Love, Rose look to join NCAA wunderkinds

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It was a comment made in passing, and no doubt sincere. Just a bit overly enthusiastic. O. J. Mayo -- once the country's most sought-after high school player who chose to play his college basketball at historically mediocre Southern Cal -- liked to say that winning an NCAA championship was a reachable goal. For the Trojans' one-year-and-probably-done freshman, of course, it was more like a swipe at lightning in a bottle. Winning the national title is hard enough for teams laced with experienced upperclassmen, much less for those schools that have a first-year player as their centerpiece. You can count on one finger the times that has happened -- 2003 when baby-faced Carmelo Anthony led Syracuse to the championship, then skipped off to the NBA. Kevin Love and Derrick Rose would like to be next. After Saturday, when their respective teams, UCLA and Memphis, meet in the Final Four semifinals, one of the "rookies" will still be alive for the prize. But they will then have either North Carolina or Kansas, both veteran deep, still in the way. "They've all been steps for me -- winning a state title in high school, a national title in AAU ball, an NCAA championship as soon as I can, and then an NBA title," said Love when asked if he had dreamed more of a college or a professional championship as a kid. Everyone assumes Love and Rose, the Tigers' standout point guard, will declare for the NBA draft this spring. If so, each will have left himself only this tiny window to get the NCAA job done. The same tiny window that Texas' Kevin Durant and Ohio State's Greg Oden and Michael Conley Jr. failed to squeeze through last year. Since the NBA instituted a rule two years ago requiring all high school players to wait a year before turning pro, it seems more likely that an exceptionally talented kid will repeat Anthony's feat. But he will have to leap tall obstacles to join a fellow like 'Melo. The concept of riding a freshman's shoulders to the title seems flawed, no matter how gifted the player might be. First, if a freshman is so talented that he instantly becomes the dominant piece, then you might presume the supporting cast isn't championship caliber. Mayo, for example, joined a USC team that was rebuilding from one of its better teams of recent vintage. Ironically, his Trojans team was eliminated for the NCAA tournament in the first round by a similar team, Kansas State, which had risen to tourney level on the back of its prolific forward, Michael Beasley, arguably the best freshman in the country. K-State didn't even get past its next game. Similarly, Durant, who was the best individual college player in 2007, was taken out by a Trojans team with three strong seniors. Meanwhile, last year, future lottery-pick freshmen Oden and Conley teamed up to make a run to the title game but never had a chance against defending champ Florida and its own NBA-futures lineup. Love and Rose signed onto better situations. UCLA and Memphis were stocked with experience and talent. Each team also had an opening for an MVP, a missing ingredient who could get them over the top. In those cases, the challenge might have been more emotional than physical -- teams accepting a freshman phenom who sucked minutes, points and media glitz from people who had already put in their time. Not a problem, judging by their Final Four status. UCLA coach Ben Howland conceded that the attention Love drew "was off the hook from Day One. But our kids ... are all about winning. (Love) was just another guy coming in who could help us win. They're all genuinely happy because the team is winning." No one has said it isn't true. Love, for his part, has consistently included and praised his teammates, helping defuse any potential tension. On a conference call this week, Memphis coach John Calipari also said it was Rose's deferential personality that made things mesh so well. "Anytime anybody asked one of us a question about Derrick," said Calipari, "He would start to moan. He's not trying to steal anything from anybody. He's trying to add to the mix. He's one of the great teammates I've coached. When a guy that good is that great a teammate, you get great synergy. "It starts with him. He would rather have the other guys happy than himself." Love, from Oregon, has known Chicago-native Rose for several years through travel basketball. Love said he even tried unsuccessfully to get Rose to come to UCLA when they were high school juniors. "I haven't talked to him lately, but I watched some of his interviews," Love said. "I know at first he was worried if there would be some jealousy, or how he would fit in, but he really blossomed. They've done a great job." That leaves two freshmen All-Americans in the hunt, still hoping to prove that Anthony was a pioneer, not the only one-year star who had it all.(Reach Gregg Patton at gpatton@PE.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)