The UCLA basketball team has been known as an offensive team in the Steve Alford era, but as the coach has stated himself, defense must improve… yet it has not.
Nearly two years ago, after the completion of the 2015-16 season, shortly after the UCLA basketball team was embarrassed with an exit in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament to the USC Trojans and finished 15-17, head coach Steve Alford wrote a letter to the Bruin fan base.
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In the letter, Alford gave an explanation to why the Bruins had underachieved and because of it gave back the extension he was awarded at the end of his very first season (2012-13).
That is fine, but there was also another part of that letter that stood out to me. It is a statement I refer back to every time UCLA allows an opposing player to drive into the lane, or when any given Bruin is playing defense five feet off the ball, or not contesting outside shots (especially from the three-point line):
"It is easy to just say that we’ll be better next year. We’re excited to prove it, and that begins now. Over the course of my career, teams that I’ve led have owned, on average, a defensive rank in the top 50. This year we ranked outside the top 100. This can never happen again. We must return to the basics and instill defensive fundamentals in our young men from day one of permissible workouts."
This is interesting because that has not exactly happened. At least not the way Alford wished it would. He stated that his teams have “owned” a defensive rank in the top 50. Well let us look at three stats and rankings his teams have owned in the last 10 years (defensive scoring, defensive field goal percentage and defensive efficiency):
Alford-coached team’s defensive stats and rankings (last 10 years)
| Season | Team | Def. Scoring (Nat’l Rank) | Def. FG% (Nat’l Rank) | Def. Eff. (Nat’l Rank) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008-09 | New Mexico | 67.2 (150) | 42.8 (154) | 0.955 (91) |
| 2009-10 | New Mexico | 65.9 (112) | 42.3 (121) | 0.965 (105) |
| 2010-11 | New Mexico | 59.3 (14) | 38.4 (7) | 0.961 (87) |
| 2011-12 | New Mexico | 60.6 (38) | 39.1 (26) | 0.882 (5) |
| 2012-13 | UCLA | 69.3 (245) | 42.5 (160) | 0.961 (117) |
| 2013-14 | UCLA | 70.4 (186) | 42.7 (124) | 0.977 (74) |
| 2014-15 | UCLA | 68.1 (218) | 41.6 (108) | 0.981 (130) |
| 2015-16 | UCLA | 76.7 (282) | 43.0 (141) | 1.038 (227) |
| 2016-17 | UCLA | 75.5 (258) | 42.2 (87) | 1.000 (144) |
| 2017-18 | UCLA | 76.2 (271) | 42.2 (113) | 1.00 (153) |
BOLD indicates rankings in top 50 – Stats provided by NCAA Statistics
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The conclusion of the 2015-16 season was the end of Alford’s fourth year in Westwood and definitely his worst of the last 10 years. Arguably, a team should be better in Year 4 than in the previous three years at a new gig, but that is not the case here and one of the biggest reasons for this is defense. It was not great in his first four years, but has their been any progress after Alford’s letter?
Last year did show some defensive improvements, but very minimal. Opponent’s numbers were up, but that is attributed to the fact that the Bruins played some of the best up tempo basketball in the nation. Not only were they the top scoring team in the nation (89.8 ppg), they had the highest points per possession (1.189) and considering they had 75.5 possessions per game (29th in the nation), opponents are also going to have more chances to score.
That is not the case this season. This year’s offense cannot make up for the lack of defense the way the 2016-17 Bruins did. Scoring is up for opponents and yes, the Bruins are possessing the ball more with 76.2 per game (41st), but they are not making the most of each possession with 1.103 ppp. So not only is the offense putting up less points, they are allowing more points to be scored on them.
Alford gets back his extension back
We don’t necessarily need numbers to show us that UCLA has not been all they can be with defense. The “eyeballing test” is good enough. The Bruins have had good stretches of defense in several games this season, unfortunately it is not consistent and it is not getting better.
Before this season started, Athletic Director Dan Guerrero gave back the extension to Alford after the Bruins went 31-5 (a change from 15-17 in the previous season). Many questioned it as Alford showed progress in only one season, plus, he did not win any hardware (no regular season Pac-12 Championship, no Pac-12 Tournament Championship and definitely no NCAA Championship).
And now look at where the Bruins are. Halfway through the season and they have already matched their loss total for last year. So unless UCLA can rattle off 18-staright wins to match 31-5, it is apparent that the Bruins are going to have a worse record than last season.
This is concerning. Alford has not only failed to improve the defense, but offense has not helped them out as it should and this team can be a very good offensive team. I’ll go so far to say that they can be a very good defensive team, they are just not consistent.
UCLA basketball going forward
There is still a lot of basketball to play and the Alford could do something about the defense starting now, but how is it going to be maintained? This past weekend, UCLA should have manhandled Colorado, but they rely too much on the outside shot and in that game nothing was falling. By the time the Bruins put on decent defensive pressure, the Buffaloes were already well ahead and controlling the pace of the game. And that is just Colorado (at Pauley Pavilion).
The Bruins still have to face Arizona (in Tucson, their only meeting this regular season) and USC (home and away). UCLA will also be tested this weekend as they head north for the Oregon road trip, which is not going to easy.
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Here is something to note, through six season, Alford only has gone on 21 road trips (not counting USC) and has had only four road sweeps, three of which came last season during the season of Lonzo Ball, TJ Leaf, Bryce Alford and Isaac Hamilton season of amazement.
Something else to note, UCLA recently fired Jim Mora, their former football coach, due to underachieving. What came out of that is the fact that UCLA is willing and able to replace a coach with one that can get things done. Hopefully Alford is aware of this because if things don’t change, he might be forced to change jobs.
The seat is getting warm and Alford has to show that he can make the necessary changes for UCLA to be contenders, but looking at his body of work the last six seasons, that does not seem like a possibility. David Woods of Bruin Report Online gave an interesting detailed account of this in a Twitter thread he posted after the loss to Colorado which includes comparisons to other elite programs in recruiting, offensive and defensive efficiency — click HERE to read.
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So is UCLA going to come out swinging the rest of the season or are Bruins fans in for another disappointing end to a season wondering “when are we going to get another banner?” Not any time soon, I can tell you that, unless drastic measures are taken.