Well, if the "leaks" (if that's what they really are) are coming from the UCLA admin side, then yes, they're complete and total idiots. But I'm just not so sure that's the case, as the level of idiocy required is so far and above normal human capacity for idiocy that there might be another explanation. At any rate, already two guys the media have said had offers (Calipari and Kruger) have explicitly denied even meeting with UCLA. So I'm not sure that the whole "debacle" isn't made-up Twitter bullpucky from the start. For what it's worth, I don't think UCLA has said a single thing publicly about the search.
As far as the fact that the job has been open for three months, well, of course it has. Alford got canned right around the turn of the year. UCLA wasn't going to replace him with a permanent head coach unless that somebody was out of work at the time. So the timetable was always that UCLA was going to be waiting until target coaches got bumped from the tournament to pick one of them off. What does it mean that they haven't hired somebody yet? Does it mean that dreams of Bennett or Beard are actually still alive? I don't know. Was Dixon ever actually offered? Or did some click-hungry media type covering the biggest NCAAB coaching opening of the season jump the gun without actual info, and then have to make up a backpedal? Honestly, the whole "debacle" looks a lot more to me like media throwing crap against the wall and seeing what sticks than admin incompetence - as incompetent as people can be, even I can't imagine the admin going from "we're totally paying that $8M buyout" to "we can't possibly pay that $8M buyout" in 24 hours. It makes no sense.
We'll never really know, of course, but if UCLA ends up snagging a top coach of some sort it might point towards this being nothing but a media storm.
Edit: And just to make my point, Ben Bolch (who I am guessing is a major crap-flinger in this whole process) retweets a FAKE ACCOUNT saying Barnes to UCLA is done. Has to renege, but insists he's still "being told" it's happening. Nice try at a save, but I think he's just full of it. I'm honestly not sure anybody knows anything about the search.
Well, if they can land Stanley or McDaniels I'm sure either would really help the class. My sense is that there may be more need for help in the backcourt than the frontcourt, since O'Neal will be in the mix next year and it looks like reality may have sucker-punched Moses Brown. Add that to Riley (who shouldn't leave) and a defense/energy/garbage guy like Hill - and we don't know if redshirt senior Olesinski is going to graduate or not - and there may not be a lot of room in the frontcourt. Smith will handle the traditional SF slot. With Wilkes and Hands both gone and redshirt senior Ali a question mark, the backcourt is basically Campbell coming off injury, Singleton, Bernard, and two frosh. There are probably more minutes for Stanley.