UCLA Basketball: Rise of the Bruins in 2021 NCAA Tournament
By Ryan Kay
To fully understand how UCLA Basketball earned a spot in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament, you first must look at their path this season. The Bruins opened up the season with a road loss to San Diego State in which they lost by 13 and only scored 58 points.
However, UCLA would bounce back quickly and win five straight games including wins over California and Marquette. Then on a neutral court, the Bruins in a hard-fought game lost to Ohio State to end non-conference play. UCLA did look to start off strong in PAC-12 play.
The Bruins had already one win in conference play with a victory over Cal and they did very well in Pac-12 play as they went 8-0 and undefeated to start conference play. During that stretch, UCLA defeated both Arizona schools on the road, beat both Washington schools, and had an impressive win over Colorado.
The Bruins being undefeated came to an end in an overtime road loss to Stanford in which they lost by only one point. They bounced back with a nice defensive win over Oregon State who like UCLA, would make it to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament. Then the rest of the season was a like bit of a roller coaster.
The Bruins has a small tough stretch of losses when they lost on the road to their rival UCS by 18 and lost on the road again but this time to Washington State who would finish third from last place in the Pac-12. However, UCLA would win their next four games to get back into first place in the conference.
Then the Bruins lost four straight games but to teams that all made the NCAA tournament and won their first-round games and three of those teams they lost to are in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament. The Pac-12 prepared them for success in the NCAA tournament this year.
Besides Bill Walton’s Final Four predictions, no other sports commentator or college basketball analysts predicted UCLA to advance far in the tournament. UCLA many would argue was unfairly seeded as a No. 11 seed playing in one of the first four games of the NCAA tournament.
They had a tough task as they went up against Michigan State and in the game against the Spartans were down by as many as 14 points late in the first half. However, as it seemed that UCLA was going to be defeated by a team from the Big Ten which was considered the best conference in all of college basketball entering the tournament, but the Bruins were not about to have their season end that night.