Howland’s opus guides the Bruins

At the end of another breathtaking afternoon for one of this town’s most breathless leaders, Ben Howland just couldn’t stop coaching.

He was sitting at an elevated table in the postgame news conference in the bowels of Staples Center. His tie was loose, his face was relaxed, the game had been finished for nearly an hour.

His UCLA Bruins had just won the Pacific 10 Conference tournament with a 67-64 victory over Stanford, guaranteeing a No. 1 seeding for the NCAA tournament, setting the stage for a third consecutive Final Four run.

But, no, Howland just couldn’t stop coaching.

During one of his answers, he remembered one of his peeves.

“Oh yeah, I will say this now, I really wish Russell Westbrook had contested that last shot,” he said, looking down the table at the four Bruins players also seated there.

Howland paused.

“Is he here?” he said.

No, Westbrook wasn’t there.

“He’s not here?” he said, pausing only for a second. “Well, anyway, I wish he would have contested that last shot.”

He not only coaches a moment that had already been forgotten, he coaches a player who couldn’t possibly be listening.

He coaches not only Xs and O’s, but the details behind them, the slants of the X, the curves of the O, and the focus required to understand.

On Saturday, during two hours when the Bruins should have folded or fled, Howland coached it all.

On a day when Darren Collison took over with 28 flying points, the victory was more about the solidity of the five-year foundation that Howland has laid.

He goaded them into forgetting about the sprained ankle of Luc Richard Mbah a Moute.

He pushed them into ignoring the knee-buckling back spasms suffered by Kevin Love.

He prodded James Keefe into stepping up, and everyone else into buying in.

And, finally, when all else was accomplished, he even coached the ruthlessly robotic red-coated Staples Center ushers, and how impossible is that?

There were about four minutes to play, and the Bruins led by six points, and suddenly the robots moved a huge spool of rope next to the Bruins bench, in preparation for keeping the masses from joining the postgame celebration.

Rope? Here? Now?

“Get this rope off the floor,” Howland screamed, and you should have seen the robots scramble, jaws dropping, headsets flying, several of them hustling around the bench and dragging the spool into an aisle.

A couple of possessions later, when the Bruins led by 10 points, Howland walked over and smilingly explained himself to the robots, but no need.

This is tournament time. This is madness time. This is howling, harried Howland time.

This weekend Howland became only the third coach in college basketball history to lead one team to at least 30 wins for three consecutive seasons.

In a couple of weeks, he could become only the third coach to lead one team to three consecutive Final Four appearances since the tournament expanded to 64 teams.

In fact, he demands it.

“On our first day of practice, we talked about three goals,” Love said. “Well, we’ve got two out of three, now we need to get the third.”

The goals were Pac-10 regular-season championship, Pac-10 tournament championship, and national championship.

Yes, national championship, nothing less, straight from Howland’s voice to Love’s hair.

“This is a piece of the net from one big win,” said Love, pulling a bit of Staples Center twine from where it rested behind his ear. “But we need one more piece of net, and it’s going to have to come from San Antonio.”

Howland’s impact Saturday began with Love, who suffered back spasms from the first time he touched the ball.

“I tried to explode to the hoop and I felt a tough pull or a cramp in my back,” he said.

The pain was so bad, Love left three times during a first-half stretch in which Stanford was building what became an eight-point lead. But each time, Love obviously felt good enough to return.

So midway through the first half, when Love again complained on the court, holding his knees and wincing, Howland pulled him out.

The message: If you’re going to act hurt, you are hurt, and that hurts the team.

“You know what?” Love shouted at the assistant coaches as he walked off the court, “if this is what’s going to happen, I’m not going to show any emotion again.”

What happened next seemingly happens to every player who has ever felt Howland’s ire.

They get mad. Then they get tough.

Love quietly fought through the spasms and eventually helped clinch the comeback with a three-pointer, a follow shot, and two free throws in the last seven minutes.

“We could have given up this game easy, but we play to win,” Love said. “I wanted to play. . . . I just had to keep on my poker face.”

Howland smiled.

“He’s a strong kid,” he said. “They’re all strong kids.”

Then there was Keefe, the backup suddenly thrust into themix because of Mbah a Moute’s injury.

He had been struggling during his brief time in the first half when he was beaten to the ball by a Cardinal on a missed Stanford free throw.

Howland turned to one of his coaches.

“Who didn’t block out on that play?” he shouted.

“Keefe,” the assistant said.

“Aboya, go in for Keefe and block out,” Howland shouted.

And what did Keefe do in the second half?

Eight points, three offensive rebounds, one blocked shot, one saved game.

“It just goes to show you never know,” Howland said.

Oh, Keefe knows. They all know.

“It’s a tight ship around here, you have to take pride in every possession, you can never slack off,” he said.

And you never complain because, well, look at the results.

“He has made us winners,” Keefe said.

Ending Saturday afternoon. And beginning now.

--

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