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UCLA Basketball: The Pac-12 schedule pairings have been announced

By Mike Regalado

LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 18: Head Coach Steve Alford of the UCLA Bruins reacts during the second half of a game against the USC Trojans at Pauley Pavilion on February 18, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 18: Head Coach Steve Alford of the UCLA Bruins reacts during the second half of a game against the USC Trojans at Pauley Pavilion on February 18, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
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The Pac-12 has released the schedule pairing for the 2018-19 season which has the UCLA basketball team starting conference play at home, ending on the road and playing the Arizonas and Washingtons once.

The UCLA basketball team is an early favorite to win the Pac-12 Conference in 2018-19 and now they know the road it will take to accomplish that.

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Today, the Pac-12 released the schedule pairing for each conference team. The pairings are geographical in nature, matching up teams that are close in distance to each other as they travel and to other conference pairing sites, as well as welcome them to their home arenas.

Each team will play an 18-game schedule, taking on every team at home and on the road, except for two pairings. This year, UCLA will only face Arizona and Arizona State once as both schools travel to L.A. to face the Bruins and the USC Trojans. They will also travel to the Washington schools with no return trip to L.A.

UCLA begins their Pac-12 schedule the week of January 2 as the Bay Area schools, Cal and Stanford, make there way down to L.A. Here is how the conference schedule is set up:

The UCLA’s 2018-19 Schedule Pairings

  • Week of Jan 2 vs California and Stanford
  • Week of Jan 9 at Oregon and Oregon State
  • Week of Jan 16 at USC
  • Week of Jan. 23 vs Arizona and Arizona State
  • Week of Jan 30 at Washington and Washington State
  • Week of Feb. 6 vs Colorado and Utah
  • Week of Feb 13 at California and Stanford
  • Week of Feb. 20 vs Oregon and Oregon State
  • Week of Feb 27 vs USC
  • Week of Mar 6 at Colorado and Utah

The Bruins will have a young team next season, though they will have a lot of talent. UCLA brings in a six-man recruiting class which will be led by 5-star center Moses Brown. UCLA was also lucky to get back sophomores Kris Wilkes and Jaylen Hands who returned after testing the NBA Draft waters.

Though they only have two upperclassmen, UCLA should be a very exciting team to watch. Navigating through a tough non-conference schedule (which includes games against Ohio State, Cincinnati and Notre Dame) will prepare them for the rigors of Pac-12 play.

Next: UCLA Basketball: The Top 10 Recruiting Classes Since 2000

Hopefully by the time the new year rolls around, these Bruins will be making a huge impact.