Hey Russ

[Skkorpion]

Kevin Love and the other super PAC 10 freshmen get all the ink. And Love is being touted as the PAC 10 player of the year.

In my opinion, Love isn't the best player on his own team. Screw the stats. To me, Darren Collison is the single most important player on the best team in the PAC.

He is a leader. A superb defender. A clutch shooter. A team player. There is seemingly nothing he can't or won't do to help his team win. He doesn't seem to care about his stats and has a knack for knowing when and what to do.

I just don't understand why he gets virtually no national recognition as one of, if not the most, complete guards in college basketball. I can't stomach UCLA but Colleson is a joy to watch. He is always all about team. Wish he played for somebody else.

 

[Russ Smith]

Well consider that UCLA went 6-0 without Collison and it's kind of hard to say he's their most valuable player. I think he's a great player but he's not a pure PG he's more of an undersized 2 which is what he played in HS. He's still learning to be a PG he often makes bad decisions on the break for example. Westbrook is actually a better playmaker despite also being a 2, but Collison is really good in his own right and now that he's healthy he's showing it.

His main weakness is a slow release, his shot is a setshot so outside of those floaters in the key he really struggles to get shots sometimes. He's pretty much told Howland he's going pro after this season so the injuries this year really set him back but he seems to be really playing great now.

My personal opinion is Love is the reason UCLA's offense is better this year, he has problems on defense for sure but he's so good offensively that he's opening up everything for others. If UCLA still had Afflalo they'd be unbeaten because they'd have 3 guys to make the open jumpers Love creates, instead of 2(Collison and Shipp). With Afflalo in the NBA and Roll out injured all year UCLA just doesn't have enough shooters to make people really pay for the collapsing defenses they throw at Love. UA double teamed him the whole game one guy behind him and a guard or wing cheating off their man(either Westbrook or Luc) to front him.

Love's a great college player, not sure how good he'll be in the NBA.