The most successful and storied basketball program in the country is now facing a new challenge in this revamped world of collegiate sports. Despite being located on the West Coast, UCLA, Southern Cal, Oregon, and Washington have joined the Big Ten Conference.
There are questions about how these former Pac-12 teams will fare in the Big Ten — a conference perceived to be more difficult. The travel might be the most difficult part for these teams on the West Coast. Aside from travel to the Midwest, these four teams will have road trips out to Rutgers and Maryland. As it pertains to UCLA, how does Mick Cronin’s team look heading into the year?
In a word, older. Last year’s team had seven freshmen on it. Four of those guys were from Europe. A year later, three of those European players have left the program. All-Conference big man Adem Bona departed for the NBA. Looking to add experience, Cronin went into the portal and landed a plethora of players. Kobe Johnson (USC), Skyy Clark (Illinois/Louisville), William Kyle (South Dakota State), and Tyler Bilodeau (Oregon State) all figure to be starters on this year’s team. Each of them is also upperclassmen. Sharpshooter Dominick Harris (LMU) is one of the best three-point shooters in the country. Also a fourth-year player, he figures (at worst) to be the team’s 6th Man. The final transfer, Eric Dailey (Oklahoma State) is a hyper-athletic sophomore with great positional versatility.
Understanding the rigors of playing a schedule with tough road venues, Cronin knew he had to bring in mature guys who wouldn’t be rattled by hostile environments. In addition to the transfers, UCLA added two freshmen guards Eric Freeny and Trent Perry. Perry was an All-American from local Harvard-Westlake High School. An excellent shooter with a great feel for the position, one can envision Perry garnering many backup PG minutes behind the potential lynchpin of the team in Dylan Andrews.
Speaking of Andrews, the junior point guard had a very strong end to last season. He was attacking the rim relentlessly and was also bombing threes with high accuracy. If he can maintain that play in the Big Ten, you’re looking at a potential all-conference player.
Depth-wise, this team is assembled in a way that Cronin should be able to press. For all of the players we’ve mentioned, we’ve yet to touch upon two of the team’s most important players from last year in Lazar Stefanovic and Sebastian Mack. While nothing’s set in stone, there’s a reality in which both are coming off the bench this year.
Bilodeau, Clark, and Andrews likely will be expected to carry the scoring load. Kyle, Dailey, Johnson, and Harris are the perceived lock-down defenders (as well as being among the best athletes on this roster). You can envision a scenario where this team takes advantage of the guard depth by pressing. This could be the best Cronin team from a defensive standpoint since he’s taken over at UCLA, and that’s certainly saying something.
With non-conference games versus North Carolina, Gonzaga, and Arizona, the team will be battle-tested once facing Big Ten competition. With the talent level of this team, coupled with the experience, it would be disappointing if UCLA didn’t contend for a Big Ten championship. At the very least, the Bruins should finish in the top four.
