University Of California At Los Angeles

The campus residence for the UCLA chancellor bespeaks the power, culture and resources of a great American university. The elegant Florentine-style house, nearly 11,000 square feet, is surrounded by seven acres of lush landscaping. Inside, walls are lined with valuable paintings, including a Picasso and an Utrillo. The wood-paneled library is stocked with books and sculptures, and there are beautiful Oriental rugs throughout. One thing, however, is missing: No chancellor lives there.

Coach told us to make each day our masterpiece. But at times this felt like a finger painting. Coach told us that failing to prepare is preparing to fail. But how many people could prepare for something they didn't even know was on the schedule? The annual tribute to the greatest basketball coach in history was held Thursday night in a game between two struggling teams in a half-empty arena that bore little resemblance to the man who inspired it. The 18th John R. Wooden Classic was barely about Wooden, and not quite a classic, and enough is enough.

It was a perfect setting inside Pauley Pavilion, strands of blue and gold balloons stretching toward the ceiling, the school band striking up a tune. As UCLA administrators announced last week that their aging arena would finally get a makeover, there was no hint of discord or controversy. No one mentioned that a longtime university supporter had opposed the chosen design -- and had been ousted as head of a volunteer fundraising committee.

The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners has recommended discontinuing the $5-per-trip Westwood FlyAway bus service to Los Angeles International Airport because it is operating at a loss, but UCLA and its students are trying to negotiate a way to save it. "The FlyAway bus provides an absolutely critical service to UCLA students," student body President Emily Resnick said in a statement. "Without this service, thousands of students will no longer be able to go home for holidays or other important events.

Hollywood actor alumnus out. Rock musician alumnus in. UCLA announced Monday that Brad Delson, lead guitarist for the popular rock-rap band Linkin Park, will step in to replace movie star James Franco as commencement speaker at Friday's graduation ceremony for the College of Letters and Science.

In a tale of booby-trapped tombs and hidden mummies, an archeologist affiliated with UCLA has found one of the most long-sought burial places of ancient Egypt hidden under an old woman's house in the so-called Valley of the Golden Mummies. For more than a century, archeologists have sought the tomb of the governor of Bahariya province, the second most powerful man in Egypt during the Roman-influenced reigns of Kings Apries and Ahmose II.

Here's a recipe for academic controversy: First, find dozens of hard-core teenage smokers as young as 14 and study their brains with high-tech scans. Second, feed vervet monkeys liquid nicotine and then kill at least six of them to examine their brains. Third, accept $6 million from tobacco giant Philip Morris to pay for it all. Fourth, cloak the project in unusual secrecy.

How do you spell D-A-N-G-E-R 10,000 years from now? That question was posed two years ago when Nevada's Desert Space Foundation challenged artists to submit designs for the ultimate no-trespassing sign. A system of markings is needed to scare away people who happen to wander into the vicinity of Yucca Mountain because the ridge, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, was picked by Congress to serve as the final burial ground for 35,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste.

Maybe it was seeing Ricky Manning tool around in a 2002 Cadillac Escalade. Maybe it was the feeling of making solid contact with a wood bat. Freshman cornerback Matt Ware made a commitment to pursuing a dual career Tuesday, signing a five-year deal with the Seattle Mariners. Although terms will not be released until the contract is approved by the commissioner's office, it is believed his bonus will be about $200,000.

A UCLA student allegedly stabbed a classmate five times and slashed her throat in a crime that prosecutors said Tuesday was premeditated and unprovoked. Damon Thompson, 20, was charged with one count of attempted murder in Thursday's attack in a chemistry lab in Young Hall. If convicted, he could face life in state prison with the possibility of parole. Thompson pleaded not guilty and was ordered held on $3-million bail by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Keith L. Schwartz after prosecutors argued that the Belize native was a flight risk.

It was yet another empowering landmark reached by an amazing group of athletes, yet it felt hollow and forced. Because, once again, a triumph by women was measured against something achieved by men. Everyone is chortling about the University of Connecticut women's basketball team breaking the UCLA men's record 88-game winning streak Tuesday, except, well, they didn't. Different game. Different league. Different records. Everyone is yakking about how Connecticut Coach Geno Auriemma is the new John Wooden except, well, he's not. Different game.

Neither a conference title nor a bowl bid, Rose or otherwise, is on the line for either team. But both embattled programs need a victory to claim even a modicum of success this season. Staff writer Gary Klein previews the game as UCLA and USC meet in football for the 80th time: -- 1 LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION You could say that bad blood between UCLA Coach Rick Neuheisel and USC Coach Lane Kiffin, and between Kiffin and UCLA offensive coordinator Norm Chow, was dissipated when UCLA played at Tennessee last season.

End Datone Jones broke his right foot in practice Monday, leaving UCLA without one of its best defensive players until at least October. Jones was injured during an individual drill on the artificial surface at the Bruins' practice facility. He was taken to the hospital for X-rays. "We'll have to wait and see the significance," Coach Rick Neuheisel said. "He just took a step, which caused the deal. He was wearing the same shoes he wears all the time, so it wasn't a shoe issue.

UCLA officials have decided not to use all of the $25 million in student fees that they were planning to spend on a $185-million renovation of Pauley Pavilion, home of the school's legendary basketball team. Vice Chancellor Steven A. Olsen said in a letter to The Times that $15 million of the student funds would go to other uses. The letter followed a Sunday article detailing how, in a time of crippling budget cuts, administrators throughout the state have tapped funds meant for classrooms and student services to help pay for ill-timed land deals, loans to high-ranking officials and, at UCLA, the Pauley renovation.

UCLA police have arrested a student on suspicion of attempted rape and related crimes after an attack on a female student who was making a predawn cellphone call outside a residence hall on campus. The suspect was identified as Thaddeus Staniforth, 25, a UCLA student from Fullerton. He was being held in lieu of $1-million bail at the Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles, UCLA officials said in a statement. Staniforth was arrested Friday night at his dorm room at the Delta Terrace residence hall, police said.

A year before a UCLA staff research assistant was fatally burned in a lab fire, a graduate student was seriously injured in a similar accident that university officials failed to report to state regulators, records released Friday show. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health this week fined UCLA $23,900 for the earlier incident, which occurred in November 2007 -- 13 months before Sheharbano "Sheri" Sangji suffered burns that took her life and prompted a campuswide review of lab safety.

UCLA rejected more than 3,000 students with extremely high scores on the SAT entrance exam over the past two years and accepted more than 900 students with results that were far below the campus average. The newly released figures from UCLA mirror a similar disclosure earlier this month regarding admissions at UC Berkeley. The two campuses are the most selective of the eight undergraduate institutions in the University of California system.

Brianna Dollinger was admitted to some top-flight colleges last year, including Vanderbilt University, Vassar College and Cornell University. Not UC Berkeley, though. The state university campus, which she had considered a "backup" choice, sent her a rejection letter. "I was surprised," said Dollinger, 18, who figured her SAT score of 1490, A- average and rigorous course load at Harvard-Westlake in Studio City made her a worthy candidate.

J'mison Morgan trudged on, without going anywhere. This was game day, hours before UCLA was to play Washington. Morgan, a sophomore center and part of the nation's best recruiting class two years ago, according to Scout.com, was in a hotel fitness center, grinding away on the treadmill. "I need this," Morgan said, as he pushed his 6-foot-10, 240-pound body. The moment seemed symbolic for a UCLA season where the wheels have been spinning, yet with little progress. On that day the Bruins suffered a 29-point loss to the Huskies.

UCLA's postseason destination, if any, this basketball season, still has fill-in-the-blank possibilities. The Bruins still have high hopes -- the NCAA tournament -- with a low-rent possibility -- a first-round home game in the NIT -- as well as the unacceptable, as the $60,000 per home game guarantee the College Basketball Invitational demands is probably too steep of a price. A 65-56 victory over Oregon State at Pauley Pavilion Thursday may not inspire many whimsical NCAA tournament daydreams, but in Westwood these days, a win is a win. The Bruins teetered, and Tyler Honeycutt propped them up. The Beavers cut a 12-point Bruins lead to 50-49 with 4 minutes 42 seconds left.