UCLA Basketball hired Mick Cronin in 2019-2020 to replace Steve Alford and when the hire was made it came with very mixed reviews. Three years in and it appears that Cronin is well on his way to bringing the Bruins back to glory for good. He is doing a great job of bringing in high-quality talent to build the roster, and what the fans in Westwood are happiest about is it appears that this team is going to have staying power and they are winning games in the NCAA tournament.
The Bruins were one of the last four in the NCAA tournament a year ago, and they had to get hot down the stretch to even get there. Once the tournament started it was a brand-new Bruins team that we have not seen for a long time in March.
They made a run from the first four in Dayton to the Final Four and had it not been for a deep three at the buzzer by Gonzaga’s Jalen Suggs then they would have made the finals of the tournament. Heading into Madness last year UCLA was a very trendy pick to cut down the nets and they almost achieved that goal.
This year the expectations were the highest they have been in over a decade in Westwood as the Bruins returned 93% of the scoring and minutes from the Final Four team. UCLA hovered around the top 10 all season long but it feels like they didn’t reach the lofty expectations that were placed on them in the preseason. I had them in the preseason top 5 as did many others.
UCLA is going to need to be ready to play in their first-round matchup against Akron on Thursday night at the Moda Center in Portland. The Zips have a good team and present a difficult matchup for UCLA because of the way they play. This is March so every game is difficult, but if the Bruins can accomplish these three things, they should win the game.