Don't sing Howland's dirge, everything's all good in Westwood

SAN ANTONIO -- UCLA is going to be fine.

Honest to God, I still believe that -- just like I believe the earth is round and the grass is green and that Madonna will never stop selling albums and being relevant regardless of her age. UCLA is going to be fine, no question. And it's not going to take what Ben Howland said it might take when he was asked what it will take for the Bruins to win their next national title.

Don't get down. Ben Howland has done great things during his UCLA tenure. (Getty Images)

"A new coach, maybe," Howland said with a smile.

Bologna, I tell you.

UCLA doesn't need a new coach any more than Memphis or Kansas needs a new coach.

Or North Carolina, for that matter.

All the Bruins need is more at-bats, more big swings, more huge cuts. Sooner or later, they'll connect. And when they do they'll cut the nets on the first Monday in April and then all the foolishness will stop, you know, the foolishness about whether Howland is too stubborn to win it all.

That's what I heard late Saturday night and early Sunday.

That Howland is too stubborn and set in his ways to achieve true greatness.

As proof, people pointed out how Howland kept playing Memphis man-to-man and kept making Kevin Love set screens in UCLA's 78-63 loss to the Tigers when what he should've been doing is making Memphis shoot jumpers and making sure the ball was thrown to Love on every possession. For the record, I agree with both theories, particularly the one about making Memphis shoot jumpers because it was clear early on that UCLA could not keep Derrick Rose off the rim. Consequently, the smart thing to do would've been to back off and make him shoot the ball. But UCLA never backed off. So Rose never had to shoot the ball, which is why he finished with 16 field goal attempts, none of which were 3-pointers.

Afterward, he talked about it.

"The whole game I was not going to take a jump shot," Rose said. "It was crazy."

Yes, it was crazy.