UCLA Basketball: Bruins Wing Weighs In On Whether Team Can Rally To Make NCAA Tournament

The junior guard believes his team can go to the big dance.

Your UCLA Bruins aren't the same team we've witnessed for the past four seasons. The Bruins lost a ton of great talent last season, and this new, very young 2023-24 team is still adjusting to the college game. 

However, it's UCLA; the fans and alumni don't have time to start over. There are heavy expectations here, and although the team is at a place they don't want to be in, there's still plenty of time to turn their season around. 

The team believes, and so does their junior guard Lazar Stefanovic. After losing to the Arizona Wildcats on Saturday and dropping their 11th game of the season, Stefanovic is confident his team can still make it to NCAA's March Madness. 

“Yeah, of course. We think we can do it. I think we’ve shown in the last few weeks we’ve played much, much better and that we can play with anybody.”

(per Lazar Stefanovic via UCLA Communications

The Bruins sit at 8-11 with 12 games left in the regular season. It's not entirely out of the realm of possibility, but it sure will be a steep mountain to climb.  

According to BetMGM, their odds of winning the national championship sit at +25000. UCLA faces the 39th-ranked schedule for the rest of the season. As things stand, they will only face one team in the AP Top 25 out of the 12 games remaining. That one team is the ninth-ranked Arizona Wildcats on March 7th at Pauley Pavilion.  

There's a chance, and that's all the Bruins can ask for at this point.