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UCLA Basketball: Can The Bruins Dance?

By Mike Regalado

Jan 23, 2016; Eugene, OR, USA; UCLA Bruins center Thomas Welsh (40) helps up UCLA Bruins forward Tony Parker (23) following a foul from Oregon Ducks forward Dillon Brooks (24) at Matthew Knight Arena. Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 23, 2016; Eugene, OR, USA; UCLA Bruins center Thomas Welsh (40) helps up UCLA Bruins forward Tony Parker (23) following a foul from Oregon Ducks forward Dillon Brooks (24) at Matthew Knight Arena. Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports /
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After a promising start in the nonconference season, the UCLA basketball team stumbled during Pac-12 play, which prompts the question “will the Bruins go dancing in the NCAA tournament?”

Beat Kentucky, check. Beat Gonzaga, check. Beat Arizona, check.  Dominate the Pac-12 conference…  hold on to that thought.

The season started with such promise for this UCLA basketball team.  Despite a home opening loss to Monmouth, and a 1-2 record in the Maui invitational, the Bruins looked like a halfway decent team. A lot better than they have been in previous seasons under Head Coach Steve Alford.

After their trip to Hawaii, the Bruins came back to the mainland with a certain vigor. No one expected them to beat Kentucky, but as it was, UCLA basketball found a way.  With that win, the Bruins put themselves back on the map.

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The Bruins developed some swagger after that game, unfortunately that swagger seems to have gotten into their heads. Sure they continued to win in the non-conference, but they often played down to their opponents.

Things got worse when they got to Pac-12 play. The Bruins opened up the conference season by getting swept up in Washington.  A few weeks later they Troj’d it against USC, getting their worst loss at Pauley Pavilion in the Steve Alford era.

UCLA Bruins
UCLA Bruins /

UCLA Bruins

Then they went on to get a beating at Oregon only to come home to lose to Washington in a too-little-too-late effort.  Currently, UCLA is 4-5 in the Pac-12 and is tied for seventh place.

To make matters worse, the Bruins start a three-game road trip this Thursday at USC, then head east to Arizona to face the Sun Devils and the Wildcats.

The schedule after that is: vs Utah, vs Colorado, at Cal, at  Stanford , vs Oregon and vs Oregon State.

At best, UCLA could go 6-3 the remainder of the season, going 10-8 in the Pac-12. At worst, the Bruins could realistically finish 7-11 in conference.

Either way, both scenarios are not the best when evaluating their NCAA tournament resume.

There is always the failsafe of winning the Pac-12 Tournament, but if the Bruins can’t string together three wins in conference play, it seems very unlikely that they will be able to do it three straight days in the postseason.

So can the Bruins dance? They have shown that they have the moves, but they have also shown that they can stumble under their own feet and not match the tempo of their dancing partners.

If the Bruins want to impress the tournament committee, they need to start playing the kind of basketball they did in the nonconference (against top teams) and that needs to begin this Thursday at USC.

Next: The UCLA Basketball All-Time Team

If not, well, there is always the NIT.