Bruin Bites: Ben Howland Q&A, Sydney Leroux Profile, and $2 Million for UCLA Neurosurgery

It's Wednesday afternoon, which once again means it's time for the mid-week edition of Bruin Bites.  However, this week is a bit different, as Rick Neuheisel and our Bruins take on the Arizona Mildcats Wildcats in a nationally televised game on ESPN tomorrow night.  So, rather than having to wait to the weekend, we'll get a special mid-week football boost.  Now, it's just on Rick to win an absolute must-win over a reeling program.

So, with that, let's turn to the bits and pieces of news from around the UCLA-iverse:

• Starting with football, it appears that Ted Miller at WWL has been reading more BN of late, calling tomorrow night's game "[a]n absolute, 100 percent must-win for Bruins coach Rick Neuheisel" in his quick look at this weekend's Pac-12 games.  For once, I couldn't agree more with Miller.
• Sticking with the gridiron, Jon Gold and Daily Bruins sports writer Sam Strong posted a video as part of their "Two Fat Guys Talkin' Football" series.  The pair answer various user questions and discuss their resemblances to Jonah Hill and Chaz Bono, respectively.  You can check out the full video here.
• Fox Sports' Rahshaun Haylock has a profile of UCLA tight end Joseph Fauria, who talks about his familiarity with former Crespi teammate Kevin Prince, his Dr. Jekyll (entertaining, goofy, and loose off the field) and Mr. Hyde (angry, intense, and tenacious on the field) personality, and making the Mackey Award watch list.

• Switching over to basketball, college basketball blog Storming the Floor has a Q&A with men's basketball head coach Ben Howland, who talked about the early departures of Tyler Honeycutt and Malcolm Lee, the steps LJ has taken to improve his game, who he expects to get leadership from this year, and how he things his team will adjust to the new line-up they'll have this year, among other topics.
• Flipping over to non-revenue news, ESPN's Graham Hays has a profile of senior forward Sydney Leroux, in which she talks about her excitement for the influx of young talent on this year's Lady Bruins squad, her experience with the national team youth set-up, and the team's goal to improve until they are able to easily win games, rather than eek out wins.
• On the academic side of the university, the Department of Neurosurgery received a $2 million donation from the Davies family to honor now-retired and professor emeritus of neurosurgery Dr. Paul Crandall, M.D., who developed an experimental surgery for the Davies' daughter to control her intractable epilepsy.

And with that, those are your Bruin Bites for this Wednesday afternoon before game day tomorrow night.  Fire away with your thoughts, comments, and additions in the comment thread.

GO BRUINS