<p>Apparently, the UCLA men?s basketball team impressed more than just Bruin fans last week.
<br/>Fresh off winning the EA Sports Maui Invitational, the Bruins were voted No. 1 in the Associated Press poll that was released Monday.
<br/>It?s the first time the Bruins have been ranked No. 1 since the end of the 1994-1995 season, in which UCLA would go on to win its 11th national title.
<br/>?Our players will be excited,? UCLA coach Ben Howland told The Associated Press. ?I wish it was the last one as opposed to the early poll. We still have a lot to go through.?
<br/>UCLA, ranked No. 5 in last week?s AP poll, might have been expected to leap over North Carolina and Florida, both of whom lost last week. But the Bruins? performance at Maui was evidently enough for them to leapfrog both Pittsburgh (6-0) and Ohio State (6-0), who are now ranked second and third, respectively.
<br/>The Bruins received 36 first-place votes compared to Pitt?s 18, Ohio State?s 15 and Florida?s three.
<br/>Monday?s AP poll marked the 129th poll in which the Bruins have owned the No. 1 spot ? the most of any NCAA team. Duke is in second place, having held the top spot in 110 polls.
<br/>In the ESPN/USA Today coaches? poll, UCLA is ranked second despite gaining two more first-place votes than the top-ranked team in the poll, Ohio State.
<br/>The Buckeyes edged out the Bruins by six points, 740-734, in the coaches? poll.
<br/>Kentucky dropped out of The Associated Press poll, and Georgia Tech fell to No. 22.
<br/><b>LONG BEACH STATE TONIGHT:</b> The Bruins will play their first game this year as the nation?s top-ranked team tonight at Pauley Pavilion against Long Beach State.
<br/>The 49ers, coming off their first winning season in five years, were picked as the preseason favorite to win the Big West.
<br/>Led by senior guards Aaron Nixon and Kejuan Johnson ? whom the school?s athletic Web site dubs ?the West Coast?s best backcourt? ? the 49ers have gotten off to a 2-2 start.
<br/>Long Beach State started the season with a very close 69-68 loss to a good Air Force team in the Collegiate Basketball Experience Classic at Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto.
<br/>The 49ers were able to recover to beat San Jose State and Cal State Bakersfield, but were beaten soundly by USC at the Galen Center on Nov. 24.
<br/>After a close first half, the Trojans jumped all over a frustrated 49er team in the second half to come away with a 79-61 victory.
<br/>The last time the Bruins faced the 49ers was two seasons ago in a game which UCLA won 75-62.
<br/><b>MALCOLM LEE COMMITS:</b> Malcolm Lee, a 6-foot-4-inch point guard from Riverside?s John W. North High School, committed to the Bruins two weeks ago.
<br/>Lee joins point guard Jerime Anderson of Anaheim?s Canyon High School as the two Bruin commits for the Class of 2008.
<br/>Lee was ranked as a four-star recruit by Scout.com.</p><br><br><a href='http://www.dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=39122&#039; target='_blank'>http://www.dailybruin.com/news/articles.asp?id=39122&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br>