Tag: UCLA

Big Ten expansion marks the end of an era for legendary advertisement

Big Ten expansion marks the end of an era for legendary advertisement

With the Big Ten conference expanding to 18 teams officially on Monday, the end of June marks the end of an era for the legendary Big Ten map television advertisement.

The ad takes the viewer from the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California, to each of the current 14 Big Ten campus locations from west to east, wrapping up at Rutgers, while “Silver Lining” by Guards plays in the background.

The current iteration of the Big Ten came into effect in 2014 when Maryland and Rutgers joined the conference, expanding to 14 teams for a decade. Now in 2024, Oregon, USC, UCLA and Washington will all be joining the Big Ten.

It’s unclear if the conference will simply adjust their popular advertisement, adding the new the programs, or if they’re scrap the whole thing and go a different direction.

Nonetheless, it’s the end of an era for the Big Ten and the future is officially here for the 18-team conference.

It has been two full years since USC-UCLA Big Ten move was first reported

June 30, 2022: Jon Wilner breaks the story that USC and UCLA are heading to the Big Ten. Two years later, we’re finally making the move.

What a long and winding road it has been. Does it feel like two years since the news first broke that USC and UCLA were moving to the Big Ten and leaving the Pac-12? We have been writing and talking about the Big Ten for so long that it feels like five or six years, but it has been only two. June 30, 2022, was the day when Jon Wilner broke the story which changed life for us at Trojans Wire and shook college sports to its foundations. We and everyone else in the Pac-12 were left in shock, trying to comprehend what had just happened:

Just stop and think about what this means on so many levels. It’s impossible to wrap the mind around this story and the ripple effects it will have on college sports. It’s also mind-blowing that right after Lincoln Riley joins the Pac-12 Conference, thinking he was going to have an easier time winning a conference championship and making the College Football Playoff, he now might have to deal with Ohio State in a 16-team Big Ten.

The head spins.

Two years later, here we are. The Big Ten era is upon us at USC. Let’s see what this new chapter brings.

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Warriors select UCLA’s Adem Bona in latest NBA mock draft from The Ringer

On the way to earning All-Pac-12 honors, UCLA’s Adem Bona averaged 12.4 points on 58.8% shooting from the field with 5.9 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game.

With only one pick in the second round, there’s been a flurry of different prospects projected to land with the Golden State Warriors in mock drafts. In the latest mock draft from Kevin O’Connell with The Ringer, Mike Dunleavy Jr., Steve Kerr and the Warriors landed a standout defensive big man from the Pac-12.

With the No. 52 overall selection, the Warriors added UCLA’s Adem Bona in the second round. According to O’Connell, Bona is similar to Warriors veteran big man and fellow UCLA alum Kevon Looney.

Via The Ringer:

Bona, who’s similar to Kevon Looney, could provide some support behind him; he’s also, coincidentally, another UCLA player.

Read the full mock draft from The Ringer here.

In two seasons with the Bruins, the 6-foot-10 center built a decorated resume that includes Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and Pac-12 Rookie of the Year.

On this way to earning All-Pac-12 and All-Defense honors, Bona averaged 12.9 points on 58.8% shooting from the field to go along with 5.9 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.1 steals, and 1.8 blocks per game.

The second round of the NBA draft is scheduled for Thursday, June 27 at 1 p.m. PT from Brooklyn, New York.

This post originally appeared on Warriors Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

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Men’s basketball lands UCLA transfer Berke Buyuktuncel

 Berke Buyuktuncel, a power forward from UCLA, officially committed to Nebraska.

The Huskers landed another player in the transfer portal. Berke Buyuktuncel, a power forward from UCLA, officially committed to Nebraska. This is the Huskers’ sixth transfer of the offseason.

The 6-foot, 9-inch power forward played in 26 games during one season with the Bruins. Buyuktuncel averaged 4.5 points and 2.5 rebounds in 16.2 minutes per game and shot 38.5 % from the field, 29.7% from 3-point range, and 62.8% from the free-throw line.

Prior to UCLA, Buyuktuncel represented Turkey on the international stage, including the FIBA U18 European Championship in 2022, during which he averaged 12.3 points, 7.4 boards, 2.1 assists and 2.1 steals per game.

In the summer of 2023, Buyuktuncel helped Turkey finish in third place at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup. In Turkey’s 84-70 win over the United States, Buyuktuncel scored 19 points, four rebounds, five assists and two steals.

The Huskers lost two key forwards, Josiah Allick to graduation and Rienk Mast to knee surgery. Buyuktuncel joins Nebraska’s frontcourt, which includes North Dakota State transfer Andrew Morgan and Washington transfer Braxton Meah, each helping fill the void.

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Joel Klatt: College football needs to make USC ‘move off’ Notre Dame

Yeah, no.

There’s no denying college football is at a crossroads right now. Fox Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt knows it, and it is for that reason he feels a change to the scheduling process is in order. If he gets his way though, one of the sport’s best rivalries could vanish.

In an appearance on “The Herd with Colin Cowherd”, Klatt indicated that college football teams no longer should have control over which teams they schedule. More conference games, according to Klatt, would provide a better assessment of College Football Playoff contenders.

While it’s not an entirely bad idea as it certainly would stop such cringe-worthy trends as Alabama scheduling cupcake programs the week before the Iron Bowl, Klatt decided to add to a discussion Cowherd had started about the cherished rivalry between Notre Dame and USC:

“It’s not USC’s job to move off of Notre Dame as much as it is college football’s job and some overarching governing body scheduling, in particular for parity, so that the best teams have to play the most difficult schedules and the worse teams have some break, in particular in their nonconference slate.”

With all due respect to Klatt, who shouldn’t even entertain a sentiment from Cowherd, there is no indication that either program is ready for this to happen. Perhaps there will come a time where they won’t have a choice, but until that time, every effort must be made to protect the annual clash between the Irish and Trojans.

Klatt and Cowherd either have no understanding or don’t care about what this annual battle means. Both teams want to beat each other, but they also have immense respect for each other. For the Irish, only Navy can compete in that area the way only UCLA can compete for the Trojans.

Anyone who doesn’t see the value of this rivalry shouldn’t have a voice in college football. It’s too big for anyone to just make it go away if it doesn’t have to go away. Nope. They’ll keep it going forever if they can.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Bill Walton was part of the golden age of the USC-UCLA sports rivalry

Bill Walton was at the center of the most special era of USC-versus-UCLA sports battles.

When two major universities have a sports rivalry — not in one sport, but many — we don’t generally refer to sports such as water polo or beach volleyball. USC and UCLA have been giants in those and other Olympic sports, but when we generally refer to a great rivalry across multiple sports, we refer to the “bread and butter” sports, the ones at the center of America’s sports culture. Those sports are football first, basketball second, and baseball third. If we were to identify the golden age of the USC-UCLA rivalry in those three sports, we can say that Bill Walton was part of it.

If there is a golden age in the history of USC versus UCLA in the three main American team sports, it would be from the mid-1960s through the late 1970s.

From the 1965 through 1976 college football seasons, either USC or UCLA made the Rose Bowl in every year but twice (Stanford in the 1970 and 1971 seasons). The schools played their best and most important football game in 1967.

From 1966 through 1975, UCLA won eight college basketball national titles and USC fielded two of its best-ever teams in 1971 and 1974. The 1975 team was good, too. From 1968 through 1974, USC baseball won six College World Series titles.

Whether you begin in 1965 or 1966 or 1968, the broader period of time encompassing anywhere from eight to 14 years from the mid-1960s through the mid-to-late 1970s was the height of the USC-UCLA sports rivalry. Bill Walton, with his dominance from 1972 through 1974 at UCLA, stood squarely in the middle of it.

UCLA Wire has more:

“The relationship between UCLA Bruins’ legendary coach John Wooden and legendary player Bill Walton was truly one-of-a-kind. When Bill Walton passed away on Memorial Day, memories came surfacing across the internet with some unbelievable stories about Walton.

“The connection and relationship between Walton and Wooden is one we might not ever see again at any level between a player and a coach. After the passing, plenty of clips popped up on social media with quips and quotes and memories about the pair of legends.”

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USC basketball standout Chevez Goodwin appreciates Bill Walton

Chevez Goodwin thanked Bill Walton for inspiring him to be better.

The Pac-12 family and the USC community join UCLA in grieving the loss of Bill Walton, one of the greatest basketball players of all time and a one-of-a-kind personality who left a large imprint on many lives. Walton’s impact on American sports and culture was extensive. He was a dominant college player under iconic coach John Wooden at UCLA. He won an NBA championship with the Portland Trail Blazers in 1977, then nine years later with the 1986 Boston Celtics. Walton’s second career as a broadcaster enabled him to tour the Pac-12 and create all sorts of friendships with people throughout the conference. Walton died on Memorial Day weekend, shortly after the last Pac-12 sporting event, the Pac-12 Baseball Tournament, ended. One USC Trojan who fondly remembers Walton is Chevez Goodwin.

USC was a very successful basketball program earlier this decade. The Trojans made the NCAA Tournament in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Chevez Goodwin was part of that run of success, helping USC with his gritty defense and rugged rebounding.

Goodwin sent a note of thanks and appreciation to Walton after the UCLA legend’s death. It’s a reminder of how many lives Bill Walton touched, and how — beneath the television bluster — existed the heart of a generous, warm human being.

https://x.com/ChevezGoodwin/status/1795174720846938374

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UCLA anger at D’Anton Lynn has subsided after switch to USC football

UCLA fans have — for now — been able to let go of D’Anton Lynn on an emotional level.

The UCLA Bruins had a much-improved defense in 2023, thanks to defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn. UCLA football took a big step forward thanks to Lynn, so it hurt very deeply when Lynn bolted for USC football and Lincoln Riley.

We asked UCLA Wire editor Matt Wadleigh if emotions are still very raw in Westwood, or if the Bruins and their fans have fundamentally moved on after this big coaching change in the offseason.

Wadleigh told us that after the initial surge of fiery and intense anger at Lynn, emotions have cooled down at UCLA due to the reality that DeShaun Foster has been a powerfully unifying force within the university and its athletic department. Everyone loves and trusts Foster to do the right thing and to fight tooth and nail for UCLA football and UCLA athletics. Foster, Wadleigh told us, has assembled a good coaching staff and minimized transfer portal damage. These positive developments are making it easier for UCLA fans to forget about D’Anton Lynn’s departure … at least until UCLA faces USC this year.

Here’s our full conversation with Matt Wadleigh of UCLA Wire:

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Notre Dame to play North Dakota for first time in over 80 years

Mark Nov. 19 on your calendars.

We slowly but surely are starting to see the college basketball schedule leak out. We haven’t seen much for Notre Dame except for a tournament in Las Vegas. However, we now know the Irish will be playing a program it hasn’t faced since the year the U.S. entered World War II.

The Grand Forks Herald is reporting that the Irish will welcome North Dakota to Purcell Pavilion on Nov. 19. To find the only other meeting between the teams, you have to go back to Feb. 4, 1941. The Irish won that game, 46-38, at the long-demolished Notre Dame Fieldhouse.

North Dakota athletic director Bill Chaves indicated his appreciation for the Irish and their history:

“I think back to my childhood when Notre Dame was playing UCLA. UCLA had all those amazing teams. (The Fighting Irish) were the ones to break up the 88-game winning streak. It’s kind of a neat thing for history buffs, and certainly it’ll be exciting for this year’s team.”

The Fighting Hawks are coming off an 18-14 season in which they placed second in the Summit League. When the Irish last played a team from that conference in December 2013, they lost, 73-69, to North Dakota State, which went on to upset a ranked Oklahoma team in that season’s NCAA Tournament.

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Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

Trojans Wire talks to UCLA Wire about Pac-12 past and Big Ten future

Looking back at the Pac-12, looking ahead to the Big Ten. We talked to UCLA Wire about our new existence.

The USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins will continue to compete against each other this year, but they will do so in the Big Ten and not the Pac-12. It’s a new era, and so we wanted to talk to UCLA Wire and former Trojans Wire staff writer Matt Wadleigh — now UCLA Wire editor — about a lot of USC-UCLA joint storylines.

One point of commonality between USC and UCLA: Both teams face LSU in college football in 2024.

UCLA Wire has more on that story:

“The UCLA Bruins football program debuting in the Big Ten Conference could be a home run or a disaster in DeShaun Foster’s first year as head coach.

“Cody Nagel of 247Sports mentioned the toughest non-conference game for each Big Ten Conference team for the upcoming 2024 season. And, there is no surprise which game UCLA had: It’s against Brian Kelly.”

The LSU game is arguably USC’s most important football game of 2024, strictly in terms of setting the table for the College Football Playoff. Naturally, the Notre Dame and UCLA games mean the most in terms of bragging rights and rivalry supremacy.

Here is our USC-UCLA Big Ten podcast with Matt Wadleigh. It’s weird to say, but this is the new reality we live in:

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