Second time a charm twice for UCLA?

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Leaving a second-best last impression might work again for UCLA basketball recruiters.

The Bruins may benefit from the sudden retirement of Lute Olson at Arizona. UCLA had been widely considered as the runner-up in the college recruiting battle for highly-regarded point guard Abdul Gaddy of Tacoma, Wash. Gaddy had reaffirmed his commitment to Arizona last month after first committing to the Wildcats, then changing his mind when Olson took a leave of absence last year.

According to Scout.com West Coast recruiting expert Dave Telep, Gaddy indicated Thursday that he would again reconsider his options. Gaddy is a 6-foot-3 senior at Tacoma’s Bellarmine Prep.

UCLA had been runner-up to Louisiana State last year in recruiting center J’mison Morgan of Dallas. In fact, Morgan signed a letter-of-intent with LSU last November. But when coach John Brady was fired midway through last season and after Stanford’s Trent Johnson was hired, Morgan asked to be released from that letter and ended up coming to UCLA after all.

Avid college fans who can tend to get a little (message board-anonymously) angry at high school kids who reject their school, can maybe take a lesson from this. The kid whose sanity and ethics you question one day might be coming to your school the next.

-- Diane Pucin