It may be tough to recognize the UCLA men’s basketball team that won last season’s Pac-12 tournament title when the Bruins take the floor at Pauley Pavilion Friday for their season opener against Montana State.
Not too many familiar faces will be there, as five of the Bruins’ eight rotations players from a year ago have moved on to play professionally in the NBA and Development League.
What the Bruins are left with this season is a whole lot of question marks.
“We’re a young team, we haven’t played an official game yet, so there’s gonna be a lot of questions like when we get into a close game, who are we gonna depend on or how are we gonna deal with adversity when it comes,” said freshman forward Kevon Looney.
Perhaps even more pressing than those hypotheticals is another question: What will UCLA be getting out of its players?
The Bruins have exactly zero rotation players remaining in their same roles as last year.
Senior guard Norman Powell, who was the third scoring option last season, will now be looked upon as UCLA’s primary offensive weapon, a role he hasn’t had since high school. In UCLA’s exhibition game against Azusa Pacific, Powell looked the part, scoring 21 points. But will he be able to maintain that production against tougher opponents?
Of the other two returning rotation players – sophomore guard Bryce Alford and junior forward/center Tony Parker – neither has played an extended period as a starter. So with the increased responsibilities and minutes, will their production increase?
Perhaps the most apparent area of uncertainty is UCLA’s depth. The Bruins are dangerously thin at guard, with sophomore Noah Allen as the only real guard option off the bench. Allen played sparingly last year after fracturing his face early in the season.
UCLA’s biggest unknowns heading into this season, however, are the ones who the Bruins don’t have a “last season” to look back on as an indicator: the newcomers. With the depth issues, the Bruins won’t have the luxury of easing their new players along.
Freshman center Thomas Welsh will have to step in right away as Parker’s back-up and a low-post presence. Freshman forward Gyorgy Goloman will need to provide some effective minutes off the bench. Sophomore guard Isaac Hamilton, who sat out all of last year, will need to prove he can be a reliable scoring threat after tallying just four points in the exhibition game.
Perhaps most important among the newcomers is Looney. Rated a five-star recruit coming out of high school, Looney’s ability to live up to his billing could be paramount to the Bruins’ success this year as they look for another new star to replace their departed ones.
Coach Steve Alford expects Looney to be just that.
While Looney is not exactly the same style of player as guard/forward Kyle Anderson was last season – Alford said Looney doesn’t have Anderson’s point guard mentality – he brings the same size, rebounding and versatility to allow Alford to get creative.
“This year we can have versatility to the frontcourt. You can rotate (Parker) and (Welsh), you can take both of them out and have (Goloman), (sophomore forward Wanaah Bail) and (Welsh) and go very athletic, very long,” Alford said. “So there’s a lot of combinations we have to play with up front and (Looney) has a lot to do with that because of his ability to play multiple positions in the backcourt.”
Despite all the differences, Alford is expecting some level of continuity, at least in his scheme. The Bruins may be short on depth, but Alford still intends to push the tempo as fast as he can and still wants the defense to be the catalyst for that transition offense.
The key for the Bruins, and their fans, is not to expect things to be perfect right away.
“Patience for this team is gonna be key for us, just knowing that it’s not all gonna come all at once,” Powell said.
While the Bruins have plenty to learn about themselves in the early stages of the season, Alford remains confident his team will figure things out eventually.
“The identity that we have is going to be an ongoing process for a while until we get into gameplay and really can figure things out that way,” Alford said. “The foundation was laid last year by last year’s team and now it’s just building on that.”