After a disappointing fourth-place finish at the Pac-10 championships two weeks ago, the UCLA women’s cross country team will look to bounce back with a strong showing this Saturday at the NCAA West Regional meet at Fresno’s Woodward Park. Read more...

Only in an exhibition game could a 32-point blowout serve to articulate the weaknesses of a team rather than show off its strengths. The Bruins, carried by stellar shooting from the backcourt combination of Arron Afflalo, Brian Morrison, and Jordan Farmar, routed Monterrey Tech 80-48 Thursday night in Pauley Pavilion. Read more...

When Drew Olson’s desperate two-point conversion toss fell harmlessly to the turf on Saturday, it ended the Bruins’ chances for a victory. But perhaps more significantly, the loss put their entire season in serious jeopardy. Read more...

When women’s basketball coach Kathy Olivier wants to contact a prospective recruit, she has a variety of options at her fingertips. She can hop on a plane and travel anywhere in the country, pick up a telephone and dial, or simply type 439 into her cell phone, which, when translated into letters, reads “Hey.” It’s the latter form, referred to as text messaging, along with e-mail and instant messaging that are transforming recruiting from a semi-formal process into an all-out dogfight for an athlete’s attention. Read more...

The other day while waiting on a fellow Daily Bruin writer to wrap up a story for the following day’s newspaper, I busied myself watching TV. Read more...

Determined to find a way to coerce junior center Michael Fey into being more aggressive, UCLA coach Ben Howland seems to have found a solution. Fey, who was virtually silent in the Bruins’ first exhibition game before picking up a questionable fourth foul early in the second half, seemed to play with renewed energy and anger after that. Read more...

Taylor King is the worm caught by the early bird. A little over a year ago when his classmates were deciding where to attend high school, King was settling on a college. Read more...