The UCLA basketball team is going dancing as they have received an invite to the NCAA Tournament as an 11-seed and will take on St. Bonaventure in the Tuesday play-in game.
It seems the UCLA basketball team did in fact do enough this season to get an invite to the Big Dance as the Bruins have made it in as an 11-seed in the East Region, UCLA finished the season 21-11, 11-7, 4th in the conference and made it to the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals. Enough for an at-large bid.
Here's your official 2018 NCAA Tournament Bracket. pic.twitter.com/dSiLrzyNYc
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) March 11, 2018
The Bruins had such noteable wins against SEC Tournament winner Kentucky, a regular season win against Pac-12 Champion Arizona in Tucson and swept USC.
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Though they earned the right to play in the NCAA Tournament, they will have a tough time getting through the tournament. The Bruins will take on another 11-seed as they will face St. Bonaventure on Tuesday night at 6:10 p.m. PT.
St. Bonaventure finished second in the A10 Conference with a 25-7, 14-4 record. They have such notable wins against Maryland and Syracuse. They will be led by Jaylen Adams and Matt Mobley who are averaging 19.8 and 18.5 ppg, respectively.
It gets even more daunting if the Bruins win. UCLA could potentially take on #6 Florida in the Round of 64 on Thursday. Get past them and the Bruins will take on the winner of #3 Texas Tech/#14 Stephen F. Austin.
This also means that if the Bruins want to get back to the Sweet Sixteen, they will have to win three-consecutive games in one week. In can be done as UCLA has had four 3+ wins streaks this season, but that was not in the tournament. Things are different now and UCLA has to get ready for March Madness.
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As for the rest of the Pac-12, Arizona and Arizona State were the only two other conference teams. The Wildcats are a 4-seed in the South Region and will take on 13-seed Buffalo. ASU is an 11-seed and will also be in a play-in game against 11-seed Syracuse.