There’s no time to waste for Bruins

In the one-and-done era of college basketball, where a standout freshman such as Kevin Love enters college with a checklist -- win conference titles (check and check), capture an NCAA championship -- before immediately heading off to the NBA, the window to win seems to be getting shorter.

Ohio State missed out last season when it had Greg Oden and Mike Conley Jr., but Florida had a nice two-year run with Joakim Noah, Al Horford, Corey Brewer, Taurean Green and Lee Humphrey.

Now comes UCLA and Coach Ben Howland, which has been to consecutive Final Fours and has been ranked among the top teams in the nation for nearly three years running, yet risks being deemed a failure in some quarters if it doesn’t get over the hump and finally take home the title.

“That’s what the expectations are for us,” UCLA junior Josh Shipp said after UCLA beat Stanford to win the Pacific 10 Conference tournament. “Anything less than an NCAA championship this year would feel like a failure because our goals are so high.”

When Howland took UCLA on an unexpected run to the national championship game two years ago, it was with a team led by sophomore point guard Jordan Farmar.

Farmar sparkled in the tournament and then, after the Bruins lost to favored Florida in the championship game, spoke movingly of wanting to come back and win a title.

But Farmar happily left for the NBA afterward -- as a first-round draft pick of the Lakers.

When Howland took UCLA to the Final Four last year -- another unexpected trip, because who knew Darren Collison would so seamlessly replace Farmar? -- it was a team led by junior guard Arron Afflalo.

Afflalo cried in the locker room after the Bruins lost again to Florida, this time in a national semifinal, and said how much it would mean to come back and help UCLA win a title.

But Afflalo was soon announcing his departure for the NBA; he became a first-round pick of the Detroit Pistons.

If Howland takes a third UCLA team to the Final Four, it will be a team where all five starters have been, at some time this season, projected as possible NBA draftees. Not one of them is a senior.

Love and Collison, a junior, are widely considered to be in this June’s NBA draft.

Sophomore guard Russell Westbrook, who blossomed into the Pac-10’s defensive player of the year while causing NBA scouts to take notice when he dunked over 7-foot centers, 6-8 forwards and 6-5 guards, is now listed in pre-draft projections as a first-round pick if he leaves early. Junior forwards Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Josh Shipp probably will at least declare for the draft and get themselves evaluated.

“That’s the way it is,” Howland said. “We went to the Final Four once and Jordan Farmar left. We went back and Arron Afflalo left. Of course our goal is to go back again. Then we’ll see what happens.”

The Bruins, seeded No. 1 in the NCAA West Regional, are aiming at not only a third straight Final Four appearance but also a 12th NCAA championship -- and are doing it with a team that has only one senior, Lorenzo Mata-Real, in its eight-man rotation.

And UCLA is considered a veteran team.

But don’t feel sorry for Howland.

Many experts ranked his incoming recruiting class as No. 1 in the country. The star of the group, Campbell Hall High guard Jrue Holiday, probably won’t earn national high school player-of-the-year awards as Love did, but he’ll get votes. And UCLA fans are already asking, “Do you think Jrue will stay two years?”

USC Coach Tim Floyd, who has his own probable one-and-done star in guard O.J. Mayo, said that a rules change two years ago when it was decided that the NBA wouldn’t draft a player until he is a year out of high school, makes the pressure to win NCAA titles quickly more intense.

“Getting to the Final Four in back-to-back years, now that’s an extraordinary achievement,” Floyd said. “You’re going to see more rapid ups and downs, more downward and upward cycles. You won’t see dynasties anymore.”

Howland managed this season with controlled urgency, understanding that he would have Love for only a brief time.

Last December, Howland announced a decision to redshirt forward James Keefe while the sophomore recovered from off-season shoulder surgery. But during the announcement, Howland said he would return Keefe to playing status as late as mid-January if it seemed necessary.

Which is exactly what he did when swingman Michael Roll suffered a foot injury. Roll will be eligible for a redshirt season if he doesn’t play again, yet Howland has been unwilling to say for sure that Roll won’t play again this season.

Former UCLA star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said he suspects coaches at premier programs such as UCLA feel immediate urgency to win titles with short-term stars such as Love.

“If I was in [Howland’s] position and trying to be wise about it, I would understand the nature of the game and accept it,” Abdul-Jabbar said.

Howland said he understands that nature and the expectations that come from having an elite player such as Love -- even if it is for only one season.

“It’s a good problem to have,” Howland said. “I want to have players in that mix, to be talked about having a chance to go to the NBA. I want that problem. And if you have those types of players, then you’ll have a chance to win championships and you’ll expect to.”

Floyd said he and all coaches are still trying to figure out the pluses and minuses of having a Love or Mayo for a single season.

“It’s still to be determined, the history of what one-year players contribute as to their worth to a program,” Floyd said. “Is that the way to go? Right now coaches are leery of staying away from talent, but this is a period of transition. It’s the Carmelo Anthony factor.”

Anthony was the fabulous freshman who spent one year in college and led Syracuse to a national championship in 2003 -- Coach Jim Boeheim’s first and only NCAA title.

Boeheim had led two other teams to the Final Four, three to the Elite Eight, 12 to the Sweet 16 and 21 to the NCAA tournament while gaining a reputation as a “can’t-win-the-big-one” coach.

“I guess the monkey is off my back,” Boeheim said the night Syracuse beat Kansas for the title. “I don’t feel any smarter. I’m not a better coach than I was two days ago when I was the guy who couldn’t win it all.”

The Kansas team Syracuse beat was coached by Roy Williams. As soon as the buzzer sounded, Williams became the guy who couldn’t win the big game. For a while, he was the the winningest active coach in college basketball but also known as “Coach O-For” as in 0-for-Final Fours. He took Kansas to four Final Fours before finally winning the biggest game in 2005 as head coach at North Carolina.

Syracuse isn’t in the 2008 tournament, just as it wasn’t in 2007. It’s the first time since 1980 that Boeheim’s team has missed consecutive NCAA tournaments.

Williams’ North Carolina teams haven’t gone further than the Elite Eight since winning the 2005 title and there is no college coach with the “can’t win the big one” reputation.

Yet.

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Times staff writer Mike Bresnahan contributed to this report.

diane.pucin@latimes.com

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Deep six

This season is expected to be the last at UCLA for Darren Collison and Kevin Love, who are expected to head for the NBA. Russell Westbrook, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and perhaps even Josh Shipp may also at least test the waters to see where they might stand in the draft, and Lorenzo Mata-Real is a senior who will have exhausted his eligibility.

Those six are among the Bruins’ top seven scorers and rebounders. They also account for the vast majority of assists, steals and rebounds.

SCORING

Love: 582

Shipp: 441

Westbrook: 430

Collison: 426

Mbah a Moute: 256

Mata-Real: 102

Total of 6: 2,237

Team total: 2,519

Pct. of 6: 88.8%

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REBOUNDING

Love: 362

Mbah a Moute: 157

Westbrook: 128

Mata-Real: 116

Shipp: 110

Collison: 75

Total of 6: 948

Team total: 1,227

Pct. of 6: 77.3%

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ASSISTS

Total of 6: 448

Team total: 493

Pct. of 6: 90.9%

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STEALS

Total of 6: 216

Team total: 253

Pct. of 6: 85.4%

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BLOCKS

Total of 6: 107

Team total: 125

Pct. of 6: 84.9%