Recently in UCLA Category

Many of you have e-mailed me during the past year wondering what happened to former Fontana High guard Demetrius Walker, the subject of a Sports Illustrated profile when he was in seventh grade that labeled him as "the next LeBron."
Walker stopped growing and was cast as a bust as he struggled to develop his perimeter skills at Fontana, but he resurfaced at San Juan Capistrano Junipero Serra High as a junior, leading the Orange County school back to the playoffs. Now, Walker appears to be close to committing to newly hired Indiana coach Tom Crean, according to this story from scout.com.
Quite a turnaround for a talented kid who has kept a good attitude despite an incredible amount of pressure placed on him by the adults in his life.

The UCLA women's water polo team faces USC in the national title game today at 6 p.m. in Palo Alto. The undefeated Bruins advanced with an 11-4 victory over UC Davis Saturday fueled by a six-goal third period outburst.
UCLA has beaten the Trojans three times this season, most recently an 8-7 squeaker in the MPSF tournament title game. The Bruins have won six of the past eight women's water polo national championships.
UCLA will broadcast the title game on its web site, uclabruins.com. The game will also air on CSTV for the 14 of you who get that network.

Darren Collison spoke to UCLA radio this week about a myriad of subjects including why he stayed in school, the impact J'Mison Morgan could have, and who he likes to win the NBA championship. He also emphasized that he expects to contend for a championship, regardless of which of UCLA's early-entry candidates return.

From the fans with too much time on their hands file: A UCLA fan (Or maybe a USC saboteur) has created the site, releasemorgan.com, encouraging LSU to release J'Mison Morgan from his letter of intent. The site asks fans to send the following pre-written letter to the LSU athletic department:

Dear LSU Athletic Department: On behalf of all UCLA fans, I am writing to respectfully request the release of J'Mison Morgan from his Letter of Intent. We appreciate your immediate attention to this matter. Thank you.

Oh, and on the news front? Nothing new, according to both LSU and Morgan's high school coach James Mays. Morgan has informed LSU he wants out of his letter of intent and is waiting for the school's decision.

Newly hired LSU coach Trent Johnson hasn't abandoned all hope of convincing J'Mison Morgan to honor his letter of intent.
Johnson planned to talk with the 6-foot-11 center late Wednesday night or this morning, according to the Lafayette Daily Advertiser. An LSU official said Wednesday that the school has yet to receive Morgan's paperwork, however, in my opinion, what's really happening here is that the school is drawing this process out as long as possible in hopes of convincing Morgan to change his mind.
"When I was at the (South Oak Cliff) high school and visited with the coach and the kid, and when I went into his home (two weeks ago), he said he wanted to come here," Johnson told the newspaper. "Any time you have a coaching change anywhere, though, this is what goes on," he said of recruits who have second thoughts after signing with a previous coach.

I spoke to an LSU official several times today, and he said the school has not received paperwork from J'Mison Morgan asking for a release from his letter of intent. The key to this whole process for UCLA will be whether LSU is willing to grant his release, so I'll be checking back with the school throughout the week.

Neither J'Mison Morgan's high school coach nor his AAU coach are answering their phones this evening, but the 6-foot-11 Dallas South Oak Cliff senior did talk to our sister paper, the Dallas Morning News. Here's a snippet from their story confirming he may indeed be UCLA-bound:

South Oak Cliff senior center J'Mison Morgan on Monday confirmed that he has asked for his release from LSU.
Morgan (6-11, 255) said he submitted the release papers to LSU on Sunday and is considering attending UCLA in the fall.
"It was a real hard decision for me," said Morgan, an all-state center. "My comfort level was at LSU, but I felt like UCLA was a better fit for me as far as exposure."

UCLA DT Kevin Brown has signed a free agent contract with the Seattle Seahawks. He attended their mini-camp after going undrafted.

UCLA QB Ben Olson will have surgery on his right foot on Tuesday to have a screw put in to repair the break he sustained on April 24. He is expected to take eight weeks to recover.

Admittedly this is a little bit weird and self-serving, but UCLA backup QB Chris Forcier, who is 4th or 5th on the depth chart, apparently has his own Web site. Included on the site are copies of the actually scholarship offer letters that various programs sent him, including the one from former UCLA coach Karl Dorrell.

Here is the link. It's worth checking out, if nothing else to see what is actually said in these letters.

Theres an internet report today that LSU signee J'Mison Morgan will request a release from his letter of intent. I spoke briefly this afternoon to his AAU coach, Jazzy Morgan, who said he's sitting down Morgan and his mother later today and will have an answer after that meeting. For what it's worth, an LSU spokesman said Morgan has not officially asked for his release yet, but that doesn't mean it might not be forthcoming.
The Morgan saga is of great importance to UCLA because the Dallas South Oak Cliff High senior could be the center the Bruins need to fill the void left by Kevin Love's near-certain departure. Morgan originally chose LSU over UCLA, Alabama and Kansas. The UCLA coaching staff has monitored Morgan's status via Hartwell ever since LSU fired longtime coach John Brady in February

The USC-UCLA track and field dual meets -- one of the most underrated and hotly contested LA sporting events -- will be shown live on Fox Sports Net this afternoon at 1 p.m.
The USC men's team defeated UCLA 84-79 last season and leads in the all-time series with the Bruins 40-34. Six of the last nine meetings between the USC and UCLA men's teams have been decided by five points or less. The UCLA women captured their 15th consecutive dual meet victory last year, beating USC, 98-65, to improve their all-time series record to 21-3.
Here are heat sheets and live results for the meet and a few athletes to watch on both sides:

USC men:
Lionel Larry, sprints
Duane Solomon, middle distance
Kai Kelley, hurdles
Corey White, javelin

UCLA men:
Kevin Craddock, hurdles
Dustin DeLeo, pole vault
John Caulfield, throws
Greg Garza, throws

USC women
Jessica Onyepunuka, sprints
Carol Rodriguez, sprints
Shalina Clarke, hurdles
Eva Orban, throws

UCLA women
Nicole Leach, hurdles
Rhonda Watkins, jumps
Tori Anthony, pole vault
Renee Williams, jumps

From UCLA's release....

Five of UCLA's football games have been selected for television thus far. ABC/ESPN has selected four games and one has been tabbed by Versus.

ESPN will televise UCLA's opener versus Tennessee on September 1 at the Rose Bowl. Kickoff is scheduled for 5:00 pm. ABC will televise UCLA's Sept. 27 home game versus Fresno State, beginning at 12:30 pm.

The game at Arizona State on Nov. 28, a Friday night (6:30 pm PT/7:30 pm MT) has been selected by ESPN2. The regular-season finale against USC at the Rose Bowl on Dec. 6 will be televised nationally by ABC and will kick off at 1:30 pm.

Through its contact with the Mountain West Conference, Versus will televise UCLA's Sept. 13 game at BYU on a national basis, beginning at 12:30 pm PT/1:30 pm MT.

ABC/ESPN announced 15 of its 20 selections. The other five games will be picked on a 12- or six-day selection basis.

Fox Sports Net, which has 18 Pac-10 windows, will announce its early picks on June 1.

This is from UCLA:

Freshman Chace Stanback Will Not Return Next Season

The 6-foot-8-inch guard/forward will transfer after the spring quarter.

April 30, 2008

LOS ANGELES - UCLA men's basketball head coach Ben Howland announced today that 6-foot-8-inch freshman guard/forward Chace Stanback will not be returning for next season. Stanback, a two-time state champion from Los Angeles' Fairfax High School, will transfer to play his final years at another school.

Stanback, the 2007 California Division I Player of the Year, will leave UCLA after the spring quarter and hasn't made a decision as to where he will transfer.

"Chace [Stanback] is an outstanding young man and we appreciate what he did for this program this past year," Howland said. "He helped us win a Pac-10 championship and get to the Final Four and we will always be appreciative of his efforts. We are supportive of him and his future in whatever direction he decides to go."

Stanback averaged 1.0 points and 0.7 rebounds per game while appearing in 25 of the 39 games without making a start during the 2007-08 season. He played in 144 minutes (5.8 minutes per game) while shooting 40.4 percent (19-for-47) from the field and 33.3 percent (7-for-21) from three-point range on the year.

"After speaking with my family and thinking about it for a long time, I feel that it is in my best interest to explore other opportunities," Stanback said. "I want to thank my coaches and teammates because they have helped me improve as a player and grow as a man and I am thankful to them for that. I have a lot of great memories and really enjoyed my time here at UCLA."

As part of UCLA's last-ditch search to find a center for next year's recruiting class, assistant coach Donny Daniels recently flew to Spain to see 7-footer Philip Wait, a native of Manchester England now playing at the Gran Canaria Basketball Academy. Daniels had been tracking Wait through director Rob Orellana, an assistant under Daniels at Cal State Fullerton.
While I've been unable to track down Orellana thus far, I did reach Wait's former high school coach at Proctor Academy in New Hampshire. Gregor Makechnie said Wait has received interest from UCLA, Arizona State, Kentucky and Nebraska among others, but he also might opt to play professionally in Europe instead.
Wait needs to work on his strength, footwork and toughness, according to Makechnie, but his upside is high. The 21-year-old wants to go to a school where he would be challenged academically and feel comfortable.
"The thing UCLA has to determine is if he's a guy who comes in and makes an immediate impact," Makechnie said. "Two years ago he was a work in progress. I haven't seen him this year, but now he might have developed further."

UCLA's short-term options to fill their void at center next season keep getting slimmer.
Ater Majok, a Sudanese big man who UCLA has made a last-ditch effort to recruit recently, committed to UConn after his official visit this past weekend, according to the Hartford Courant. Majok was a long shot for the Bruins, but they had been hoping to coax a visit from the 6-foot-10 senior.

Most draft boards did not even have Matt Slater listed, but his importance as a special teamer caught the eye of the Patriots.

How much did the Pats want Slater? They took him in the fifth round but swapped fifth round picks and gave up a seventh-rounder to Tampa Bay in order to get him.

For an organization that already places a high value on draft picks and special teams, it shows how highly thought of Slater is.

Here are the updates for UCLA's free agents...

WR Brandon Breazell has reached a two-year agreement with Kansas City.
CB Trey Brown has signed with Chicago
S Dennis Keyes has an agreement with Arizona.
RB Chris Markey was invited to Chicago's mini-camp
DT Kevin Brown has been invited to Seattle's mini-camp

UCLA kick off return specialist Matt Slater was taken in the fifth round by the Patriots.

A former WR turned DB turned man without a position, Slater became a special teams star at UCLA and will likely do the same at the next level. He is the son of Hall of Fame lineman Jackie Slater and has been clocked in the 4.3's or lower in the 40. He had nearly 1,000 KOR yards and 3 TD's last season.

There was a lot of thought around the UCLA camp that Slater will go on to have the best career of any UCLA player from this past season and I would not think of that as a stretch.

On a personal note, it's always refreshing to see a guy like Slater succeed. He was a man with no position and had to beg to return kicks and became an All-American and now an NFL player because of it. One of the nicest and most respectful athletes I have ever been around and I certainly hope he makes the most of his chances

Also, here is the story I did on Slater last season

Here are a couple defensive stats from the spring game...

Mike Schmitt had a team-high 7 tackles. Alterraun Verner had 6 tackles. Reggie Carter, Glenn Love, David Carter and Akeem Ayers had 5 stops apiece.

The defense had 7 sacks, all by different players. It also had 10 tackles for loss, including 2 by Brian Price.