Jim Mora lists Washington home for $3.15 million

Some six months after turning down a chance to become Washington’s head coach, Jim Mora severed another tie with his home state.

Heading into his third season at UCLA, Mora has listed his Washington for $3.149 million according to the LA Times. The two-story, six-bedroom house in Yarrow Point is listed on Realtor.com as having been built in 1918 and renovated in 2008, and comes complete with a theater room, gaming center, seven built-in flatscreen TVs, a wet bar, and an artist studio. The master suite also opens up to a deck with lake views.

Still, it’s hardly the highest-priced property in the neighborhood. According to Realtor.com, three homes in the area have recently sold for between $4.35 million to $6.4 million. Several others are listed for more than $3.9 million, including a pair of three-bedroom houses.

Mora could probably buy up one of those too if he wanted. Currently living in Manhattan Beach, he is slated to earn $3.25 million in base salary this year, as well as up to $930,000 in performance bonuses.

NBA Mock Draft roundup: Where will LaVine, Anderson and Adams go?

Thursday could mark a new milestone for UCLA basketball.

Guards Zach LaVine, Kyle Anderson and Jordan Adams each have a chance to go in the first round — setting up what could be the program’s largest draft class in more than three decades.

The last time three Bruins were taken in the first round was 1979, when David Greenwood, Roy Hamilton and Brad Holland went second, tenth and 14th, respectively. UCLA came close to matching that in 2008; Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love went off the board at fourth and fifth on their way to All-NBA resumes, but Luc Richard Mbah a Moute slipped into the second round at 37th overall.

Here’s a roundup of where LaVine, Anderson and Adams are projected to go on various NBA mock drafts, in this order: ESPN’s Jay Bilas, Draft Express, ESPN’s Chad Ford, Yahoo! Sports’ Marc Spears, USA Today, Sports Illustrated, Sporting News, CBS, and Dick Vitale.

Bilas DX Ford Y! USA SI SN CBS Vitale
Zach LaVine 10 13 18 21 10 18 14 17 11
Kyle Anderson 24 25 21 17 15 27 18 14 26
Jordan Adams n/a 24 29 24 n/a 29 n/a 21 27

Average draft positions: LaVine — 14.67; Anderson — 20.78; Adams — 25.67 (out of six mocks)

Colorado State transfer Jon Octeus schedules UCLA as last of three visits

UCLA will get the last crack at convincing an experienced point guard to come to Los Angeles.

Colorado State’s outgoing graduate transfer Jon Octeus has narrowed down his choices to the Bruins along with Missouri and Cincinnati, and will visit UCLA on either June 26 or 27 according to The Coloradoan. He is currently finishing up a two-day visit to the Tigers and will see the Bearcats over the weekend.

Octeus announced his intent to transfer out of Colorado State on Monday. The Miami-area native will be immediately eligible upon obtaining his undergraduate degree next month. Continue reading “Colorado State transfer Jon Octeus schedules UCLA as last of three visits” »

Pac-12 links: Conference only distributes 68 percent of revenue back to members

» The Pac-12’s record $334 million in revenue in 2012-13 led all conferences, but the league only returned 68.3 percent of that back to its members. Every other Big Five conference returned at least 90 percent.

Pac-12 CFO Ron McQuate told CBS that the disparity is due to the conference’s costs in operating its own network, rather than a media partnership.

» Oregon State has officially hired former Cal State LA head coach Stephen Thompson as an assistant. Thompson, who played for Syracuse, faced UCLA coach Steve Alford during Indiana’s 74-73 national title game victory in 1987.

» Recovering from a recent hip surgery, Oregon coach Mark Helfrich said recent transfers out of the program aren’t indicative of a “smoking gun.” Continue reading “Pac-12 links: Conference only distributes 68 percent of revenue back to members” »

UCLA’s all-time leading rusher Johnathan Franklin forced to retire after neck injury

At 24 years old, Johnathan Franklin’s career is already over.

UCLA’s all-time leading rusher will retire from the NFL after just one season, his career ended by a neck injury that sidelined him in Week 12 last year. The 5-foot-11 back was drafted in the fourth round in 2013 — lower than both he and many analysts expected — but was nonetheless overjoyed to head to the Green Bay Packers.

However, Franklin only carried the ball 19 times for a touchdown and 107 yards — 103 of which came in a Sept. 22 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Continue reading “UCLA’s all-time leading rusher Johnathan Franklin forced to retire after neck injury” »