The UCLA Bruins are the most storied team in college basketball history.
They're the Boston Celtics of the NCAA, having won 11 national championships - an all-time record - and having experienced a period of sustained dominance under legendary coach John Wooden, long before many of their fans can remember. The Bruins won 10 championships between 1964 and 1975 under Wooden, overwhelming opponents with the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton and Jamaal Wilkes.
But while UCLA has recorded only two losing seasons since Wooden retired in '75, it has also won only one national championship - when Ed O'Bannon led the team in 1995 - and advanced to the Final Four just twice during that span.
But with coach Ben Howland at the helm of the organization, this just might be the season UCLA harkens back to its glory days.
The former coach of the Pittsburgh Panthers, Howland took over the Bruins in 2003 when the team was coming off its first losing season in 54 years. Howland guided UCLA through two rebuilding years before leading the Bruins to the Final Four in 2006 and 2007.
Now, ranked No. 1 in the country by the AP, UCLA has its sights set on championship number 12, having vaulted itself to a 6-0 start with wins over the Maryland Terrapins and the Michigan State Spartans. And it wouldn't have happened without the impact play of freshman Kevin Love.
A 6-foot-10 center and ESPN's top-ranked recruit for the class of 2011, Love is averaging 19 points and 11 rebounds per game thus far. He is an old-school big man, with strong fundamentals, a deft passing touch and a workman-like mentality.
Love is joined on the roster by junior swingman Josh Shipp, the team's second-leading scorer at 15 per game and sophomore point guard Russell Westbrook, third on the team with 12 points and six assists per contest.
The only senior getting substantial minutes for the Bruins is center Lorenzo Mata-Real, who's hauling down eight boards a game.
Howland's predecessor Steve Lavin compiled glitzy recruiting classes headlined by players like Baron Davis and Trevor Ariza, but, as has become the trend in college basketball, he was unable to keep them for four years. If Howland can keep his young team intact over the long haul, then fans may see the birth of a new era of UCLA men's basketball supremacy.
The recent improvement of its Los Angles rival the USC Trojans has also added to the intrigue of UCLA's revival. Although the Trojans stumbled out of the gate with a loss to the unranked Mercer Bears of Macon, Ga., they have since regained their footing, rattling off five straight victories. Ranked No. 22 in the country, they sport their own dynamite freshman, guard O.J. Mayo.
Mayo is arguably the most hyped rising star in basketball since LeBron James, and he's delivered the goods so far. Mayo is averaging 21.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.3 assists per game, while shooting nearly 50 percent from the floor.
The story goes that Mayo wasn't even recruited by coach Tim Floyd, who figured he had no chance of landing the prized recruit. Rather, Mayo called the coach out of the blue to inform him he would be playing there this season and then refused to even give Floyd his own phone number.
Like UCLA, USC is a young team, almost entirely composed of freshmen and sophomores. Mayo, however, isn't expected to stick around longer than one season, as he would likely be a lottery pick in next year's NBA Draft.
The Trojans have a tough week ahead, with the No. 4 Kansas Jayhawks and the No. 3 Memphis Tigers on the schedule. The Memphis game will be played in New York as part of the Jimmy V Basketball Classic, a fundraiser for cancer research in honor of the late coach Jim Valvano.
USC and UCLA then face each other on Jan. 19 at Pauley Pavilion, home of the Bruins, and again on Feb. 17 at USC. USC will try to avenge its two losses to UCLA last season, the first of which was a 65-64 thriller in January.
Those two games should be great indicators of whether UCLA has what it takes this season to recapture its old glory and hang banner number 12 up in the rafters of Pauley Pavilion.
