West Virginia will play surprising Portland in the finals of the 76 Classic Sunday night in Anaheim. The Pilots are off to their program’s best start in 14 years. First they clobbered UCLA, 74-47, Thursday and then turned around and upset ranked Minnesota, 61-56.

The Pilots are picked second in the West Coast Conference (behind Gonzaga, of course) and clearly are a team to watch with guards like T.J. Campbell and Jared Stohl. The story of the 76 Classic, however, was how depleted UCLA (2-3) is. The Bruins are limited by a tough trifecta of injuries, inexperience and defections to the NBA. The Portland loss was the most lopsided of coach Ben Howland’s tenure and the program’s worst outing since a 31-point loss at Oregon in 2003. “It really feels horrible,” Howland said after that game. “We’re a long way from being a good team.”

UCLA bounced back and played well against Butler, yet lost in the final seconds, 69-67. The Bruins have now lost to Cal State Fullerton, Portland and Butler and face a hungry Long Beach State team on Sunday. The Bruins’ biggest problem is they lack a star player for the first time in years. Howland continues to recruit very well but his players keep bolting to the pros. He’s lost four point guards to the NBA Draft in the last four years: Jordan Farmar in 2006, Russell Westbrook in ’08 and two players — Darren Collison and frosh Jrue Holiday — last June.

Mazzulla comes back

Rhode Islanders Joey Accaoui and Ben Crenca came into town last week with Vermont and they’re just two of several natives playing Division I this season. We’ll try to highlight the group’s progress from time to time this season and start with the three playing at the highest level: Joe Mazzulla (West Virginia), Erik Murphy (Florida) and Mike Marra (Louisville). Mazzulla’s comeback from a severe shoulder injury and personal issues promises to be one of the feel-good stories of the college season. He looked good in West Virginia’s wins over Long Beach State and Michigan.

Murphy and Marra will learn a lesson that Mazzulla has already lived with. That, of course, is patience. The price of playing at Florida and Louisville often is an inability to see big minutes right away at programs stocked with other very good players. Murphy is averaging 4.3 points and 2.3 rebounds in 9.3 minutes. He’s played in four of five games. Marra, a dead-eye shooter, is off to a slow start. He’s hit two of his first 11 threes and is currently slotted behind a slew of veteran guards suiting up for Rick Pitino.

Winning on the road

Life in a so-called “low-major” program isn’t easy. Brown and Bryant almost never play at home. The Bears have a higher-than-normal six home games this season. The Bulldogs play at home twice before Northeast Conference play. That makes 10 of 12 on the road.

Bryant isn’t alone. Todd Bozeman, the ex-URI player who crashed and burned after a brief touch with stardom as the coach at California, is now the coach at Morgan State in Baltimore. Between the start of the season and Jan. 18, the Bears will play 3 of 19 games at home. While a daunting task, no one ever said Bozeman couldn’t coach. After five games, the Bears were 4-1 with a 97-94 win over Arkansas. The only loss came at Louisville.

Texas has the depth

Texas coach Rick Barnes may have the deepest team in the country. In fact, he has too many good players and finding the correct rotation is his chief concern right now. One decision was made for him this week. Varez Ward, a starting guard who was scoring 6.7 points a game and leading the team in steals, ruptured his right quadriceps tendon in pre-game warmups. He needs surgery and is out for the season.

kmcnamar@projo.com