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NCAA Basketball: Ranking all 8 teams for 2019 Maui Invitational

By Tristan Freeman

LAHAINA, HI - NOVEMBER 21: The Gonzaga Bulldogs pose for a photo with the 2018 Maui Invitational championship trophy after beating the Duke Blue Devils 89-87 at the Lahaina Civic Center on November 21, 2018 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images)
LAHAINA, HI - NOVEMBER 21: The Gonzaga Bulldogs pose for a photo with the 2018 Maui Invitational championship trophy after beating the Duke Blue Devils 89-87 at the Lahaina Civic Center on November 21, 2018 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 10: UCLA Director of Athletics Dan Guerrero introduces Mick Cronin as the new UCLA Mens Head Basketball Coach at Pauley Pavilion on April 10, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – APRIL 10: UCLA Director of Athletics Dan Guerrero introduces Mick Cronin as the new UCLA Mens Head Basketball Coach at Pauley Pavilion on April 10, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /

4. UCLA Bruins

The Bruins have a new head coach in Mick Cronin, who took Cincinnati to the NCAA Tournament the last eight seasons. He takes over a reeling program who lost their top three scorers to the NBA Draft, including double-digit scorers Kris Wilkes and Jaylen Hands.

He’s not left with a desolate roster though, with five returning former top-100 recruits. Players such as Jalen Hill, Cody Riley, Jules Bernard, David Singleton all will be sophomores who showed flashes of real potential last season. They also will get back Shareef O’Neal and Tyger Campbell next season and missing all of 2018-19 due to injuries. A pair of small forwards also are joining in to give UCLA some pretty solid depth. With a quality developer like Cronin and some defensive intensity brought back to the program, the team could overachieve next year.

The Bruins will have the depth and athleticism but will need someone to break out and become that go-to scorer. Only rising senior Prince Ali is the only projected non-underclassmen rotation player so there could be some lumps in the early part of the season.

It’ll be a fascinating matchup with BYU in the opening round. The Cougars have the experience while the Bruins have the better talent from top to bottom. Both will have new coaches and schemes and desperately needs to win and play Kansas in the semifinals, rather than Chaminade in the consolation game. For two teams hoping to be on the bubble, it’ll be a consequential game for sure.

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