The UCLA basketball team had a chance to gain some ground this past weekend, but instead slipped down the Pac-12 standings and receiving the brunt of the blame is Bruin head coach Steve Alford.
The UCLA basketball team lost to Utah on Thursday. They lost to Colorado on Sunday. So instead of being half a game behind Arizona, the Bruins are now struggling to hold onto a first round bye in the Pac-12 Tournament.
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How could this happen? The Bruins, who had an outside shot of winning the Pac-12 even before the Colorado debacle, especially after Arizona lost to Oregon in overtime, now give USC a shot at the title. Funny enough, the next game for both Bruins and Trojans is against each other at the Galen Center on Saturday.
UCLA could play spoiler, but does it really matter? The Bruins just blew an opportunity to show what kind of team they could potentially be. Instead, they showed exactly who they are.
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The Bruins had some excellent wins this season (vs Kentucky, at Arizona, vs USC, etc.), but somehow cannot play that way when it comes to teams they should trample. This past weekend was an example of that.
UCLA had started the game on fire, let Utah slip back into the game and take the lead, had a late push, but came up short. Interesting, that seems familiar. Why?
UCLA had started the game on fire, let Colorado slip back into the game and take the lead, had a late push, but came up short. Ah yes, its because the Bruins continue to be consistently inconsistent. The Bruins have way more talent than both of those teams, but the lack of defense, effort and killer instinct once again doomed these Bruins.
Against Utah, the Bruins had a hard time getting anything in the basket as they shot 42.4%, while they allowed the Utes to shoot 52.7. Utah had a field day in the paint, but also brutalized the Bruins early in the game from 3-point land.
It was slight different against Colorado (41.4%) who shot just a tiny bit worse than UCLA (41.5%). The frustrating thing about this game was that UCLA once again played from behind, caught the Buffs, but also once again, ran out of gas late and could not KO Colorado.
At a school like UCLA, this should not happen.
At almost any other school, a team in #UCLA’s position would probably consider this a good season. But after 5 years under Alford, they have not lived up to expectations. The athletic department really needs to assess the direction this program is going.
— Go Joe Bruin (@GoJoeBruinUCLA) February 26, 2018
Here are the updated road records for each Pac-12 team in conference play (since start of 2013-2014 season), accounting for this weekend's games: pic.twitter.com/9TKXDpLouL
— Matt Joye (@mattjoye) February 26, 2018
Steve's Alford's road conference winning percentage is 40.9% right now after most of 5 seasons. No UCLA coach since 1948 has finished his career below .500 on the road in conference play. Not Lavin. Not Hazzard. Not Farmer. Not one.
— David Woods (@daviddavidwoods) February 26, 2018
#UCLA falls to 19-10 overall and 10-7 in the Pac-12, which is tied for fourth with Utah. Bruins at USC next week, Utes at home against Colorado as teams fight for first-round byes in the Pac-12 Tournament.
— Thuc Nhi Nguyen (@thucnhi21) February 25, 2018
UCLA loses 80-76. Now it's getting dire.
— Ben Bolch (@latbbolch) February 25, 2018
(You should see the not-so-nice tweets about Alford and the direction of the program.)
Last week, UCLA reappeared in the AP poll, collecting 20 votes (30th overall) after a weekend sweep of Oregon State and Oregon. This week, they are no where near the rankings. That will happen when you go on the road and continue to have a descending win percentage. And don’t even get me started on their chance to make the NCAA Tournament.
The worst part is how UCLA could capitalize on the current turmoil plaguing a few Pac-12 programs, but I will get into that a little later.
Next: Chances the Bruins make the NCAA Tournament
With the expectations of this storied program, UCLA does not seem to be on track to any hardware anytime soon. Even with a top 3 class coming in next season, the Bruins need a different approach if they want to hang more banners. Unfortunately, that might have to be with out current coach Steve Alford.