Kevin Love has probably played his last game for UCLA and will make himself available for the NBA draft, sources close to the player said Tuesday. While a source said junior point guard Darren Collison had also decided to leave early, Collison said Tuesday night that he had not made any decision on his plans for next season.
"I haven't made up my mind at all," Collison said. "I don't have a decision yet."
Sources said UCLA Coach Ben Howland was told of the decisions Monday. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to make an announcement until after Howland holds a season-ending news conference this afternoon.
Love, a 6-foot-10, 270-pound center, led the Bruins with averages of 17.5 points and 10.6 rebounds. The freshman was Pacific 10 Conference player of the year, a first-team All-American and most outstanding player of the NCAA regional at Anaheim. Collison, a junior point guard, was a third-team All-American.
Love could not be reached for comment; his father, Stan, deferred to Howland; and Howland did not make himself available.
Most NBA draft experts project Love being chosen anywhere from sixth to No. 13 overall, and that is the information Howland gave Love, sources said.
NBA team officials risk seven-figure fines for speaking publicly about college players, but an East team scout said Love had raised his draft position steadily during the Pac-10 season -- from a possible low first-round pick to a lottery pick. And even being held to 12 points and nine rebounds in a 78-63 UCLA loss to Memphis last Saturday in an NCAA semifinal didn't change that.
"That was one game," the scout said, "and as a team UCLA couldn't run its offense."
The Bruins have been prepared to lose Collison since last spring, when the former Etiwanda High standout first considered testing his NBA status.
Collison, 6 feet and 160 pounds, played two of the worst games of his college career in UCLA's last three games. Against Western Kentucky, he fouled out trying to guard Hilltoppers guard Tyrone Brazelton, who scored 31 points and torched him during a second half when the Bruins blew most of a 21-point lead. Then, in the loss to Memphis, he fouled out again, having scored two points with four assists and five turnovers in being dominated by Derrick Rose, a 6-3, 205-pound freshman.
However, an NBA Western Conference team official said, "I thought he was a mid-first round pick [before Memphis]. I think he still is. That's what his talent says to me."
