Cal Men's Basketball Preview: UCLA Bruins

Source: http://ift.tt/OOr7YR --- Thursday, February 25, 2016
Cal welcomes the Baby Bruins to Haas Pavilion for their only matchup of the season! Viewing Details : Gametime:  6:00pm Network:  ESPN2 By all accounts, the men's Basketball Baby Bruins from down South are having a disastrous season.  Picked in the preseason to finish 5th in the Pac-12, UCLA is currently in 9th place in the conference (ahead of the likes of lowly Furd, ASU & WSU).  Sitting with a superbly mediocre 15-12 overall record (and 6-8 in conference play), the Bruins are currently ranked #52 by Kenpom.  [Cal is currently twice as good at #26!] What happened, you may ask?  One could posit that this is a mere continuation of what UCLA Basketball has become as of late -- a team with a bunch of formerly highly-touted high school studs who got lost when they showed-up at Westwood.  Head coach Steve Alford has (so far) proven himself to be a fantastic recruiter -- but player development and on-court coaching/management are most definitely not his forte, at least not up to UCLA standards (just look at his body of work with the Bruins -- no need to get angry at the facts, Bruins fans). Another potential reason for UCLA's decline this year -- their overreliance on Bryce Alford .  Bryce is an absolutely stud playmaker, but as a leader and floor distributor, he lacks much proficiency.  One has to wonder how that head coach-son thing works, especially at such a school that usually operates at a high-level.  Bryce often chooses to hol ...

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