Why UCLA Men’s Basketball Will Be Good This Year
Normally when a basketball team loses three players to the NBA Draft, it spells trouble for them the following year. It is a bit worse for UCLA Men’s Basketball this year as they had five players leave as Jordan Adams, Kyle Anderson and Zach LaVine were drafted and David Wear and Travis Wear graduated (Trvais was recently secured a roster spot with the New York Knicks). In addition to that, the Bruins got some bad news with two additional player as in-coming freshman Jonah Bolden was ruled ineligible for this season and potential transfer Jon Octeus was denied admission. Pretty bad right? Not as bad as you think.
Despite only returning five scholarship players form last season (two of whom played very little minutes), head coach Steve Alford has put the Bruins in a good position to make a run for the Pac-12 title. Of course, that road goes through Arizona as the Wildcats have reloaded this year despite losing two players to the NBA themselves. But this is not about how good the Wildcats will be, this is about how good UCLA can be. Let us start with the guys that we know.
Mar 27, 2014; Memphis, TN, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Norman Powell (4) drives against Florida Gators guard Kasey Hill (0) during the second half in the semifinals of the south regional of the 2014 NCAA Mens Basketball Championship tournament at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports
The Returning Bruins
Bryce Alford, Noah Allen, Wanaah Bail, Norman Powell and Tony Parker are the five guys that have the game experience needed to run Coach Alford’s up-tempo system. Alford, Powell and Parker are the only returners that played significant minutes last season and will be expected to step up and continue the glory from last year.
Powell is now the “Face of UCLA Basketball” this year and is looking to have another explosive season. Bruin fans knew how athletic he was in his first two years, but it was the allotted freedom that Steve Alford gave him in this new system that helped Powell to thrive. Not only was he the best on-ball defender on the team, but he came up with several highlight reel slam dunks that opened a lot of Bruin’s fans eyes.
Mar 27, 2014; Memphis, TN, USA; UCLA Bruins forward/center Tony Parker (23) drives to the basket against the Florida Gators during the second half in the semifinals of the south regional of the 2014 NCAA Mens Basketball Championship tournament at FedExForum. Mandatory Credit: Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports
The same can be said for Parker, although not as flashy, he did have a step in the right direction in his second year when he seemed to be trusted a bit more by Alford. As his minutes jumped up to more than 10 minutes a game, Parker saw his numbers go up accordingly. Points, rebounds, steals, blocks, field goal percentage and free throw percentage had all increased. At one point last season, Parker was leading the Pac-12 in field goal percentage. Though he improved, he would be the first one to say it was not good enough. Jack Wang of the Daily News recently reported that Parker gave himself a “D-” for his production last year.
Bryce Alford is more of an enigma. He had a decent year playing back up to Anderson who did a little of everything, especially rebounding, for the Bruins with his 6’9″ frame. Alford is not close to that as he is only 6’3″ and only recorded 20% of Anderson’s rebounds, as a point guard, he did a decent job handling the ball. Still, he left much to be desired as he often tried to many fancy passes and got caught in transition situations, but on the other hand, he is a great shooter and can handle the 2 spot well. Time will tell if he made the necessary improvements in the off-season, but to have him handling the ball is not a bad deal, especially with the Bruin’s other option at PG.
Allen and Bail were works in progress last season, but have a year of experience under their belt learning Coach Alford’s system. This year they will be expected to do more as the Bruins have some issues at depth. We may not know what they can fully contribute, but hopefully it is a lot.
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UCLA may have little experience with their returners, but they are bursting at the seams with talent from a fresh crop of players that have been waiting patiently to make an affect on Bruin basketball. The most notable of these is guard Isaac Hamilton who will be splitting PG duties with Bryce Alford. Hamilton was a solid player in high school that has good handles and has a knack for scoring. He was originally committed to UTEP, but a last second change of heart brought him back to the L.A. area. Because he signed Letter Of Intent and transferred from El Paso, he had to sit out a season in Westwood. The good news, he already knows what is expected of UCLA’s game play.
Along with Hamilton, we also get to see three of the four players in the the Bruin’s Top 20 recruiting class. We will not see 5-star recruit Bolden as he was ruled ineligible, but he was not the lone player in his class with talent. UCLA gets to utilize the skills of 5-star power forward Kevon Looney and 5-star 7-footer center Thomas Welsh. Additionally, the Bruins stocked up on their big men as 3-star center Gyorgy Goloman was also brought in by the Bruins.
It is unfortunate that Bolden is not going to play this year because he would have added some solid play under the basket to an already impressive front court, but as it is, the Bruins are going to be good under the glass with rebound machines Looney and Welsh helping out Parker, who had to do the majority of the work in the front court by himself. This season, there will be rebounds!
Alford’s Adjustments and Players That Fit His System
Mar 26, 2014; Memphis, TN, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach Steve Alford looks on during practice for the south regional of the 2014 NCAA Mens Basketball Championship at FedEx Forum. Mandatory Credit: Spruce Derden-USA TODAY Sports
The assessment on how Steve Alford is doing in Westwood is yet to be decided, though he did turn heads last season as he lead the Bruins to 28-9 record in his first season, beat the #1 ranked Arizona Wildcats for the Pac-12 Tournament Championship and got UCLA back to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in six years. Part of that had to do with Alford’s assimilation in to the world of Pac-12 hoops. In his first season, he had to quickly learn how to use his new team with his new style of basketball. The Bruins were used to the defensive, grind-it-out style of ball that former coach Ben Howland implemented, so going to an up-tempo style of play took some time.
Early in the season, UCLA got hit with some reality as games against Missouri and Duke on the road humbled a team that started 10-0. Still, once Alford got into conference play, things tightened up a lot more. He was able to gauge his players and how they could effectively be used against each opponent, though he finished second the Pac-12 and did not get a road sweep in conference, he made UCLA a contender. Proof of that came from five Pac-12 games where the Bruins were down at the half and came back for a victory. Ending the regular season, UCLA seemed to turn down their efforts, but in the Pac-12 Tournament, they were lights out. The Bruins ran through their first three opponents in the NCAA tournament, but fell to a a Billy Donovan-coached team that was just a bit better. Improvements, indeed.
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As for this year, Alford seems to have more of the players needed to execute the style of basketball he is looking for. Nothing against the five players that left UCLA over the summer but “athletic” was not word used to describe Adams, Anderson and the Wear twins. It does describe LaVine, but he disappeared in the second half of the season. This year, Alford can heavily lean on Powell, Looney, Alford and Allen to go fast, while leaving the heavy lifting in the front court to Parker and Welsh.
I am not saying UCLA Men’s Basketball will be better than last year’s (who had three first-round draft picks), I am just saying that they should be a lot more ready to execute this style of play. Either way, it will be very interesting to see this Bruin team perform this season.