The experts that have extolled the virtues of Kevin Durant and Greg Oden all season have forgotten one very important thing: in March, you only go as far as your guards carry you.
Maryland had Juan Dixon, Connecticut had Ben Gordon and North Carolina had Raymond Felton and Rashad McCants. And although Joakim Noah won the Most Outstanding Player in last year's Tournament, Florida would not have made it past the Sweet 16 without the heroics of Corey Brewer.
Guards win championships, and the team with the best backcourt in the nation this season is UCLA. You've probably never seen the defending runners-up-playing all those late-night games on FSN doesn't help-but no team has as complete a backcourt as the Bruins.
Teams usually don't get better when they lose their best player to the NBA, but UCLA has thrived this season even after the departure of point guard Jordan Farmar. That's because Darren Collison-Farmar's replacement-has emerged as the best pure point guard in the country.
In an era of combo guards, Collison is the closest thing the college game has to Steve Nash, running the best pick-and-roll in the country. If you don't hedge or switch, he can beat his man for a floater down the lane. If you hedge too aggressively, he'll locate the open man for a layup. Oh and by the way, he shoots 49.4 percent from beyond the arc.
Collison wasn't even the Pac-10 Player of the Year, that award went to his backcourt mate, Bruins' leading scorer Arron Afflalo. Afflalo has raised his average to 17.5 points per game this season by developing into a complete scorer. Instead of relying on his spot-up shooting, the junior has learned to beat his man off the bounce and get to the rim.
He also possesses a smooth midrange jumper and the late-game fortitude that have become rarities in college basketball-talents he illustrated when he beat USC with a 15-footer in the final seconds in January.
Collison and Afflalo also allow UCLA to play at multiple tempos. The Bruins can both light up the scoreboard and execute in the halfcourt. All the while, UCLA plays head coach Ben Howland's trademark lockdown defense-the same style that held No. 1-seed Memphis and a hot LSU team to 45 points each in last season's NCAA Tournament. This season the Bruins have limited opponents to just over 60 points per game.
UCLA has the experience, the defense and, most importantly, the guards to cut down the nets and bring yet another title back to Westwood.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.