SAN ANTONIO — All over town, decorations for the Final Four include signs reading, "The Road Ends Here."

If UCLA senses a slightly ominous tone to that phrase, it's understandable. For the third straight year, the Bruins found that road — the route to a 12th NCAA men's basketball championship — led to a dead end.

So now what?

When a style and philosophy works well enough to bring the ultimate goal within sight, yet leaves it out of reach, does something have to change?

In the aftermath of Saturday's 78-63 loss to Memphis, Bruins coach Ben Howland was not so sure.

"You know, every year's different," said Howland. "I don't know if there's some sweeping change that we need to do. I mean, it's very difficult, No. 1, to get here. There's only four teams that make here each year. Unfortunately for us, we've run up against three really good teams."

Certainly, Howland has a point. In the last three years, the Bruins are 97-18. They're the only team to reach the Final Four in all three of those seasons. And in contrast to a common criticism of his predecessor, nobody will ever claim players don't improve under Howland's tutelage.

And both stats and common sense will tell you this is the deepest, toughest Final Four ever — the first with four No. 1 seeds, the first where the field combined for less than 10 losses, and has the best combined winning percentage (143-9, an absurd .941).

"They're all monster clubs," Bruins player-turned-broadcaster Don MacLean noted when we talked last week. "Instead of maybe getting away with playing George Mason or somebody like that and rolling the dice in the final, now you've got Memphis and then Kansas or Carolina." (Or not, as it turned out.)

On the other hand, when Darren Collison walked back into UCLA's locker room deep in the bowels of the Alamodome, he wasn't saying to himself, Boy, we keep running up against really good teams.

No, as he said later, he was wondering, What's missing?

Not that he had an answer.

"I don't know exactly what's missing," Collison said. "These are good guys that play hard. They've got a lot of heart. I can just tell you, just don't give up, just keep fighting."

UCLA has done that, but it hasn't been enough.

"It's hard to be here three years in a row and not come away with a championship," said Howland. " I thought this was our best team, our best chance."

And still, that wasn't enough.

Kansas coach Bill Self knows something of that feeling. Before this season, he'd been knocking at the door of a Final Four berth — with a regional final appearance as the coach of Tulsa in 2000, at Illinois in 2001 and with the Jayhawks in 2004 and last year — but had never made it through. So he'd also faced the sort of questions the Bruins are grappling with.

On Sunday, Self recalled wondering, "What do we need to do to tweak it?

"And we've tweaked, but we've never changed our core philosophy, cause I think it works. I think it's been proven over time it works."

Howland certainly has a track record that reinforces his own core philosophy, that defense-first orientation he's embraced throughout his career, and that leads to practices that players say have 80 percent of the time devoted to defense.

The consistent ferocity of UCLA's defensive effort indicates players have bought into this approach. The three Final Four appearances indicate it is basically sound.

As Howland said on Friday, "As a coach, I understand that's what wins. And it's true in any sport. It's clear defense is a constant that you have the most control over as a team, because it's effort and preparation every day."

But the idea that defense wins is at least a bit off the mark. Certainly, it keeps you competitive. But defensive stops, vital as they may be, don't put points on the scoreboard. At some point, you've got to outscore the other team.

In the Final Four, UCLA has run into teams that are almost as good defensively, but are better offensively. The defensive ability of a team like Memphis may be overshadowed or missed because of its high-powered offense, but on Saturday, there was no doubt the Tigers could play defense, too.

Earlier in the tournament, Shipp talked about the Bruins' focus on defense, and noted, "It makes you better on both ends. It makes our offensive game better, but sometimes it's hard to put all the energy into the offensive end, when we're putting so much energy into the defensive end."

Perhaps that's the lesson of Saturday night — defense is great, but balance is good, too. Perhaps the offense needs a little more attention.

Not a lot, mind you. Nobody's expecting Howland to turn his charges loose to run and gun. It's not necessary, and it's certainly not in keeping with Howland's need for control.

But 80 percent defense and 20 percent offense has brought the Bruins 0 percent success in three Final Fours, so may be it's time for a shift. Not a sweeping change, a tweak — a little more time working on the offensive end, a little more freedom to let UCLA's athletes be athletic.

And if that shifts the practice from 80 percent defense to, say, a 70-30 split, how bad can that be?

Better than in Final Fours?

— Contact Star columnist David Lassen at dlassen@VenturaCountyStar.com.