UCLA coach says Love deserves honor

UCLA Coach Ben Howland said Monday he was thrilled freshman Kevin Love was selected the Pacific 10 Conference player of the year by a vote of league coaches but disappointed that junior point guard Darren Collison wasn’t a first-team all-conference choice.

“It’s a little frustrating for me, looking at his numbers,” Howland said of Collison. “He’s No. 1 in the league in free throws, No. 1 in steals, No. 2 in assists, he’s shooting 53% from three[-point range], he’s averaging 15.4 points a game which is ninth, he’s on the all-defensive team. I really believed he’d be first team.”

Howland said Love, a 6-foot-10 center who is averaging 17.4 points and 10.9 rebounds, was “definitely deserving” of player of the year. Love is only the second freshman in league history to win the award. California’s Shareef Abdur-Rahim was the first in 1996.

Love was also selected freshman of the year, and Bruins sophomore guard Russell Westbrook was chosen defensive player of the year.

Love was joined on the all-conference first team by two other freshmen -- guards O.J. Mayo of USC and James Harden of Arizona State -- and sophomore forwards Brook Lopez of Stanford and Ryan Anderson of California. Collison was on the second team and Westbrook and USC’s Taj Gibson were on the third team.

Joining Love, Mayo and Harden on the all-freshman team were Arizona’s Jerryd Bayless and USC’s Davon Jefferson.

Stanford’s Trent Johnson was coach of the year.

Love, who averaged 18.2 and 11.5 rebounds in conference play, is the third UCLA player in four years to be freshman of the year -- Luc Richard Mbah a Moute was honored in 2006 and Jordan Farmar in 2005.

Seven Bruins have been player of the year since the inception of the award in 1975-76. “I didn’t think they’d give it to a freshman,” Love said. “In a way I knew I was up for contention, but a lot of people don’t like UCLA.”

And Love was quick to point out that he was also selected honorable mention on the all-defensive team. “That’s my favorite thing,” Love said. “After all the grief Coach Howland gave me about my defense.”

Coaches couldn’t vote for their own players and Howland wouldn’t divulge his first-team choices.

“No question Mayo deserved to be on there,” the UCLA coach said. “I laugh at anyone who suggests anything other than that he is one of the best players in the country.”

Love, Collison and Mayo are also on the final 24-man ballot for the John R. Wooden Award, given annually in April to the best college basketball player.

-- Diane Pucin

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Former UCLA coach John Wooden, 97, who has been hospitalized since Feb. 29 after breaking his left wrist and collarbone in a fall, might be released as soon as today.

Wooden’s daughter Nan Muehlhausen said her father’s heartbeat had returned to normal.

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Seniors Scott Cutley of Cal State Fullerton and Alex Harris of UC Santa Barbara were chosen Big West Conference co-players of the year, the league announced.

Bobby Braswell of Cal State Northridge was coach of the year and UC Davis guard Mark Payne was freshman of the year.

Cutley, a 6-5 forward, averaged 14.6 points and 7.7 rebounds for Fullerton. Harris, a 6-6 guard, averaged 20.3 points, reaching double figures in all 29 games.

Joining Cutley and Harris on the all-conference first team were swingman Jonathan Heard of Northridge, guards Steffan Johnson of Pacific and Donovan Morris of Long Beach State, and forward Patrick Sanders of UC Irvine.

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The Washington Huskies say junior forward Jon Brockman has a sprained left ankle and is questionable for his team’s Pac-10 tournament opener Wednesday at Staples Center against California.

Brockman sprained his ankle with 1:56 left in Washington’s double-overtime loss at Washington State on Saturday.

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Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina became the third player in Atlantic Coast Conference history to be unanimously selected three times to the All-ACC team.

Hansbrough joins North Carolina State’s David Thompson (1973-75) and Duke’s Art Heyman (1961-63).