UCLA Basketball: Looking At The Scholarships Without Norman Powell, Kevon Looney and Wanaah Bail

Early today, news broke that seldom used forward Wanaah Bail is no longer in school and is looking to transfer from UCLA Basketball. His exit will be the third from the Bruins as Norman Powell is graduating and Kevon Looney is declaring for the NBA Draft. For the second year in a row, UCLA has to re-build before the beginning of next season.

Jan 8, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins forward Tony Parker (23) reacts after a dunk in the second overtime of the game against the Stanford Cardinal at Pauley Pavilion. UCLA won 86-81 in double overtime. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

As of right now, the Bruins only have 10 scholarships reserved out of the 13 available. Here is a breakdown of the players by position and year.

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As you can see, UCLA is still going to have some depth at forward and center. Even with Bail transferring and Looney heading to the NBA, the Bruins will have five players to man the front court.

UCLA Bruins

They will have the talent, leadership and experience of senior Tony Parker who should be one of the better bg men in the Pac-12 next season. UCLA will also have support from Thomas Welsh and Gyorgy Goloman who could really be a factor if they can develop over the summer.

The Bruins will also be able to utilize the talents of Jonah Bolden who was ruled ineligible to play this past season. He should, depending on how he developed with UCLA this last season, work his way into the starting power forward spot.

As for the front court, the Bruins should hold steady with the return of Bryce Alford and Isaac Hamilton. Both ran the offense last season as they shared point guard responsibilities, which ease up for them next season.

This fall, the Bruins will welcome

Aaron Holiday

,

Prince Ali

and

Alex Olesinki

into the mix as they will be in-coming freshmen. Holiday should take over PG duties as he is more seasoned in that spot than Alford or Hamilton, though word on the street is that head coach

might have his son Bryce continue in that role.

UCLA will also get the help from a shooting guard Prince Ali who is very similar to Zach LaVine, but might have a more developed game than LaVine when he enter college.

With only ten guys on scholarship, the Bruins have three to give. The unfortunate thing is that Steve Alford only has four offers out to Jaylen Brown, Stephen Zimmerman, Brandon Ingram and Kobie Eubanks (per Scout.com) and right now it seems that the Bruins are only serious contenders for Brown.

If they get Brown, he would really help at the small forward position. If that is the case, the question will be “how will Steve Alford handle having two extra scholarships?” That is yet to be seen.

Mar 19, 2015; Louisville, KY, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach Steve Alford coaches during the second half against the Southern Methodist Mustangs in the second round of the 2015 NCAA Tournament at KFC Yum! Center. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports