excitement, but never get to the top), the real problem is our idiotic athletic director, Chianti Dan Guerrero, and the sleazy bureaucrats he's surrounding himself with at Morgan Center.

I won't continue to beat a dead horse. We know what needs to happen.

Fire Dan Guerrero. Replace him with someone who can competently hire an elite basketball coach to take UCLA back to its rightful place at the top of the college basketball world.

With that, let's turn to bits and pieces of news from around the UCLA-iverse at the end of the weekend:

• Let's start with a piece about Westwood's most beloved Bruin: Coach. Over at WWL, Ramona Shelburne has a really good story about a group of basketball coaches from war-torn Uganda who came from across the globe to study the teachings of Coach, on both basketball and life (HT bruinfollower). The L.A. Times also covered this heart-touching exchange here. Just absolutely amazing at how much of an impact this wonderful man from Indiana had, touching the souls of not just every Bruin to grace the Hills of Westwood, but positively impacting lives on the other side of the world.
• Following up on UCLA's sale of the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden, the Rafu Shimpo (Los Angeles' Japanese daily newspaper) has a lengthy summary of the on-going university goal of selling off the cultural treasure and the resulting protests. Of course, the comments from Murphy Hall officials are tone-deaf and laughable, somehow claiming that selling the garden would meet the Carters' intent in gifting it to UCLA in perpetuity. Of course, these are the same fools who complain about a lack of money, yet make Chianti Dan Guerrero, a complete and total failure, the highest paid athletic director in the Pac-12. If these are the Baghdad Bob folks running UCLA, no wonder Chianti Dan still has a job. Total UCLA facepalm.

• Turning to your need for crack football recruiting news, Rahshaun Haylock at Fox Sports has a recap of Mora's recruiting efforts since taking over the reins in Westwood, touching on targets (Treggs, Payton, Allison) that Mora and Klemm are working on getting to Westwood as National Letter of Intent signing day looms on Wednesday. Haylock doesn't provide anything new, but if you've been living under a rock, you can get the quick and dirty on Mora's recruiting and goals (a top-ten class nationally) in a few paragraphs. If you really need your fix, I'd highly recommend checking out Tracy Pierson and Brandon Huffman's excellent work at BRO.
• Speaking of football recruiting, one of those top targets (that we are very unlikely to land) is super-safety Shaq Thompson out of Grant High in Sacramento. His hometown newspaper, the Sacramento Bee has an extended profile of Shaq that talks about his recruitment, the twists and turns its taken since Lupoi bolted for Seattle, the good work that Shaq has done in the community, and just how big of a deal he is in the Sacramento area (which is enjoying the spotlight with elite recruits like Arik, Shaq, and Nate Iese getting a lot of national love).
• Turning to Coach B.J. Snow and the women's soccer team, Sports Illustrated has an article that discusses Snow's focus on individual player development during the off-season. While the Bruins lose top player Sydney Leroux, the rest of the squad is young, with freshmen getting a lot of playing time in this past campaign that ended way too early in the NCAA tournament. With the talent on the roster, Snow should be in position to make a deep run next season.
• Finally, this past Friday, a female UCLA student was sexually assaulted near the steps between Saxon Suites and Gayley. We all know about the nasty nickname those stairs have (which I remember hearing about when I was on campus). So, folks, please be careful, be aware of your surroundings, and try to walk in pairs or groups. The suspect is described as a white male, with short brown hair, blue eyes, standing at approximately 6 feet tall, weighing approximately 150 pounds, and being approximately 21 years old. If you have any information, please contact the UCPD at 310-825-1491.

Alright folks, those are your Bruin Bites for the end of the weekend. Hopefully, it'll give you something to read as you watch the Pro Bowl (yawn) and bide your time until the recruiting news drops on Wednesday. Fire away with your thoughts in the comment thread.

GO BRUINS

UCLA offensive execution was a thing of beauty Saturday afternoon. It made Colorado, look, well silly:

The Buffs, who fell out of a tie for first-place in the Pac-12, had been holding opponents to 38.8 percent shooting entering the game. The Bruins made 31-of-52 shots (59.6 percent) and finished with 26 assists.

"They played better than us. Period," CU senior guard Carlon Brown said after being held to six points. "They shot the ball well, they executed better, and they made our defense look pretty bad. . . .

"We're the best field-goal percentage defensive team in the league," Boyle noted. "And they made us look silly."

Leading the charge was Tyler Lamb, who had his best game as a Bruin according to Coach Ben Howland:

Lamb's smothering defense all but totally shut down Brown, the Buffalos' leading scorer, setting the tone in a convincing 77-60 UCLA victory over Pac-12 co-leader Colorado at the Sports Arena.

Lamb held Brown to one field goal, none in the game's final 26 minutes-plus, and had team-highs in steals (3) and rebounds (7) plus a blocked shot on afternoon in which the Bruins limited Colorado to 34.8 percent shooting from the field in a second half in which UCLA led by 19.

Lamb, the sophomore out of Mater Dei High, was just as impressive on the offensive end, connecting on 3 of 5 shots from behind the 3-point arc on the way to 13 points while also handing out six assists.

"His best game as a Bruin," UCLA coach Ben Howland said of Lamb's performance.

But this was more than a one man effort.

Even the normally depressing Sports Arena Crowd was better.

"Our crowd got here today and supported us," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "I think our players were very enthused by the support of our fans and the students today. That was really nice. I think this is by far the best crowd we've had at the Sports Arena this year."

The crowd of 9,253 was the largest for the Bruins at home this season, including games played at Honda Center.

But more than the crowd the team played a complete game on offense:

We were in the huddle and we were communicating in timeouts, coach Howland was asking us what we thought would work and our senior guards stepped up a lot."

Senior guard Lazeric Jones had a team-high 17 points and nine assists, Anderson added eight points and eight assists and Lamb added 12 points and six assists as UCLA finished with 26 on the afternoon. The sharp passing helped the Bruins erase an early deficit that was plagued by sloppiness.

As Howland said:

"That's how basketball is meant to be played," Coach Ben Howland said. "I love it that our players get joy out of making a pass that leads to a play."

And the UCLA offense is playing very efficiently. As Peter Youn writes:

The Bruins were a well-oiled machine on offense, shooting a season-best 59.6 percent from the field for the game and getting 26 assists with only 12 turnovers. And this against the team that entered the game holding opponents to a Pac-12 leading 38.8 percent shooting. . . .

The 26 assists were a season high and the most for UCLA since Dec. 31, 2006, against Washington.


It was the second consecutive game that the Bruins set a season best in field goal percentage and the fifth time in six games that the Bruins have shot over 50 percent. They are now shooting 50.4 percent in Pac-12 games -- second in the conference. Over the last seven games, UCLA is shooting 52.5 percent.

"We're executing better and better as the season progresses," Howland said. "We really went back to work on it after the first road trip in conference."

But that is just it. UCLA is still 1-4 on the road and has not won a game against a d-1 opponent outside of LA and only beat winless SC on the road this year. So why I like the sentiment that Jones shows here:

"Beating a team like this shows we can be in [the race]," Jones said. "If we continue to do that, who knows where we'll end up."

Because of the start the Bruins had this year and winless trips to Northern California and Oregon, UCLA has to win for the first time since 2004 on the road at UW to stay "in the race" and likely win the rest of their PAC 12 road games. That seems like an unrealistic proposition and a "silly" thing to predict.

So enjoy the good offensive execution until Thursday night on ESPN against UW. Because we all know Thursday night ESPN games work out well for Bruins fans. Sorry I am being silly.

Go Bruins.

Well it's official. Our basketball team is better than USC's. Behind hot three point shooting from Tyler Lamb, Norman Powell, and Jerime Anderson, the Bruins took a game that had been tight before halftime and put Colorado away early in the second half . Although the Buffaloes shot 46% from the floor, CU didn't seem as effective offensively as that number indicates.

Overall, the Bruins were 9-13 from 3 point territory, spreading the CU defense and opening up the rest of the floor, which resulted in UCLA's 60% overall shooting. Maybe the only complaint you could have about the game overall was the trademarked bad start for the Bruins, spotting Colorado an early lead with their lethargic play.

What made this game seem different, IMO, was that our two non-point-guards played like point guards. Lazeric Jones tallied 9 assists, Anderson had 8, and even Lamb chipped in 6. It's always more fun to watch a team with guards that make good decisions and distribute the ball.

Maybe if we had played like this before the 21st game of the season, this season, and our embattled coach's lame duck tenure, would have a much brighter outlook. However, this is the hand that the Bruins have dealt themselves. As we hinted earlier, Colorado is not a team with the talent to match their record. We expected this victory, as did Vegas and the other gamblers out there.

In contrast to this two game stretch that would tell us little about this team (unless we lost), the next four games will probably define the remainder of the regular season. Now we'll see if we can finally get a conference road win. The Washington road trip is next followed by the NorCal schools at home.

Today's riveting matchup between the mediocre-by-record UCLA Bruins and the mediocre-everywhere-but-the-record Colorado Buffaloes promises to be a exciting interesting important game.

The stakes are quite high...for Colorado. The Buffs will attempt to continue to outplay their metrics and stay in the hunt for an inaugural Pac-12 Championship with a second conference road victory at Chianti Dan Guerrero's Garbage Arena. Meanwhile, the Bruins will try to keep their heads above water in the conference standings. Sitting at 4-4 with the Ben Howland Bermuda Triangle Washington roadtrip on deck, UCLA needs to take advantage of this prime opportunity to pick up a win.

(Ancient) history will be on the Bruins' side today. From the official preview:

This is the sixth meeting between UCLA and Colorado with the Bruins leading the series 4-1. UCLA is 4-0 all-time in games contested in Los Angeles. The Bruins won the last meeting, 104-70 in Pauley Pavilion on Dec. 2, 1977.

UCLA comes into this game as 8 point favorites. Game will be shown on Prime Ticket.