UCLA’s Love, Collison opt out

LOS ANGELES – Kevin Love and Darren Collison have probably played their last games for UCLA and will make themselves available for the NBA draft, sources close to the players said Tuesday.

Both players confirmed their decisions in separate meetings with UCLA coach Ben Howland on Monday. The sources spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to make an announcement until after Howland holds a news conference this afternoon.

Love, a 6-foot-10, 270-pound center, led the Bruins with averages of 17.5 points and 10.6 rebounds. The freshman was Pacific-10 Conference player of the year, a first-team All-American and most outstanding player of the NCAA regional at Anaheim. Collison, a junior point guard, was a third-team All-American.

Love and Collison are expected to hire agents, which would mean they could not return to UCLA next season.

Most NBA draft experts project Love being chosen anywhere from sixth to No. 13 overall, and that is the information Howland gave Love, sources said.

NBA team officials risk seven-figure fines for speaking publicly about college players, but an East team scout said Love had raised his draft position steadily during the Pac-10 season – from a possible low first-round pick to a lottery pick. Even being held to 12 points and nine rebounds in a 78-63 UCLA loss to Memphis last Saturday in an NCAA semifinal didn’t change that.

The Bruins have been prepared to lose Collison since last spring, when he first considered testing his NBA status.

An NBA Western Conference team official said, “I thought he was a mid first-round pick (before struggling against Memphis). I think he still is. That’s what his talent says to me.”