UCLA Bruins Basketball Tickets

For the second straight season, UCLA ended up in the Final Four. Unfortunately for the Bruins, they also lost to Florida in the Final Four for the second consecutive season as well.

The Bruins entered 2006 as one of the favorites to compete for a national championship and they certainly didn't disappoint, rolling through the regulars season en route to the Pac-10 championship and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The outlook for 2007 is bright despite the early departure of shooting guard Aaron Afflalo. Afflalo came up big in the NCAA Tournament, especially against Kansas in the Elite Eight when his hot shooting with the shot clock winding down proved disheartening for the Jayhawks on several occasions.

Point guard Darren Collison will be returning in 2007. Collison is a terrific decision maker and an outstanding defender who will probably need to look to score more in the upcoming season, especially with Afflalo leaving for the NBA.

UCLA's most glaring weakness last season was their inside game, which was pretty much non-existent. Lorenzo Matta did an admirable job eating minutes and playing hard on both ends of the court, but the Bruins lacked an inside force.

Enter freshman Kevin Love, who is expected to drastically improve the scoring for UCLA in the low post, which will in turn help the team to be more effective from the outside and open things up a bit for the guards.

As is expected, Ben Howland's teams will play ferocious defense and never give up no matter what the score, as shown a few years ago by their miracle comeback victory against Adam Morrison and Gonzaga in the Sweet 16.

Expect UCLA to be one of the favorites yet again to make their third consecutive appearance in the Final Four. Bruins fans can only hope that the third time proves a charm for their national championship aspirations.