After a week with UCLA, we’ve gone over the roster, the coach, and the schedule, and clearly there is plenty for Bruin fans and basketball fans in general to be excited about with this team next year. But just how good will this team be, and how will they get to their eventual destination? Let me drop a spoiler alert in here right now, because we’re about to fill you in on just how this Bruin season is going to go down. Cue the crystal ball.
UCLA’s Leading Scorer – Shabazz Muhammad. The trusty ol’ crystal ball says here that Muhammad’s eligibility issues get cleared up prior to the season with no more than a game or two worth of a suspension. And once he does pull on the blue and gold, he immediately becomes not only the best Bruin at putting the ball through the net, but one of the better scorers in the nation. Muhammad’s ability to dominate in transition, especially in concert with playmakers like Kyle Anderson and Larry Drew II, prompts Ben Howland to free up the offense a bit. But even in the halfcourt, Muhammad pairs his slashing ability with an ever-improving jump shot to give opposing defenses nightmares. He won’t break the 20-point-per-game barrier, but he’ll post the highest scoring average of any Bruin in the Howland era, knocking Kevin Love’s 17.5 PPG off the pedestal.
Between Kyle Anderson and Shabazz Muhammad, The New Look Bruins Could Be Primed For Success (Albert Dickson, Sporting News)
UCLA’s MVP – Kyle Anderson. In the interest of writing a name here other than Muhammad’s, we’ll give the nod to Anderson. He’s a winner with a preternatural understanding of the game and, as good as Muhammad is on his own, Slow-Mo’s ability to get open looks for his teammates will make Muhammad that much more effective. Throw in his ability to get his own shots when necessary and Anderson will not only regularly wind up with the ball in his hands down the stretch, he’ll make this entire team better.
UCLA’s Most Improved Returnee – Joshua Smith. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times? As Ralph Wiggum would say, “that’s unpossible!” Nah, this is the year that Smith begins to put it all together. This crystal ball of mine may not be in the greatest working condition, but I’m pretty sure I’m looking at Smith averaging 25 effective minutes a game, scoring about 13 points a night, grabbing eight boards per contest and again finishing in the top five in offensive rebounding percentage nationwide, all while allowing his slightly improved conditioning (note, slightly improved – even when this crystal ball is really on the fritz it doesn’t show Smith running up and down the court like Dwight Howard) to keep him from picking up stupid fouls. While Smith may be left behind at times when the Bruins get out and run, he’ll still have a major impact in the half-court.
UCLA’s Conference Record/ Finish – 15-3, 1st Place. The Bruins are back on the national stage again after racing through a solid non-conference schedule with just a single loss (I’m going to hold back on some information here and let you be surprised by which game is the loss, but let me tell you, that game is a doozy), skate through conference play with just three road losses (Colorado, Arizona and at Washington on the final day of the regular season with the conference title already in the bag), remain in the top 10 all season long, earn a #1 seed out West in the NCAA Tournament and return to the glory days prophesied in the middle of the last decade with yet another Final Four appearance. As to what happens come Final Four time? Even my crystal ball wants to be surprised by some things.