ASU Basketball: 2019 Pac-12 Week 5 Power Rankings
By Trevor Booth
3. UCLA Bruins (6-2) Last Week: 4
In what some believe could be a make or break season for coach Steve Alford, the Bruins have delivered much of the same — a strong recruiting class and a sense of predictability.
Yes, UCLA checks into this week’s power ranking in the top three. However, with the Pac-12 vastly underperforming once again, there is a lot of blame to shoulder in Westwood.
The Bruins improved to 6-2 after convincing victories over Hawai’i and Loyola Marymount. While both wins were by at least 19 points, Alford’s team lacked consistency outside of guard Kris Wilkes. The sophomore averaged 16.5 points per contest in the the two games.
Among the notable players struggling is freshman Moses Brown. A 7-foot-1 center, Brown is the crown jewel of Alford’s 2018 recruiting class but has looked more like fool’s gold against talent equivalent to himself.
In the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational, he averaged six points and seven rebounds against Michigan State and North Carolina, both losses. His other six appearances averages out to over 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Up next for the Bruins is Notre Dame at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday. The Fighting Irish are 6-2 as well following a loss to Oklahoma at the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden.
One positive for UCLA at the moment is its success at home, where it is 6-0. The next two games for the Bruins are in Westwood, giving them a chance to gain momentum before back-to-back road tests at Cincinnati and a neutral site game against Ohio State in Chicago.
– Pekale