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UCLA Basketball: How Much Better Will the Bruins Be in 2016-17?

By Mike Regalado

Feb 14, 2016; Tempe, AZ, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach Steve Alford looks on against the Arizona State Sun Devils during the first half at Wells-Fargo Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 14, 2016; Tempe, AZ, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach Steve Alford looks on against the Arizona State Sun Devils during the first half at Wells-Fargo Arena. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports /
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Jan 30, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins center Thomas Welsh (40) gets a high five from head coach Steve Alford as he leaves the game in the second half against the Washington State Cougars Pauley Pavilion. UCLA won 83-50. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 30, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; UCLA Bruins center Thomas Welsh (40) gets a high five from head coach Steve Alford as he leaves the game in the second half against the Washington State Cougars Pauley Pavilion. UCLA won 83-50. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports /

The UCLA Basketball team has high expectations for the 2016-17 season, but how much better will they be, realistically?

If UCLA Basketball Head Coach Steve Alford cannot improve off of a15-17 record from last season, then he is doing something extremely wrong. This year he has some reinforcements and a new outlook on how to run this team, so there should be progress, but how much?

Last year ended horribly. The Bruins lost five straight to end the season, lost to USC three times which culminated in a 95-71 beating in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament and ultimately did not receive an NCAA bid. In a way, the only place to go this season is up.

When the season ended, Alford wrote a letter to the Bruin faithful stating that there will be changes. Well it is almost time for the new season to start and we want to know what these changes will do.

Related Story: UCLA Basketball 2016-17 Schedule

Alford wants to improve on the defense, get better with game planning and adjustments and have the Bruins better prepared for Pac-12 play. From this we can assess that Alford is aware of his faults and is looking to improve on them. Whether he does or not is yet to be seen, but we will see it all very soon.

We did get a glimpse of this team in August during their trip to Australia. Though it was a work in progress with the roster and lineups, there were more good takeaways than bad.

"UCLA 2015-16 Record: 15-17 overall, 6-12 Pac-12, Home 11-6, Away 3-7, Neutral1-4"

To start, we got to see freshman Lonzo Ball, T.J. Leaf and Ike Anigbogu display their skills. These three Bruins were part of the Top 5 recruiting class the Bruins brought in this season and are expected to help with UCLA’s turnaround. We will get more into them individually, but for the most part, they looked good.

As for the veterans, there are questions about development, but for the most part, it looks like there will be some progress coming from the older Bruins. So let us get right into it and start with the defense.