In a few hours, UCLA and Michigan will face off in the first semifinal of 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

The Bruins are ranked fourth in the nation in both the ESPN/Coaches and Associated Press polls, while Michigan is unranked.

UCLA is being touted for having the best recruiting class in the nation, lead by McDonald’s All-American Jrue Holiday.

But don’t let the youth fool you. The Bruins are also a solid veteran team led by Preseason All-American Darren Collison, Josh Shipp, James Keefe and Alfred Aboya.

UCLA reached the semis by defeating Prairie View A&M 82-58 and Miami (Ohio) 64-59.

So far the Wolverines and second year coach John Beillein are doing a pretty good job in rebuilding a program that longs for its glory days of being one of the elite in the nations. Michigan Tech 77-55 and in a 76-56 win against Northeastern.

Sophomore guard Manny Harris has All-American, or at least All-Big 10 (plus one) written all over him. In the two wins he has averaged 28 points a game.

But two good games does not make a season. This will be the first real test of the season for the Wolverines against a UCLA team that is favored by 12 points.

The winner will play the winner of 10th ranked Duke/Southern Illinois game in the other semifinal tonight. The championship and consolation games are scheduled for Friday night.

All games will be shown on ESPN2.

Josh Shipp will return to UCLA, which means at least two starters will return from last year’s Final Four team.

Collison and Shipp should keep this team in the top 15 all year. Roll, Keefe and Aboya will be heavily relied upon as well.

Bruins Nation could not be happier!

Now all the focus is on forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. Will he stay in the draft? Decision time is creeping up on him and dozens of other college underclassmen. The deadline to withdraw from the draft is June 16, 5pm.

Moute will be back. Borderline first rounder as of now. I just don’t see him making the leap.

UCLA fans will get to see Shipp do more of this

and this

Well, the underclassman floodgates have officially opened to the NBA draft. Here is a list of underclassmen that declared for the NBA draft over the past few days:

- BYU guard Lee Cummard
- BYU center Trent Plaisted
- Texas A&M guard/forward Josh Carter
- UCLA guard/forward Josh Shipp
- North Carolina guard Ty Lawson
- North Carolina forward Wayne Ellington
- Missouri forward DeMarre Carroll
- Missouri forward Leo Lyons

Since underclassmen can declare for the draft without hiring an agent, it really muddles up the draft picture. Many of these kids are simply testing the waters to see where they would potentially fall in the draft, but have no intentions of remaining in the draft.

With no penalty for dropping out of the draft, why not declare? I have to laugh every time I see a player that averaged 7.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game declare for the draft. Yeah, like teams are going to waste a draft pick on him.

After two consecutive trips to the Final Four, UCLA signed head basketball coach Ben Howland to a 7-year contract that will pay him $1.5 million a season. Read more