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UCLA eyeing run toward third straight Final Four

Mar 20, 2008 - 11:57 AM No. 16 Miss Valley St (17-15) vs. No. 1 UCLA (31-3) 9:55 pm EDT

ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) - Top-seeded UCLA looks to start another run to the Final Four when they play 16th-seeded Mississippi Valley State in an NCAA Tournament West Regional first-round matchup Thursday.

The Bruins (31-3) enter the "Big Dance" on a 10-game winning streak, including a 67-64 victory over Stanford in the Pac-10 championship game.

UCLA, which has been to the Final Four each of the past two seasons as a No. 2 seed, received the top seed for the first time since 1995 - when it won its 11th national championship.

Freshman Kevin Love, the Pac-10 Player of the Year, leads the team at 17.1 points and 10.6 rebounds per game.

UCLA, which returned four starters from last season's squad, has never faced Mississippi Valley State.

The Delta Devils (17-15) won their last nine games en route to the Southwestern Athletic Conference crown, but had started out 0-8 in their non-conference schedule. Mississippi Valley State lost by 33 points to Pittsburgh, 32 to Baylor and by a 71-26 score to Washington State during the first month of the season.

Carl Lucas is scoring 12.7 points per game and Larry Cox is averaging 12.4 and 8.0 rebounds for the Delta Devils.

The winner moves on to face either No. 8 BYU or ninth-seeded Texas A&M in the second round on Saturday.