The UCLA Bruins return to the Final Four for the third straight year, looking to yet another NCAA championship to their impressive trophy case.
Resume:
- 16-2 conference record, 35-3 overall
- Pac-10 Regular Season and Tournament Champions
- Top seed in West Region
How they got here:
- First Round: beat Mississippi Valley State, 70-29
- Second Round: beat Texas A&M, 51-49
- Sweet 16: beat Western Kentucky, 88-78
- Elite 8: beat Xavier, 76-57
Team Tournament History:
No team has reached more Final Fours (18) or won more NCAA Championships (11) than the Bruins. This is Ben Howland's third straight trip to the Final Four with UCLA -- his teams were knocked out of the tournament by eventual champion Florida in the 2006 finals and 2007 semifinals.
Key Players:
Freshman forward/center Kevin Love has been outstanding all year, and his statistics through his first four NCAA Tournament games compare favorably with legendary UCLA big men Lew Alcindor and Bill Walton. And few teams can match up with the Bruin back court, featuring junior Darren Collison and sophomore Russell Westbrook.
Strengths:
The Bruins have a disturbing tendency to make games a bit more interesting than they ought to be. They allowed Western Kentucky to get close in the second half of their Sweet 16 matchup, barely got past Texas A&M in the second round, and needed questionable calls to close out the Pac 10 season with wins over Stanford and Cal.
Outlook:
The lack of a post scorer ended the Bruins' season in the Final Four for the last two years. The addition of Kevin Love gives them an excellent chance to extend this season -- at least until next Monday.
