Bruins Nation, a UCLA Bruins community

It's Monday morning, which means it's time to take a look at the various bits and pieces of information from around the UCLA-iverse.

The Bruins have hired a guy with a less-than-stellar NCAA tournament record, meanwhile it looks like it could turn into a Final Four with three coaching candidates that UCLA never made a serious run at, in another Chianti Dan coaching hire blunder.

With the news that UCLA has hired New Mexico's Steve Alford as the new head coach in Westwood still fresh, we turn our attention back to the NCAA tournament, with the first pair of Elite Eight games underway today.

Based on the reports it appears UCLA never put on a full court press in pursuit of Coach Shaka Smart. Why?

Several media outlets, including the Indianapolis Star have reported that Brad Stevens has turned down an offer to become UCLA's next basketball coach, deciding to remain at Butler.

Several media reports confirm that Butler head coach Brad Stevens is the top choice to replace Ben Howland as head coach at UCLA, though his particular thought process and even his current physical location is not as clear.

Open thread for Thursday's second weekend NCAA Tournament Action

News and notes concerning UCLA's ongoing search for Bruins' next basketball coach.

News and notes concerning UCLA's ongoing search for Bruins' next basketball coach.

Tweet from a well tracked recruiting observer indicates that UCLA will fire Ben Howland on Sunday.