Despite the UCLA men’s basketball team losing two starters to the NBA, the Bruins enter the 2011-12 season ranked No. 20 nationally by the country’s coaches.
The Bruins haven’t cracked the top 25 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ Poll since the season-ending poll in 2009, when they were No. 18.
While Malcolm Lee and Tyler Honeycutt left to become second-round picks in the NBA draft, UCLA returns seven rotation players and will add four newcomers, including highly touted twin forwards David and Travis Wear.
Arizona (No. 16) is the highest-ranked Pac-12 team in the poll. California (No. 24) rounded out the conference’s trio of ranked teams.
UCLA’s toughest tests of the year could come Thanksgiving week at the Maui Invitational, which is slated to feature five ranked teams. The double-elimination eight-team field includes Duke (No. 6), Memphis (No. 9), Kansas (No. 13) and Michigan (No. 18), in addition to Tennessee, Georgetown and host Chaminade.