There appears to be some uncertainty with the UCLA Bruins heading into the 2023-24 season but if the past 10 seasons tell us anything, adopting and adapting to the new college basketball landscape is something the Bruins will be able to navigate with relative ease.
Depending on how you look at it, it appears there are eight players on scholarship for the Bruins entering the 2023-2024 season.
The student-athletes that the Bruins are bringing back are Kenneth Nwuba, Will McClendon, and Dylan Andrews. None of them were considered starters last season and UCLA will more than likely have a whole new starting five especially if no players who entered the NBA draft don’t return and leave their names in the NBA draft.
UCLA is bringing in three true freshmen on scholarships from their 2023 recruiting class, Devin Williams, Brandon Williams, and Sebastian Mack. The Bruins via the transfer portal are bringing in Lazar Stefanovic as well as Ilane Fibleuil from France. In total that is five scholarship players for the 2023-24 season who have not played on last season’s UCLA team.
If you add all the above names and no walk-on is awarded a scholarship for this upcoming season that adds up to eight scholarship players for the 2023-24 season. But there are players from this past season who can technically come back and one player who can’t.
To begin with, who is not coming back, David Singleton has played five seasons at UCLA and has no more NCAA eligibility. It is very likely that two seniors Tyger Campbell and Jaime Jaquez Jr. are not using their extra year of eligibility due to the Covid exemption season and are not coming back to UCLA for the 2023-24 season.
Then you have three players who currently have their names in the NBA draft in Adem Bona, Amari Bailey, and Jaylen Clark but not all three are expected to stay in the NBA draft. Some believe that Clark and Bona will withdraw their names from the NBA draft but there are no guarantees that they will do so. For Bailey, it appears that he is not returning to UCLA and will remain in the NBA draft.
Finally, you have both Mac Etienne and Abramo Canka in the transfer portal and even though it doesn’t guarantee they will leave UCLA, it is more than likely that they do indeed transfer to another school.
According to Barttorvik, the Bruins will not have much offensive production for the upcoming season but analytics and prediction projections are not ‘reliable” in determining the actually offensive output by UCLA for the 2023-24 season.
It is also important to factor in that under the leadership of head coach Mick Cronin, the Bruins are overall 99-36 and 58-19 in Pac-12 play. In NCAA Tournament play under Cronin, the Bruins have reached the Sweet Sixteen in the past three seasons in 2021, 2022, and 2023 and made it all the way to the Final Four in 2021. Cronin also lead UCLA to a Pac-12 regular season title last season and the Bruins made it to the Pac-12 tournament championship game the past two years in a row. There is no reason on paper to doubt that Cronin will not have UCLA ready and competing for the upcoming season.
In order to be optimistic about success on the hardwood at Pauley Pavilion for the 2023-24 season, let’s take a look at the Bruins’ season over the past decade.
Now let’s look back at the past 11 UCLA basketball teams from the past 11 seasons including the Covid season where the Pac-12 Tournament and NCAA tournament were not played. To illiterate no matter who comes and goes rather it via the NBA draft or transfer portal or due to graduation and have no more eligibility, the Bruins more than not have been consistent year in and year out.
2022-23: This season’s team was led by and they went 31-6 overall and 16-2 in the Pac-12. In non-conference play they defeated then No. 20 ranked Maryland on the road as well as No. 13 Kentucky. In conference play, UCLA swept Washington State, Washington, Utah, and Stanford, and defeated Oregon and Colorado three times. The Bruins made it to the Sweet Sixteen, where they lost to North Carolina by only seven points.
2021-22: This season’s team was led by and they went 27-8 overall and 15-5 in the Pac-12. In non-conference play then defeated the No. 4 ranked Villanova and beat both Marquette and UNLV on the road. After two games were canceled and four games were postponed, UCLA in conference play beat Cal, Washington, Oregon State, and Washington State twice. The Bruins came in second place in the Pac-12 regular season standing and they made it to the Sweet Sixteen, where they lost to Gonzaga by only three points.
2020-21: This season’s team was led by Johnny Juzang and Jaime Jaquez Jr and even though their season was a roller coaster and it was a shortened season due to Covid protocols, they were 22-10 overall and 13-6 in the Pac-12. After losing their final four games of the regular season they went on a magical run in the NCAA Tournament. UCLA defeated Michigan State in overtime in the First Four game and then they defeated No. 6 seed BYU by double digits. In the second round, the Bruins beat Abilene Christian by 20 points and then pulled off another upset by defeating No. 2 seed Alabama in overtime. In the Elite Eight, UCLA beat No. 1 seed Michigan to advance to the Final Four. In the Final Four, they lost to Gonzaga by three in overtime ending the magical tournament run.
2019-20: This team went 19-12 overall and 12-6 in the Pac-12. They finished the season strong after having an up-and-down season by winning nine of their last eleven games. During that stretch, they defeated ranked Colorado twice and beat No. 23 Arizona on the road as well. The season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so the Bruins did not have a chance to defend their Final Four appearance as the Pac-12 and NCAA tournament were canceled.
2018-19: This was the most recent disappointing season for UCLA basketball as the team finished 17-16 and 9-9 in Pac-12 play. This was the final season for head men’s basketball coach Steve Alford as the head coach of the Bruins after Alford had a four-game losing streak that put UCLA at 7-6 to start the season. This season was an outlier in recent Bruin basketball history and the 2023-24 will not end as it did at the conclusion of the 2018-19 season.
Going back to the 2012-13 season, with the exception of the 2015-16 season, the Bruins overall have had success on the basketball court.
2017-18: This team went 21-12 overall and 11-7 in the Pac-12. They won two games that season against teams ranked in the top 15 but they unfortunately got upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament by No. 11 seed St. Bonaventure. Even though they lost very early in the tournament, the Bruins had a strong regular season defeating USC twice that year.
2016-17: This team went 31-5 overall and 15-3 in the Pac-12. They won the Pac-12 regular season title and made it to the Sweet 16, where they lost to Kentucky. Even though they didn’t make it to the Elite Eight, the Bruins had an amazing regular season winning the Wooden Legacy championship tournament, defeating No. 1 ranked Kentucky on the road, and beating No. 4 ranked Arizona on the road as well.
2015-16: This team by far had the worst season on the court in recent history as the Bruins finished 15-17 and 6-12 in Pac-12 play. However, in non-conference play they beat No. 1 ranked Kentucky and defeated No. 20 ranked Gonzaga on the road.
2014-15: This team went 22-14 overall and 11-7 in the Pac-12. That season was highlighted by defeating USC three times and upsetting No. 6 seed SMU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. They made it to the Sweet 16 that season and they were defeated by Gonzaga.
2013-14: They went 28-9 overall and 12-6 in the Pac-12. They started the season 8-0 with them capturing the Las Vegas Invitational title. They in conference play swept USC and came in second play in the regular season standings. The Bruins defeated No. 4 ranked Arizona to capture the Pac-12 tournament title. UCLA made it to the Sweet Sixteen, where they lost to Florida.
2012-13: This team went 25-10 overall and 13-5 in the Pac-12. The Bruins in non-conference play had victories over Georgia, Texas, and No. 7 ranked Missouri. UCLA won the Pac-12 regular season title that included three wins over ranked Arizona. The Bruins, unfortunately, lost to Minnesota by 20 points in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Head Coach Ben Howland was fired after 10 seasons as the head coach of the Bruins following the disappointing NCAA Tournament loss.
Having looked back at these past seasons of UCLA basketball, with the exception of two seasons, the Bruins have proven to be very consistent in making the NCAA tournament and finishing in the top four of the PAC-12 regular season standing. Even though fans and alums have uncertainty and not much confidence that UCLA will compete for a conference title and make another Sweet Sixteen run in 2024, history has proven that their chances are better than most people think.