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UCLA Basketball: Is the 2018-19 Pac-12 season UCLA’s for the taking?

By Mike Regalado

MEMPHIS, TN - MARCH 24: Head coach Steve Alford of the UCLA Bruins looks on in the first half against the Kentucky Wildcats during the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament South Regional at FedExForum on March 24, 2017 in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
MEMPHIS, TN - MARCH 24: Head coach Steve Alford of the UCLA Bruins looks on in the first half against the Kentucky Wildcats during the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament South Regional at FedExForum on March 24, 2017 in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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MEMPHIS, TN – MARCH 24: Head coach Steve Alford of the UCLA Bruins looks on in the first half against the Kentucky Wildcats during the 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament South Regional at FedExForum on March 24, 2017 in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
MEMPHIS, TN – MARCH 24: Head coach Steve Alford of the UCLA Bruins looks on in the first half against the Kentucky Wildcats during the 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament South Regional at FedExForum on March 24, 2017 in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

The UCLA basketball team has a great recruiting class coming in next summer and a solid core of returners which could lead them to a Pac-12 Championship, especially with USC and Arizona taking some roster hits, but can they actually win some hardware?

Yes. And not just because the UCLA basketball team has great class coming in, but mostly because the Pac-12, which was down this season, could be even worse next season.

RELATED: Steve Alford likely to stay at UCLA

That is not exactly a rave review of the Conference of Champions, but there has not been a lot to support the opinion that they will bounce back.

One thing that UCLA fans can look forward to is a full roster that not only has seven players returning, but six in-coming freshmen.

The Bruins lose Thomas Welsh, Gyorgy Goloman and Ikenna Okwarabizie to graduation and it is projected that Aaron Holiday will leave for the NBA Draft. Though it is possible a few others might test the waters, for now we will assume everyone else stays.

Related Story: UCLA basketball - Projecting the 2018-19 depth chart

Final 2017-18 Pac-12 Basketball Standings

  1. Arizona 14-4, 27-8
  2. USC 12-6, 24-11
  3. Utah 11-7, 20-11
  4. UCLA 11-7, 21-12
  5. Stanford 11-7, 19-15
  6. Oregon 10-8, 23-12
  7. Washington 10-8, 21-12
  8. Colorado 8-10, 17-15
  9. Arizona State 8-10, 20-12
  10. Oregon State 7-11, 16-16
  11. Washington State 4-14, 12-19
  12. California 2-16, 8-24

That means UCLA returns Jaylen Hands, Kris WIlkes, Prince Ali, Chris Smith and Alex Olesinski. They also (finally) get to use the services of Jalen Hill and Cody Riley who were suspended this season. Now add in freshmen Moses Brown, Shareef O’Neal, Tyger Campbell, David Singleton III, Jules Bernard and Kenny Nwuba. There is a lot of talent on this team, but how does it stack up against the rest of the Pac-12 and could they dominate the conference next season?