Bruins glide into Final Four

Freshman center Kevin Love gave point guard Darren Collison a piggyback ride and senior center Lorenzo Mata-Real used his mother's video camera to record the teary-eyed UCLA parents in the stands, but otherwise the Bruins were purposeful in speaking more about "unfinished business" than about Saturday's accomplishments.

The victory moved UCLA (35-3) into its third consecutive and 18th overall Final Four and gave the Bruins 98 NCAA tournament victories. Kentucky has the most with 100. Two more wins for the Bruins and they will be national champions for the 12th time, but that's getting ahead of the story. Xavier (30-7) was in only its second Elite Eight.

The Bruins will play the winner of today's game between the South Region's top teams, Memphis and Texas, in a national semifinal next Saturday in San Antonio.

UCLA lost to Texas, 63-61, on Dec. 2 at Pauley Pavilion and beat Memphis two years ago in the West Regional final. Two years ago, UCLA lost to Florida in the national championship game and last year the Bruins lost to the Gators in a semifinal. "So we've been runner up and semifinalist," Love said. "Now we need the other thing."

But that's also getting ahead of the story.

For the first time in this NCAA tournament (running over 16th-seeded Mississippi Valley State doesn't count) UCLA dominated a good team from start to finish.

Love was selected the region's most outstanding player after his 19-point, 10-rebound performance. Junior forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, the only Bruin to have started in the three consecutive regional finals, had 13 points and 13 rebounds and exhibited no evidence of soreness in his sprained left ankle.

"I told you it felt better," Mbah a Moute said. A day earlier he had limped into the arena wearing a protective boot.

Sophomore Russell Westbrook was crackling with energy and scored first with a dunk after a steal from Xavier star Josh Duncan. He finished with 17 points and three assists. Point guard Darren Collison, motivated by comments from Xavier senior Stanley Burrell, who said he was eager to guard Collison, rebounded from a four-point, five-foul output Thursday against Western Kentucky to have 19 points and five assists.