love is in the air

i know we are only about a month and a half removed from march madness but i can't wait for the next college basketball season to start. it took me a while to get over ucla's most recent and repeat loss at the hands of florida.... but, those losses are in the past now.

i have also moved on from arron afflalo's decision to bail for the greener pastures of the nba, where he can join other bruin alums baron davis (golden state), matt barnes (golden state), earl watson (seattle), jason kapono (miami), dan gadzuric (milwaukee), and former teammates jordan farmar (la lakers), ryan hollins (charlotte), and trevor ariza (orlando). (am i forgetting any other bruins?) besides, kapono's record as a 3-point specialist (with an nba ring to boot), golden state's inspiring playoffs performance in the nba courtesy of the plays of baron davis and matt barnes (albeit unsuccessful) and farmar's not-so-bad performance as a starter against steve nash in the playoffs (again, albeit unsuccesful), have eased the pain of afflalo's departure.

so why all the anticipation?

love.

kevin love is coming to westwood! finally, ucla will again have a legit center with nice, strong hands and smooth post moves. as much as lorenzo mata and alfred aboya have done for the program, i consider them to have either spaghetti (mata) or brick (aboya) hands. how many times have they been stripped under the basket, or worse, just couldn't hang on to the ball? i do appreciate their hustle and grit (and they are definitely way better than fey), but love will just take the program to lofty heights.

high expectations? hell, yeah! ucla went to the national championship game in 2006 with a ryan hollins just barely coming into his own and struggled his first 3 1/2 years at ucla as its 7'0 center. this year, ucla went to the final four with mata and aboya. with a true center like love, ucla has a legitimate chance to win it all. i am NOT going to jinx it by saying they will definitely win it all because there are so many unknown factors that come into play.

after all, josh shipp just had another hip surgery. but hopefully, he learned from past mistakes by taking rehab seriously this time so he can be ready to play come november. we still don't know whether nikola dragovic could play within howland's defense-first system. michael roll still needs to play better defense and gain confidence in his offense (and please, stop all the pump fakes!). and james keefe needs to be tougher. also, i don't know who howland will start as a 2 because of afflalo's departure (maybe westbrook?) and whether that person will have afflalo's defensive intensity. also, will howland's teams ever learn to play offense against a zone?

but then again, darren collison is back with a more experienced russell westbrook (who performed admirably though poorly during that ucla v. west virginia game) backing him up at point guard. again, mata and aboya will still provide much needed support off the bench. mbah a moute should be injury-free to regain his explosiveness, and chace stanback is coming in along with love. and finally, florida's big men are gone.... finally!

yes, love will bring much joy to westwood. he has the talent, skill and the athleticism. i saw a few youtube clips of him playing and the kid has a knack for throwing some nice passes. i can see him play within howland's system, and, he seems like a nice kid who is not all about fame and glory. all the pieces are there.

so, good luck in the nba, arron. bring much pride to the bruin faithful when you join your bruin bretheren in the nba. you were instrumental in bringing the ucla basketball program back to where it should be and pulling it out of the stench created by he-who-must-not-be-named.

welcome, love! ....and i am dreaming of banner number 12!