HEAVYWEIGHT REMATCHES
UCLA faces fully loaded team in defending national champs

ATLANTA (AP) - They say teams learn lessons from their losses. If so, UCLA should be more than ready for its rematch with Florida in the Final Four.

For 40 excruciating minutes in last year’s final, the Bruins forced bad shots, played tentative defense, got outhustled and outcoached.

"Just about everything we could have done better," UCLA Coach Ben Howland said.

A year after Florida’s 73-57 victory, most of the players on both teams remain the same. It’s up to the Bruins to try to force a different result in tonight’s semifinal.

Easier said than done.

Yes, UCLA has four key players, including Arron Afflalo and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, back from last year’s debacle. But Florida brought back all five starters.

Yes, UCLA has spent a year being motivated by its loss, for failing to bring a 12th championship to Pauley Pavilion. But Florida has spent the same year trying to prove it can win it all again and become the first team to repeat since 1992 and the first to win consecutive titles with the same starting five.

Florida Coach Billy Donovan has tried to disconnect this season from last.

"We’re a changed basketball team," he insisted. "I think when you go through the experiences we went through last year, we’re all different. I think the coaches are different, the players are different, your team’s different."

While their stats are all hovering around where they were last year, Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer and company have played from the front this year, haven’t snuck up on anyone and, with that burden, have tied last year’s school record with 33 victories.

They have overcome adversity, going on their current eight-game winning streak after losing three of four near the end of the regular season.

Now, they’re trying to overcome the distraction of Donovan’s future, which has been thrown into question with the sudden departure of Tubby Smith at Kentucky.

"I really don’t know if mental toughness is something that can be learned," Donovan said. "I think as you get older, you get more mature. I think you can handle it better. But I think our guys have been through a lot. They understand what type of mind-set they need to be in to play to the very best of our ability."

UCLA is in very much the same place, only without the title.

Well, actually, the Bruins have plenty of titles. But this group has yet to add a banner to the rafters, which are reserved only for national championships.

Afflalo keeps a picture in his room from last year’s final - one that shows him sitting on the bench with a bowed head in the final seconds. Brewer shut Afflalo down on the perimeter that night in Indianapolis last year. Noah blocked six shots and altered many others. Afflalo shot 3 for 10 and never got into a rhythm.

Also returning for UCLA are big men Mbah a Moute and Lorenzo Mata. Mbah a Moute was dominant last year in the semifinal win against LSU but a nonfactor against Florida. Darren Collison came off the bench last season but is the starting guard opposite Afflalo this year.

"We have very good players. Obviously, they have great players," Howland said.

Everyone knows the difference between very good and great.

It’s winning.

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