Text messages from press row . . .

When Luc Richard Mbah a Moute lines up Saturday against Memphis, the junior forward from Cameroon will join an exclusive club of UCLA players. . . .

Twenty-four Bruins have played in the Final Four three times, a group that will grow Saturday with the additions of Mbah a Moute, Darren Collison, Lorenzo Mata-Real and Alfred Aboya, but only seven made it as starters each time. . . .

Mbah a Moute will be the eighth, joining Lew Alcindor, Lynn Shackelford, Curtis Rowe, Henry Bibby, Bill Walton, Greg Lee and Keith Wilkes. . . .

Duke’s Christian Laettner is believed to be the only player to reach the Final Four as a starter four times, a feat Mbah a Moute could match next season. . . .

Stephen Curry, the sharpshooter who put the Madness in March by averaging 32 points and fueling Davidson’s run to the Elite Eight, scored only 15 points in a 75-63 loss to UCLA in the Wooden Classic in December. . . .

Candice Wiggins, daughter of the late San Diego Padres second baseman Alan Wiggins, has been sort of the Stephen Curry of the women’s draw, the three-time Pacific 10 Conference player of the year twice scoring more than 40 points and doing Curry one better by lifting Stanford to the Final Four. . . .

Speaking of Stanford students, multimillionaire professional golfer and Cardinal freshman Michelle Wie reportedly is dating 7-foot sophomore basketball player Robin Lopez, who joined twin brother, Brook, this week in announcing that they are leaving school early to make themselves available for the NBA draft. . . .

With the empty beer cups littering the grass, the public urination and the pungent smell of marijuana, the standing-room section Saturday at the Coliseum felt more like a festival-seating rock concert than a Dodgers game. . . .

Minus the music, of course, and a decent sound system. . . .

Reader Patricia Murray of Redondo Beach, noting that too often the Clippers have “fed on the fat of potential,” e-mails with draft advice for Donald Sterling’s lottery-bound club: “Hold the Mayo, just give me some Love.” . . .

Speaking of Kevin Love, BodogLife.com lists the UCLA freshman as a 5-1 choice to be the Final Four’s most outstanding player and places his over-under totals for Saturday’s game at 19.5 points and 10 rebounds. . . .

As for USC’s O.J. Mayo, he presumably will be watching. . . .

Love, by the way, is featured in a must-see YouTube clip that shows him swishing three long two-handed shots in practice, the last from the opposite baseline. . . .

He then takes a bow. . . .

TNT’s Charles Barkley, comparing body types, says that slim and trim recently retired NBA forward Chris Webber had a six pack “and I had a keg.” . . .

The last-place Kings will vacate Staples Center for the summer after Saturday’s season finale against the Ducks, but Kings players Alexander Frolov, Derek Armstrong and Jason LaBarbera are scheduled to appear at Southland Staples stores April 12, 19 and 26, respectively, to sign autographs. . . .

The Ducks, meanwhile, will be busy with the playoffs. . . .

Stories about the late Art Aragon keep filtering in, such as this one from reader Doug Hays of La Canada, who e-mails to remind that the ever-quotable Aragon drolly remarked after taking a beating from Carmine Basilio in a 1958 TKO loss, “I really had him worried there for a while. He thought he’d killed me.” . . .

Hopefully, Jerry Buss noticed the fans’ excitement over the Dodgers’ Coliseum exhibition and will schedule the Lakers for a similar nostalgia-tinged event at the Forum or maybe even the Sports Arena, their original L.A. home. . . .

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar would seem game after bouncing a ceremonial pitch in the dirt Saturday night and, after getting the ball back, playfully redeeming himself by lofting a skyhook toward the plate on his second attempt. . . .

Vin Scully, honored with a plaque that will be added to the 52 others in the Coliseum’s Court of Honor, kept pulling back from the microphone as the record crowd of 115,300 roared louder each time he started to speak. . . .

“Aw, come on,” Scully finally said. “It’s only me.”

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