UCLA and basketball are synonymous. The late '60s and early '70s in particular saw a strong run of dominance. Coach Mick Cronin is in his sixth year in charge. He's made a deep Final Four run before with the Bruins. The first-year Big Ten team is looking to be remaining after 64 others bow out of the tournament.
To make it far, a lot has to go your way. This is a talented group. This is a balanced roster with six players averaging 20+ minutes and three others seeing over ten minutes per contest. Schools like Auburn and Duke are being picked by 'experts' to win it all this year. However, it wasn't too long ago when the Bruins made it to the semifinals.
During coach Cronin's first season in charge, COVID forced postseason play to be canceled. In his second year, the 2020-2021 campaign resulted in a Final Four appearance. April 3, 2021, saw the Bruins play in the national semifinals at Lucas Oil Stadium. As a No. 11 seed, they achieved something of the unbelievable and made it far from a double-digit position.
En route to the Cinderella run, the Bruins upset many universities on their way through the tournament. Michigan State went to overtime in the First Round. BYU and Alabama also fell as six and two seeds, respectively.
Their win against Michigan took a lot of college basketball fans by surprise that year. Johnny Juzang scored an impressive 28 points in the Elite Eight match. And UCLA punched their ticket against the region's one seed.
Although coach Cronin's side ended up falling to Gonzaga, it was a hard-fought result for the Zags. The Bruins ended up losing by three in overtime after Juzang got called for a drive while pushing for the game-winning layup.
Since then, the program made it to the Sweet Sixteen in 2022 and 2023. They will, however, strive to not have that be the benchmark. This is particularly true with some of the past squads who have worn the blue and gold.
Chances of UCLA repeating history
This year as the seven seed, they'd potentially face the winner of Tennessee and Wofford, granted they are able to beat Utah State. As history can show, however, seemingly unlikely paths during the March Madness tournament are always possible.
For a program as successful as this one, advancing far is part of the tradition on this campus. The school has already made it to the semifinals 19 times. With a largely even playing field this year, any number of the underdogs could foreseeably upset the favorites at any point of this tourney action.
Often people look for a Cinderella story to exclusively mean a smaller, less-trophy-laden school. Considering the Bruins aren't too highly ranked and their path would most likely go through a strong Volunteers' program, winning multiple rounds would prove to be something of an exciting, buzzworthy feat.
Now four years removed from their last Final Four appearance, the Bruins hope to have a similar impact on the field once again. Only this time, as a slightly higher seed, UCLA knows it's certainly possible to go far again.
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