Howland says experience gives these Bruins edge over past years

UCLA Coach Ben Howland says he thinks this Bruins team is better than the ones that made it to the NCAA Final Four the last two years.

UCLA (31-3) is seeded No. 1 in the West Regional and will open tournament play Thursday against No. 16-seeded Mississippi Valley State (17-15) at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

“I think it is the best team we’ve had since I’ve been here,” Howland said, “primarily because we have experienced players. Lorenzo Mata-Real, Josh Shipp, Darren Collison, Alfred Aboya, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Mike Roll, guys who have been in back-to-back Final Fours, won back-to-back Pac-10 championships, all that experience is a huge advantage over the previous two years. The more experience the better, especially when it’s positive experience.”

Collison agreed. “We know how good Luc’s been playing of late,” he said. “Shipp had nine rebounds against Stanford. And having Kevin [Love], he’s definitely the thing we didn’t have.”

Love, a 6-foot-10 center, will make scoring easier in the postseason, Collison said.

“My first couple of years, we were guard-oriented. We needed a big man,” the point guard said. “To have someone like Kevin all season long, a big man who was consistent, that’s huge.

“Kevin is so versatile -- he’s a passer, a scorer, a rebounder. We get something good out of him every game. Even on his bad games he’ll still give you good double-doubles.”

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Collison was puzzled when he heard NCAA tournament analysts pronounce that UCLA was given the easiest regional field.

“I disagree with that,” he said, noting that each possible second-round opponent -- either No. 8-seeded Brigham Young or No. 9 Texas A&M; -- played the Bruins close last season. “BYU had us down three at halftime in our own gym,” Collison said. “Texas A&M;, they played us close all game.”

UCLA beat BYU, 82-69, and Texas A&M;, 65-62, at the Wooden Classic at the Honda Center.

Against BYU last year, Mbah a Moute had perhaps his best game as a Bruin, with 24 points, 11 rebounds and two blocked shots. The junior is recovering from a sprained ankle he suffered last Friday against USC that caused him to miss the Pac-10 Conference tournament title game against Stanford.

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UCLA remained No. 3 behind North Carolina and Memphis in the final Associated Press media top 25 poll and was second to North Carolina in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll.

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Love was selected to the United States Basketball Writers Assn. (USBWA) All-American first team Monday.

The rest of the team: North Carolina junior forward Tyler Hansbrough, Kansas State freshman forward Michael Beasley, Texas sophomore guard D.J. Augustin and Memphis junior guard Chris Douglas-Roberts.

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diane.pucin@latimes.com