8B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2008
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
UCLA defense topples Xavier
Bruins 76-57 win advances team to third straight Final Four
UCLA's Kevin Love , left, and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute react during the first half of their NCAA men's basketball tournament West Regional final against Xavier Saturday in Phoenix.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
BY ANDREW BAGNATO
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHOENIX - After reaching the Final Four for the third straight time, UCLA coach Ben Howland called these Bruins "by far the best" of the three.
Love was picked as the most outstanding player of the West Regional.
The other two didn't have freshman Kevin Love, who had 19 points and 10 rebounds as the top-seeded Bruins blitzed Xavier 76-57 Saturday to earn their record 18th overall trip to the Final Four.
"Obviously, it's unbelievable," Howland said after taking the last few snips of the net. "That's really a credit to how good the players are and how well we performed under pressure the last three years."
It's the Bruins' longest string of Final Four appearances since they closed the John Wooden era with nine straight trips and added a 10th consecutive trip in 1976 under his successor, Gene Bartow.
The Bruins' 1980 Final Four was later vacated by the NCAA because of rules violations.
At times on Saturday, Howland's Bruins looked even bit as dominant as Wooden's finer squads, annihilating a proud Xavier team that had set a school record for victories.
The Bruins (35-3) lost in the Final Four the last two years. But they go to San Antonio with Love, who has given them a formidable inside presence and has raised his game in this tournament.
UCLA plays the Memphis-Texas winner in the national semifinal in San Antonio on April 5.
"We're getting spoiled with Kevin," Howland said.
Love made 7-of-11 shots from the floor, including 2-of-4 from beyond the arc. Half of his rebounds came at the offensive end and he added four assists for good measure.
"He looks like he's 25 years old when he's playing," Xavier coach Sean Miller said of Love, who is 19.
The Musketeers (30-7) had no answer for Love on a day they shot 36.2 percent from the floor — a credit to UCLA's relentless man-to-man defense.
"We can play better than we did today," Miller said. "I couldn't be more proud and really at ease right now because I really felt we went about as far as we could and lost to a
great team. They're unique. I'm really pulling for them. I hope we lost to the national champion."
The knock on UCLA is that it often coasts with a big lead. Not this time.
Leading by nine at halftime, the Bruins snuffed out third-seeded Xavier's comeback hopes with a 14-0 run early in the second half.
"It all started with defense," Love said. "That's what really won the game for us."
Yeah, that just happened
'Dream Team's sweeps Texas
John Calipari has a good reason for calling his Memphis Tigers a "Dream Team" — a kid from Chicago who wears No. 23 and makes plays that bring fans out of their seats.
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Rachel Anne Seymour/KANSAN
Tyler Cook, Oberlin senior, takes on Michael Strider, the defending champion, in the Central States Wrestling's Heavyweight Championship at the Kansas National Guard Armory, 200 Iowa Street, in Lawrence on Saturday. Strider defeated Cook in the main event, continuing on as the heavyweight champion. CSW will be back in Lawrence on Saturday, May 3 at the Kansas National Guard Armory. For more information visit cswrestling.com.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
With freshman Derrick Rose soaring and scoring, Memphis ended two years of regional final failure and routed Texas 85-67 to reach the Final Four.
The victory in Houston backed up the Tigers' season-long reign near the top of the rankings and sent them to the Final Four for the first time since 1985.
Rose had 21 points, nine assists and six rebounds, outplaying Texas star DJ. Augustin and leading the Tigers (37-1) into a national semifinal Saturday against a UCLA team making its third straight Final Four appearance.
Memphis and UCLA met in the regional finals two years ago and in the 1973 title game, with the Bruins winning both.
Rose took the doubt out of this one in the first half, making a Michael Jordanesque layup as part of his 4-for-4 start, blocking an open-court layup by Augustin and throwing a long pass for a thunderous dunk by loey Dorsey among his four early assists.
The Tigers were up 29-13 after 12 minutes, with Rose accounting for more points than Texas (31-7) scored.
Chris Douglas-Roberts led Memphis with 25 points, with 14 coming on free throws. Dorsey provided 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Rose finished 7-of-10 and was voted the most outstanding player of the South Regional
Memphis' 37th win matched an NCAA Division I record held by
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Memphis guard Chris Douglas-Roberts pulls on his jersey after his team defeated Texas, 85-67, in the NCAA South Regional basketball final Sunday in Houston. Douglas-Roberts scored 25 points in the game.
four other teams, and it was its 103rd victory over the last three seasons, the second-best run by any program.
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