If UCLA truly were just a basketball school, it would be a joyous time for Athletic Director Dan Guerrero.
The Bruins have won their first eight games, matching their best start in three years, and will take a No. 11 national ranking into a showdown against top-ranked Kentucky on Saturday. The team is loaded with talent and appears poised to contend for the Pac-12 Conference title and make a deep NCAA tournament run, all after a rare losing season just a year ago.
It is the kind of turnaround Guerrero can only hope the football team, UCLA’s other marquee program, can engineer after a season that fell short of every expectation with a 4-8 finish.