After honor, Afflalo reflects on Florida

Arron Afflalo’s time to celebrate his honors -- his most recent being announced Monday, that he is a first-team member of the Associated Press All-American squad -- will come later, after UCLA finishes the season.

But first the Bruins (30-5) are scheduled to play Florida (33-5) Saturday in an NCAA tournament semifinal in Atlanta.

So while Afflalo and UCLA Coach Ben Howland were available Monday to talk about the junior guard’s latest award, the conversation quickly pointed toward Florida. A year ago, the Gators beat the Bruins, 73-57, in the national title game.

“We just weren’t rotating quickly enough,” Afflalo said. “We have to keep our same idea of doubling the post players, but Florida has two guys who require a lot of attention,” he added in reference to Joakim Noah and Al Horford. “So we have to do a better job of being more focused on that end of the floor.”

Afflalo said the loss to Florida a year ago was “horrible.”

“Not the game itself,” he added, “but the thought of losing. Winners who do things special are never forgotten and to come in second best is not enough. To come in second best last year was very painful.”

Howland said watching tape of last year’s game has not been easy. “We were dominated,” he said. “It’s hard to watch because we were not very good and they were very good.”

If UCLA’s motivation to beat Florida this year is to avoid the pain of losing, Afflalo says Florida players must have a different view.

“They’re a year older,” he said, “they have taken a year and learned from it. They are playing for different purposes than we are. For a large portion of this season they were ranked No. 1. They are the defending champions. They are an exciting team to watch. They play hard and offer a lot of effort. I’ve watched them a lot and those are the things you learn about them just from a fan’s perspective.”

Howland’s perspective is that Florida has behaved as a champion all season. “What they’ve done with a bullet squarely on their chest all year long is be the best team in college basketball,” the coach said. “They are improved from a year ago. So it’s a daunting challenge to take on the same team that handled us a year ago.”

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Afflalo is the first Bruin to be on the AP’s first team since Ed O’Bannon in 1995.

He was joined on the squad by two freshmen, Ohio State’s Greg Oden and Texas’s Kevin Durant, and seniors Alando Tucker of Wisconsin and Acie Law IV from Texas A&M.;

Tucker and Law were the first players from their schools to earn the honor, and this was the first year since 1989 that a freshman has made the team. It is also the first time since freshmen were made eligible in 1972 that two were selected to the same first team. The only other freshmen to have been honored were Oklahoma’s Wayman Tisdale in 1983 and Louisiana State’s Chris Jackson in 1989.

“I’ve been told this is the biggest one, the most important one,” Afflalo said of his latest All-American honor, “and I’m very happy about it, but this is a team sport and I’m so focused on what our team has to do. These different honors I get, they come because of the team.”

diane.pucin@latimes.com

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All-Americans

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Arron Afflalo became the first UCLA player to earn first-team honors on the Associated Press All-American team since Ed O’Bannon in 1995. Players listed are in order of first-team votes received:

* Kevin Durant, Texas (72) Fr.

* Alando Tucker, Wisconsin (64) Sr.

* Acie Law IV, Texas A&M; (59) Sr.

* Arron Afflalo, UCLA (52) Jr.

* Greg Oden, Ohio State (34) Fr.

Second team: Seniors Nick Fazekas of Nevada and Jared Dudley of Boston College, juniors Chris Lofton of Tennessee and Joakim Noah of Florida and sophomore Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina.