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UCLA Basketball: 2021-22 season preview and outlook for Bruins

By Benjamin Zacher

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - APRIL 03: Johnny Juzang #3 of the UCLA Bruins reacts with Cody Riley #2 in the first half against the Gonzaga Bulldogs during the 2021 NCAA Final Four semifinal at Lucas Oil Stadium on April 03, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - APRIL 03: Johnny Juzang #3 of the UCLA Bruins reacts with Cody Riley #2 in the first half against the Gonzaga Bulldogs during the 2021 NCAA Final Four semifinal at Lucas Oil Stadium on April 03, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images) /
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Tyger Campbell UCLA Basketball (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
Tyger Campbell UCLA Basketball (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /

Schedule

Few programs have stacked their non-conference schedule like Mick Cronin’s Bruins, who will line up against a couple of marquee squads in what will be some of the biggest titanic clashes of the year.

Among those is a duel in Pauley Pavilion with Villanova, who is expected to be the premier team in the Big East, in addition to one of the best squads in the country after a Sweet 16 campaign last season – and a pair of games in Las Vegas, being held at separate times, with one coming in mid-December against a North Carolina team that will look to rebound with Hubert Davis at the helm after a lackluster 2020-21 season.

The other tilt in Las Vegas may be the biggest showdown of 2021-22, with UCLA and Gonzaga reuniting on November 23rd for a rematch of last season’s Final Four skirmish – and for what should be a duel between two teams ranked in the top five in most, if not all, polls.  While the Bulldogs ultimately won that first conflict, they also decidedly lost the most – including the man responsible for the half-court winner in Jalen Suggs.

None of this is to say that the rest of UCLA’s schedule is a cakewalk, either.  The Bruins will open the season with CSU Bakersfield, a team that thrashed Pepperdine – who nearly usurped UCLA in triple overtime early in 2020-21 – and, just a day before playing Gonzaga, will also take on a Bellarmine squad that, in their first-ever season as a Div. I program, nearly won the Atlantic Sun Conference.

Mixed in with these duels are a pair of dangerous non-conference road games, with the first coming in late November at UNLV.  The Rebels, despite being just 12-15 last year, showed promise in narrow losses to Colorado State, Boise State, and Utah State – which also included a win over the Aggies – and will now enter a new era under first-year head coach Kevin Kruger.

The latter showdown will come in mid-December against Marquette, which will also enter uncharted territory under Shaka Smart after a 2020-21 campaign that yielded early promise – including a single-digit loss at UCLA – before the Golden Eagles lost steam with a three-game losing streak in December.

All of this is without mentioning the Pac-12, which is coming off one of the greatest basketball seasons in league history, courtesy of the best winning percentage of any conference in the NCAA Tournament – as well as having three teams reach the Elite Eight in Oregon State, USC, and UCLA.  And, although the Pac-12 is not expected to be as strong this coming season, Oregon is expected to rank among the top 20 in the country – whereas USC, Colorado, and Oregon State should vie for potential at-large bids.

There are significant opportunities for UCLA to drop games in the non-conference, including to teams not necessarily named Gonzaga, North Carolina, or Villanova – and while falling to those three teams may not be deadly, it would also not bode well for public conception towards the Bruins.  Contrarily, however, wins against those teams would cement UCLA as the top – barring a potential argument for Kansas – team in the country.

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