UCLA is a very popular choice to win it all, and they are very likely to find themselves going very deep in most of my brackets. It only makes sense – they have been to the Final Four twice in a row, and this team is just as good as the last two teams. Kevin Love is probably the best player who has played for the team during this run. It’s not all sunshine and roses, though. Two of the starters are hurting. Love has a sore back that has limited his participation in recent days. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute sprained his ankle for the second time this season, and that kept him out of the Pac-10 championship game against Stanford. So, the question is this – should we panic? Will these injuries damage an otherwise promising run? Here’s a look:

We’ll start with Mbah a Moute because his injury is the most serious. He hasn’t practiced with the team since he hurt himself Friday, and he has spent time in a walking cast and on crutches. That’s not good. The last time he hurt himself he missed two games. They won and covered against Washington State, but then they came out and played their worst game of the season in losing to lowly Washington by 10. That’s not promising. Things were a bit more promising following the most recent injury. The team was downcast when he went down against USC, but they were still able to hold off O.J. Mayo and company, and then they handled Stanford, a solid three seed, fairly easily without him.

Mbah a Moute doesn’t put up huge numbers, but he is a huge defensive presence and a calming force. They need him badly.

Love is less of a concern if only because he can play through his problems. He has a sore back, but he has been practicing and is slated to play. He may not be at 100 percent, but he was sore over the weekend and he still played pretty well. It’s obviously not ideal, but it could be worse.

So should we be concerned? Not really. There are a couple of good reasons. First, UCLA won’t be particularly challenged for the first weekend of the tournament. They can almost certainly win both games without Mbah a Moute. It helps on that front as well that James Keefe has played well in the absence of Mbah a Moute the last game and a half. That means that the starter can give himself enough time to heal and be ready. He can take as much as two weeks off if he needs it. That’s how long he took off the last time to heal. The other major factor is that this is the tournament, and this team knows what the tournament is about, so they will be ready to play and win even if they all get their legs chopped off.