ShareThisBy RHIANNON POTKEY
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Loyal supporters filled the stands, casual observers jumped on the bandwagon and eight claps echoed from L.A. to Indianapolis.
As the UCLA men's basketball team made its run to the Final Four last season, the basketball buzz was back in Westwood just like old times.
Fresh off their national runner-up finish, the senior-less Bruins hope to sustain the momentum this season.
"If they can do what they did last year, I will be happy with that," UCLA coach Ben Howland said. "We don't need to change a whole lot. Play good defense, take good shots and compete for a Pac-10 championship, which is our No. 1 goal."
Entering his fourth season at UCLA, Howland's rebuilding project is complete and reloading is once again standard fare for the Bruins.
UCLA lost a few central components from a team that tied a school record for wins (32), captured its first Pac-10 title since 1997 and reached the national title game, where it fell to Florida.
But the departures of Jordan Farmar, Ryan Hollins and Cedric Bozeman to the NBA have been softened by additions and returns, including sophomore Josh Shipp.
One of the conference's top younger players as a freshman, Shipp missed all but the first four games last season with a right hip injury.
"He might be the best player on the team," said former UCLA All-American and Bruins radio commentator Don MacLean. "He has looked really good coming back in the exhibition games, and he has the ability to provide a lot of offense for them this season."
With Farmar suiting up 13 miles away as a rookie point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, the job of delivering Shipp the ball falls to sophomore Darren Collison.
A sparkplug off the bench last season, Collison has shifted into the starting role while freshman Russell Westbrook has shown enough flashes to merit playing time.
"The biggest concern about our team this year was who was going to play backup point behind Darren, and I feel comfortable Russell Westbrook is going to do a pretty good job," Howland said. "He will make freshman mistakes, but he is going to be pretty good."
Although Farmar kept his name in the NBA draft, junior guard Arron Afflalo opted to return to the Bruins. UCLA's best on-ball defender, Afflalo is also the Bruins leading returning scorer.
"I was in a win-win situation as far as pursuing my dream or coming back to a great institution here at UCLA," Afflalo said. "All the fans and my Bruin family of teammates and coaches is something I am really looking forward to enjoying for another year as well as having more time to improve my game."
UCLA's frontcourt may be hindered early as 6-foot-9 junior center Lorenzo Mata recovers from arthroscopic knee surgery last month.
But dealing with injuries is nothing new for the Bruins. Every scholarship player suffered an injury last year.
Should Mata endure a slow recovery, the Bruins will lean more heavily on Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Alfred Aboya, Ryan Wright and 6-foot-8 freshman James Keefe.
Mbah a Moute emerged as a major presence for the Bruins last season, earning the Cameroonian crowd favorite Pac-10 Freshman of the Year honors.
"I think coach Howland has the team where he wants it in a sense that he can play 10 guys and doesn't have to extend a lot of minutes," MacLean said. "He can limit them and go to more people. Nobody is going to play 35 minutes like Jordan and Arron did last year."
The Bruins became known for their defensive prowess during last year's postseason run - holding opponents to 58.7 points per game - but Afflalo expects the team to display more offensive flair this year.
"We are going to be running a lot more and be able to score a lot of points night in and night out," Afflalo said. "We want to keep the same defensive presence that was allowing us to win last year, but we have a lot of athletes on this team and guys who can put the ball in the hole."
The Bruins are ranked No. 6 in the nation and were picked to defend their Pac-10 title.
"I don't put much stock into that stuff," Howland said. "Last year Florida was not in the Top 25 when the season started, and they are the national champions. That is my classic example."
From the moment he was hired, Howland embraced the traditions at UCLA and the expectations that come with having 11 championship banners hanging in Pauley Pavilion's rafters.
"Now people are going to expect a Final Four every year," MacLean said. "If they go 25-7 and reach the Sweet 16, is the season a disappointment? That is the hard part."
