As though the crowd of UCLA alum gathered at the Portofino Yacht Club in Redondo Beach last Thursday night for the Annual Scholarship Fundraising Dinner weren't sufficiently fired-up by head football Coach Karl Dorrell's comments, head basketball Coach Ben Howland mesmerized the sold-out, raptly attentive audience with his prospectus on the upcoming 2007-'08 season.

A recap of the Bruins' recent Final Four journey, and a reminder of the oft-quoted UCLA Bruins Basketball mantra, "We don't hang Pac-10 banners in Pauley Pavilion; we only hang National Championship banners there. I'm not satisfied until we win that."

In his opening remarks, Coach Howland recounted how as a young basketball player growing up in Southern California he could only dream of playing for his idol, John R. Wooden, and attending his favorite school, UCLA.

Howland never dreamed that he would one day land the job of a lifetime coaching the Bruins, he called UCLA, "The greatest institution in the world" and reeled off an amazing list of UCLA facts, such as the 5,000 research projects that are presently being conducted; the five Nobel prize winners with four of them being alumni.

In mentioning the 4.3 GPA usually required for admission, he stated that he was "so very proud of his team for maintaining an overall 3.05 team GPA."

...More... To continue reading this article you must be a member. Sign Up Now for a FREE Trial