UCLA’s talent is easy to see when you look at the backcourt. The bigger question is whether the Bruins have enough up front to keep the whole operation from tilting out of balance.
That’s the real issue hovering over this team: the roster’s best-looking pieces are concentrated in the same area, and that could matter as the season wears on.
Start with the guards, where UCLA has plenty to like. Trent Perry is stepping into a much bigger job after averaging 12.6 points and 2.8 assists last season, especially now that Donovan Dent is gone.
Next to him, Jaylen Petty brings another layer of scoring punch after putting up 9.9 points per game as a freshman at Texas Tech. He, too, is moving into a starting role with far more volume than he saw with the Red Raiders.
The frontcourt, though, is where the pressure builds. Eric Dailey was UCLA’s leading rebounder last season at 5.8 boards per game, and projected starting center Xavier Booker, listed at 6’11, averaged only 3.5 rebounds.
If that group isn’t going to carry the scoring load, it has to win the glass. Perry and Petty are likely to take a heavy share of the shots, which makes production from the bigs even more important.
That same imbalance could show up on the other end, too. UCLA was one of the poorest defensive rebounding teams last season, finishing 304th nationally in defensive rebounding percentage, according to KenPom. Opponents also found success inside, as the Bruins ranked 211th in Division I in opponent two-point percentage.
Rim protection wasn’t a strength either. Booker averaged 1.2 blocks per game, but UCLA still checked in 152nd nationally in block percentage. And while this season’s roster is not identical to last year’s, Dailey and Booker remain the central pieces in the frontcourt.
So yes, UCLA may have one of the most talented backcourts in the country. But the Bruins’ ceiling will depend heavily on what happens in the paint. If Dailey and Booker can rebound, protect the rim, and bring enough physicality, UCLA has a chance to even things out and play the kind of complementary basketball that makes the rest of the roster work.
In Other News...
Xavier Booker Could Fix UCLAs Frontcourt With One Defensive Step
Xavier Booker already gives UCLA something it needs in the frontcourt: size, timing and a shot-blocking profile that can change possessions. At 6-foot-11, he is the tallest player on the roster, and his ability to protect the rim is no small part of why he stands out. Among Division I players with at least 20 minutes per game, Booker ranked 17th in block percentage, a sign that his best defensive skill is already among the more useful ones a team can have.
The next step is less about intimidation than consistency. Booker still has room to grow as a defensive rebounder, sitting in the 64th percentile among players his height or shorter, and that is the piece that could make UCLA trust him even more on that end. If he can clean up possessions after the initial stop, the Bruins may have found a frontcourt defender who does more than just alter shots. [Read more 🡒]
Mick Cronin Enters A Different Kind Of Season At UCLA
Mick Cronins run at UCLA has already given the Bruins plenty to point to, from five NCAA Tournament trips in seven seasons to that Final Four surge in 2021. He has also built a strong overall record, and that kind of track record is why the standard around Westwood has stayed high even as the roster has continued to change. After another season that ended in the Round of 32, the conversation around the program has shifted from consistency to whether Cronin can push this group into a deeper spring run.
This is where the next phase of the job gets interesting for Cronin and the Bruins. Fresh additions on the roster bring new possibilities, but they also sharpen the expectation that UCLA should be doing more than simply reaching the tournament and hanging around for a weekend. The pressure now is not about whether Cronin has stabilized the program. It is about whether he can turn that stability into the kind of team that looks built to chase a title. [Read more 🡒]
UCLA Opens With Pressure On A Rebuilt Roster At Cal
UCLA opens the season in an unfamiliar spot, with a rebuilt roster and a new voice on the sideline as Bob Chesney takes over in a road trip to California Memorial Stadium. The matchup carries the usual early-season uncertainty, but it also comes with the added weight of history between the Bruins and the Golden Bears, two programs that know each other well and have spent plenty of autumns measuring themselves against one another in the Pac-12 era and beyond.
The opening game also brings a little intrigue off the field, where the numbers do not quite agree on how to read the Bruins. UCLA is listed as a slight favorite, while ESPNs win predictor gives Cal a narrow edge, a split that mirrors the uncertainty around a team trying to reset quickly under a first-year head coach. For a roster still taking shape, Saturday is less about style points than about answering an immediate test in a setting where a slow start would only sharpen the questions. [Read more 🡒]