Shabazz Muhammad to UCLA: Huge Recruiting Coup Has Bruins Back on Track

So Shabazz Muhammad is going to UCLA, eh?

I'm giddy, and I know I shouldn't be. I shouldn't be ecstatic about some 18-year-old kid deciding to spend one year playing college basketball at a school that I used to attend.

But I can't help it. I'm not about to apologize and I don't care who knows.

The Bruins—my Bruins—are back, baby! No more missing the NCAA Tournament twice in a three-year span. No more knuckleheads like Drew Gordon, Reeves Nelson, Bobo Morgan and Jerime Anderson rolling through Westwood to tear the program apart.

That is, assuming Joshua Smith's bloated belly doesn't take up the mantle next season.

No more playing "home" games at the dumpy Sports Arena, in USC's territory, in front of thousands of fans dressed up as empty seats.

Now, thanks in large part to the efforts of assistant coach Korey McCray, Ben Howland will have perhaps the most resplendent crop of talent he's had at his disposal since he first arrived in Westwood.

That includes the team that went to the Final Four in 2008 with Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Darren Collison and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, all of whom are currently key contributors (and then some) for their respective NBA teams.

Because, as good as Shabazz is, he won't be alone in his arrival. He'll be joined by Kyle Anderson, a 6'8 point guard from New Jersey who rates among the top five prep players in the country, and Jordan Adams, a 6'5 perimeter shooter who hails from the fabled Oak Hill Academy in Virginia.

Muhammad's decision might also be enough to lure a third McDonald's All-American—6'9 behemoth Tony Parker—to Westwood.

And that's without so much as mentioning the solid corps of players set to return from this season's squad. The Bruins' front court, featuring the massive Smith and the skilled Wear twins, is already rather formidable, as is the back court, in which Tyler Lamb, Norman Powell and North Carolina transfer Larry Drew Jr. are set to star.

All told, that gives Howland a roster that goes nine deep, 10 if Parker picks UCLA.

What perfect timing, too, a top-notch team to re-open a top-notch building, a (finally) renovated Pauley Pavilion.

Of course, Muhammad isn't likely to stay beyond the spring of 2013, and Anderson could easily join him in the pros if the Magic Johnson comparisons prove to be accurate.

But, for one year at least, the Bruins—my Bruins—will be very good, if not great. They've got the talent to win the Pac-12, and much more, along with a head coach who's been there and done that.

Except win the whole darn thing, though Shabazz could change all that.

Then, I'll be more than giddy, more than ecstatic.

I'll be floating on air, and all because a bunch of teenagers and early-twenty-somethings won a few basketball games.

Darn right. Go Bruins.

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