Not a gimme for UCLA in preseason tourney

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Preseason college basketball tournaments are almost always set up by their organizers to ensure that certain teams have ‘most favored nation’ status, giving them an easy road to the tournament’s end stage.

For example, UCLA, Duke, Michigan and Southern Illinois are hosts for two preliminary games in next months’ 2K Sports Classic. The semifinals and finals are in New York, and organizers obviously want to see UCLA, Duke, Michigan and Southern Illinois playing at Madison Square Garden.

But UCLA fans might not want to pay the non-refundable Internet rates that many New York hotels offer. The Marriott East Side, for example, has a non-refundable, pay-it-right-now rate of $390 a night. And they’re not kidding around. Say you pay $1,560 for four nights, and UCLA doesn’t happen to make it? Do you still go to New York and enjoy the room anyway? The lowest non-non-refundable rate available is $499 a night.

Feeling lucky, UCLA fans?

The Bruins shouldn’t have any trouble in their first game against Prairie View A&M, but on the second night, things could be a bit tougher when UCLA plays the winner of Miami of Ohio versus Weber State.

Miami is considered a favorite (along with Kent State) to win the Mid-American Conference this year. Last year Miami nearly beat USC (the Trojans won 57-53, in the Anaheim Classic, a victory that wasn’t secured until O.J. Mayo made two free throws with 3.3 seconds left). Red Hawks forward Michael Bramos, a 6-5 senior, is considered one of the best players in the league, while 6-8 freshman forward Julian Mavunga is being touted as the league’s best freshman, and, perhaps, one of coach Charlie Coles’ best-ever recruits.

Coles, 66, had his second heart bypass surgery last spring (he missed the team’s final seven games) plus gallbladder surgery, and he may be coaching his final season. In other words, his team will have emotional capital to draw upon. If Miami beats well-coached Weber State, Bruins fans who take a chance on non-refundable airfares or hotel rooms might be sweating a little.

-- Diane Pucin