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UCLA Basketball: How Does UCLA Make an NCAA Tournament Run?

By James Puryear

Dec 28, 2016; Eugene, OR, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Aaron Holiday (3), center Thomas Welsh (40), forward TJ Leaf (22) and forward Ike Anigbogu (13) look at a replay at the end of the game against the Oregon Ducks at Matthew Knight Arena. Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 28, 2016; Eugene, OR, USA; UCLA Bruins guard Aaron Holiday (3), center Thomas Welsh (40), forward TJ Leaf (22) and forward Ike Anigbogu (13) look at a replay at the end of the game against the Oregon Ducks at Matthew Knight Arena. Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports /
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For the first time in a while, the UCLA Basketball team can really make a run deep into the NCAA Tournament.  Let’s look and see how it’ll (probably) happen.

A lot of times as sports fans we start thinking about what it’s going to take for our teams to win a championship, and odds are it’ll take some complicated miracle for it to happen.

What gives me a lot of confidence about the UCLA Basketball team and their ability to do well in the Big Dance in my estimation, is that the keys to success are simple, and more importantly, realistic.

If UCLA plays to it’s potential on offense, teams will struggle to keep up: unless opposing teams get more possessions.

Related Story: Joe Lunardi Trolls UCLA Once Again

Step 1:  Remain the best offense in the country

UCLA’s tournament success will be largely dependent on executing to it’s potential on offense.

Feb 25, 2017; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard Kobi Simmons (2) defends UCLA Bruins guard Lonzo Ball (2) during the second half at McKale Center. UCLA won 77-72. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 25, 2017; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard Kobi Simmons (2) defends UCLA Bruins guard Lonzo Ball (2) during the second half at McKale Center. UCLA won 77-72. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports /

The identity of UCLA as a team is that they’re primarily an offensive fast-paced, transition team with lethal shooters and skilled bigs.

While UCLA’s defense has improved throughout the season and will need to play well for them to make deep runs, the frightening strength of the UCLA team is on offense.

Bruin fans have a lot of reason to be confident in their team’s offense, which leads the nation in field goal efficiency at 51.9%.   Perhaps a more important statistic is that UCLA also leads the nation in points per possession at 1.185.

To put it another way, if UCLA has the same number of possessions as their opponent they score more.  In fact, in all 4 of the Bruin’s losses this year, UCLA lost the possession battle by a notable margin.

Steps 2 : Winning Possessions

In every match up against a team UCLA lost to, the winner of the possession battle would go on to win the game.  This is particularly significant to me, because the Bruins would go on to beat all of these teams at least once.

The number in parenthesis refers to how the Bruins did in terms of possessions compared to the other team, based on turnovers and rebounds.

More from UCLA Bruins Basketball

Losses
Oregon  (-7)
Arizona (regular season) (-10)
USC    (-7)
Arizona (PAC12 Tournament)  (-6)

Wins
Oregon (+1)
Arizona  (+9)
USC (+17)
USC (PAC 12 Tournament) (+6)

Obviously, these numbers don’t tell the whole story but they should definitely give you pause to think.

It’s also worth noting that getting defensive rebounds, and creating turnovers allow UCLA to get out ahead in transition, which is when the UCLA offense is at it’s best.  Additionally as Daily Bruin writer Matt Cummings wrote in his Washington Preview, the improved  rebounding showed through the season has been crucial to the improved defense.

The good news?  This is once again realistic for UCLA to accomplish.  UCLA has the personal to be a good rebounding team, and in fact is the 26th best team in the country in terms of rebounds per game.   When it comes to preventing turnovers, primary ball handler Lonzo Ball is one of the best point guards in the nation with his assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.06.

Next: UCLA Women's Basketball is a 4th seed in NCAA Tournament

Conclusion

You can look at almost every box score of a basketball game and notice that the final score will be something along the lines of this:

FG efficiency*Number of shots= score

Simply put,  if UCLA’s offense plays to it’s incredibly potential, and the Bruins go toe-for-toe on possessions, they have a great chance of beating any team in the tournament, and if you can beat any team in the tournament, what stops you from winning it?

What do you think the keys are to  UCLA making a tournament run? Tell us below in the comments or tweet me @sorenjrp