UCLA Basketball: March Madness Team Profile and Season Recap

Photo of Ricky Dimon

Ricky Dimon

NCAAB

Show Bio

Since graduating from Davidson (The College That Stephen Curry Built), I have been writing about sports -- just about any and all you can think of! -- and coaching tennis in Atlanta, GA. Beyond the four major sports, I am an avid tennis fan and cover the ATP Tour on a daily basis. If I'm not busy writing, you can generally find me on a tennis court or traveling the world wherever a sporting event takes me. For Ricky Dimon media enquiries, please email contact@pickswise.com.
Read more about Ricky Dimon

March Madness is here. It’s going to be a lot different in 2021 with the entire NCAA Tournament in one location, but having been cancelled in 2020 the players are going to be even more enthused than usual and the bettors will be especially eager. With the regular season wining down, it’s time to start looking ahead at the teams that can expect to be serious National Championship contenders. We’ll be breaking them down one by one, and our series continues with the UCLA Bruins.

UCLA Bruins basketball

Performance last five NCAA Tournaments: Sweet 16, DNP, Sweet 16, DNP, DNP

Ranking: Unranked

Coach: Mick Cronin

Star players: Johnny Juzang, Chris Smith, Jaime Jaquez Jr.

Main strengths: Taking care of the ball

Biggest weakness: No clear-cut go-to guy on offense

Record: 17-9

UCLA Bruins NCAA Tournament odds

UCLA Bruins outlook

UCLA is probably just happy to be in the tournament, even though it has to play in the First Four against Michigan State. A win would mark the Bruins’ first since February 25. That’s right; they got into the Big Dance despite ending the regular season (Pac-12 Tournament included) on a four-game losing streak. Fortunately for UCLA, Oregon State went on to win the entire tournament after beating the Bruins early. That made the loss look not quite as bad. Given their current woes (especially on offense), the Bruins would do extremely well to upset Michigan State and earn the No. 11 seed in the East Region alongside No. 6 BYU.

Pickswise is the home of March Madness Predictions. Check out all of our March Madness Picks, including daily March Madness Parlays throughout the NCAA Tournament.

Pickswise
*
By signing up you agree to our terms and privacy policy