INLAND FIELDHOUSE

Darren Collison should stay in school. Get the full four-year experience. Go to four Final Fours.

With Kevin Love’s announcement that he’ll leave UCLA after his freshman season and enter his name in the NBA Draft, and rumors that both sophomore Michael Westbrook and junior Luc Richard Mbah a Moute are headed in the same direction, Collison should return to play for the Bruins in his final season of eligibility and not think twice about it. After all, who knows how his pro career is gonna turn out. If he stays at UCLA for one more year, he’d be the man. Pre-season All America, all that.

Completing all four years at a basketball school is a rarity for a basketball player, especially a blue-chip prospect like Collison. Love couldn’t stay but one season and Westbrook only two, so staying and playing all four seasons would make him a legend on that campus. Maybe not Alcindor or Walton, but better than Baron Davis, Tyus Edney or Cameron Dollar. And he’d probably graduate on time and figure out/be offered a solid back-up plan by the time next year’s NBA Draft rolls around. You know, just in case he DOESN’T get drafted because scouts think he’s too small and is mistake prone.

As for going to four Final Fours… the Bruins could be college basketball’s version of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, that is, the perpetual bridesmaid. Four consecutive Final Fours would truly be an accomplishment though.

Collison has shown glimpses of the savvy it would require to get it done. He’d have to be the kind of grizzled veteran guard that does everything right. Like a mix between Avery Johnson and Maurice Cheeks, scoring in double digits and playing tough-as-hell on defense. He has the tools, he just has take command on the floor and learn to be successful during the game’s crucial moments.

If Josh Shipp also returns for his senior season, the Bruins would have the most experienced backcourt tandem in the country. Maybe experience would make the difference between just another Final Four appearance and winning a title. Maybe it wouldn’t. But Collison will likely have to travel the long road to make it in the NBA. I suggest he honor and enjoy his role while it lasts.