Howland’s Grand Plan Is Hard to Fault

To understand his wisdom, you must first understand his water.

Before every game, the UCLA team manager constructs a makeshift bottle holder on the scorer’s table next to the Bruin bench.

It’s a roll of masking tape, affixed to the table with more masking tape.

Into that holder, Coach Ben Howland places the bottled water that he will drink during the game.

He’ll use only that holder. He’ll drink only from that bottle.

It’s ugly, it’s odd, but during the chaos of the final minutes, when requiring a basic for survival, he knows exactly where to look, and he knows precisely what he will find.

Just like his team.

“With Coach Howland, it’s all about the details,” forward Cedric Bozeman said. “Details, details, details.”

Those details today add up to a Final Four appearance for the stifling Bruins, who play loose Louisiana State tonight at the RCA Dome in the second semifinal game at 8:47 p.m. local time.

Which means Howland’s team won’t show up at the gym until 7:30.

“That late?” asked a tourney scheduling official.

“We don’t like to get here and wait around,” said Chris Carlson, the Bruins’ director of operations.

In the structured world of Ben Howland, idle time is the devil’s locker room, so every minute and movement is accounted for, especially those on the court, which means reaching the Final Four is only the second-most amazing thing to happen to his flashy young athletes.

The most amazing thing being, they have done so without mutiny.

“It’s not always been real pretty; it’s like watching paint dry,” said Damon Farmar, father of star guard Jordan, who has sometimes quietly bristled under Howland’s reins. “But winning is a great deodorant.”

Do all the Bruins love their coach? No.

Do all the Bruins love winning? Yes.

For Howland, the Final Four is more than just a testament; it’s a turnaround jumper, the successful altering of the mind-set of a program in which everyone wanted to be the Man.

“Look around, we’re in the Final Four, they are the Man!” Howland said Friday. “Everybody on this team is the Man.”

Well, no, actually, the Bruins are the Men, a melting pot of egos and abilities that the coach has turned into a solid force of energy.

The Man? That’s Howland, from his filming of practice warmups to his holding team meetings on the court after games.

Howland’s imprint is on Arron Afflalo’s modesty, on Jordan Farmar’s unselfishness, on Ryan Hollins’ toughness, and even on Gonzaga’s Adam Morrison’s meltdown.

Remember when Morrison collapsed at midcourt after the Bruin victory last week?

Remember how Afflalo and Hollins bent down to console him?

In a move that the TV cameras missed, Howland pulled the two players off the Gonzaga kid and urged them back to their teammates.

Some thought the hardened coach was being insensitive.

Howland said he was only trying to help Morrison.

“I wanted to give him some breathing room, give his teammates a chance to console him,” Howland said.

That folks thought otherwise shows the toughness of Howland’s reputation.

In a place where basketball is associated with beauty, it is a toughness that will be easily digested only when accompanied by winning.

Howland’s best act so far this season isn’t winning 31 games, it’s in doing so while walking that tightrope.

“We do whatever Coach Howland says, he knows what’s best for us,” said Lorenzo Mata, standing in front of his locker, holding a plastic mask.

This week, in a typically rough Howland practice, Mata broke his nose.

Earlier Friday, in another rough Howland practice, Hollins bruised his leg.

If the injuries affect UCLA’s game tonight, the same people who love Howland’s intensity will be questioning his refusal to back off during this most important week of the season.

“You play how you practice, and I’m not going to change that now,” Howland said.

He has indeed changed nothing during this tournament, which has resulted in wild blessings and near-fatal flaws.

His controlled play nearly cost them the second-round game against Alabama, after which Jordan Farmar explained the players’ occasional frustration with the reins.

“I’m coming down the court and it’s too loud to hear anything, so four guys are looking over my shoulder at the bench for the play, then I’m looking at the bench for the play, and when we’re finally ready to go, we have 10 seconds left on the shot clock,” he said.

But then he smiled.

“Hey, we’re winning, so I’m not complaining.”

And, indeed, a week later, Howland’s controlled play won the game against Gonzaga, with the Bruins mounting a slow and painstaking comeback, refusing to run or rush, finally wearing down the Zags with their patience and persistence.

“I always thought, if you have a bunch of thoroughbreds, you let them run, you don’t stifle their athleticism,” said Damon Farmar, who has attended every game during Jordan’s two-year career. “But, you know, if you can score 50 points and win a game, we’ll all take it.”

So will Howland, although he’ll have to wash it down with -- gasp -- a paper cup.

The NCAA does not allow water bottles during the NCAA tournament because -- and we’re not making this up -- their advertiser’s name can be better seen on big paper cups.

Howland used the paper cup in the first two rounds, then somehow got away with using a bottle in the second two rounds, but now he knows he must return to the cup.

Said Howland: “You just roll with it.”

Said Carlson: “Our manager is figuring out a spot for it right now.”

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.