ESPN Men's Basketball

With the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class set to arrive on campus later this month, most of the offseason buzz about UCLA has centered on the program’s newest players.

But a few of the old ones aren’t bad, either.

Josh Smith -- if he gets his weight and his work ethic in check -- has the potential to be one of the nation’s top centers. Point guard Larry Drew, a North Carolina transfer, practiced with the Bruins all last season and is poised to step into a starting role. And David Wear is back after averaging 10.2 points and a team-high 6.3 rebounds in 2011-12.

No returning player, though, was as good on the offensive end last season as Travis Wear, David’s twin brother. Travis Wear averaged 11.5 points and 5.9 rebounds as a sophomore. He also blocked 1.2 shots per game.

Thursday ,he took time to speak with ESPN.com about why he thinks last season’s struggles -- the Bruins went 19-14 and missed the NCAA tournament -- are a thing of the past.

What’s the vibe around campus right now?

Travis Wear: Everyone is really excited. We have a really good class coming in. We’re putting ourselves in really good shape to be a great team next year. Everyone around here is really excited about Pauley (Pavilion) opening back up again so we can have our fan base on campus supporting us again. With the hype around this season, it makes it that much better.

How tough was it to have to play away from campus last season while Pauley went through renovations?

TW: It was definitely difficult having to play off-campus in downtown L.A. It was tough to get fan support. We didn’t have a great season, so that didn’t help, either. We’re definitely looking forward to playing on campus around our students and being in a home atmosphere.

As a current team member, how exciting was it to watch all of these high-profile commitments roll in during the past year?

TW: It was really neat to see all these building blocks being added onto our team and to think about all the depth we’re going to have, all the versatility and all the great players. Our practices should be just as competitive as the games we’re going to play in next year. Everything is coming into place. People are really excited.

How would you find out when certain guys committed, guys like Shabazz Muhammad and Tony Parker?

TW: We knew the dates each one of them were supposed to announce. Most of the time I was off campus, so I’d just keeping checking Twitter.

You mentioned that you struggled at times last season. How convinced are you that those issues are a thing of the past?

TW: We had a big team meeting. We’ve changed up a lot of things around here. This group is tighter right now than it’s ever been, as far as on the court and off the court. Everyone is really handling their business. It feels great. Even when the coaches aren’t there, everyone is always in the gym working out. It feels really good.

What, specifically, has changed?

TW: It’s just mainly our attitude. With the class we have coming in, it’s obvious we have a chance to be really good. Everyone is really embracing that. We’re not just going to go off the hype of, ‘Oh, they have good players, so they’re going to be great.’ Everyone is here, working as hard we can to get to that level instead of just listening to the hype.

What effect did last season’s Sports Illustrated article have on UCLA’s program?

TW: Not much. During the season, it was some adversity that we had to face. We came together a little bit after that. But it didn’t much of an impact as far as motivating us. It might have motivated us a little, but honestly, it didn’t change much.

Everyone knows that center Josh Smith has the talent to be a special player, but he’s underachieved during his first two seasons. What have you seen from him during the offseason that leads you to believe his junior year will be his best?

TW: Josh has been working out every day. He hasn’t missed any workouts. He’s grinding every day with us. It’s nice just to see how hard he’s been working. He has an opportunity to be great. To see him embracing that now is awesome.

Why do you think he’s just now embracing it?

TW: Sometimes, for certain guys, the light just clicks. I guess the light just went on.

What has coach Ben Howland’s demeanor been like?

TW: He’s really excited. He’s very energetic. All of the coaching staff, for that matter, has been great. They go through the workouts with us and they hit us. They’re super-excited. You can just feel the energy from them.

The frontcourt will obviously be crowded with you and your brother and Josh -- plus the new guys coming in such as Tony Parker. How much do you like having that competition?

TW: That’s how you get better. You come and out compete every day for minutes. That’s what makes teams great, being able to compete in practice. Then in the games you execute what you’ve been practicing all along. With Josh and my brother and Tony Parker and (Anthony) Stover ... we’ll have some battles. It should be fun.

You and Larry Drew both started your careers at North Carolina before transferring to UCLA. What about him gives you confidence that he can impact this team as a point guard?

TW: Larry is one of the quickest players I’ve every played with or seen play. His ability to get into the lane and make good decisions is really going to help. It’s really going to help the guys who can step out and shoot, because he’s really good at penetrating, drawing the defense and then kicking it out to the open man. In transition, he’s a great passer. He’s very good at creating for others.

Any thoughts on the Pac-12?

TW: I’m really excited for our conference. Arizona is going to be good. Even USC ... they had so many guys who sat out last year that were transfers or guys that got hurt. I think they’ll have a really good team. The Bay Area schools like Stanford ... they’re returning a lot of guys. Cal is always good. Washington is always good. Our league is going to be very competitive next year, and this new TV contract is going to make it even more exciting. It’s all coming together. Everyone can feel it.

What summer plans do you have besides working out and hanging around the gym?

TW: Not many. I want to spend as much time as I can around the new guys to help them adapt and get used to college life. I want to work out with them and get comfortable with their games. I’ll probably go to the beach a lot, too. That’s definitely something I like to do.

Editor’s note: Each week, ESPN.com writers will debate a topic of interest in the college basketball landscape. Today’s topic: Which teams are garnering too much (and possibly unwarranted) preseason buzz? Which teams aren’t receiving enough?

Eamonn Brennan: UCLA

When the magazines hit the shelves this fall, and when the first official preseason poll is released, the expectations for UCLA will be sky-high. They already are. That's what happens when you pull in four top-100 recruits, two of which (small forwards Kyle Anderson and Shabazz Muhammad) are ranked in the top five overall. That's what happens when you add No. 26-ranked Tony Parker, and No. 41-ranked Jordan Adams.

That's what happens when you assemble this kind of talent, when you become the first team in four years to unseat Kentucky at the top of the recruiting rankings: We expect everything, we expect it immediately, and we have no patience for anything less.

Make no mistake: UCLA will be good. Probably very good. But there are very good reasons to ask whether Ben Howland's remarkable recruiting rebirth isn't an obvious guarantee of top-five, national title-level success.

Why? We have little evidence Howland can manage a highly touted assemblage of freshmen stars; in fact, the best evidence we have -- George Dohrmann's investigative profile in Sports Illustrated -- went so far as to assert the opposite: That Howland's teams are best when they are as low-maintenance as possible, that the way he treats talented players is anathema to his overall coaching style. At the very least, John Calipari he is not.

Even assuming that Howland has learned from the freshman-related mistakes of the past, there are still lingering questions about the returning players. Forward Joshua Smith remains a promising problem child, and forwards Travis and David Wear played at their best when on the floor together, but with Parker in the mix, how often can that happen? How will UCLA manage the minutes split between Muhammad, Anderson and Adams, the three dynamic incoming small forwards? Will the four freshmen adapt to the tough defensive style that led Howland to three straight Final Fours?

You get the idea. There's more to basketball than acquiring talent. As a program, there's no question UCLA is ascendant anew. But Howland and his staff have plenty to prove before we can rightly consider this team -- as we all seem to be automatically doing -- a national title contender. Until that happens, let's calibrate our expectations accordingly.

Dana O’Neil: Louisville

It may seem silly to question the early buzz on a team that is coming off a Final Four run (and perhaps it is), but I am still not all-in with Louisville. There are plenty of things I like about the Cardinals -- the fact the heart of the team is back, that Wayne Blackshear will be in the lineup from the opening tip, that Mike Marra returns from injury and above all else, their defensive tenacity.

Here’s the worry: the offense. Louisville struggled to score last season and with its best outside threat graduating in the form of Kyle Kuric, that doesn’t look to get any easier. I thought Luke Hancock, the George Mason transfer, might help ease that burden but the Cardinals appear to be carrying their injury bug from last season into the next.

Hancock injured his shoulder in a workout and will miss the next few months, according to Rick Pitino. He should return by the start of the season, but it’s still a significant blow for a team that already plans to be without Rakeem Buckles (still, again, pick your qualifier).

Louisville overachieved last year by miles to make it to the Final Four, and while this team certainly has reason to hope, I think it’s still a little premature to presume.

If you're obsessed with recruiting, you are already well aware Tony Parker is not just a lighting-quick Frenchman leading the San Antonio Spurs to another remarkable season in their decades-long success.

And if you didn't know, now you do. Indeed, this Tony Parker -- the 6-foot-9, 270-pound native of Lithonia, Ga. version -- is one of the nation's top 30 men's basketball prospects and was the top unsigned center in the class as of Monday morning. On Monday afternoon, Parker announced at a special ceremony at his high school that he would take his talents to Westwood next season, committing to UCLA and once-embattled coach Ben Howland.

In and of itself, that's a huge get for Howland, who could theoretically start the beefiest frontcourt in the country by pairing Parker alongside center Joshua Smith (assuming Smith returns for his junior season). But Parker's commitment is even more important than that, because alongside the incredible talent Howland has already landed, Parker's addition gives Howland the ability to say something no coach but Kentucky's John Calipari has been able to say the past three seasons: He has the top class in the country.

Indeed, according to our Recruiting Nation experts, Parker's addition gives UCLA the No. 1-ranked class in the country to date. Naturally, that is still subject to change. (If No. 7-ranked Anthony Bennett chooses Kentucky, for example, Calipari could leapfrog right back to the top of the list.) But as it stands today, Howland's is the nation's best recruiting haul, and easily the best of his tenure.

How that talent -- which includes No. 2-ranked Shabazz Muhammad and No. 5-ranked Kyle Anderson -- congeals with current Bruins players is yet to be seen. The biggest mistakes of Howland's career came just after he recruited top classes filled with questionable character types (Drew Gordon and Reeves Nelson are the biggest lingering examples) that imploded his team's chemistry, sent talented players running transferring for the hills and cratered the program's standing among prep coaches and AAU types. Howland deserves blame for much of these woes. But with Muhammad, Anderson and Parker? It's too much talent. The Bruins are almost guaranteed to be good, or at least massively improved over their disappointing performance in the past three seasons.

With Parker on board, the Bruins' return to prominence -- or back to something resembling what we think of as "UCLA basketball" -- is very much in motion. For Howland, his team, and dispirited UCLA fans everywhere, the timing couldn't possibly be better.

All that remains is turning this talent into a team. That's the easy part, right?

Kentucky is Kentucky, and UCLA is back.

Those are the two immediate takeaways from Wednesday night’s big college hoops recruiting announcements, when the No. 1 and No. 2 players in the Class of 2012 -- center Nerlens Noel and small forward Shabazz Muhammad -- announced their decisions within an hour of each other live on ESPNU.

The final result? Muhammad chose UCLA. Noel chose Kentucky. Life in Westwood immediately got brighter. Life in Lexington remained almost unfairly good. And despite all the anticipation and hype, in the end, neither of these decisions was particularly surprising.

UCLA coach Ben Howland was long the favorite to land Muhammad. The Las Vegas native never revealed his intentions, but the recruiting rumor mill -- I’m hearing UCLA, it’s definitely UCLA, that sort of thing -- always seemed to peg Muhammad as a future Bruin. Even after Howland endured the most embarrassing moment of his career this spring, thanks to Sports Illustrated writer George Dohrmann’s evisceration, Muhammad’s family didn’t discount the program or wave it off. Indeed, the Bruins’ recent downward spiral was apparently an attraction.

“Knowing how bad they were the last two years, it’s a challenge to get them back up to the top,” Muhammad said.

That’s good news for UCLA, because he is right: The Bruins and their head coach are indeed desperately in need of a massive, wholesale turnaround in production and perception in the years to come. After disappointing, disjointed seasons in two of the past three years, fans openly revolted against the program in 2012.

Now, with Muhammad and fellow top-five recruit Kyle Anderson on board, as well as the Wear twins and still-promising, still-frustrating forward Joshua Smith, the Bruins have a legitimate chance to make a run at the Pac–12 title in 2012–13. In the meantime, athletics director Dan Guerrero will unveil a newly renovated Pauley Pavilion, hoping this influx of talent can revitalize a fan base that tuned its beloved Bruins out for much of the past three seasons.

“Hopefully we can sell out Pauley Pavilion,” Muhammad said.

The kid gets it. The stink of recent Westwood frustration won’t dissipate overnight. But with his talents on board, Howland can still change his program’s dire narrative while he still has time.

John Calipari has no such problem. You saw the Wildcats in March: Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Marquis Teague were each the top players at their respective positions in the Class of 2011, and as they mixed and congealed with sophomores Doron Lamb and Terrence Jones (and senior Darius Miller), Calipari morphed them into one of the most dominant national title teams of the past 20 years -- and easily the most dominant in the one-and-done era.

That was a special talent haul, one that can’t easily be duplicated. But Calipari remains on a roll: He landed the No. 1 class in the country in 2011, the No. 1 class in the country in 2010, and the No. 1 class in the country in 2009, when John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins and Eric Bledsoe paved the way.

At this point, you can write it in ink each and every spring: Calipari will have the No. 1 recruiting class in the country, or something very close to it. As such, it wasn’t even remotely surprising to see the top player in the country, Noel, commit to the Wildcats on Wednesday night. By the time Noel revealed his choice on the ESPNU set -- with the added flair of the UK logo shaved into the back of his now-famous high-top fade -- much of the social media world and those who follow such things were convinced the choice was Georgetown.

Silly people. Did you really think Coach Cal was going to go 0-for-2 tonight? Come on now.

Calipari was already off to a great start on the recruiting trail this year -- top–20 players Archie Goodwin and Alex Poythress signed on last fall -- but he was still missing the elite, top-five talent that has become a regular fixture in his classes since his days at Memphis. The search is over.

Noel’s commitment is not only crucial in a vacuum -- he is a massive and athletic center who specializes in dominant interior shot-blocking -- but it rounds out UK’s on-court balance, too. Noel will anchor the post. Goodwin and Poythress will star on the wings. Sophomore forward Kyle Wiltjer, a top–20 recruit who barely cracked the rotation in 2012 (as good an indication of the Wildcats’ talent as any), will take on a much larger role. And NC State transfer Ryan Harrow, the No. 10-ranked point guard in the Class of 2010 who left the Wolfpack after Sidney Lowe’s firing last season, will take over the all-important on-ball role.

Noel’s proclivity for swats will immediately invite comparison to the departing Davis, and Noel may well be a better shot-blocker than the Unibrowed One. But beyond that, the comparisons may be a little too eager. Davis was a physical freak who gained his physicality late in his high school career, when he sprouted 8 inches but somehow maintained his guard skills and agility. He was transcendent on both ends of the court, almost from Day 1.

By contrast, Noel is a lifelong big man, one whose offensive game remains very raw. (Though he shares at least this much with Davis: In a world full of 6-foot–10 prospects determined to play small forward, Noel is more than content to play as close to the rim as possible.) Likewise, for as promising as Poythress and Goodwin are, it’s clear there is no Kidd-Gilchrist -- whose combination of NBA talent and selflessness set the tone for UK’s special 2012 season -- to be found here, at least as far as we can tell right now.

Not that Kentucky fans will complain. Just a week after the program’s eighth national title, UK fans just watched live as the top recruit in the country committed to Big Blue Nation. A repeat of 2012’s dominance is too much to ask. But with another batch of talent arriving in Lexington this summer, Calipari’s unique ability to transform disparate freshmen into coherent, disciplined teams and a wide-open 2012–13 landscape, a repeat national title run is hardly out of the question.

At least one thing is clear: With Noel on board, the state of Big Blue Nation remains strong. And very, very talented.

It’s true: Life is good in Lexington.

In fact, it only seems to get better.

And so the offseason begins. As we start the countdown to Midnight Madness, five of our writers examine some big offseason questions:

John Gasaway: What's to become of the Big East?

West Virginia will be a Big 12 school come July. Syracuse and Pittsburgh have pledged to join the ACC just as soon as they can get rid of their old league. And Connecticut is appealing a ruling that may force the Huskies to sit out the 2013 NCAA tournament for failing to meet Division I academic requirements. In other words, these are tumultuous times for the Big East.

The league's leadership is trying to meet this challenge by adding new members. Basketball fans will see Memphis, Temple, Central Florida, Houston, and SMU competing in the Big East starting with the 2013-14 season. Barring further defections, that influx will produce an 18-team basketball league, which certainly sounds healthy enough. But will Dave Gavitt's creation still have the same cachet in hoops? Will the Big East's annual March get-together at Madison Square Garden be as special as it was before? What's the long-term outlook for a basketball-rich Big East in a football-driven landscape? No one knows, least of all the Big East itself.

Andy Katz: Where will Nerlens Noel and Shabazz Muhammad end up?

This is my No. 1 offseason question for now. If one or both decide to go to Kentucky, the Wildcats jump up into the No. 1 discussion yet again. If UCLA gets Muhammad, does that mean the Bruins are back? There are so many questions still to be answered heading into the offseason, but these two players can shift the direction of the potential top teams more than others. The early-entry decisions this month will certainly affect the pecking order in college basketball. But unless there is a change of direction, most of the elite players will leave if they haven’t already. The decisions of these two incoming stars seems more relevant now.

Jason King: Can Ben Howland regroup at UCLA?

Howland’s image took a hit when a February Sports Illustrated article suggested he had strained relationships with his players and didn’t discipline them properly. The Bruins missed the NCAA tournament for the second time in three years, but the addition of highly touted freshman Kyle Anderson should significantly improve a team that will also add North Carolina transfer Larry Drew at point guard. If Howland can get better effort out of center Josh Smith and more production from the Wear twins, UCLA will contend for the Pac-12 title. But if Howland -- who took the Bruins to three straight Final Fours from 2006-08 -- endures another mediocre season, his future at the school could be in jeopardy.

Joe Lunardi: How will the conference dominoes fall?

Next season marks a real shift in major conference membership. Missouri and Texas A&M to the SEC, West Virginia to the Big 12, etc. It won't be long before we need a laminated pocket card to know who is in what league. And the 2013-14 season will be more of the same.

I'm past lamenting the loss the of certain rivalries or bemoaning the lack of geographic logic of it all. What matters most in my world is the long-term effect of membership changes on the NCAA at-large picture. For instance, it took several years for the Big East's five-team raid of Conference USA (2005-06) to pay off in a greater number of bids than those schools were already receiving.

With the dominoes still falling and several moves a year or more away (e.g., Pitt and Syracuse to the ACC), there is no way to really know the winners and the losers from a basketball perspective. And that's because basketball was never a primary consideration in any of this.

Dana O'Neil: Will John Calipari stay at Kentucky?

He has said repeatedly that he has his dream job and there is no arguing he is the king of college basketball at the moment. But more than a few people expect that a few NBA teams could make a run at Calipari. He already is well-compensated and sitting in the catbird seat, so professional basketball doesn't have the same allure for him that it might for others. But being the Kentucky coach is a full-time, exhaustive job that can wear even the best salesman out. And the NBA remains the one place that Calipari didn't have success, so I'll be curious -- as will the Commonwealth -- to see whether Calipari is tempted by the NBA.

1. UCLA might not be a high postseason selection. So now that the Bruins are out, athletic director Dan Guerrero must either make a commitment to Ben Howland or move on after the season. He left Howland’s situation too open-ended last week. He needs to make a declarative statement, the way Pat Haden did at USC, telling the Los Angeles Times that Kevin O’Neill will be back. If Howland is going to return, Guerrero must make that clear.

2. Decisions should be made soon at Illinois and Nebraska. Bruce Weber is fully expecting there to be a change, but he’ll pocket $3.9 million. Doc Sadler isn’t so sure — but he would earn $3.4 million if he’s cut loose. It’s not even close as to which Big Ten job is better. Both schools have resources, but Illinois is always committed to hoops. Weber and Sadler are both well-liked by their peers and didn’t suddenly become poor coaches. Expect both to be gobbled up quickly in some form or fashion (head or assistant coaches) if they are officially ousted. Weber is almost a certainty but it’s too hard to have a read on Sadler at this juncture.

3. The pained expression on Bill Carmody’s face Thursday after the overtime loss to Minnesota spoke volumes about his tenure at Northwestern. Carmody has been so close to getting an NCAA bid, but yet so far. The Wildcats have had plenty of chances to win key games, but consistently fail. There really are no excuses, no one to blame and no one to debate. Northwestern hasn’t been snubbed. It has had a multitude of opportunities to get a bid but simply hasn't closed when needed. The drought will continue. This is actually worse than the Cubs, since the odds should favor Northwestern getting an NCAA bid over the Cubs winning the World Series.

Thanks to George Dohrmann's exhaustive reporting in the pages of this week's Sports Illustrated, the UCLA Bruins -- a forgotten team mired in another disappointing season -- were, during the final week of their irrelevant regular season, thrust unwittingly into the national spotlight. In the world of college hoops, this was the Week of UCLA, when a legendary program was turned inside out and exposed for the whole world to see.

You know most of the details by now, but just in case, let's quickly recap: Dohrmann's well-reported story recounted the sudden and precipitous decline of UCLA in recent seasons, and counted the following points among the (always-corroborated) reasons for said decline:

• Ben Howland's decision to recruit and sign high-profile recruits after heading to three-straight Final Fours with a dedicated, egoless bunch.
• Those stars' lack of dedication to the team, alongside drinking, occasional drug use (even, sometimes, before practice) as well as general violations of team rules that frequently went unpunished.
• Howland's leniency toward said stars, particularly forward Reeves Nelson, who used to intentionally injure teammates in practice, torment support staffers and team managers because "That's how Coach Howland talks to you," treat assistants with disrespect, and ignore Howland's phone calls (to the point that Howland had to call Nelson's roommate and plead his forward to come to the line). Nelson even once, believe it or not, urinated on Tyler Honeycutt's clothes and bed because he thought Honeycutt told coaches about a planned limo party. (Nelson's lawyer has since disputed some of these details, but you get the idea.)
• The effect this acrimony had on a major personnel drain at the program, with five transfers -- including Mike Moser (an MWC player of the year candidate at UNLV), Drew Gordon (an MWC POY candidate at New Mexico) and Matt Carlino (a promising guard now at BYU).
• The effect Howland's coaching style -- which was recounted by multiple former players and assistant coaches -- as that of a basketball genius with little to no interest in interacting with players or fostering camaraderie or correcting talented players who undermined team chemistry with unpunished antics.

Taken as a whole, there were two common reactions to Dohrmann's story. One was that of outrage and disgust, which seems primarily prevalent among UCLA fans, many of whom believe Howland needed to be fired for missing two NCAA tournaments in three seasons. To them, the peek at the reasons why only confirmed that belief.

The other reaction is slightly more measured. Sure, this is poorly timed, but it happens at programs across the country. Howland made mistakes in recruiting, but a guy who took teams to three straight Final Fours does not suddenly become a bad coach overnight. UCLA doesn't even have a home arena this season.

To yours truly, the story did a bit of both: It pulled the curtain back on a coach that had long since placed short-term gains over long-term program needs (q.v.: Bruce Weber), for reasons I really can't quite fathom. (It's not like Howland needed to take risks in recruiting to save his job; he just went to three Final Fours!) It also revealed the significant challenges college basketball coaches must confront on and off the court in 2012. How coaches handle said challenges away from the shiny lights and TV cameras can, perhaps even more than talent or X's and O's, be the biggest difference between success and failure in this sport. (Though talent and a few decent baseline out of bounds plays never hurt, either.)

Regardless of your reaction, the pertinent question now is: Where does UCLA go from here?

If you read Bruins Nation with any regularity, you'll know that UCLA fans -- or at least UCLA fans that write and comment on Bruins Nation -- have already made up their minds: Howland needs to go. But so does athletic director Dan Guerrero. Orange County Register columnist Scott M. Reid made this argument Thursday:

No, the real question isn't whether Howland should be fired (he shouldn't). The much more important question is whether Dan Guerrero should be allowed to continue making major decisions about the direction of UCLA's athletic department? [...] Guerrero should have [seen Nelson's problems], and overrode his coach and sent Nelson back to Modesto. That Guerrero didn't is one of the reasons he found himself with Block trying to answer reporters' questions Wednesday afternoon. That Guerrero himself hasn't been sent packing as well of course is thanks to [UCLA chancellor Gene] Block's lack of oversight and direction.

Culture change came up again on Wednesday, and Guerrero was quick to jump on the need for change within the basketball program. "Yeah, there's no is no question about that," he said. But if UCLA is really serious about changing the culture of the athletic department, instead of focusing on Howland, shouldn't Block be at least asking himself this question: Doesn't change start at the top?

The conference call Guerrero staged Wednesday was interesting even in its structure. Howland staged his own and answered questions from the media by himself, but Guerrero appeared alongside Block. As Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke wrote:

Hey, Guerrero is no dummy. This accountability configuration was far more damning to Howland's job security than the story. And what Guerrero said didn't help. Asked about Howland's future, even though there are probably only a handful of games left in the season, Guerrero had no answer.

''We'll go through the rest of the season. … we'll see what happens relative to postseason play … then we'll sit down and talk about the situation like we always do,'' Guerrero said, adding, "Certainly, the article raises some issues. But believe me, we were aware of many issues as well. We'll put our arms around those issues at the end of the season.''

That's essentially the message Guerrero delivered to Fox Sports Radio's "Petros and Money" Thursday. He defended Howland and the program to a point, but stopped short of offering anything that could be interpreted as a vote of confidence. It's all platitudes: We'll "talk things through" at the end of the season to achieve an "alignment of vision" and "correct what's wrong." Naturally, this is not going to calm UCLA fans, who were already getting fed up with Guerrero before this week's mess arrived in Westwood.

In other words, things remain up in the air. Some hope was on hand on Thursday night, when UCLA beat Washington State 78-46. As ESPNLosAngeles.com's Peter Yoon writes, the program, which has noticeably stockpiled high-character guys in recent seasons, "seems to be headed in the right direction."

Tyler Lamb had one of his best games as a Bruin with 16 points and five assists. He is a sophomore. Twins David and Travis Wear, also sophomores, continued their solid play with a combined 21 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Norman Powell made two of three 3-point shots and finished with eight points.

Those guys are the future of UCLA basketball, the guys who will be asked to carry the Bruins out of the current mess they are in, and that's a good thing because they showed that not only can they play, but all are high-character people. They are the type of low-ego, hard-working players coach Ben Howland built his three consecutive Final Four teams around, but were scarce as an influx of prima donna attitudes took over and the program took a nose dive over the past three seasons.

There are still questions about this year's team, of course. Chief among them is forward Joshua Smith, whose incredible talent and potential has been hampered by his immaturity and unwillingness to get serious about shedding weight. Smith came in to his sophomore season in even worse shape than he did as a freshman, when all anyone could say about him was how good he would be if he just dropped a few (OK, more than a few) pounds. Howland's treatment of Smith was even mentioned in Dohrmann's report:

Smith, UCLA's most gifted player, was a disappointment. He has admitted to a lack of motivation, but players say that Howland also has babied him, allowing him to miss meetings and arrive late or unprepared for workouts. "Same thing as before," says a player. "Josh is a star and so [Howland] isn't holding him accountable." (Howland declined to discuss his handling of Smith.)

Smith's issues aside, though, it's hard to read Yoon's report from Thursday night's win and not sense a certain level of optimism about the program's direction going forward. The players believe they have what it takes to get back to the much-ballyhooed "UCLA way," and with reportedly high-character recruits leading next year's potential top-five class, perhaps that transition -- a fresh start after three years of dismay -- won't be as difficult as many imagine.

But will Howland have the opportunity to fix it? Should he? And where does Guerrero's leadership fit into all this?

Before this legendary program can move forward, before it can erase one of the uglier periods in program history, before it can return to a newly renovated Pauley Pavilion, before it can get back to the business of being UCLA, it must first answer these key questions. Stay tuned.

Scott Van Pelt and Ryen Russillo discuss the allegations against the UCLA men's basketball program.

For the past month or two -- pretty much since UCLA dumped forward Reeves Nelson for his continued nonsense -- yours truly has been patiently waiting for the Bruins to finally figure it out. Maybe Nelson would be addition by subtraction. Maybe they needed time to grow as a team. Maybe the young guards just needed a month or two to develop. Maybe Joshua Smith just needed to get in shape.

If any or all of these things turned out to be true, UCLA -- one of the more talented teams in its league -- had a major opportunity. The Pac-12, as you may have heard, is down. A few bounces in the right direction, a little midseason congealing, and blammo: UCLA, once ranked No. 20 in the preseason (remember that?), would be right back in the thick of this season.

As of Feb. 3, the dream, as it were, appears to be officially over. Barring a totally unforeseen late-season surge, or a Pac-12 tournament title rush, the Bruins are not going to the NCAA tournament. The Bruins aren't as bad as they were in November, to be sure, but they're still incapable of beating anything resembling a decent Pac-12 team on the road. (The only conference road win came over USC, which, sorry, doesn't count.) UCLA is 12-10 overall, 5-5 in the Pac-12. At this point, they are what they are: Not horrible, not good and not likely to change either of those facts.

Still, Thursday night's loss at Washington might hurt more than any other in recent weeks, if only because UCLA had a genuine opportunity to "upset" (ahem) the conference's co-leader on the road. Basketball Prospectus' Kevin Pelton was on hand, and he was rightfully baffled by UCLA coach Ben Howland's game management:

The Bruins’ visit to Hec Edmundson Pavilion last year was the quintessential Howland timeout game. He burned through three timeouts in the first half and had used up all five of them by the 12:57 mark of a close game. When Howland took his first timeout 2:32 into Thursday’s ballgame, it looked like we were headed for a repeat. Instead, the UCLA coach showed surprising discretion, added by his team’s ability to stem any Washington momentum with timely scores.

Howland took a pair of timeouts to the five-minute mark, then used one with 4:38 to play to set up his defense after a score, giving him one to burn. He never used it.

Remarkably, the Bruins found themselves in precisely the sort of situation for which most coaches save their timeouts. After a Terrence Ross miss, UCLA took possession down two with 26 seconds remaining. The Bruins came down and got into their offense, even after the Huskies took away any opportunities for transition or the secondary break. The resulting play was a mess. Freshmen guard Norman Powell eventually got the ball in the corner. Powell, who was in the game only because Tyler Lamb had fouled out, driving for a contested pull-up jumper with three seconds left. When he missed, time ran out before the Bruins could secure the rebound or foul.

You can't take timeouts with you. It's a hoary old chestnut, but it's true. And when your team has a chance to win the game in the final moments, a coach usually decides to not leave that potentially all-important timeout on the board. It's just sort of strange, right?

More than that, it underscores the current strife of the UCLA basketball fan, who understandably expects his or her program to look more like the one of the early Howland years, when the Bruins were a fixture in three-straight Final Fours. Since then, UCLA has seemed in a constant rebuilding limbo. NBA defections and a downtick in recruiting have been the main cause of these woes -- this team would be so much better if Tyler Honeycutt and Malcolm Lee hadn't bolted for the league last spring -- but the causes don't affect UCLA fans' reception of the end result.

If Friday's post at Bruins Nation is any indication -- titled "End of Faith: Why Howland Must Go, Even Though It Hurts" -- UCLA fans are officially ready to end the Howland era. To wit (warning, long blockquote ahoy!):

I take no joy in calling for Ben Howland's firing. I really don't. But, when you look at the numbers, it's clear that Ben hasn't gotten the job done, at least not to the level UCLA deserves. That said, it's about more than the numbers, but it's about something happened this season that made me realize, on a deep, visceral level, that Howland had to go.

I stopped believing in Ben Howland.

I no longer have the confidence that everything will turn out okay for UCLA. I no longer believe that Ben can guide us to the pinnacle of college basketball. I don't have faith in Ben, not anymore. I can't point to any particular reason, or any particular point in time where that happened: I just know it did. I lost faith. I stopped believing in Ben. The magic is gone.

I could care less about watching our basketball games, because it's just painful. It hurts to see the shell of a formerly great coach flail about with a mediocre team (that he is solely responsible for building), unable to adjust, unable to find a way to win, and unable to bear any resemblance to the outstanding coach that made UCLA a dominating force in college hoops.

When you look at schools like Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, and the other elites, the fans have something we don't: a belief in their coach. Deep down in every Blue Devil, Tar Heel, Jayhawk, etc. is the belief that, even in a bad, rebuilding season (which for these guys, still always result in at least a NCAA tournament appearance), that Coach K, Williams, or Self would right the ship.

Howland, on the other hand, lost that. It's sad.

Obviously, one blog (let alone a singular post) can't speak for every UCLA fan, of which there are many. But if the comments on that post are any indication of Howland's current status among fans -- there are lots of "me toos" and "100 percent right" and "beautiful post" and so on -- UCLA fans have seen enough. The time has come, at least to them. Of course, impassioned blog comments don't have the power to fire Howland, and he is almost certain to survive this season and perhaps even another one, depending on how his latest surge in recruiting (specifically the pursuit of top-ranked recruit Shabazz Muhammad) plays out.

Either way, the Bruins' proud program finds itself at another crossroads. After another disappointing loss, UCLA fans aren't asking when this team will get better, when it will congeal, when the talent will shine through, when Joshua Smith (who is playing better) will finally become dominant. They're asking different questions now: Why isn't this team improving? Why isn't Howland doing a better job? How soon can we move on? How soon can we hire someone new?

As of February, that's where things stand in Westwood. And you thought November was ugly.

Reeves Nelson wasn't always the poster child for what was wrong with UCLA -- far from it. Colorful tattoos covered his left arm, including the one representing yin and yang. As a freshman, he started two nights after getting 15 stitches following a face-first fall on a slam dunk, with coach Ben Howland likening him to Rocky Balboa. He was a fan favorite in those days.

Nelson was also a rebel for sure, but one the Bruins had thought would annoy opponents rather than themselves. He was supposed to be the next in a long line of Howland acolytes, taking on the role of the tough guy. As a sophomore, Nelson ended up leading the team in scoring and rebounding.

Friday's announcement that Nelson's career at UCLA was over following two suspensions in the span of three weeks wasn't the necessarily the easiest decision for Howland to make.

"I had a lot of hope for him," Howland said a couple of hours after informing Nelson of his dismissal. "Reeves improved a lot as a player from his freshman to sophomore year. It's very disappointing."

Here's how a profile piece on Nelson written by Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com during his freshman year began:

He had them with his first dive for a loose ball. The gnarly shiner and bloodshot right eye he picked up earlier this season when a Kansas player poked him in the eye sped the development of the love affair up.

The eclectic tattoo collection on his forearms, shoulders and chest cemented things.

The UCLA student section has fallen for freshman center Reeves Nelson in a head-over-heels, face-painting, tattoo-copying, instant-cult-hero kind of way.

"Oh man, the crowd definitely loves him," sophomore guard Malcolm Lee said. "The other night I saw people drawing that infinity [symbol] tattoo he has on his arm on themselves.

"I think it's because he's just real aggressive. He's not scared of getting hit or hitting other people. That's big for us because our shots can go in or out, but his brutality and aggression is always there, night in and night out."

But there were always signs of another side to Nelson that weren't pretty. In high school, he was suspended following an alcohol-related incident in which he was a passenger in a single-car accident in the school's parking lot. Footage of Nelson throwing the ball at teammate Brendan Lane's chest after an opposing player scored on Lane during a game surfaced on YouTube. Nelson wasn't the best of teammates and he frustrated staff members with his attitude and demeanor, but all that came long before he was suspended twice and also missed a team flight.

"In fairness to the team, there's a point where we've got to move forward and do what's best for the team," Howland said. "I really want to help and am hoping he can grow as a player that is able to fit into a team and organization that handles all the things that go with that.

"Reeves did not want to leave. He's disappointed, but he also understands that it's the final decision. This is it. We are moving forward without him."

Howland said the two best practices of the season came after Nelson was suspended the first time Nov. 14, but his dismissal might not end up being addition by subtraction. The 2-5 Bruins have plenty of other problems to deal with, including center Joshua Smith's conditioning level, spotty guard play and an increasing malaise from fans who have seen both their basketball and football programs go under .500.

In the end, Howland had to turn Nelson from Sports Illustrated cover boy to castoff.

"I didn't want to turn this into a thing where this is the focus of UCLA basketball," Howland said. "I think it will be a positive for our team because the distraction for our team has not been a positive for our team. Negativity is not a positive for our team."

There comes a point in every parent’s life where they stand at the line of the sand. It is time to put up or shut up.

The toy that you've threatened to take away has to, in fact, be taken away. The sleepover, play date, party, movie night, cell phone plan -- whatever the carrot dangling in exchange for good behavior -- has to be cancelled.

It’s called teaching the concept of consequences for your actions.

Right now, Ben Howland is standing at the line.

He’s just not strong enough to cross it.

UCLA announced on Tuesday that its star-crossed forward Reeves Nelson had been suspended from the team for "conduct unbecoming a member of the UCLA basketball team."

Again.

Three weeks ago, Howland suspended Nelson for the exact same reason, a one-game ban that Nelson took so seriously that he tweeted snide remarks after the Bruins’ blowout loss to Middle Tennessee State and then missed the team flight to Hawaii after he was reinstated.

Nelson’s punishment? He didn’t start in the Bruins’ game against Chaminade. Although he did play 11 minutes and got that nice trip to Maui.

On Saturday, Howland was so fed up with Nelson’s behavior that he benched him for the entire second half against Texas. Nelson, according to media reports, responded to his punishment by pointing to people in the crowd and giggling.

And now here we are again. Nelson has done something newly egregious, bad enough to earn yet another indefinite vacation from the Bruins.

Attention, Ben, this is reality calling: The message isn’t getting through.

It’s time to call on that thing that holds your body upright.

You remember it ...

Your backbone.

It’s time to turn that suspension into a dismissal. Nelson is walking all over Howland, and in the process, trampling UCLA.

Coaches like to say they are more than just X’s and O’s guys -- that they shape men and teach life skills.

The only life skill Howland is giving to Nelson right now is that he who dribbles best can get away with pretty much anything. Howland told Los Angeles Times columnist T.J. Simers that he believes it is his responsibility to "help these guys."

It’s a noble motive. Everyone deserves a second chance.

But a third and a fourth and a fifth? There comes a point where there is a negative return on an investment and Howland is well beyond that point.

Howland is at the point now where he is at risk of losing the slim hold he has on the skidding 2-5 Bruins. What message, after all, does it send to the rest of the team when the coach keeps putting up with Nelson’s antics? This isn’t, after all, a guy who is known to be loosy-goosy and relaxed. Howland would script the layup lines if he could.

And now here he is, pretzeling himself, his principles and the very fabric that UCLA likes to say it’s built upon, for Nelson. It’s impossible not to interpret Howland’s inaction as desperation. The wheels are flying off at UCLA in rapid succession and Nelson is, when he’s not nuclear, a critical cog in the Bruins’ machine.

Without him, UCLA has a much slimmer chance of winning. And without winning, Howland has a much slimmer chance of holding on to his job.

But at what price?

This past weekend, I had a talk with a friend of mine, a longtime youth and middle-school coach. Coach Pete told me about a middle-school football team he coached a few years back. Nine starters, smart-alecks every one of them, exited the bus one day and walked right by all of the gear on the ground. The other players picked it up, dragging it into the locker room.

Coach Pete and his other coach looked at the starters and said simply: You’re not playing in the next game.

Remember this is middle school, where nine starters equate to 18 since the best kids play both ways.

“We told them, ‘We’d rather lose without you than win with you,’’ Coach Pete recalled.

The team did lose -- got killed, in fact, by a rival program that had never beaten them before.

A few years later, a kid -- not one of the troublemakers -- from that same team came by the school to talk to Coach Pete. He’d never become much of a football player, but he’d had some behavioral issues that he’d since grown out of.

He told his coach that he didn’t remember much about his middle school football career but he remembered that moment when his teammates were suspended. More, he remembered the lesson: There are consequences for your actions.

Reeves Nelson has to learn that.

More important, Ben Howland has to find the courage to teach it.

Hopefully, you ignored college football. Hopefully, you procrastinated putting up your Christmas decorations. Hopefully, after Kentucky's thrilling win over North Carolina this afternoon, you stayed plopped in that couch groove, remote in one hand and snacks in the other, ready to flip from one hoops affair to the next.

Why? Because UK-UNC was merely this Saturday's opening salvo. Sure, it was the best and most important and most entertaining and most talented and most insert-your-adjective-of-choice-here game of the day. But it wasn't the only one. Let's run through the rest of this afternoon's action -- beginning with Xavier's remarkable comeback win over Purdue. (Tu!)

No. 11 Xavier 66, Purdue 63: Technically, a brief glance at the Game Flow illustration in the link to the left tells the story here. The Purdue lead was 20-6 after 10 minutes. It was 33-22 after 20 minutes. It was -- get this -- 55-36 after 30 minutes. Then, in the final 10 minutes, and especially the final five, Xavier staged a marvelous comeback, ending the game on a 30-8 run and holding on in the end to get the most unlikely of wins.

You can look at the box score and know this, and therefore know the story of the game. But believe me when I say this is one you had to see to believe. In particular, you needed to see X guard Tu Holloway, whose late-game transformations -- Holloway goes from inefficient to "oh my God, did you just see that?!?" -- are one of the strangest and most compelling performance storylines in college basketball this season. It pains me to say this, but in his past two games, Tu Holloway became college basketball's Tim Tebow. (I know, I know. I couldn't resist.)

As in Xavier's victory at Vanderbilt on Monday, Holloway was pedestrian to downright bad for much of Saturday afternoon. Before the final five minutes, he was borderline invisible, when he wasn't committing one of his six turnovers, that is. And then, just as it did Monday night in Nashville, something clicked. After the five-minute mark, Holloway went 3-of-4 and scored 13 of his 21 total points, including the three consecutive dagger 3s he stuck in the closing moments when his team needed them most. He won the game with his shooting and finished it off with his free throws.

It's strange, this lightbulb that seems to click only in the closing moments. But whatever it is that goes off in Holloway's head when the game is on the line in the closing moments, Xavier fans will take it. Thanks in large part to Holloway's late-game heroics, the Musketeers end this week with two crucial nonconference wins over two power-six teams, one of which came on the road.

There's a ton of season left, but would anyone want to draw the Muskies in an elimination game right now? For all its occasional struggles -- and by occasional, I mean "for the first 35 minutes of any given game" -- this Xavier team not only appears to be balanced and talented, but also appears to be as difficult an out as any team in the country. If you're up on the Musketeers, you better bury them deep. As long as Holloway's on the floor and the lead is mathematically in reach, you're never, ever safe.

As for Purdue, Matt Painter and Co. will certainly be unhappy to lose a game they controlled for so long in such heartbreaking fashion. And the sight of Robbie Hummel wincing at the end of the Boilermakers bench -- Hummel was crippled by apparently excruciating cramps for much of the afternoon -- was certainly an unwelcome one. But there are bright sides. For one, Hummel's injuries were merely cramps. (Seeing the Purdue senior, in the midst of a heartwarming comeback from two major ACL surgeries, hold his leg after contact is the quickest way this side of an Eli Roth movie to feel one's stomach turn in knots.)

More important, it should be noted that Purdue was the vastly superior team for much of the game. A loss is a loss, of course; no distinction will be made for its type during the résumé comparison season in early March. But the Boilers can take something from this game. They were the better team for its majority -- on the road, in a tough environment, against an experienced and talented team, with its best player cramping late -- and at the end of the day, maybe that's what's worth remembering.

No. 16 Marquette 61, No. 7 Wisconsin 54: Make no mistake: Marquette is a good team. Arguably a very good one. Even without star Jimmy Butler, last season's do-everything scorer, rebounder, glue guy and teammate extraordinaire, the Golden Eagles are still very good.

Even so, this is a borderline shocking result. Why? Because Wisconsin doesn't lose at home, like, ever. Before Saturday, in 11 seasons under Bo Ryan, UW was 156-11 at the Kohl Center. The Badgers were working on a 23-game home winning streak against all opponents; the last time they lost a nonconference home game was Dec. 23, 2008. So for the Golden Eagles to come in and get a win in this underrated in-state hoops rivalry -- well, yeah, that's a shocker, no matter how good this Marquette team is.

Of course, the Badgers gave Marquette the opportunity almost from the starting tip. Wisconsin posted an uncharacteristically awful shooting performance Saturday afternoon, particularly in the first half, when the Badgers scored just 22 points and found themselves in a 10-point hole at halftime. Things improved slightly in the second, but UW still finished 16-of-50 from the field and 5-of-19 from 3. For a team averaging 44 percent from 3 and 50 percent from 2 this season -- a team that relies on slowly working the ball in pursuit of a high-percentage final shot -- that simply won't get it done.

Wisconsin's slow pace -- its greatest advantage at times -- also makes it very difficult for the Badgers to mount a comeback. They tried, and cut the lead to within striking distance late in the second half even despite a tough charging call on point guard Jordan Taylor that cost the Badgers a three-point play and sent Taylor to the bench with his fourth foul. But Marquette was just as good down the stretch. Guard Darius Johnson-Odom didn't have a hugely efficient night (17 points on 15 shots), but anytime he can get his 18-foot step-back jumper off, it becomes an unstoppable offensive weapon. Meanwhile, Marquette is getting good contributions from sophomore Vander Blue and freshman guard Todd Mayo (younger brother of O.J.).

Wisconsin may have shot itself in the foot in this one -- not unlike Tuesday's close call at North Carolina -- but Marquette deserves the credit. The Golden Eagles took advantage early, made enough plays to finish the game and in the process notched one of the biggest wins of Buzz Williams' ever-promising tenure at the program. Impressive stuff.

Illinois 82, No. 18 Gonzaga 75: Maybe Gonzaga beats Illinois on a neutral court. But maybe not.

That's the feeling one got while watching this game, in which Illinois -- a young team but one with talent, which is something yours truly has been saying all season -- never looked overmatched or overwhelmed against a ranked Bulldogs team with designs on a deep tournament run. A little like UK-UNC, this win didn't feel like the benefit of home-court advantage as some deciding factor. Illinois can play with people. Now we know.

Of special note? Illinois forward Meyers Leonard. The sophomore missed much of the first half thanks to foul trouble, but he returned in the second with a determined style of play. The end result: 21 points and 6 rebounds on 9-for-11 shooting from the field. Those are impressive tallies any way you slice them, but considering Leonard posted those numbers while matched up with Gonzaga center Robert Sacre, they're doubly so. Throw in the balanced performances from starters D.J. Richardson (19 points), Brandon Paul (13 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds) and Sam Maniscalco (10 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds) and, well, don't look now, but this Illinois team might well be better than last season's disappointing senior-led squad. It certainly looked the part Saturday.

No. 17 Pittsburgh 61, Tennessee 56: In Maui, the Tennessee Volunteers proved themselves to be a flawed but hard-nosed and pesky bunch, one that would refuse to roll over for their apparently more talented opponents. That quality was on full display against Pitt, which led UT by eight with 1:46 to go. That's when the Vols began fouling, and after an elbow cost guard Ashton Gibbs a technical foul -- and gave Tennessee the customary shots and possession -- the Panthers missed the front end of two one-and-ones and watched as Trae Golden's 3 cut the lead to 58-56 with 11 seconds remaining.

It wasn't pretty, but the Panthers pulled this one out after forcing a jump ball on Tennessee's key possession late. They'll be thankful for that when seeding time comes around this spring. But let it be known: Tennessee was supposed to be rebuilding. That may be true. But don't tell the Volunteers. Because they aren't yielding anything in the meantime.

Other noteworthy results from the afternoon: The jury is still out on Iowa State; the Cyclones don't have any truly bad losses (at Drake is forgivable, and so is a home loss to UNI), but after Saturday's 75-65 loss at Michigan, Fred Hoiberg's rebuilt team hasn't made us sit up and take notice either. ... Ryan Boatright's home debut after a six-game NCAA rules suspension went swimmingly: The freshman guard scored 23 points and led his team to a game-opening 14-2 run in what was arguably a struggling UConn team's most impressive performance of the year, a 75-62 victory over Arkansas. ... Usually, UCLA-Texas is a marquee game. Not this season. The Bruins are now 2-5 after today's home loss to the Longhorns, which was briefly interrupted by a power surge that caused the lights to dim in the aging Los Angeles Sports Arena, UCLA's temporary home. One imagines Ben Howland would have preferred the lights stay off. ... BYU played at the home of the Utah Jazz (hey, there's nothing going on there) and dusted off Oregon with a 13-0 run in the second half of its impressive 79-65 win. Noah Hartsock led the way with 23 points and 12 boards for the Cougars. In other news, the Horizon League began conference play -- yes, conference play -- on Saturday, with the two biggest results a 77-71 overtime win by Valpo at Butler and Cleveland State's 66-61 win at preseason Horizon favorite Detroit. We know to never count out Butler (or Detroit if Eli Holman ever returns), but it's becoming apparent that the Crusaders and Vikings are the teams to beat in the Horizon.

In the English Premier League, top clubs who suffer stretches of disappointing results or flashes of personnel turmoil (or both) are almost immediately described as "clubs in crisis." This meme is so prevalent it often leads to backlash; media will just as often use the "crisis" phrasing jokingly.

Over here in the States, it is safe to use the term without a hint of irony in regard to at least one college basketball program. That program is UCLA.

The Bruins' recent history of personnel issues is well-documented. Forward Reeves Nelson was suspended indefinitely and then reinstated after the Bruins lost to Middle Tennessee State, their second horrid loss (the first coming against Loyola Marymount) to begin the season. Nelson's reinstatement hit an immediate snag when he missed the team flight to Maui for the Maui Invitational. Nelson caught a later flight and sat out the first half of UCLA's eventual win over Chaminade. To his credit (in so far as we should be giving credit for this sort of baseline expectation) Nelson did look more engaged and in sync with his teammates on the island. But UCLA still struggled. The Bruins were blown out by Kansas and Michigan, and they left Maui with only the Chaminade win to show for the trip. The Bruins are now 1-4 on the season. They play Pepperdine tonight.

Throw in some good old-fashioned fan rebellion, and long story short? Whatever barometer you want to use for the inclusion of the word "crisis," UCLA meets or exceeds it.

The question is whether Ben Howland can reverse the trend in time to save this season. A variety of things need to happen. UCLA's guards have to play better. Big-bodied forward Josh Smith has to get into game shape. (Smith is a very tough interior player, but not when he has to be taken out of the game every five trips down the floor.) The defense, long the staple of Howland's program, has to take some shape. And Nelson, UCLA's best and most productive player, has to get out of the coach's doghouse and back into the full-time lineup. Now that UCLA is back from the Maui trip, is Howland ready to make that happen? Turns out, not quite. From our friends at ESPN Los Angeles:

Back in Southern California after spending the early part of the week at the Maui Invitational, UCLA men's basketball coach Ben Howland said troubled forward Reeves Nelson will not return to the starting lineup "any time soon." [...] "He's got to have a good attitude and be accountable for a while," Howland said. "I thought he did a good job in the second half of the Chaminade game and the Kansas game, but sometimes he slips back to his old practice habits and he's just got to get better."

In other words, it appears the Nelson situation is far from resolved. Howland still needs to see more. Until he does, UCLA will not be playing at full strength, and this team -- which has struggled in so many facets early this season -- can nary afford to play games with its best player riding the pine for any significant period of time.

In the meantime -- as if things couldn't get any sillier in Westwood -- forward Travis Wear injured his foot on a Maui snorkeling trip last week. He required five stitches and missed practice Saturday; he'll be reevaluated ahead of UCLA's game vs. Pepperdine Monday night. When it rains ... well, you get the idea.

Overview: The Wolverines were fluid from the field, shooting 61.7 percent in their 79-63 victory over UCLA in the third-place game of the Maui Invitational. After amassing a double-digit lead early, the Wolverines held off every UCLA spurt. Midway through the second half, they were coasting against a Bruins squad that is off to a disastrous 1-4 start. Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 20 points and Zack Novak led all scorers with 22.

Turning point: Down 8-6 early in the game, the Wolverines dazed UCLA with a 13-0 run. The Bruins couldn’t afford an early deficit, but midway through the first half found themselves down by double-digits. This was a turning point on the scoreboard, but it was also a psychological transition. The Wolverines had already beaten the wounded Bruins mentally with their early rally. The Bruins' body language suggested that they’d already envisioned the outcome: another loss.

Why Michigan won: The Wolverines took advantage of UCLA’s size by running the floor and scoring in transition off 12 turnovers against a slower Bruins team. The Wolverines got an unexpected contribution from sophomore big man Jon Horford, who had a career-high 12 points (all in the first half). His success inside spread the floor far more than UCLA anticipated. The result: Michigan hit 7 of its 14 3-point attempts, many uncontested. The Wolverines kept the Bruins guessing on defense.

Why UCLA lost: The Bruins couldn’t close the gap against the Wolverines because they couldn’t find a consistent offensive attack against Michigan’s 1-3-1 and man-to-man schemes. UCLA’s starters were 2-for-13 from beyond the arc. Joshua Smith scored 12 points, but committed 6 turnovers and he couldn’t get up the floor when UCLA needed him. Michigan took a 7-point halftime lead, one that wasn’t insurmountable. But the Wolverines did a great job of doubling down whenever the Bruins got the ball inside. The Wolverines were comfortable putting pressure inside and letting UCLA’s shooters scrape the rims with errant shots (41.8 percent from the field overall). UCLA struggled to get buckets whenever the ball wasn’t in the paint. Bottom line.

Star of the game: Novak was 4-for-5 from beyond the arc on his way to 22 points, a career high. The Bruins simply didn’t have a way to guard him.

What it means for Michigan: The Wolverines learned a lot about themselves in Maui. There were major concerns about their point-guard situation entering the tournament. But freshman Trey Burke proved to be an impressive floor leader. The Wolverines also solidified their standing as Big Ten contenders. Right now, Hardaway is as good as any player in the league that’s not named Sullinger. Michigan spread teams out with its 3-point shooting. This team is often undersized, but outplayed Memphis and UCLA, two teams with talented big men inside. Michigan's biggest concern going forward will be avoiding overconfidence. Iowa State, Virginia and Oakland are ahead. They’re not Duke, Memphis or UCLA, but the Wolverines have to approach those games with the same intensity to avoid upsets.

What it means for UCLA: It just continues to get worse for Ben Howland's group. The Bruins can’t score. They’re very big inside but they’re slow, so teams can hit shots outside and score in transition against them. They settle for bad shots and just seem so dejected right now. Howland’s future with the program is going to the subject of a lot of barbershop banter. This is a Bruins squad that entered the year with a preseason national ranking. Now, they’re 1-4 and declining. They have off-court issues, too, with Reeves Nelson’s challenges. They’re off to a bad start. Utter disaster might be around the corner.

More observations: I think the Wolverines will be in trouble when they face more balanced teams. They had problems with Smith and Travis Wear inside. The fact that they’re double-teaming in the paint so often makes me wonder what they’ll do against a team that can actually hit shots from outside and hold its own in the paint. The Big Ten features a number of beefy forwards who could have their way with the Wolverines (Jared Sullinger, Trevor Mbakwe, Draymond Green). … How about Horford? How he scored his 12 points was just as important as the career-high total. He hit a turnaround jump shot. He had easy layups. He was active offensively. He could be an X-factor down the stretch … Wear showed off his range, hitting both of his 3-point attempts, but UCLA needed him to play inside more in the first half. … UCLA had opportunities to even the score, but the Bruins didn’t seem to have the mental juice to pull it off. Winning is contagious. So is losing. Bad news for the Bruins.

What’s next: Michigan has warranted legitimate Big Ten title contender talk, especially with Burke’s debut. Now the Wolverines have to get through the rest of their nonconference slate. Their first real test in Big Ten play won’t come until a Jan. 8 meeting with 11th-ranked Wisconsin. UCLA, meanwhile, must make the offensive adjustments necessary to score consistently. On defense, the Bruins have to find a way to guard the entire floor. And that’s probably going to mean less Smith, even though he can be an offensive asset. They can’t afford the defensive liability.

LAHAINA, Hawaii -- Thomas Robinson might be KU's emotional leader on the floor, but Tuesday night, Kansas guard Elijah Johnson proved Robinson won't have to do it alone every night. Johnson scored 23 points in a 72-56 win over UCLA in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational.

Johnson did just about everything well Tuesday at the Lahaina Civic Center. He was sinking treys, pushing the ball up the floor and getting into the lane at will against UCLA's defense. NBA scouts and KU fans have been waiting for this moment for two years. Johnson came in as a high-flying, five-star, blue-chip recruit. NBA scouts saw a 6-foot-4 athletic guard who had the strength and quickness to get to the basket, and whispered he could be a first-round pick.

But it's been mostly a rocky road for Johnson in Lawrence. He played just 6.6 minutes per game for the Jayhawks as a freshman, and his progress was thwarted a bit the next season when Josh Selby decided to play for Kansas. Between Tyrel Reed, Brady Morningstar and Selby, Johnson got just 13.6 minutes per game as a sophomore.

With Reed and Morningstar graduated and Selby off to the NBA, Johnson finally got his chance. But not before nearly blowing it at the start of the season. Johnson -- along with KU's other starting guard, Tyshawn Taylor -- was suspended by coach Bill Self for the team's exhibition games for violating team rules.

But he was in the starting lineup on opening night and is slowly finding his groove. Johnson struggled mightily early on against Kentucky but is coming off excellent games here in Maui against Georgetown and UCLA. Johnson finally is feeling comfortable being back in the limelight.

"I felt like I needed some reps and a lot of minutes on the floor," he said after the game. "I never played 30 minutes like this and had to stay in the game regardless of what's going on. I felt like I'm just getting in the comfort zone and figuring it out. Finding out what Coach wants us to do and trying to keep the team in control and staying on the court when everyone has to come off. It's given me more confidence. It's making me more comfortable on the floor. Once I get more comfortable, my game just comes more naturally."

A few more observations from Kansas-UCLA:

• If Johnson keeps feeling this comfortable, he might be the other first-round pick from the Jayhawks this season. Thomas Robinson (15 points, 10 rebounds versus UCLA) is widely regarded by NBA scouts as a lottery pick. Johnson, especially in a down year for point guards, really could rise with performances such as the one he had Tuesday. "He's got all the physical tools to be a NBA point guard," one NBA GM said. "He's strong, fast, athletic and he can shoot. I felt like Kansas played so much better when he started to get comfortable. If he plays like this all year, he's a first-round pick. No question."
• UCLA's Josh Smith gave Kansas fits last season in Lawrence. This season, he was a complete nonfactor. He played just 13 minutes because of foul trouble, scored one point and grabbed one rebound. Many NBA scouts came into the season believing Smith could be a lottery pick. After two lackluster performances in Maui, they are souring quickly. Smith clearly is way heavier than his listed weight of 305 pounds. Coach Ben Howland said the doubling and foul trouble gave Smith fits Tuesday night. But when asked whether conditioning was also an issue, his reply was pretty curt: "It's evident." Look, Smith has talent. He has great hands, moves well for a big man and can knock people around in the paint. But his lack of conditioning and focus are pretty alarming. UCLA played better when he wasn't in the game, and until he gets into shape and starts playing hard, he can forget about the NBA.
• KU's win Tuesday sets up a dream matchup of Kansas-Duke on Wednesday night. Self told reporters after the game that the Jayhawks came to Maui to play Duke. Well, they've got their wish. And with a ton of rabid Duke and Kansas fans packed into this tiny gym, the place is going to be rocking. "I think it could be as good an atmosphere as there's ever been here," Self said. "It could be better than NCAA tournament atmosphere because you can feel the crowd. I think it could be second to none in the history of the tournament." Taylor agreed: "When you come to Kansas, you sign up for this."


• Duke should be the favorite to win this thing. The Blue Devils have more talent and considerably more depth. NBA scouts will be focusing on the Mason Plumlee-Thomas Robinson matchup, but the key to the game probably will be how well Taylor and Johnson fare against Duke's Seth Curry, Austin Rivers and Andre Dawkins. Should be a great game.