THE POWERS THAT BE.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

UCLA is to basketball what USC is to football. Oh, and vice versa - if we didn't spell that out, boosters of one school or the other would be angry.

There's never been a better time to compare our town's two legendary college sports programs than right now, with UCLA basketball (which plays for the national championship this weekend in Indianapolis) and USC football (which played for the national championship in January at the Rose Bowl) on top of their games simultaneously for the first time since 1975, when the Bruins won John Wooden's last title right after the Trojans won John McKay's last.

So who's better? Let's break it down.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) no caption (a man)

(2 -- color) no caption (OJ Simpson)

Box:

TALE OF THE TAPE

UCLA - USC