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Pittsburgh head coach Ben Howland during his teams 67-59 victory over Providence.

There is no imminent hire set to take over as the next UCLA head basketball coach.

But there are lots of rumors, expressions of interest, denials, and ambiguous question-dodging by everyone involved.

Ben Howland of Pittsburgh and Mark Few of Gonzaga seem to be emerging as the favorites. UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero interviewed Howland in Santa Barbara on Sunday, but no deal has been reached, according to published reports. But Gonzaga’s Few has apparently not been contacted by Guerrero. Kansas’ Roy Williams and Marquette’s Tom Crean, both of whose teams qualified for the Final Four on Saturday, are also viable candidates to replace Steve Lavin, who was fired March 17.

Howland, a Southern California native, led Pittsburgh to a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament this season and got to the Sweet 16 before being knocked out by Marquette.

“It’s the dream job for anyone who has spent a career in coaching and has a sense of what UCLA means,” Howland said.

Few likewise expressed interest in the job. In four years coaching Gonzaga, he has made the NCAA tournament every year. But he has expressed frustration at the lack of recruiting capability of a small school like Gonzaga.

“UCLA is a high-quality educational institution,” Few said. “You aren’t sacrificing values there. It has tradition. It has a chance to go after any recruit in the country and be on his short list.”

Gonzaga athletic director Mike Roth said he hasn’t heard from Guerrero yet, but expects to in the near future. If Guerrero were to hire Few, UCLA would have to buy out his current Gonzaga contract. Monetary terms of the deal are private, but he is believed to make somewhere around $500,000 per season.

“I’m certainly not going to be surprised if he calls,” Roth said Thursday of Guerrero. “I mean, if I’m the athletic director at UCLA, why wouldn’t Mark Few be on my list?”

Williams, the biggest name mentioned for the job, hasn’t commented directly on the UCLA opening. But when a Kansas City Star columnist asked him if he would undeniably take his name out of consideration for the job, Williams refused.

“Would it really make a difference?” Williams told the paper. “How many times have you seen coaches say they’re not interested and then turn around a couple of weeks later and take the job?”

Crean has also refused to directly address the UCLA vacancy, but hasn’t flatly denied any interest in the job.

Guerrero won’t contact any coach until his team has been knocked out of the NCAA tournament, so neither Williams nor Crean will be contacted until at least next week.

Rick Majerus of Utah is also a candidate and could be contacted soon.

Louisville’s Rick Pitino, who was once considered a candidate, has denied interest in the job. Likewise, rumors surrounding Stanford’s Mike Montgomery and Larry Brown of the Philadelphia 76ers have died down.

And coaches of smaller universities, such as San Diego’s Brad Holland and Santa Barbara’s Bob Williams, don’t seem likely headed for Westwood. Guerrero has indicated he would like to hire someone with experience handling the big-time.

“We’re talking about someone who has the kind of experience that can build and develop, that can compete on a high level nationally, that understands this kind of an environment, the constraints and barriers, if there are any, certainly from an academic standpoint and things of that nature,” Guerrero said at the press conference to announce Lavin’s firing.

Meanwhile, Lavin has been contacted by Penn State to interview for their head coaching vacancy, according to the Orange County Register.

With reports from The Associated Press.