Just off the heels of its first Pac-10 regular season
championship since the 1996-1997 season, No. 13 UCLA garnered a
plethora of awards Monday. Headlining the list is third-year coach
Ben Howland, who won the Pac-10 Coach of the Year award for the
first time. Howland, 48, led UCLA to a 24-6 record and a 14-4 mark
in conference play. The last time the Bruins won more games was
during the 1995 NCAA championship season (31-2). This wasn’t
the first time, however, that Howland has received coach of the
year honors. In 2001-2002, Howland was named the national coach of
the year after leading his former team, Pittsburgh, to a
school-record 29 wins and its first Big East men’s basketball
title since the 1987-1988 campaign. Howland was also named Big Sky
conference Coach of the Year in 1996-1997 season for coaching
Northern Arizona to a 21-7 record. Joining Howland on the award
list was forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, who was named Pac-10
Freshman of the Year. Mbah a Moute finished the season third in the
Pac-10 at 8.4 rebounds per game, and also was third on the Bruins
in scoring at 8.8 points per game. But it wasn’t so certain
that Mbah a Moute would receive the award on Saturday. Arizona
freshman Marcus Williams scored 20 points in the Wildcats’
loss to Washington and, some Arizona papers thought that Williams,
who is averaging 12.4 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, locked up
Pac-10 Freshman of the Year honors. But there was no controversy
for Mbah a Moute. He was just surprised to win the award. “I
just found out 10 minutes ago,” he said three hours after the
announcement of the award. “(UCLA sports information) called
me. I was in class. “It’s a good feeling. It means
I’m doing something good.” Asked if he can cherish
these awards, Mbah a Moute was quick to say how he’s still
looking for more. “I’m still not satisfied. I’m
happy we won the Pac-10 championship. I’m happy with winning
(the award) too. But we have bigger goals as a team,” he
said. “Maybe a national championship. That’s all
I’m thinking about.” The Cameroon native currently
leads all Pac-10 freshman in rebounding and has led the Bruins in
rebounding 25 of their 30 games. Mbah a Moute also set a UCLA
freshman record with seven double-doubles. UCLA has now won
back-to-back Freshman of the Year awards. Last season, guard Jordan
Farmar walked away with that recognition. Washington senior guard
Brandon Roy won the Pac-10 Player of the Year award after averaging
19.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game.
ALL PAC-10: Sophomore guards Farmar and Arron
Afflalo were both named to the All-Pac-10 team. This honor was the
first for Afflalo, who was named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman team
last season, and the second for Farmar, who made the All-Conference
team a year ago. Farmar, who was one of 22 college athletes named
to the official voting ballot for this season’s Wooden Award
All-American Team and Player of the Year, is averaging a
league-leading 5.5 assists and 14.0 points per game. Afflalo,
meanwhile, is having a breakout season this year scoring 17.1
points per game, good for fifth in the conference. He has scored in
double figures in 28 of the 30 games he’s played in. Afflalo
was also named Pac-10 Player of the Week on Monday after helping
the Bruins sweep the Bay Area schools this past weekend. On
Thursday against California, Afflalo played a career-high 43
minutes and scored a game-high 25 points. The guard also had a
game-high 16 points against Stanford on Saturday.
PAC-10 TOURNAMENT: Arizona’s leading
scorer Hassan Adams will not participate in this weekend’s
Pac-10 Tournament after coach Lute Olson suspended the senior
forward on Monday for a violation of team rules following an arrest
on suspicion of drunk driving over the weekend.