NCAA Basketball: Buy or Sell Arkansas, Baylor, Houston, UNC, Texas, Texas A&M and UCLA?

UCLA

Mick Cronin’s Bruins made three straight runs at the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the Final Four in 2021 followed by a pair of Sweet Sixteen appearances. Last year was a complete disappointment, though the Bruins replenished the roster and were leaning heavily on youth. Now, Cronin and his staff have added talent and experience and should be much more competitive, hence their preseason ranking in their first season in the Big Ten.

Their games against mid-majors in Los Angeles have gone according to plan, but last Friday night saw a definite disappointment. The Bruins met up with New Mexico just outside of Vegas and fell 72-64 for their first loss of the season. The offense mightily struggled against the Lobos, making just 5 of 23 from outside the arc, while the defense wasn’t firing on all cylinders. In fact, the Bruins didn’t do much better offensively in a blowout loss over Boston University this past Monday either.

Among the seven teams mentioned today, UCLA is the one we’re the most worried about after one week. Tyler Bilodeau has turned into a reliable scorer and rebounder, but the backcourt just isn’t getting the job done three games into the season. Some of the raw offensive numbers are really troubling, though at least UCLA’s defense has been on point, allowing just 54 points a game.

They’ll have an easier road in the next few weeks, though they clearly have a lot of work to do before their first taste of Big Ten play.

Sell