Bru-108!

With the Winter Quarter underway in Westood and the NCAA's Spring sports getting ready to start up, this seems like a good time to take a little look back at the Bruins that competed in the various early-year sports. The big news out of the Fall was of course the Women's Volleyball team bringing home championship #108, but there were plenty of student-athletes wearing the blue and gold over the course of last Fall. Here's a little look at how their teams ended up.

Men's Soccer. Coming into the fall 2011 season, there were some questions surrounding the soccer program and head coach Jorge Salcedo, due in part to the team's seeming underachievment in recent seasons, particularly in tournament play. An 0-2-1 start to the year, including a loss at UC Davis did little to inspire confidence. The Bruins came back to Westwood after Labor Day and win a pair of 2-1 matches, and kept on winning - losing only 2 more matches in the regular season and going undefeated in conference play. UCLA entered the NCAA Tournament ranked #13, hosting its first 2 games, victories over Delaware and Rutgers before traveling to Louisville for the semifinal, where the Bruins won in double-OT to advance to the College Cup. While the Bruins fell to North Carolina on penalty kicks in the national semifinal, the squad featured 3 All-Americans: Chandler Hoffman, Kelyn Rowe and Brian Rowe. Kelyn was also named Pac-12 Player of the Year, while Hoffman and Brian Rowe were also named first team All Pac-12.

A number of Bruins from this squad are now headed to the MLS, with Kelyn Rowe and Chandler Hoffman capping off their outstanding personal seasons having been selected by the MLS's Generation Adiddas program and an early exit from Westwood to begin their pro careers. They were both taken with 1st round selections in the MLS Superdraft - Rowe going at #3 to New England as UCLA's highest MLS draft pick since 2008 and Hoffman going to Philadelphia with the #13 selection. Andy Rose, Shawn Singh, Eder Arreola and Brian Rowe later joined Hoffman and the other Rowe as MLS draft selections. In addition, Kelyn was called up to the U-23 (US - under age 23) National Team just before the draft. The U-23's will make up nearly all of this summer's US Olympic Soccer team, so keep an eye out.

Women's Soccer. It looked so good for the squad heading into the postseason, until it all ended with just a couple of penalty kicks... The regular season was kind to the Bruins, losing just one match (at Stanford) and drawing three other away matches. After a decisive 5-2 thrashing of Southern Cal, UCLA entered the NCAA tournament with the #2 overall seed, and the advantage of hosting its matches in the first 3 rounds of the Tournament. Sadly, the team did not even get to fully redeem that gift, as after pulling out a 1-0 win over New Mexico (while playing a number of freshmen) the team fell to San Diego on penalty kicks. As Bellerophon noted after the match, the Bruins controlled possession and massively outshot USD, but could not find the back of the net. In the true spirit of Chianti Dan's leadership of Morgan Center, the official site treats the result as a tie that does not threaten the program's home unbeaten streak.

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No, we're not delusional enough to tag that description to this year's UCLA team. This refers to our opponents, going from the Pac-11 (excluding Division II-level USC) cellar dwelling Utah to the surprise of the conference season: the tied-for-first-place Colorado Buffaloes.

After a spectacular night full of exhilarating one-sided romps in the Pac-12, the reviews coming in on our own blowout are predictably bland and pedestrian.

Joshua Smith scored 14 points, while Jerime Anderson and David Wear both scored 13. UCLA shot 58.7% in what amounted to a extra practice session before its game Saturday against Colorado, which is in a four-way tie for first place.

"This was a real confidence booster for us," Wear said.

The Utes have been a care package in high-tops for much of the season. They have been pummeled by Colorado (73-33) and California (81-45). The Bruins joined that crowd, taking control of the game with a 14-4 run that gave them a 36-21 lead at halftime.

Also as expected, we're hearing the same old hints about turning the corner, particularly in regards to a certain center:

"Josh was a difference-maker for us tonight," Howland said. "He was very motivated after last weekend."

Motivation? Or having a 100 lb and 4 inch height advantage on your defenders? We've been fooled once by this mirage. No longer. I want to see what this guy does when the competition level goes up.

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Culture change has been a big topic here on BN since the arrival of Jim Mora. He mentioned how the "culture of UCLA football needs to change" when over the wall nonsense happened during bowl preparation week. He pledged to stop that BS by declaring it "completely unacceptable" and not part of UCLA. Then on his first official day as the head coach he sent another strong signal by kicking out couple of players for "violating team rules" from the program and letting go of another due to academic issues.

It appears Mora has installed some new team rules in attempt to establish much needed sense of accountability with the program. In recent days from tracking tweeter conversations among current and former players, we have pieced together information that Mora has installed a "strike system" at UCLA.

From what we understand here is how the strike system works for team. If the players miss class, tutoring or any other program set out by Mora and his staff that is considered a "strike." If they are late to class, meetings or practice that is considered a "strike" as well. If strikes pile up for a player, he (and his team-mates are disciplined) in the following progression:

• 1 strike equals "5 am punishment" (which we are assuming 5 am workouts) for the violator.
• 2 strike equal "5 am punishment" TWICE for the violator.
• 3 strikes equal "5 am punishment" for the violator's position group. So if the violator is part of running back crew, all the running backs will be mandated to partake in 5 am workouts.
• 4 strikes equal "5 am punishment" for the whole side of the ball. So if the violation is part of the running back crew, the entire offensive unit will be forced to partake in the 5 am workouts.

Needless to say this kind of disciplinary system will raise the stakes for everyone. This way every member of the team will have incentives to make sure not only he is abiding by team rules, but also keeping an eye on his peers from his respective position group and side of the ball to ensure, they are not repeatedly getting in trouble. We will have to see how the strike system plays out under the new regime.

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Can you feel the excitement excreting from Chianti Dan's (Funeral) Home Court? Well that's raw sewage, but you'd be forgiven if you mistook it for the quality of opponent trotted out at the Sports Arena tonight. As we have mentioned before, the Utah Utes are a woefully bad team, and as it will be with many games from here on out, it will really only be news if we lose.

UCLA shot 59% and Utah was held to 37% (box score). UCLA got to do basically whatever they wanted on both ends of the floor. Utah tried to do things, like matchup zone, and didn't do anything particularly well. Again, not surprising.

Josh Smith once again proved he can dominate terrible teams (14 points, 5-6 shooting), and the question of whether Howland would bench Anthony Stover (2 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks) for tweeting what we were all thinking anyway about the Oregon game was answered in the negative.

Maybe it's the proclamation earlier from Howland himself that the regular season essentially didn't matter anymore, but never did that seem more true than tonight, and the crowd (and our thread) pretty much agreed with that assessment.

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The program that does this automatically lists the game as at UCLA. While we may be the home team officially I don't feel comfortable ever listing us as such when we play at the Sports Arena. Tonight's game is at 7:32 p.m. on Prime Ticket with Joel Meyers and Don MacLean. As mentioned earlier, Utah has not won a game this year on the road.

Bruins Nation articles are on the side. The official preview is here and gametracker is here. The Utah Utes preview is here. David Wear tweaked his knee and is listed as probable tonight but I would be shocked if he does not play.

The bigger question is how many minutes will the starters play. As CBH has said UCLA's only way to get to the NCAA tournament is to win the Pac-12 tournament, that seems to mean playing a lot of players. For 3 or 4 games in as many days would be tough for the players if they are playing 30+ for each game. Will Stover and Powell see more early minutes tonight? Stover's energy has been a big plus.

Go Bruins.

UCLA has been rapidly climbing the recruiting ranking charts in recent weeks since the arrival of Coach Jim Mora. As of right now UCLA sits at the number 10 spot in Scout.com rankings and at number 18 spot in Rivals.com. Considering how this class was shaping up during the last desperate and desolate weeks of the Rick Neuheisel, the turnaround is nothing short of remarkable.

I am sure there will be more up and down as we head towards national signing day. I think it is important recognizing a key factor in Mora's success in recruiting because it touches upon lot of the big picture discussions we have had around out athletic program here on BN. The easy explanation for Mora's early success is to point to his 25 years of experience in the NFL. However, for those who follow UCLA program at a deeper level, they know that the key to Mora's success has been his ability so far to execute on a smart, strategic plan he had before taking over the Bruin football program.

It became pretty apparent to us in Mora's early weeks that he was able to hit the ground running because he already had a plan to address his most glaring deficiency as a college football coach. From Steve Megargee at Rivals.com (emphasis added throughout):

The makeup of Mora's staff addresses his own lack of college experience. Although defensive coordinator Lou Spanos and strength coach Sal Alosi primarily have pro backgrounds, the majority of Mora's assistants come from other college programs.

Offensive line coach Adrian Klemm, who arrived from SMU, was the only assistant coach who didn't work at a major-conference school or Notre Dame to get selected by Rivals.com as one of the nation's top 25 recruiters last year. Running backs coach Steve Broussard is a former all-Pac-10 running back who most recently worked at Arizona State and Washington State.

Offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone held the same position at Arizona State last season. Mazzone's arrival helped persuade three-star quarterback recruit TJ Millweard to switch his verbal commitment from Arizona State to UCLA. Defensive backs coach Demetrice Martin coached Washington's secondary in 2011 and also has a reputation as a strong recruiter.

"The thing Mora's done that's really intelligent is that no recruits really know him, but he's surrounded himself with assistants from across the country that everybody knows," Adam Gorney, the West Coast recruiting analyst for Rivals.com said. "These are assistants they've already built relationships with. These kids have probably never met Mora before. If they have met him, it's their first time. But they've known these assistants for a year.''

This staff has done an impressive job of flipping recruits who had been committed elsewhere.

Impressive indeed. You need to read rest of the piece here.

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Before we get to the main subject of today's roundup a brief note that UCLA plays its first game in its temporary home of the Sports Arena in a month. As disappointing as the basketball team has been it was not helped by a clueless AD who chose a decrepit arena on UCLA's arch rival's campus. Tonight's home game will probably be another somber affair with a small crowd scattered throughout the seats. This is sad and is all on Chianti Dan (emphasis mine):

Certainly the jury is still out on just how sweet the Sports Arena is and whether it's actually UCLA's home is also up for debate, but the Bruins will be playing there for the first time since a Dec. 23 victory over Richmond meaning it has been more than a month away from the arena they are calling home while Pauley Pavilion undergoes a makeover. . .

Since then, UCLA has played at Stanford, California, USC, Oregon State and Oregon and had two games at the Honda Center in Anaheim. It has been so long since the Bruins have played on their "home" court that center Joshua Smith joked "I hope it's not too dusty." . . .

"It's definitely been strange and going back there is going to be different just because we haven't played there in so long," forward David Wear said. "It is supposed to be our home gym but it's going to be a little different at first going back there after so long away."

The Sports Arena crowds certainly aren't going to help much. UCLA is averaging an announced attendance of only 4,674 at the Sports Arena this season -- a number that would rank 11th in the Pac-12 if the Bruins were not counting the 7,447 they are averaging at the Honda Center.

An AD is supposed to help the team not make things harder. Home court is huge in college hoops and Chianti Dan took that advantage away. No place was going to be as good as Pauley but it is obvious no other place was as bad as the Sports Arena.

After the jump, the main issue of the day.

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It's Wednesday, so we're a day away from Ben Howland's total dumpster fire back in action, this time against our new conference foes, the pitiful Utah Utes, a team that guys like AA, JF, DC, RW, KL, LRMAM, AA2, LMR, etc. would have just absolutely dismantled. Instead we'll probably be treated to a half-hearted effort, squeaking by bottom-feeder hoops program in a conference of joke teams.

At this point, we all know what is necessary to restore UCLA to its rightful place in the basketball world, to honor the legacy of excellence that Coach taught, to reject mediocrity and demand Coach's definition of success:

Fire Dan Guerrero and then fire Howland. Replace Chianti Dan 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 in mind, let's take a look at the bits and pieces of news from around the UCLA-iverse for the middle of the work week:

• Starting with football (because, well, everyone is looking for their hit of crack recruiting news in the homestretch before national letter-of-intent signing day on Feb. 1), there's a good video snippet of recruiting guru Brandon Huffman breaking down the impact Jim Mora has had on recruiting, the coaching moves he made that have dramatically turned around UCLA's recruiting this off-season. Good stuff from Huffman.
• Sticking with football, Jon Wilner at the San Jose Mercury News rolled out his self-admittedly way-too-early projections for how the Pac-12 will shape up in 2012. Naturally, Wilner went with the Ducks to finish at the top of the Pac-12 North, followed by Cal (in part due to drinking the Maynard-will-improve Kool-Aid), Stanford, Washington, Oregon State, Washington State. His Pac-12 South pick is hated U$C, calling them one of the best teams in the nation, albeit one of the thinnest in terms of depth. Behind Southern Cal, Wilner has Utah, Arizona, UCLA, Arizona State, with Colorado again pulling up the rear. If forced to make a projection today, I'd go with Oregon at the top of the Pac-12 North, followed by Washington, Stanford, Washington State, Cal, and Oregon State. In our own division, I'd have to go with U$C, followed by us (yes, us), Arizona, Utah, Colorado, with Arizona State at the tail-end. Disagree? Fire away your way-too-early 2012 projection in the comment thread.

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