Here's the tentative list of non-conference games at Pauley Pavilion for those who haven't memorized it yet:

Nov. 12 Coaches vs. Cancer First Round (1)
Nov. 13 Coaches vs. Cancer Second Round (1)
Nov. 29 Florida International
Dec. 7 Cal State Northridge
Dec. 17 TBD
Dec. 20 Mercer
Dec. 23 Wyoming
Dec. 28 Louisiana Tech
Feb. 7 Notre Dame

How much can $6 million buy you in Oklahoma City? Russell Westbrook is about to find out. The former UCLA star signed a multi-year contract with the Seattle ... err ... Oklahoma City Sonics, the team announced.
Terms of Westbrook's deal were not announced, but the NBA's rookie scale calls for the fourth pick in the draft to be making approximately $6 million during his first two years in the league. Not bad for a kid who this time last year was unsure whether he'd beat out Michael Roll for a starting spot in the UCLA backcourt.

For those curious who UCLA might be playing in the 16-team Coaches vs. Cancer tournament next season, my understanding is the other three host schools will be Michigan, Duke and Southern Illinois.
Each of those schools will host first- and second-round games on Nov. 12 and 13. If all four host schools advance, the Nov. 20 semifinal matchups at Madison Square Garden would be UCLA-Michigan and Duke-Southern Illinois.
I don't know what schools will be in UCLA's pod yet, but tournament organizers have done everything in their power to create a UCLA-Duke final, so I wouldn't expect any riveting additions to the home schedule. Tournament officials reportedly went so far as to replace Pittsburgh with Southern Illinois because they were worried the Panthers could beat Duke and ruin their dream final.

UCLA incoming freshman Malcolm Lee was named one of 14 finalists for the 2008 USA Men's U18 National Team Thursday. The Riverside North alum will learn if he has made the team Tuesday when the 12-player roster is scheduled to be finalized.
The U.S. squad, coached by Davidson's Bob McKillop, will participate in the 2008 FIBA Americas U18 Championship, held July 14-18 in Formosa, Argentina. The top four finishers will qualify for the 2009 FIBA U19 World Championship, scheduled for July 2-12 in New Zealand.
Here's a more detailed look at Lee's quest to make the U-18 team this summer.

I spoke with UCLA quarterback Ben Olson this morning and he said he was cleared by doctors to begin running and doing physical activities after being sidelined for two months because of a broken bone in his foot that required surgery.

Olson said he ran for six minutes this morning and felt good, but a tad weak. He also did some drop-backs as part of his throwing program but not at full strength. He expects to be 100 percent by the start of camp in early August.

"It's a huge relief," Olson said. "Any time you get hurt, you never know how long it will take. You question if you will ever be back. It's nice to feel that it's progressing and we're moving forward."

UCLA offensive tackle Sean Sheller had surgery on his left knee on Tuesday to repair his MCL, ACL and some meniscus. He will likely begin rehab next week. Sheller was hurt in an auto accident on June 20 and will miss this season.

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute arrived in Milwaukee Tuesday full of energy, optimism and pithy one-liners. Asked for his initial thoughts on his new basketball home, the former UCLA forward told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, "I learned that you have a lot of beer out here, and I know it gets really cold in the winter."
Mbah a Moute also got serious with the Milwaukee media, describing his joy at realizing his NBA dreams and his penchant for defense he displayed so often at UCLA. Here's a quick video from Mbah a Moute's introductory press conference for those who would like to see more.

With UCLA basketball coach Ben Howland signing a contract extension Tuesday that will pay him $1.97 million next season, I wanted to give readers an idea of how that compares with his peers. Based on some quick research, Howland's salary is competitive with what some of the nation's top college basketball coaches reportedly will earn in base salary next season:

- Billy Donovan (Florida), $3.5 million
- Thad Matta (Ohio State), $2.5 million
- John Calipari (Memphis), $2.35 million
- Billy Gillispie (Kentucky), $2.3 million
- Tom Crean (Indiana), $2.3 million
- Ben Howland (UCLA), $1.97 million
- Roy Williams (North Carolina), $1.8 million
- Tubby Smith (Minnesota), $1.8 million
- Tom Izzo (Michigan State), $1.7 million
- Rick Pitino (Louisville), $1.65 million
- Bill Self (Kansas) $1.4 million (Expected to renegotiate this offseason)

Also interesting is charting how quickly Howland's base salary has increased during his tenure. UCLA has added another season to Howland's seven-year contract after each of his five seasons, boosting his annual salary following all three Final Four appearances.

Howland's annual salary
2003-04: $900,000 (11-17, 7th in Pac-10)
2004-05: $900,000 (18-11, lost to Texas Tech in NCAA first round)
2005-06: $900,000 (32-7, lost to Florida in NCAA title game)
2006-07: $1.15 million (30-6, lost to Florida in Final Four)
2007-08: $1.5 million (35-4, lost to Memphis in Final Four)
2008-09: $1.97 million (???)

Here's a look at UCLA's tentative basketball schedule released by the Pac-10 in its annual offseason prospectus. No real surprises here: DePaul is the tentative Wooden Classic opponent as I reported a few weeks ago, while Texas, Notre Dame and the Coaches vs. Cancer semifinals and finals are the other marquee non-conference games.
If there's one minor surprise here, it's that the UCLA-Notre Dame game is Feb. 7 in the heart of the Pac-10 season. Ben Howland has previously said he values having some teaching time with only one game during USC week, but I would think the date of this game may have been dictated by TV.

Tentative UCLA basketball schedule
Tues., Nov. 4 Humboldt State (Exhib.)
Fri., Nov. 7 TBD (Exhib.)
Wed.,, Nov. 12 Coaches vs. Cancer First Round (1)
Thurs., Nov. 13 Coaches vs. Cancer Second Round (1)
Thurs., Nov. 20 Coaches vs. Cancer Semifinals (2)
Fri.., Nov. 21 Coaches vs. Cancer Final (2)
Sat., Nov. 29 Florida International
Thurs., Dec. 4 at Texas (3)
Sun., Dec. 7 Cal State Northridge
Sat., Dec. 13 DePaul (4)
Wed., Dec. 17 TBD
Sat., Dec. 20 Mercer
Tues., Dec. 23 Wyoming
Sun., Dec. 28 Louisiana Tech
Fri., Jan. 2 at Oregon State
Sun., Jan. 4 at Oregon
Sat., Jan. 10 at USC
Thurs., Jan. 15 Arizona State
Sat., Jan. 17 Arizona
Thurs., Jan. 22 at Washington State
Sat., Jan. 24 at Washington
Thurs., Jan. 29 California
Sat., Jan. 31 Stanford
Wed., Feb. 4 USC
Sat., Feb. 7 Notre Dame
Thurs., Feb. 12 at Arizona
Sat., Feb. 14 at Arizona State
Thurs., Feb. 19 Washington
Sat., Feb. 21 Washington State
Thurs., Feb. 26 at Stanford
Sat., Feb. 28 at California
Thurs., Mar. 5 Oregon
Sat., Mar. 7 Oregon State
Mar. 11-14 Pac-10 Tournament (5)

(1) Coaches vs. Cancer, Los Angeles, Calif.
(2) Coaches vs. Cancer Semis/Finals, N.Y., N.Y. (MSG)
(3) Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series
(4) Wooden Classic, Anaheim, Calif. (Honda Center)
(5) Los Angeles, Calif. (Staples Center)

UCLA coach Ben Howland said Lorenzo Mata-Real is in Las Vegas this week trying out for the Japanese Professional Basketball League. The event began Monday and will run through Thursday. One hundred fifty players will try out in front of every coach in the league, and approximately 24-40 jobs will be available.

Jason Flowers, formerly an assistant at Long Beach State, will join the UCR women's basketball team in the same capacity. Flowers replaces Seton Sobolewski, who left to become the head women's coach at Idaho State.

UCLA coach Ben Howland's contract extension is a seven-year deal that will pay him $1.97 million for the 2008-09 season and escalates to $2.3 million for the 2014-15 season.
The deal is a significant bump over the extension he signed last summer. Howland made $1.5 million for the 2007-08 season and would have made $2 million by the end of the contract in 2013-14.

As you listened to ESPN anchor Stuart Scott, North Carolina grad and one of a long line of ACC honks on the network that covers that league, you had to feel sorry for them last Thursday.

In an NBA Draft dominated by the Pac-10, a conference the network only looks at from afar most days, the lack of familiarity came glaringly through.

As in Scott's amazement that here was a conference "not known as a basketball power'' or words to that effect, making all the news.

Too bad Scott didn't pay attention to this note from the University of Arizona that shows that the Wildcats, with Jerryd Bayless' No. 11 lottery pick became the team with the most overall NBA Draft picks in the last 20 drafts since 1989 with 29 players selected.

That's one more than No. 2 Duke's 28 and three more than No. 3 UCLA's 26. So a Pac-10 Conference, with the first- and third-most players drafted over the last two decades, might not be a power only in the minds of those who don't pay enough attention to leagues they don't broadcast compared to the ones they do.

Here's the list of NBA Draft Choices since 1989

1. ARIZONA 29

2. Duke 28

3. UCLA 26

4. Kansas 22

5. North Carolina 21

Connecticut 21

7. Georgia Tech 19

Here's the Pac-10 office's take on the draft that had STANFORD's Brook Lopez selected 10th by the New Jersey and ARIZONA's Bayless picked 11th by Indiana, Pac-10 players comprised five of the 14 lottery picks. Stanford's Robin Lopez was chosen 15th by Phoenix and CALIFORNIA's Ryan Anderson selected 21st by New Jersey.
:

WALNUT CREEK, Calif.-- USC's O.J. Mayo was taken by Minnesota with the third pick overall in the 2008 NBA Draft, followed in order by UCLA teammates Russell Westbrook to Seattle and Kevin Love to Memphis to lead a record seven Pac-10 players drafted in the first round. The previous high for the Pac-10 was five first round selections, which occurred twice - 1979 and 2001.

It was the first time three Pac-10 players were among the first five selections of the NBA draft.

UCLA coach Ben Howland is expected to get a raise and a contract extension today. I'll have details later this morning once they're available.

One of UCLA's primary recruiting targets for the class of 2009 is Michael Snaer, a talented shooting guard from Moreno Valley Rancho Verde High. Snaer said he received a scholarship offer from UCLA after his breakout junior season, and hopes to make his decision by the end of the summer.
Though Snaer did not attend UCLA's elite camp this past weekend because of a minor knee injury he suffered Friday, the 6-foot-4 guard is still seriously considering the Bruins along with USC, Florida, Cal, Stanford, Arizona, Kansas and a host of others. He likes UCLA's campus and coaching staff but has concerns about whether he'd be able to earn immediate playing time. Here's a transcript of the conversation I had with Snaer today:

On where he is in the recruiting process:
I'm still getting to know every school because there are a lot of new schools recruiting me. There are still new schools hopping in every day, so I've got to get to know them so I don't make the wrong decision. I don't really have a leader at this point. I'm pretty much neutral on every school.

On whether he enjoys the attention:
It's exciting but it's kind of confusing. You start to get a feel for what you like, and here comes a new school. It gets confusing.

On who the new schools are that he's hearing from
I'm having a really good summer, so a lot schools are starting to approach me that weren't interested before. Schools like Virginia Tech, Florida ... there are so many schools that I can't even name them all.

On UCLA:
I'm really interested in them. Their coaches are cool. I like talking to them. I've been on the campus, and it's nice. And I know a couple guys who are going there next year. That's pretty much all I can go off of right now.

On why he didn't attend the UCLA elite camp:
I hurt my knee, so I didn't get a chance to make it out there. I hurt it the day before at another camp. It was just a little bump, so I'm stretching it and icing it. I'll be back on the court today or tomorrow.

On whether he has received a scholarship offer from UCLA:
Yeah, I got one. It's been there for a minute, not sure how long.

On whether immediate playing time is a concern, especially at UCLA:
Yeah, it is, just with the guys they have coming in ahead of me.

On what's important to him in deciding on a school besides playing time:
The coaches, seeing the way they play, what their style is like. It also has to be somewhere I can get to the next level from. The academics are always important. I have to like the guys I'm playing with. I have to be able to get in the weight room or the gym, it's all that stuff.

On what he's trying to improve this summer
I'm a really good shooter, but I'm trying to work on my ball-handling. I'm trying to get that tip-top because I know I have to handle the ball a lot. That's probably what I'm working on the most.

On his timetable:
I'll probably try to decide by the end of the summer

UCLA junior linebacker Reggie Carter is on the 75-man watch list for the Chuck Bednarik Award, given annually to the nation's top college football player.

Carter is also on the watch list for the Bronko Nagurski Award and the Lott Trophy. Carter had 62 tackles and two sacks last season.

There's some talk that UCLA and Kansas could play a home-and-home series starting in 2009-10 as part of the Big 12-Pac-10 challenge. I doubt anything has been finalized yet, but from what I know this would make a lot of sense.
The Pac-10 was pleased with the interest in the initial challenge last year and gave no indication that it had any plans to pull the plug on the event. And once the initial two-year series is complete this year, the conferences intend to devise new match-ups, paving the way for what could be a highly appealing Kansas-UCLA matchup.

Former UCR coach Jeff Pentland was hired as a hitting coach for the Dodgers' Class AAA team in Las Vegas. Pentland had been a hitting instructor for the Seattle Mariners organization.
Here's his bio from Seattle:

Jeffrey William Pentland...resides in Tempe, AZ...has two children: daughter Katie and son Josh...has both bachelors degree and a Masters degree from Arizona State University...was a member of the Sun Devils 1967 National Championship team; teammates included future big leaguers Reggie Jackson, Duffy Dyer and Gary Gentry...Jeff was inducted into the ASU Hall of Fame in October, 2002.
Managing/Coaching career:
Jeff is in his third season as the Mariners hitting coach, but his 12th season a big league coach overall...last season Seattle's batting average (+.015), on-base percentage (+.012) and slugging (+.001) all improved from 2006...that followed the Mariners average (+.016), slugging (+.033) and OBP (.008) all improving in 2006 from 2005...was Kansas City Royals hitting coach from Oct. 3, 2002 to May 29, 2005...Royals led Majors with .304 average with runners in scoring position, the sixth-highest mark in Major League history, in 2003...was hitting coach for the Chicago Cubs from July 14, 1997 through the 2002 season...began the 1997 season as the Minor League Hitting Coordinator for the New York Mets...spent the 1992-96 campaigns in the Florida Marlins organization...served as a scout (1992-93) and hitting coach at the Minor League level (1993-96) before joining the Major League club for the second half of the 1996 season...coached Elmirea (NY-Penn League) in 1993-94 and Portland (Eastern League) in 1995-96...began his coaching career as an assistant at Mesa (Ariz.) Community College in 1971...was the JV coach at Arizona State University in 1973 before spending the 1973-74 academic year as the assistant athletic director at Wichita State University...then began a nine-year career as assistant coach at the University of California-Riverside, where the teams won a pair of national championships...coached future big leaguers Barry Bonds, Mike Devereaux, Pat Listach, Fernando Vina and Ken Landreaux as collegians.

Playing career:
Spent three seasons (1969-71) in the San Diego Padres Minor League system...a true ballplayer saw time at first base, outfield, pitcher and catcher...played under Don Zimmer at Salt Lake City (AAA) in 1970, batting .302 in 98 games and appearing in 20 games as a reliever...despite being left-handed, Pentland was used as a catcher in 15 games for Lodi (A) in 1971.

Seattle general manager Sam Presti raved about Russell Westbrook's defense and work ethic at a news conference Friday, calling the former UCLA guard "the best defender in the draft." Here's audio from the news conference and a Q&A with Westbrook and Seattle's other draftees:

I meant to post this yesterday, but here's a transcript of the Timberwolves' news conference introducing Kevin Love as well as a pair of audio interviews with Love and his father, Stan, courtesy of the team.