UCLA Bruins: 21-11, 11-7 in the Pac-12
Head coach: Steve Alford (5th season)
Players to watch: Aaron Holiday (20.3 PPG, 5.8 APG, 43.3 3PT%); Kris Wilkes (13.8 PPG, 5.0 RPG); Thomas Welsh (13.0 PPG, 10.7 RPG, 40.9 3PT%)
Season recap: After an exciting season filled with media hoopla last year as Lonzo Ball—and his outspoken father—led the Bruins, this season started with arguably more fanfare when LiAngelo Ball and two other Bruins were caught shoplifting in China before the season opener against Georgia Tech. The plot thickened with President Donald Trump getting involved by “negotiating” the players out of jail and bringing them back home and a twitter spat between LaVar Ball and the president that led to a CNN Special.
With such a story dominating the headlines, it was hard to focus on UCLA’s actual season. The Bruins won the game in Shanghai against the Yellow Jackets and finished their nonconference slate at 9-3 with a win against Kentucky. They had two close losses to Cincinnati and Michigan—both teams won their respective conference tournaments and are top-three seeds.
As conference play started, the Bruins won four of their first five before losing three straight to Colorado, Oregon and Oregon State, putting their tournament status in question. However, UCLA rattled off four straight wins—including at home against USC and on the road against Arizona—strengthening its case for the Big Dance. Playing their next four games at .500, a season-ending victory on the road against USC likely pushed the Bruins into the NCAA tournament in a play-in-game against St. Bonaventure for the No. 11 seed in the East, while their crosstown rival was left home.
How they make a run: UCLA has three players that see significant minutes who shoot better than 40 percent from deep and a point guard in Holiday who is a capable distributor. If the Bruins hope to go deep in a relatively weaker region with an inconsistent Florida as the No. 6 seed and Texas Tech looming as the No. 3 seed, the shooters need to get hot and Holiday has to best his season average of a 1.6 assist-to-turnover ratio en route to the Sweet 16.
How they falter: The early season off-court issues were an omen of the season to come, and much like how the three shoplifters were jailed, UCLA is locked up by the Bonnies.
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