The Final Four in Football

The final four this year has a lot of great teams with some great tradition. There is no doubt that North Carolina, Kansas, and UCLA are some of the most storied programs in NCAA men's basketball. Memphis has also proven to be a powerhouse team in recent years and their record over the last three seasons is simply amazing.

But how do these programs stack up in football? I thought it would be interesting to compare each school's respective history and success on the gridiron and see how these "basketball schools" make out. The comparison will start at 1919, the year when UCLA (the youngest of the four schools) started competing in the sport.

Kansas

Overall record: 389-472-68 (45%)
Conference Championships: 4
National Championships: 0

Memphis

Overall record: 411-421-31 (49%)
Conference Championships: 4
National Championships: 0

North Carolina

Overall record: 503-408-33 (57%)
Conference Championships: 9
National Championships: 0

UCLA

Overall record: 527-358-37 (59%)
Conference Championships: 18
National Championships: 1


Not only do the Bruins have the best winning percentage, but UCLA has more conference championships and national championships than the other three teams combined! Basketball school indeed...

Washington To Overhaul Athletic Department

Interesting timing with us playing the Huskies tomorrow, but it looks like the University of Washington is making some major changes to their sports programs. Special thanks to RaulAzul for pointing out this article from ESPN.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa...tory?id=3222265


Crazy huh?

Just like Football

Dang, that sucked. Goes to show you that USC is far more competitive in basketball than UCLA has been in football. Even with Ben Howland at the reigns, the Bruins are a measly 5-4 against USC in the last 9 games.

Collison coming back

Well, in a surprise to nobody, both Collison and Mbah Moute will be back next year. Neither is putting their name into the NBA draft. This means they can test the waters next year without an agent. UCLA will return 4 of the starers from last year's team (Mbah Moute, Collison, Shipp, and Mata) and when you add Kevin Love and Chace Stanback to the mix, the Bruins should be an excellent team.

Collison going Pro?

Everyone expected Aarron Afflalo to go to the NBA. He tested the waters last year and few thought the Junior would return for his Senior season. There were rumors that Shipp might jet for the pros, but he recently announced he would return. Like most Bruin fans, I thought that was the end of the story and we could get down to business and start thinking about next season.

But hold your horses.

Collison is now considering going to the NBA. A few days ago he was going to stay put, but now The LA Times is reporting that Collison is seriously considering declaring for the NBA draft. The consideration is so serious that his Mom is quiting her job to help with the deliberations. People close to the program say that Collison is likely coming back next year, but the lure of an NBA contract could be very enticing. He will make an official announcement on Wednesday.

Most fans, myself included, think Collison would benefit from another year at UCLA. The lanky point guard could use some time to add on a little more size and work on creating more for himself off the dribble. His speed and athleticism are attractive, but a little more refinement could make Darren a first round pick in a future draft. With the 2007 class so deep (and chocked full of underclassman) a jump this year doesn't make a lot of sense. The official deadline to declare for the draft is April 29th.

Shipp has second hip surgery

The official UCLA site has reported that Josh Shipp had successful hip surgery today. Josh had a outpatient arthroscopic left hip procedure performed by Dr. Carlos A. Guanche at the Southern California Orthopedic Institute in Van Nuys.

It was the same surgery that Shipp had on his right hip back in September of 2005. According to Dr. Guanche, the procedure repaired a torn labrum (cartilage) and also included a removal of an area of bony overgrowth of the femoral neck. Guanche said rehabilitation should take 8-12 weeks; Shipp will spend the first month on crutches.

"The surgery went very well and Josh should be able to begin his rehabilitation next week," Dr. Guanche said. "It is a very common procedure among elite-level athletes such as Josh. I have performed this surgery on NBA, NFL and NHL athletes and all have returned to their high-level of competition."

"I'm very pleased that the surgery was a successful one and look forward to Josh making a complete recovery," said Bruin head coach Ben Howland. "He has ample time to recover and be ready to go at 100 percent full strength by the time we start back up again in October."

"The surgery went as well as expected and I am happy to have Josh home and recovering," Deborah Shipp (Josh's mother) said. "We elected to have this surgery as a precautionary measure. It came as a complete surprise to us because Josh played so well this year and his left hip really wasn't bothering him. But when we learned that he had a small tear in his labrum, after consulting with his doctor, we decided to have the procedure done."

Josh looked great last season after surgery, so hopefully he bounces back just as strong from this procedure.