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UCLA begins road back to Final Four vs. Weber State

Mar 15, 2007 - 2:09 PM Weber St (20-11) at UCLA (26-5) 7:25 pm EDT

SACRAMENTO, California (Ticker) -- Coach Ben Howland and UCLA hope to make a return to the national championship game beginning Thursday.

After enduring two straight losses, the second-seeded Bruins are looking to regain their earlier form when they take on 15th-seeded Weber State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament's West Region.

Following a 73-57 loss to Florida in last season's title game, UCLA bounced back by rolling to a 15-3 showing and the Pac-10 regular-season crown before falling in the conference tourney quarterfinals to California.

"I expected after our loss against Cal that we would be a two seed and play Weber State," said Howland, who is in his fourth season at UCLA. "Not a lot of surprises in the brackets."

Pac-10 Player of the Year Arron Afflalo and backcourt mate Darren Collison look to lead the charge, combining to averaging almost 28 points. Afflalo scored a season-low three points in the loss to California.

The Wildcats return to the tournament for the 14th time and first since the 2003 season, punching their ticket with the Big Sky tournament championship. First-year coach Randy Rahe led the program to a 11-5 conference record and first-place tie.

Weber State's offensive hopes will be riding behind conference Player of the Year David Patten, who is averaging 14.4 points, 5.5 rebounds and shooting 54 percent from the floor.

The Wildcats lost to Wisconsin in the first round in 2003 but won the opening game in their previous two appearances, beating Michigan State in 1995 and North Carolina State in 1999.

The winner advances to face either 10th seed Indiana (20-10) or seventh-seeded Gonzaga (23-10) in the second round on Saturday.