The Pac-12 basketball weekly pairings for 2017-18 have been released. How will UCLA Basketball perform?
UCLA Basketball has not won a Pac-12 regular season championship since 2013. The 2016-17 Bruin team had the talent to end the streak but Oregon’s experience and Arizona’s athleticism won out.
Thomas Welsh and Aaron Holiday return from that team and lead a deeper, more athletic squad into 2017-18. Depth and skill will be enough to carry UCLA Basketball to an 11-2 non-conference record but will it bring a conference championship?
Let’s explore the recently released Pac-12 Basketball weekly pairings and find out:
Related Story: Looking at a few UCLA Basketball 2018 recruiting prospects
Week of Dec. 27-31: (2-0)
vs. Washington—WIN
For the first time in 16 seasons, Washington will start a season with a new head coach. Lorenzo Romar won 60% of his games in Seattle but his teams massively underachieved. Despite fielding NBA talent like Markelle Fultz, Dejounte Murray, Marquese Chriss and Nigel Williams-Goss, the Huskies last made the NCAA tournament in 2011. New coach Mike Hopkins’s first order of business is to change that culture. He hit the ground running and has managed to convince Noah Dickerson, Matisse Thybulle and David Crisp to stick around. Dickerson averaged 16.5 points and 9 rebounds against the Bruins in 2016-17. He’s the player to watch for Washington in 2017-18.
However, Hopkins is a first year head coach in a major conference. There will be some growing pains. Edge goes to Steve Alford and UCLA Basketball.
vs. Washington State—WIN
Josh Hawkinson, Ike Iroegbu, Charles Callison and Connor Clifford are gone from a team that went 6-12 and finished 9th in the Pac-12. The Cougars will struggle to replace them and need Malachi Flynn (9.7 points per game) to further increase his production. Coach Ernie Kent has developed hidden gems before (see: Josh Hawkinson) and can do so again. However, Washington State does not have enough to upset UCLA Basketball at Pauley Pavilion.