NCAA Basketball: 10 bold predictions for 2022-23 season
UCLA will be the team to win a national championship
A year ago, the teams that got the most hype in the preseason were Gonzaga, Texas, and UCLA. And despite making it to the Sweet 16 and losing a nail-biter to North Carolina, it was viewed as a “disappointing” season for the Bruins. They lose multiple key pieces, including leading scorer Johnny Juzang, forwards Myles Johnson and Cody Riley, and guards/wings, Jules Bernard and Peyton Watson.
Yet despite the losses, UCLA has a ton of talent on the roster. Senior Tyger Campbell is one of the best point guards in the country and will be paired with top-5 freshman combo guard, Amari Bailey. David Singleton shot 45% from three-point range last season and will be a key guard off the bench.
Jaime Jaquez is a consensus top-20 player in NCAA Basketball and is paired with Jaylen Clark, another All-Pac 12 Defender off the bench and is a national breakout candidate. The only concern is at center but five-star freshman Adem Bona is a solid starter that can grow in his role. And if he struggles a bit, there’s depth behind him in Mac Etienne and Kenneth Nwuba.
What makes me so high on the Bruins is that they have three returning elite defenders and a pair of five-star prospects that also projects to be good defenders. This could potentially be head coach Mick Cronin’s most talented team on that end and assuming that Jaquez can become a more consistent scorer night in and night out, this will be one of the best two-way teams in the country.
Top 100 returning players for 2022-23 season. dark. Next
The trendy picks so far have been Houston, Gonzaga, and a Big 12 school in the preseason. But these is “bold predictions”, so I’m going with a team a little under the radar. Some may be a bit down on UCLA but I have a feeling that ht preseason hype was just a year too early with them.