The ghost of John Wooden strikes again as Ben Howland became the eighth victim of the curse that hovers around the UCLA men’s basketball program.

Howland was fired as the basketball coach on Sunday despite taking the Bruins to three consecutive Final Fours from 2006-08 and winning four conference championships in 10 seasons. He had a 233-107 record as the longest-tenured coach in Westwood since Wooden retired in 1975. Wooden won 10 national championships in a 12-year run, a feat that may never be achieved again. Only Jim Harrick managed to win a NCAA Tournament title in the post-Wooden era, and he was run out of town too.

Howland won 97 games during that three-year Final Four run, more than any other coach in school history. He embraced and reveled in UCLA’s history and tradition, and kept Wooden close to the program until the legendary coach died in 2010. He produced several NBA standouts such as Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Trevor Ariza, Jordan Farmar, Aaron Afflalo, Darren Collison, and Jrue Holiday. Love, Westbrook, and Holiday are now NBA All-Stars.

Any other college program would love to have Howland’s resume. Unfortunately, it wasn’t good enough. What ultimately led to his firing was his inability to excite the Bruins’ fan base.

Howland was known as a defensive coach who favors the grind-it-out halfcourt approach. He brought toughness to what used to be the Pac-10 conference, and remade UCLA’s image by recruiting players who played hard on both ends. Because Howland’s teams preferred to walk the ball up, it became tough to get into an offensive flow. Oftentimes, UCLA games turned into a war of attrition and fast-break baskets were few and far between. Howland also didn’t put a premium on shooters, which severely hampered his teams. If the Bruins had a sniper in one of those Final Four trips UCLA may have championship banner No. 12 and Howland may still have a job.

The pressure of the job forced Howland to change his rigid ways. He began recruiting players who didn’t fit his system and took chances on certain guys. And this season — in a last-ditch effort to save his job — he changed his slow-down approach and gave his players more offensive freedom. UCLA won the Pac-12 conference and returned to the top 25. Things were looking good until freshman Jordan Adams went down with a broken foot in the final seconds of the win against Arizona in the conference tournament in Las Vegas. The Bruins were doomed. They not only lost arguably their most complete player but they lost their best outside shooter.

Not having Adams’ outside shooting killed UCLA in the first round of the NCAA tourney, as it struggled to score against Minnesota’s zone defense and eventually lost by double digits.

UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero didn’t waste any time in ousting Howland. His team was eliminated from the Big Dance on Friday then a Yahoo! Sports report surfaced on Saturday that Howland was on his way out. The official word on the firing came Sunday after Guerrero met with Howland.

From the Associated Press:

”As I looked at the entire program and where I felt we were, especially headed into next year, I felt like now was the appropriate time to make the change and get a fresh start,” Guerrero said in an evening teleconference.

”I would certainly not lay all of that on Ben’s shoulders by any stretch of the imagination, but we need to generate as much fan support as possible and get people in the seats,” Guerrero said.

Guerrero was in a similar position in 2011 when the UCLA football program was on life support. He got rid of the popular Rick Neuheisel, a Bruin alum, in favor of former NFL coach Jim Mora Jr. It turned out to be the right call as Mora has brought plenty of excitement around the football program, highlighted by the win over USC and a berth in the Pac-12 title game.

Guerrero is hoping lightning would strike twice.

Heading into national signing day, there were five high school All-Americans who have yet to decide on which college to attend in the fall, and one of them was Shabazz Muhammad.

The 6-foot-6 forward from Las Vegas Bishop Gorman was named the MVP of the 35th annual McDonald’s High School All-American Game in Chicago, scoring a game-high 21 points in leading his West team to a 106-102 victory. He was easily the best player on the court, and his good friend Kyle Anderson (who is headed to UCLA) was the only player close enough to challenge that claim.

Muhammad put on a show for his three college suitors: Duke, Kentucky, and UCLA. He displayed a skill level that is already tailor-made for the NBA and his approach was very business-like. He recently put on an impressive show at the Nike Hoop Summit in Oregon, and one NBA scout said “he’s the only one who can play in the NBA tomorrow.”

On April 11, Muhammad told the college basketball world that he is going to be a Bruin, instantly making UCLA one of the favorites to make it to the 2013 Final Four.

Muhammad is the No. 1 rated high school senior by almost all of the prominent recruiting services, with the exception of ESPN. The Worldwide Leader inexplicably has center Noel Nerlens of Everett, Mass. as the top college prospect. Why? Not quite sure, especially after watching Muhammad clearly distance himself from the field with his performance at the McDonald’s game. Not too long ago the Worldwide Leader had Xavier Henry as the nation’s No. 1 recruit. Where is Henry now? He’s currently struggling to keep a job in the NBA. We’ll forgive the Worldwide Leader for putting Muhammad at No. 2 . . . for now.

The three schools on Muhammad’s wish list were three of the most storied programs in the nation. Under John Calipari, Kentucky has become a landing spot for blue chippers looking to rent space for seven months until they become draft eligible. Duke is in the running because, let’s face it, it has living legend Mike Krzyzewski. How can you say “no” when Coach K calls your cell! And then there is UCLA headed by a coach who badly needs a hug after a recent Sports Illustrated article painted his program as an out-of-control institution.

If you go by recent performance, it seems the choice is clear: Kentucky or Duke. But why take the easy route. If Muhammad really wanted to make a big splash in what appears to be his one and only season in college basketball, he should choose a school that needs him more than he needs it. Here are five reasons Muhammad chose UCLA:

1– Location, location, location: Shabazz’s parents are from Los Angeles and it would make for an easy transition to move from Las Vegas to L.A. if the Bishop Gorman High star decides to enroll in Westwood. The only drawback would be the simple fact that Shabazz’s dad, Ron Holmes, went to rival USC. But that’s a minor hurdle given the state of USC’s basketball program.

2– Pipeline to the NBA: Howland has sent more players to the NBA than any college coach in the last 10 years, more than Coach K and Coach Cal. Just take a quick glance at the who’s who of Bruin alums in the NBA: Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, Darren Collison, Arron Afflalo, Jordan Farmar, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Trevor Ariza, Ryan Hollins, Malcolm Lee, and Jrue Holiday. All the players mentioned transitioned well into the Association mainly because of Howland, whose defensive techniques and principles are in line with the pro game. If you play for Howland, you’ll become a very good two-way player.

3– New digs at Westwood: Pauley Pavilion will no longer have the feel of an old gym for 2012-13 season. And from all the blueprints that have been shown so far new Pauley Pavilion is well on its way to becoming one of the hottest tickets in L.A., maybe ever hotter than The Standard hotel. What better way to christen the hottest college gym in the country with the hottest incoming freshman in the nation. And in Hollywood, it’s all about who’s hot and what’s hot.

4–Head of the class: The Bruins already have commitments from St. Anthony’s (N.J.) Kyle Anderson and Oak Hill Academy’s (Va.) Jordan Adams, and they’re also in the running for Miller Grove (Ga.) center Tony Parker. The Bruins already have a boatload of returning players next season, starting with Travis and David Wear and North Carolina transfer Larry Drew III takes over for the inconsistent Lazeric Jones.  If Parker and Muhammad take their talents to Westwood, the Bruins instantly turn into Final Four contenders.

5–Follow the Pyramid of Success: Duke is always near the top 10 in the national rankings and they’re on ESPN almost as often as Tim Tebow. Kentucky just won the national championship so they’ve already reached the pinnacle. Meanwhile, the Bruins are coming off a disappointing 19-14 season and wasn’t even invited to the NIT. Ouch! Compounding things was the damaging SI piece that put the program in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Last year, coveted high school recruit Cody Zeller chose Indiana because he wanted to help bring a once proud program back to the top. Muhammad should follow the same path. The Bruins are in hibernation right now, and all it takes is a little Shabazz to awaken a sleeping giant and help raise a 12th national championship banner at Pauley Pavilion.

Joel Huerto is the editor and publisher of OneManFastBreak.net. Follow him on Twitter @onemanfastbreak.