Howland takes UCLA so near, but only so far

With six minutes left in the first half Saturday, Kevin Love turned to the UCLA bench and shouted to his coach in weary despair.

His shirt was stained dark blue with sweat. His stare was glazed over with wonder. His screams were about the stunning combination of pounding and precision that was Memphis.

Ben Howland spread his arms and answered for the entire Bruins nation.

"What do you want me to do, Kevin?" he shouted back.

What did we want him to do, indeed.

Third time's a swarm.

For a third consecutive season, the Bruins showed up at college basketball's Final Four as if they had just stepped into the NBA's Western Conference.

They didn't fit. They didn't compare. They didn't belong.

For a third consecutive season, Howland's players weren't good enough, and his system wasn't adaptable enough, and the tears couldn't come fast enough.

"This is going to be in the back of my mind for the rest of my life," said senior Lorenzo Mata-Real, rubbing his red eyes. "I lost in three straight Final Fours."

The final score in the national semifinal was Memphis 78, UCLA 63, and A Certain Columnist zero.

I wrote that UCLA would win because Howland would outcoach Memphis' John Calipari.

I was wrong. I was embarrassingly wrong. I was as wrong as Calipari's hair is stiff.

More on that later. In the end, this game was about the players, and UCLA's were hurting.

The irrepressible Love ended the game with his head in his hands.

"To see this happen, it's really tough," he said after missing seven of 11 shots.

The dancing Darren Collison ended the game with the world on his shoulders.

"The only way people are going to remember us is that we lost three straight times in the Final Four," he said after making just one of nine shots and being shoved around on defense. "It's on us. It's on me."

The optimistic Luc Richard Mbah a Moute ended the game draped in sadness.

"Of the three Final Four losses, this was the hardest," he said after missing eight of 13 shots. "We really thought we had a chance to win this game."

That thought was misguided. The view that Howland's hard-nosed schemes can control far quicker and more athletic teams was misguided.

Again.

UCLA's methodical offense and oppressive defense was supposed to frustrate running Memphis.