Premature Hoops BlogPoll: No. 3, UCLA

This week, FanHouse is taking a way too early look at the top teams heading into 2007 with a BlogPoll decided on by our college hoops bloggers. It's a time-honored filler for the off-season, and who are we to buck tradition? Today we look at teams 5 through 1.

UCLA fans, players and coaches must really hate the Florida Gators. Like really hate them. Like they've come to the point where they're making voodoo dolls of Joakim Noah. Though they might have been doing that well before the last two Final Fours.

UCLA, which has made it to two straight final fours, has had its season ended by the Gators both times, which, I'd like to imagine, is worse than losing to two different teams. (Ladies and gentleman, that's what we call in grammar a run-on sentence).

But the 2007-08 season won't see similar results for the Bruins. This is the year that UCLA strikes back. Ranked third in the Premature Hoops BlogPoll, the Bruins, who lose a lot from last year's squad but gains more, is determined to win it all this year. And they certainly can.Why they should be ranked here: They finished in the top four the last two years and there's no reason to think it won't happen again. All-everything guard Arron Afflalo is a big loss (probably would've been a lottery pick if he'd stayed another year), but freshman phenom Kevin Love from Lake Oswego, Ore. is a huge. (Literally. He's 6-foot-9, 260.) The Bruins might start focusing their offensive game to the paint, where Love will join Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Alfred Aboya and Lorenzo Mata in the front court.

Why they should be ranked higher: Darren Collison. The junior point guard might be the best in the country. If he emerges as the new leader of this team, the Bruins could be the team to beat throughout the season.

Why they should be ranked lower: Will the Bruins be able to overcome the loss of Afflalo. UCLA might not have the perimeter game it did last season, and going up against some tall Pac-10 teams (Cal, Stanford), the Bruins might need outside shooting to win some tight games.