UCLA Basketball: Predictions For The Rest of the Season

I’m not going to sugarcoat this, folks: UCLA has a mediocre basketball team this season.

I knew this in the back of my mind pretty much all season, but their 66-63 loss in New York to a St. John’s team with a losing record that started five freshmen this past Saturday, in which their guards made a mere two of 18 shots, confirmed my convictions once and for all.                                                                                                                                                             

And in all honesty, they had a mediocre team when the season began, what with Reeves Nelson’s shenanigans that got him kicked off the team in December and Joshua Smith’s season-long issues with his weight – personally, I knew deep down that the Bruins were in trouble when they lost to Loyola Marymount and Middle Tennessee State in their first two games.

The fact that they were picked by most pundits to win the Pac-12 Conference is what makes UCLA the most disappointing team in college basketball; I think their 15-12 overall record, which includes being 8-6 in the conference, good for sixth place, speaks for itself.

But enough of these laments; I’m going to make these – my predictions for Ben Howland’s team for these last few weeks of the campaign – short and sweet, as there are four games in the regular season left for these Bruins, all in the Pac-12 Conference, plus the upcoming Pac-12 Tournament at Staples Center March 7-10:

UCLA will split its last four conference games – they will beat Arizona State in Tempe this Thursday and Washington State at the Sports Arena on March 1, but they will be unable to keep up with the Arizona Wildcats in Tucson this coming Saturday and will lose to them.

As for their regular season finale at the Sports Arena against Washington on March 3? Forget it, the Huskies are on the verge of 20 wins and overwhelmed the Bruins in Seattle on February 2, coming back from behind to beat them; I think Washington is even more on a roll now, and see no reason why the results will be any different the next time the two teams meet.

UCLA’s 2-2 split will leave them behind the top four teams in the Pac-12 standings, which means that they won’t have a first round bye in the conference tournament. They will likely win in the first round, probably playing a team they can beat like Arizona State or Washington State, before losing in the second round to an Oregon or a – God forbid – California, which is currently 22-6 and frankly deserves to be ranked in the AP Top 25.

Post-season tournaments?  With a projected record of 18-15, these Bruins will have a hard time getting into the NIT, let alone the NCAA tourney. The CBI, which is set up for those teams that are passed over by the consolation-level NIT, is the best bet.

Provided that UCLA accepts the invitation, which they may well not.

It will all add up to a frustrating and disappointing season for Bruin Nation on the basketball court, a year where they spectacularly failed to meet expectations.

Tags: Ben Howland, featured, NCAA, Pac-12, popular, Sports Arena, UCLA