NCAA Basketball: Top 25 team frontcourts heading into 2021-22 season

So I want to state first that for this piece, I’m not including five-star freshman Peyton Watson or Jaime Jaquez, Jr. I view them both as perimeter-oriented wings and if the Bruins didn’t have so much guard depth, wouldn’t normally play much at the traditional power forward position as they will next season.

Still, the bigs that UCLA does have still warrants a spot on this list, especially after adding Rutgers grad transfer Myles Johnson. The 6’11 big man played a major role in Rutgers finally getting back to the NCAA Tournament, averaging 8.0 ppg and 8.5 rpg, along with a couple of blocks a game.

He’ll be battling Cody Riley, who averaged double figures last season and played exceptional on both ends for UCLA’s Final Four run. Consistency, particularly on offense has been the issue for the rising senior forward but he has a higher ceiling than Johnson, whose specialty is simply rebounding and defense.

Riley is 6’9 and could play power forward whenever UCLA wants to use a two-big lineup. The issue would be the lack of spacing since Riley’s range isn’t above 15 feet. But since the guards can mostly create their own offense, the Bruins can get away with it in spurts.

There’s also some depth behind these two in Kenneth Nwuba and Mac Etienne, who each got minutes in the ladder half of the season after Jalen Hill left due to personal reasons. All four of these are primary centers so Coach Mick Cronin will need to find a way to give out minutes. But in terms of raw depth, this is a really good group that’ll do the job in the frontcourt.