NCAA Basketball: Programs who should be considered “blue bloods” in 2019
UCLA
The Resume: 18 Final Fours, 11 Championships. 7th most wins in NCAA History (1,890)
The Bruins are the original blue blood program, winning 10 titles in the 60’s and 70’s under the guidance of legendary head coach John Wooden. They won it again in 1995 with Jim Harrick at the helm guiding a team with six future NBA players that was one of the greatest collections of talent of any team in the 90’s.
The list of players to run through the school is a who’s who of NBA Hall of Famers: Jabar, Goodrich, Walton, Miller, Wilkes and Wicks. Sidney Wicks isn’t in the Hall of Fame, but he was damn good for about 10 years regardless.
Lately, the Bruins have been a victim of their own success. During Harrick’s eight seasons, they went to the NCAA Tournament eight consecutive seasons. Harrick was let go a year after the title due to his paying for a dinner that two of his players attended during a recruits official visit. He tried to falsify receipts, but was eventually found out.
His replacement was Steve Lavin, who had been an assistant under Harrick. Lavin was the head man in Westwood for seven seasons, making the NCAA Tournament each of his first six seasons, losing in the first round only once and making the elite eight once along with four sweet sixteens. In those seven seasons he signed seven burger boys and put 13 players in the NBA. All of that was not enough to save him however, in his seventh season he posted his first losing record and was relieved of his duties.
Ben Howland came after Lavin and put UCLA back in the national spotlight, booking three straight trips to the final four from 2006-2008. During his ten seasons at UCLA he won 23 or more games six times, but in the end it was bad injury luck and lack of style that led to Howland’s demise. UCLA fans wanted to see more tempo, which is not his calling card. The Bruins often ranked in the 200’s in tempo during his tenure according to Kenpom and Howland was let go after the 2012-13 season.
Howland was succeeded by Steve Alford and despite a trio of sweet 16’s and four tournament appearances in five years, he was fired, during the season this past year.
The Bruins have since hired former Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin, which seems to contradict their prior decision regarding Ben Howland. Their styles are glaringly similar as Cronin’s Bearcats never ranked higher than 206th in tempo and never better 328th in the past six seasons.
If UCLA is going to return to its former glory, they would be best suited to “embrace the pace” and enjoy the winning. Lavin and Alford were fine and were fired. Howland was exceptional and was still fired. If Cronin comes in and wins 20-25 games a season in the first 4 years and is still fired, they may have an even more difficult time making their next hire than they did this time around.