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UCLA Bruins
In a move that surprised no one, Shabazz Muhammad announced he will be foregoing the remaining three years of his collegiate career at UCLA to enter the NBA draft.
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Muhammad's brief, one-year career with the Bruins has been marked by scandal, injury, and intrigue. The NCAA suspended him for the first three games of his freshman season after allegations arose regarding Muhammad accepting perks during recruiting. However, investigators botched the operation, and were forced to allow Muhammad to play.
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Later is was revealed Muhammad is actually a year older than his forged birth certificate showed, making him 20 years of age.
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The combination of the early suspension and the injuries that hampered him during his one and only season at UCLA make Muhammad a gamble on draft day.

Muhammad averaged 17.9 points per game for the Bruins (LA Times), but under head coach Ben Howland's guidance, UCLA was knocked out early in the tournament, further limiting the sample size of Muhammad's work for NBA scouts.

Under normal circumstances - with a new head coach taking over a locker room lacking chemistry and direction, the decision to go pro for the star player is an easy one.
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However, Muhammad is put between a rock and a hard place. If he returns to the Bruins, he's not likely to find notable success nor pad his draft stock.

With the draft coming in June, Muhammad will have only a short time to impress NBA scouts ahead of draft day.
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Will he find success the way Russell Westbrook did after leaving UCLA early? You make the call!
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Tweet @SportSpeakLA with #ShabazzDraft to give us your take.
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The Bruins cut ties with Howland yesterday, and a news conference is scheduled for 1 pm today.

Howland was a successful coach in his tenure at UCLA, but recent letdowns in expectations, rumors of lost control in the locker room, and tiffs with current and former players have brought Howland’s run to an undesirable end.

"As I looked at the entire program and where we were -- especially headed into the next year which is obviously where we need to look at this point in time, I felt that now was the appropriate time to make the decision to make a change and to get a fresh start," athletic director Dan Guerrero said Sunday. (ESPN)

UCLA lost to Minnesota, 83-63, in the NCAA tournament's round of 64 – a disappointing finish after winning the Pac-12 Championship just a week earlier. UCLA finished the season 25-10, 13-5 in the conference.
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Howland finishes at UCLA with a career record of 233-107, which includes four conference titles and three consecutive Final Four appearances from 2006-08, but since the Bruins have only won two NCAA tournament games.

Howland expressed his gratitude to the UCLA community and the fans that have supported him over the last decade in an official statement: "I have been blessed with the opportunity to coach at UCLA for 10 years and I will always be grateful to Dan Guerrero and Chancellors Block, [Norman] Abrams and [Albert] Carnesale for the opportunity to coach and teach our players and work alongside tremendous coaches," Howland said. "The UCLA community and fans have been unbelievable to my family and I, and it's been an honor and privilege to represent this great institution. I look forward to what comes next."

UCLA had gone 10-19 under Steve Lavin in 2002-03, and Howland was viewed as a stabilizer to a team lacking leadership and direction. The Bruins went 32-7 and played in the national championship game three years later. The list of future NBA
talent that played under Howland includes: Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, Darren Collison, Arron Afflalo and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. (ESPN)

UCLA will owe Howland a $3.5 million buyout.

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The Titans were the number one seed heading into the Fullerton Regional, facing the number four seed Columbia first, whom they beat 4-1. They eventually went on to beat Arizona State in the next two games, 1-0 and 6-1. What was their key to success? Pitching, pitching, and even more pitching.
The Titans’ pitching staff has been one of the nation’s greatest staffs in terms of allowing earned runs, now ranking at number three in Division One ball with a 2.47 ERA. The young staff is not to be taken lightly, especially their starters. Getting through the Regionals cleanly with Grahamm Wiest (9-3), Justin Garza (12-0), and Thomas Eshelman (12-2), the Fullerton Titans will now face Los Angeles Regionals Champion, UCLA.
This won’t be the first time the Bruins and Titans have met on the diamond this season, as CSUF took on UCLA twice, winning each by scores of 9-6 and 5-2.
Fullerton knocked out UCLA in 2007 in Super Regionals, and in the 2008 in Regionals, while the Bruins got the best of the Titans in 2010, knocking them out of the Super Regional tournament in Los Angeles. There certainly is a bit of a rivalry among these two collegiate teams and it will show, especially since CSUF head coach Rick Vanderhook is a former Bruin coach (part of that 2010 team).
The two Regional Champs will play in a best-of-three series beginning on Friday June 7th in which each of the first two games are already sold out. In those sell-outs, the Titans will call upon Garza and Eshelman to face the Bruins who will oppose with Adam Plutko and Nick Vander Tuig.

For more on the #CSUFTitans, follow @SportSpeakOC on Twitter
The UCLA Bruins, fresh off a 2-1 victory over No. 4 LSU, will take on North Carolina State tonight at 5 p.m PDT on ESPN2 - with a chance to be one win away from punching a ticket to the final.
This will be the first time the Bruins and Wolfpack have faced each other this season with junior Nick Vander Tuig (12-4) on the mound for UCLA tonight.
Vander Tuig’s last start was on June 8 in Game 2 of the super-regionals against Cal State Fullerton, throwing 6 1/3 scoreless innings in a 3-0 shutout win over the Titans.
The Bruins (47-15) have won six in a row with the help of their dynamic pitching staff, giving up only four runs combined in the last four games.
The Wolfpack (50-14) have not yet revealed who will start tonight but it will likely be between senior Ethan Ogburn, sophomore Logan Jernigan and freshman Brad Stone.
In terms of numbers and experience the Wolfpack would likely go with Ogburn who is 5-3 with a 2.70 ERA with a .211 BA against opposing hitters.
A key for tonight’s game will be the battle between the bullpens. The Wolfpack’s 'pen has won 31 of the team’s 50 victories with five pitchers having a 1.50 ERA or lower on the year.
UCLA has weapons of their own in the bullpen. The Bruins are 16-2 this season in one-run games, much of that can be credited to their dominant closer - David Berg. The sophomore from Covina, California is 7-0 with a sparkling 0.88 ERA and has the most saves in the nation with 21.
This year Berg was also the first Bruin to ever win the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Stopper of the Year award.
For more on the #UCLABruins, follow @SportSpeakLA on Twitter.
The collegiate version of David vs. well, David.
The Bruins of UCLA (47-17) will play the Bulldogs of Mississippi State (51-18) in game one of the College World Series tonight at 8 p.m on ESPN.
This year’s summer classic will mark the second time two unseeded teams will play for the title since seeding began in 1999.
UCLA will have junior Adam Plutko (9-3) on the mound, who gave up only one run in 7.0 innings of work in a 2-1 victory over LSU in his last start on June 16.
You could also spin this series in a way where it’s David vs. Goliath in terms of total championships between the two schools.
The UCLA Bruins are a university steeped in tradition, reputation and above all else, championships. With over 108 titles in all NCAA organized athletics, the Bruins have been the standard that all universities and their athletic programs try to match.
But a National Championship in baseball has been the one thing that has escaped the grasp of UCLA. The last time they graced the biggest stage in collegiate baseball was in 2010, losing in heartbreaking fashion to South Carolina in 11 innings.
But UCLA this season has been as good as any team that preceded them. With dominant pitching led by Plutko, Nick Vander Tuig and their ace closer David Berg, the Bruins might have finally found the ending to the Hollywood script that was written for them three years ago.
But there is also another Hollywood story in the works for a little town called Starkville, Mississippi.
The Bulldogs have never won a National Championship in not just baseball, but in any sport. In fact, the entire state of Mississippi only has one consensus National Championship to its name and that was a 1960 National Title awarded to Ole Miss in football.
The Bulldogs, unlike the Bruins who have relied on defense and pitching to win, have mashed the ball in this year’s tournament. Mississippi State is hitting a tournament best .297 as a team, led by sophomore first baseman Wes Rea who is hitting .462 and junior Brett Pirtle who is batting .412 in the CWS.
It is a classic battle of defense vs. offense, glitz and glamour vs. country roots and 108 vs. zero.
It’s Los Angeles vs Starkville. Let’s play ball.
