UCLA Basketball: Is this the team we’ve been waiting for?

Coming into this season, no one knew what to expect with UCLA Basketball, but they are sure giving people a run for their money. Now everyone is asking themselves, is this the team that we’ve been waiting for?

Starting the season off with a loss against Monmouth was quite possibly the most upsetting thing to witness. Coming into this year, we expected our Bruins to become seasoned over the summer in order to play like UCLA Bruins should. However, after that let down against Monmouth, it seemed as if that hope began to fade.

The loss against Kansas at the Maui invitational, while not completely surprising, was still a let down. To make matters worse, they lost to Wake Forest the next day by only 3-points.

Coming back from the Maui Invitational however, against all odds, there was a UCLA miracle.

UCLA Bruins

Not only did we beat the team that murdered us last year by almost 40-points, but we took their #1 ranking and their perfect record away from them. Hands down, beating Kentucky was the highlight of everyone’s week and possibly this season.

Side note about our team: UCLA does not have a track record of playing particularly well away from Pauley Pavilion. However, Gonzaga, another ranked team who was known to casually walk away with a win against us in the Sweet 16 last season, witnessed firsthand the potential of the Bruins this year in their own Kennel.

With wins like these, and after earning a spot on the AP Top 25 Poll, the possibilities for this team seem endless. It could be the flow of the ball from Bryce Alford to Isaac Hamilton, the solid rebounds by Tony Parker and Thomas Welsh, or maybe even the spunk of freshmen Aaron Holiday and Prince Ali, but either way, this team is doing amazing together.

Although their ball flow started off rough at the beginning of the season, they are making it a point to prove everyone wrong. If they can defeat the teams no one thought they could beat, then imagine what future challengers will think of them, including teams like Arizona.

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Consistency will be key in the games to come, but if they play with the same passion they had against Kentucky, things can only get better for the young 2015-16 UCLA Bruins.