B1G Basketball Previews: UCLA Bruins

Last Year

UCLA had a good team last year, but a poor start to Big Ten play took them out of the conference race early and they found themselves with a disappointing 7 seed in the NCAA tournament. Bilodeau had to play out of position at center a bunch, Mick Cronin underutilized Aday Mara, and the offensive shooting numbers weren't quite good enough overall for the team.

Defectors

• Eligibility expired for three seniors in Kobe Johnson, Dominick Harris, and Lazar Stefanovic.
• Sebastian Mack is off to Missouri.
• Aday Mara transferred within the conference to Michigan (more on him when we get to the Michigan preview but he's the big loss for UCLA).
• Dylan Andrews went to Boise State, Devin Williams to Florida Atlantic, and William Kyle III to Syracuse.

Starters

• PG Donovan Dent, 6'2", Senior. Donovan Dent transfers in from New Mexico where he was the Mountain West player of the year and led the Lobos to a conference championship and the second round of the NCAA tournament. Dent is probably the second best transfer in college basketball this season. He can score (over 20 points a game), distributes the ball well (over 6 assists/game) and is a 40% three point shooter. UCLA brings back an above average core of Clark, Dailey, and Bilodeau and adds Dent to the mix. That makes them a potential national contention.
• SG Skyy Clark, 6'3", Senior. The former Illini (and 8 game winner at Louisville - woof), Clark is a proven offensive weapon. He's not the greatest distributor, so moving to the SG position should help him and UCLA.
• SF Eric Dailey Jr., 6'8", Junior. Dailey is a strong wing player with some ability to drive to the hoop in addition to having some decent outside shooting. Dailey's got good athleticism and was an above average defender at the 4. We will see if he can keep up with some of the SFs in the league now that he moves down a position.
• PF Tyler Bilodeau, 6'9", Senior. Bilodeau finally won't be playing out of position at center. Well... at least that's intention. He's a great scorer from anywhere but isn't quite big enough to guard the bigger centers out there.
• C Xavier Booker, 6'11", Junior. Former Michigan State Spartan, Booker fled the Midwest to start anew in Los Angeles. Booker prefers to stand at the three point line and seems to model his game as a tall wing rather than a center. That's not what UCLA really needs, but Bilodeau and Dailey can mix it up inside so it might work on offense.

Bench

• G Jamar Brown, 6'5" Senior (Kansas City). Brown could start if Booker at center doesn't work out and Dailey and Bilodeau slide back to the 4 and 5. He averaged 17 points/game and is a good catch and shot guard that rebounds well.
• G Trent Perry, 6'4" Sophomore. Perry was a McDonald's All-American and seems likely to see his minutes soar this season as the bench guards are a tad weak. He performed ifne
• C Steven Jamerson II, 6'10 Senior (San Diego). Jamerson is a better rebounder than Booker but is unproven at this level.
• F Anthony Peoples Jr., 6'9" Senior (North Carolina Central). Peoples is depth piece as best. He wasn't a star in the MEAC and the Big Ten is a giant leap from there.
• Other scholarship players are Brandon Williams, Eric Freeny, and Markell Alston, but I expect the five projected starters and top four bench guys to play most of the minutes. Maybe Williams beats out Peoples for the backup forward position.

Outlook

With Mick Cronin as head coach, UCLA's defense will be great. The offense takes a really talented core and adds a phenomenal PG that should elevate those three. The questions on this UCLA squad are the center position and overall depth in the post. Jamerson and Peoples are unproven at this level and Booker really struggled at Michigan State. If UCLA can get someone to step up at center then they will be a national contender. If they can't they look like a better version of last year's Purdue team - they will be capable of making a ton of noise and could even make a run in the NCAA tournament but will have a noticeable flaw that defines them.

MaximumSam: I agree. Heck of a starting four and also Xavier Booker. I find the Booker to UCLA a pretty interesting fit. Aday Mara couldn't find much playing time even though he seemed to do a pretty good job when he played. Booker doesn't rebound much and feels like a weird fit for this team. But hey, they should be fun.