2007–08 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team

The 2007–08 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team represented the University of California, Los Angeles in the Pacific-10 Conference for the 2007–08 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. In his fifth year as head coach, Ben Howland led the team to its third straight Final Four appearance. The Bruins also set a new record number of wins for the regular season, eclipsing the 26 wins of 2006–07. Though the team was composed of many standout players, freshman center Kevin Love garnered much of the media's and school's attention with his .565 shooting percentage, 10.7 rebounds per game, 5.3 blocks, and 17.6 points per game.^[2][3][4][5]

2007–08 UCLA Bruins men's basketball
Pac-10 regular season & tournament champions College Basketball Experience champions
NCAA tournament, Final Four
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 4[1]
AP	No. 3[1]
Record	35–4 (16–2 Pac-10)
Head coach	Ben Howland (5th season)
Assistant coaches	Donny Daniels Scott Duncan Scott Garson
Home arena	Pauley Pavilion
Seasons ← 2006–07 2008–09 →

2007–08 Pacific-10 Conference
men's basketball standings

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 2 UCLA†	16	–	2		.889			35	–	4		.897
No. 11 Stanford	13	–	5		.722			28	–	8		.778
No. 21 Washington State	11	–	7		.611			26	–	9		.743
Arizona State	9	–	9		.500			21	–	13		.618
Oregon	9	–	9		.500			18	–	14		.563
Arizona	8	–	10		.444			19	–	15		.559
Washington	7	–	11		.389			16	–	17		.485
California	6	–	12		.333			17	–	16		.515
Oregon State	0	–	18		.000			6	–	25		.194
USC*	0	–	7		.000			0	–	12		.000
† Conference tournament winner As of April 5, 2008 Rankings from AP Poll *USC vacated 11 conference and 21 overall wins, due to NCAA rules violations.

The only losses the Bruins incurred during the regular season were to No. 8 Texas, and Pac-10 rivals USC and Washington, though the USC victory was later vacated upon discovery that USC player O. J. Mayo received illegal benefits while playing for USC. After becoming the Pacific-10 regular season champions and winning the Pacific-10 tournament, the Bruins were seeded No. 1 in the West Regional bracket of the 2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. In the first round of the NCAA tournament, the Bruins held Mississippi Valley State to 29 points, the lowest total ever allowed in the first or second round of the tournament.^[6] After reaching the Final Four for the third year in a row, the Bruins lost to Memphis, the South Regional Champions. On August 20, 2009, Memphis' 38 wins during the 2007–2008 season and Final Four appearances were vacated by the NCAA Committee on Infractions for the team's using an ineligible player, Derrick Rose.^[7]

Recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Kevin Love C	Lake Oswego, OR	Lake Oswego HS	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	260 lb (120 kg)	Jul 25, 2006
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A
Chace Stanback SF	Los Angeles, CA	Fairfax HS	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Apr 22, 2006
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports: N/A
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: 12   Rivals: 11
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "UCLA Commit List for 2007". Rivals.com. Retrieved July 2, 2011. "Men's Basketball Recruiting". Scout.com. Retrieved July 2, 2011. "ESPN – UCLA Bruins Basketball Recruiting 2007". ESPN.com. Retrieved July 2, 2011. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved July 2, 2011. "2007 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved July 2, 2011.

Roster

UCLA's starting lineup of (left to right) Love, Shipp, Collison, Aboya, and Mbah a Moute.

2007–08 UCLA Bruins men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown G 10 Mustafa Abdul-Hamid 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 195 lb (88 kg) So St. Louis, Missouri F/C 12 Alfred Aboya 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 245 lb (111 kg) Jr Yaoundé (Cameroon) G 2 Darren Collison (C) 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 160 lb (73 kg) Jr Rancho Cucamonga, California F 41 Nikola Dragović 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 216 lb (98 kg) So Belgrade (Serbia) G 24 Joey Ellis (W) 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Jr Hidden Hills, California F/C 13 James Keefe 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 235 lb (107 kg) So Rancho Santa Margarita, California G 55 Matt Lee (W) 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Sr San Francisco, California C 42 Kevin Love 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 260 lb (118 kg) Fr Lake Oswego, Oregon F/C 14 Lorenzo Mata (C) 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 240 lb (109 kg) Sr Huntington Park, California F 23 Luc Richard Mbah a Moute 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Jr Yaoundé (Cameroon) F 21 David McGrath (W) 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Jr Oxnard, California G 5 DeAndre Robinson (W) 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Jr Riverside, California G/F 20 Michael Roll   6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Jr Aliso Viejo, California F 30 Kevin Schmidt (W) 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Fr San Jose, California G/F 3 Xavier Ryan 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) 145 lb (66 kg) Fr Inglewood, California F 22 Chace Stanback 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Fr Los Angeles, California G 0 Russell Westbrook 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 187 lb (85 kg) So Hawthorne, California	Head coach Ben Howland (Weber State) Assistant coach(es) Donny Daniels (Cal State Fullerton) Scott Duncan (College of Wooster) Scott Garson (UC Santa Barbara) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Thirteen scholarships were available to the team, and there were sixteen players on the roster.^[8] Kevin Love received permission from Walt Hazzard to wear the No. 42 he wore as player for UCLA.^[9] Hazzard's jersey had been retired by UCLA in 1996.^[10]

Schedule

Collison at the 2008 Pac-10 Championship game

Russell Westbrook in a game against USC

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-Conference Season
November 2, 2007	No. 2	Azusa Pacific	W 111–61	0–0	Pauley Pavilion  Los Angeles, CA
November 5, 2007	No. 2	Chico State	W 93–55	0–0	Pauley Pavilion  Los Angeles, CA
Non-Conference Season
November 9, 2007*	No. 2	Portland State	W 69–48	1–0	Pauley Pavilion (9,854) Los Angeles, CA
November 12, 2007*  ESPN2	No. 2	Youngstown State College Basketball Experience Classic	W 83–52	2–0	Pauley Pavilion (7,695) Los Angeles, CA
November 13, 2007*  ESPN2	No. 2	Cal State San Bernardino College Basketball Experience Classic	W 76–41	3–0	Pauley Pavilion (7,293) Los Angeles, CA
November 19, 2007*  ESPN2	No. 2	vs. Maryland College Basketball Experience Classic	W 71–59	4–0	Sprint Center (18,022) Kansas City, MO
November 20, 2007*  ESPN2	No. 2	vs. No. 10 Michigan State College Basketball Experience Classic	W 68–63	5–0	Sprint Center (16,737) Kansas City, MO
November 23, 2007*	No. 2	Yale	W 81–47	6–0	Pauley Pavilion (10,420) Los Angeles, CA
November 28, 2007  FSN PT	No. 1	George Washington	W 83–60	7–0	Pauley Pavilion (9,691) Los Angeles, CA
December 2, 2007*  FSN	No. 2	No. 8 Texas Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series	L 61–63	7–1	Pauley Pavilion (12,048) Los Angeles, CA
December 8, 2007*  KCAL	No. 8	vs. Davidson John R. Wooden Classic	W 75–63	8–1	Honda Center (17,440) Anaheim, CA
December 15, 2007*  FSN West	No. 8	Idaho State	W 89–49	9–1	Pauley Pavilion (9,733) Los Angeles, CA
December 18, 2007*	No. 8	Western Illinois	W 77–52	10–1	Pauley Pavilion (8,189) Los Angeles, CA
December 22, 2007*  CBS	No. 8	at Michigan	W 69–54	11–1	Crisler Arena (13,069) Ann Arbor, MI
December 29, 2007*  FSN PT	No. 5	UC Davis	W 76–48	12–1	Pauley Pavilion (10,242) Los Angeles, CA
Conference Season
January 3, 2008  FSN	No. 5	at No. 20 Stanford	W 76–67	13–1 (1–0)	Maples Pavilion (7,329) Stanford, CA
January 5, 2008  FSN	No. 5	at California	W 70–58	14–1 (2–0)	Haas Pavilion (11,877) Berkeley, CA
January 10, 2008  FSN PT	No. 5	Washington	W 69–55	15–1 (3–0)	Pauley Pavilion (11,421) Los Angeles, CA
January 12, 2008  FSN	No. 5	No. 4 Washington State	W 81–74	16–1 (4–0)	Pauley Pavilion (12,590) Los Angeles, CA
January 19, 2008  CBS	No. 4	USC	L 63-72[note 1]	16–2 (4–1)	Pauley Pavilion (12,714) Los Angeles, CA
January 24, 2008  FSN	No. 7	at Oregon	W 80-75	17–2 (5–1)	McArthur Court (9,087) Eugene, OR
January 26, 2008  FSN West	No. 7	at Oregon State	W 85–62	18–2 (6–1)	Gill Coliseum (8,235) Corvallis, OR
January 31, 2008  FSN PT	No. 5	Arizona State	W 84–51	19–2 (7–1)	Pauley Pavilion (11,070) Los Angeles, CA
February 2, 2008  ESPN	No. 5	Arizona ESPN College GameDay	W 82–60	20–2 (8–1)	Pauley Pavilion (12,111) Los Angeles, CA
February 7, 2008  FSN	No. 4	at No. 17 Washington State	W 67–59	21–2 (9–1)	Beasley Coliseum (9,547) Pullman, WA
February 10, 2008  FSN	No. 4	at Washington	L 61–71	21–3 (9–2)	Bank of America Arena (10,000) Seattle, WA
February 17, 2008  FSN	No. 6	at USC	W 56–46	22–3 (10–2)	Galen Center (10,258) Los Angeles, CA
February 21, 2008  FSN West	No. 6	Oregon State	W 84–49	23–3 (11–2)	Pauley Pavilion (9,727) Los Angeles, CA
February 23, 2008  ABC	No. 6	Oregon	W 75–65	24–3 (12–2)	Pauley Pavilion (11,355) Los Angeles, CA
February 28, 2008  FSN PT	No. 4	at Arizona State	W 79–40	25–3 (12–2)	Wells Fargo Arena (11,419) Tempe, AZ
March 2, 2008  CBS	No. 4	at Arizona	W 68–66	26–3 (14–2)	McKale Center (14,624) Tucson, AZ
March 6, 2008  FSN	No. 2	No. 7 Stanford	W 77–67 OT	27–3 (15–2)	Pauley Pavilion (12,671) Los Angeles, CA
March 8, 2008  ABC	No. 2	California	W 81–80	28–3 (16–2)	Pauley Pavilion (11,614) Los Angeles, CA
Pac-10 Tournament
March 13, 2008  FSN	No. 2 (1)	vs. (9) California Quarterfinals	W 88–66	29–3	Staples Center (17,194) Los Angeles, CA
March 14, 2008  FSN	No. 2 (1)	vs. (4) USC Semifinals	W 57–54	30–3	Staples Center (18,997) Los Angeles, CA
March 15, 2008  CBS	No. 2 (1)	vs. No. 11 (2) Stanford Finals	W 67–64	31–3	Staples Center (17,534) Los Angeles, CA
NCAA tournament
March 20, 2008*  CBS	No. 2 (1 W)	vs. (16 W) Mississippi Valley State First Round	W 70–29	32–3	Honda Center (17,600) Anaheim, CA
March 22, 2008*  CBS	No. 2 (1 W)	vs. (9 W) Texas A&M Second Round	W 51–49	33–3	Honda Center (17,600) Anaheim, CA
March 27, 2008*  CBS	No. 2 (1 W)	vs. (12 W) Western Kentucky Sweet Sixteen	W 88–78	34–3	US Airways Center (18,103) Phoenix, AZ
March 29, 2008*  CBS	No. 2 (1 W)	vs. No. 12 (3 W) Xavier Elite Eight	W 76–57	35–3	US Airways Center (18,103) Phoenix, AZ
April 5, 2008  CBS	No. 2 (1 W)	vs. No. 3 (1 S) Memphis Final Four	L 63–78 [note 2]	35–4	Alamodome (43,718) San Antonio, TX
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Pacific Time.

Source:^{[11][12][13][14]}

Notes

1. USC vacated 21 wins from the 2007–08
2. Memphis vacated 38 wins from the 2007–08

Awards

UCLA's Kevin Love on the perimeter at Pac-10 Championship game against Stanford at Staples Center, Los Angeles, 2008. Ben Howland and the UCLA bench looks on from the sideline.

Pac-10 Player of the Year

Kevin Love^[15]

Pac-10 Freshman of the Year

Kevin Love^[15]

Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year

Russell Westbrook^[15]

All-Pac-10 first team

Kevin Love^[15]

All-Pac-10 second team

Darren Collison^[15]

All-Pac-10 third team

Russell Westbrook^[15]

Pac-10 All-Defensive team

Darren Collison^[15]

Russell Westbrook^[15]

Kevin Love (honorable mention)^[15]

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (honorable mention)^[15]

Pac-10 Tournament Most Outstanding Player

Darren Collison^[6]

Pac-10 All-Tournament Team

Kevin Love^[16]

Russell Westbrook^[16]

U.S. Basketball Writers Association First Team All-America

Kevin Love^[17]

Oscar Robertson Trophy nominee

Kevin Love^[18]

U.S. Basketball Writers Association District IX Player of the Year

Kevin Love^[19]

U.S. Basketball Writers Association All-District IX team

Kevin Love^[19]

Darren Collison^[19]

Pac-10 Men's Basketball Player of the Week

Kevin Love – November 19–25^[20]

Kevin Love – January 7–13^[21]

Kevin Love – January 21–27^[22]

Darren Collison – February 12–18^[23]

See also

• 2008 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament
• 2008 Pacific-10 Conference men's basketball tournament
• 2007-08 NCAA Division I men's basketball season
• 2007-08 NCAA Division I men's basketball rankings

Notes

• The Bruins had the most ever wins for a final record (including postseason tournaments) as well, with 35.
• Seven of the Bruins wins were vs. ranked teams (AP Top-25) at the time they played: (#11 Michigan State, #20 Stanford, #4 Washington State, #17 Washington State, #7 Stanford, #11 Stanford and #12 Xavier)

References

1. "ESPN.com – 2007–08 rankings". Archived from the original on January 31, 2008. Retrieved February 25, 2008.
2. "Love leads Bruins to third straight Final Four". The Sports Network. March 30, 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2008.^{[dead link]}
3. "Memo to the NBA: Love IS All You Need". www.SportsHubLA.com. March 29, 2008. Archived from the original on April 1, 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2008.
4. "Love is all you need, or at least so it seems". Daily Bruin. March 3, 2008. Archived from the original on November 22, 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2008.
5. "UCLA 2007–08 team statistics". Archived from the original on March 28, 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2008.
6. "This week in Pac-10 men's basketball". Retrieved March 30, 2008.^{[dead link]}
7. O'Neill, Dana (August 20, 2009). "Memphis also gets 3 years' probation". ESPN. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
8. "2007–08 UCLA Bruins roster". Archived from the original on December 3, 2007. Retrieved December 1, 2007.
9. "Hazzard To Give Up Number". Archived from the original on August 25, 2012.
10. "Retired Jerseys at UCLA". Archived from the original on April 30, 2008. Retrieved April 15, 2008.
11. "2007-08 Review" (PDF). uclabruins.com. UCLA Athletics.
12. "Season by Season Records" (PDF). UCLA Athletics.
13. "UCLA Bruins Schedule- 2007-08". ESPN. ESPN.
14. "UCLA Bruins 2007–08 schedule". Archived from the original on November 20, 2007. Retrieved November 21, 2007.
15. "UCLA Dominates Pac-10 Player of the Year Honors". March 10, 2007. Archived from the original on March 14, 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2008.
16. "Pac-10 News" (PDF). March 17, 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 22, 2011. Retrieved March 30, 2008.
17. "Love Named USBWA First Team All-America". March 17, 2007. Archived from the original on March 18, 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2008.
18. "Kevin Love nominated for Oscar Robertson Trophy". March 5, 2007. Archived from the original on April 10, 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2008.
19. "Love Named Sporting News All-American, USBWA Player of the Year". March 11, 2007. Archived from the original on April 10, 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2008.
20. "Kevin Love named Pacific-10 Player of the Week". November 26, 2007. Archived from the original on March 8, 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2008.
21. "Kevin Love named Pacific-10 Player of the Week". January 14, 2008. Archived from the original on April 1, 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2008.
22. "Kevin Love named Pacific-10 Player of the Week". January 28, 2008. Archived from the original on April 8, 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2008.
23. "Darren Collison Named U.S. Bank Pacific-10 Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week". February 19, 2008. Archived from the original on March 14, 2008. Retrieved March 30, 2008.

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