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Howland, meanwhile, knows this isn’t nearly the same kind of team that he had last year, and to be honest, it probably won’t be by the time the calendar turns March, either.

After all, you don’t just replace two NBA lottery picks and a second rounder in a matter of months.

"It's early and we're a very young team," Howland said regarding the loss to Michigan.

But Howland’s teams seem to overachieve more often than they underachieve, in part due to his tough, physical man-to-man defense, and while the Bruins didn’t happen to raise a 12th national championship banner in Pauley Pavilion last year after suffering a third straight defeat in the Final Four, UCLA is still the favorite to win a much weaker Pac-10 this season.

Those sorts of expectations are realistic for a team that boasts arguably the nation’s top point guard (Darren Collison) and top freshman (Jrue Holiday), but it won’t be easy even so.