EDS: UPDATES with North Carolina-Louisville game; SHOULD STAND.
By JIM O’CONNELL
AP Basketball Writer
It isn’t easy being UCLA.
The Bruins advanced to their third straight Final Four with a 76-57 victory over Xavier on Saturday, the longest stretch of semifinal success since Michigan State went three years in a row starting in 1999.
It’s only the 11th time a school has made it that far three straight years in a tournament that started in 1939. Eight of those runs were exactly three straight years. Two were five in a row – Cincinnati from 1959-63 and Duke 1988-92.
The other one? That’s where it’s tough being UCLA.
The Bruins went to every Final Four from 1967 through 1976. Coach John Wooden returned to Westwood with the national championship trophy every one of those 10 times except 1974 and 1976.
“Obviously it is unbelievable,” Bruins coach Ben Howland said. “I think it has only happened three times now since they’ve gone to the field of 64. So that’s a real credit to how good our players are and how well they perform under pressure and over the last three years.”
There is some great news for UCLA about this year’s Final Four in San Antonio: Florida won’t be there.
The two-time defending champion Gators ended the Bruins’ season the last two years. Florida won its first title over UCLA in 2006, then knocked the Bruins out in the semifinals last season. The Gators did reach a final four this season but it’s the NIT in New York so UCLA doesn’t have to worry about shaking hands with them again and heading home with a loss.
“This win feels good to make our third Final appearance. But we have been here before. That feeling is coming back,” junior guard Darren Collison said. “After the loss to Florida, didn’t feel too good. I was telling (teammate) Luc (Richard Mbah a Moute), the whole season was just erased from us last year. And so we don’t ever want to experience that. We want to go back this time, we want to be focused. Definitely this win feels good but we’re not satisfied.”
This UCLA team extended the school’s record for Final Four appearances to 18 although the trip in 1980 was vacated over NCAA violations.
North Carolina moved back within one of UCLA on the Final Four list just a few hours later with an 83-73 victory Louisville in the East Regional final. But this was the Tar Heels’ third appearance since 2000, an impressive run but not three in a row.
Six of the current UCLA players will be in their third Final Four. Two others will be in their second. The Bruins’ marquee player – freshman Kevin Love – will be in his first.
“We came close twice. It definitely left a sour taste in our mouth,” junior Josh Shipp said. “We definitely have unfinished business. It would be great if we can accomplish this goal. I mean, this is what we work for all year and hopefully we can do that.”
After the 2006 Final Four many wondered if UCLA would be able to withstand the loss of guard Jordan Farmar, the team’s second-leading scorer (13.5) who led the Pac-10 in assists.
Collison stepped up as a sophomore and handled the point guard duties well enough to get the Bruins back to the national semifinals. But this time it was guard Arron Afflalo who decided to leave early for the NBA and, again, few thought the Bruins could make up the for the loss of the Pac-10 player of the year who averaged 16.1 points and was one of the nation’s best perimeter defenders.
Collison did it again, though, this time with Love as the star.
“I don’t know if that’s necessarily the case,” Love said after the West Regional final when asked if he was the difference this season. “Coach did a great job the past two years as well as the guys that have been here already. I’m just trying to get in where I fit in. Just do as the best I possibility can. I know Coach Howland and the rest of the coaching staff will put me in the right position to succeed. I just gotta be coachable and go in the right spots and also you gotta be a little bit lucky too. You got to get the right breaks and get the job done.”
Howland didn’t say Love’s name when he talked of the difference of the three teams.
“As I said before, I think this is by far the best team in the last three years because we do have a key ingredient, an inside player that can score and rebound like nobody else in the country,” he said.
Sometimes it’s good to be UCLA.
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