Sept. 5, 2007

LOS ANGELES - Athlon Sports College Basketball magazine hit the newsstands today and has selected the UCLA Bruins as its national championship team in 2008, defeating North Carolina in the final.

Junior point guard Darren Collison (12.7 ppg, 5.7 apg) was named college basketball's best floor leader by the magazine. Collison was also named to the five-man All-American first team.

Junior forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (8.2 ppg, 7.4 rpg) was rated the 10th-best inside-out college player.

Incoming freshman Kevin Love (Gatorade National Male Athlete of the Year) was rated seventh among the nation's best post men. Love was also named to the Super 6 Freshmen team.

While the Bruins were picked to repeat as Pacific-10 Conference champions, Collison was also selected as the Pac-10 Player of the Year while Love was named the Newcomer of the Year. Additionally, Collison was selected to the All-Pac-10 first team while Love was named to the second team and Mbah a Moute was listed on the third team.

The Bruins open their season on Nov. 9 with a home contest against Portland State after hosting two exhibition games on Nov. 2 (Azusa Pacific) and Nov. 5 (Chico State).