Team preview: UCLA

Blue Ribbon Illustrated previews the 2004-05 college basketball season, exclusively on Insider.

Updated: October 20, 2004, 5:35 PM ET
Blue Ribbon Yearbook
Editor's Note: Insider has teamed with Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, long known as the Bible of college basketball, to provide a comprehensive look at all 326 Division I teams.

COACH AND PROGRAM

After leading Pittsburgh to national prominence, Ben Howland changed pace last year, taking the job at a school he had admired (from near and afar) for years.

Howland left Pittsburgh after leading the Panthers to their second consecutive NCAA Sweet 16 appearance to take over a UCLA program coming off its first losing season in 55 years.

Coaching the most successful college basketball program in history, amid all the expectations, in the eye of Los Angeles media, didn't bother Howland.

"The first year is a transition year from one year to the next," said Howland, who built NCAA Tournament teams at Northern Arizona (1994-99) and more recently Pittsburgh (2001-03).


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