UCLA Basketball: Freshman Cleared For Bruins Debut After NCAA Eligibility Delay
Your UCLA Bruins men's basketball program will finally be getting its full compliment of the team's seven-man freshman class on Monday against the fourth-seeded club in the land, the Marquette Golden Eagles.
An anonymous source has informed Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times that UCLA small forward Berke Buyuktuncel, who had been held out of the Blue and Gold's first three games (all of which were won without him), will be available for the first time this year.
Buyuktuncel, a 6'9" prospect out of Turkey, had been dealing with some NCAA eligibility red tape. He's considered a possible mid-first round pick in next year's NBA draft, should he opt to go the one-and-done route in college.
As Bolch notes, head coach Mick Cronin offered high praise for Buyuktuncel, drawing parallels between the first-year forward and former Bruins Pac-12 Player of the Year Jaime Jaquez Jr., now a standout rookie with the Miami Heat.
“Berke’s like Jaime, he’s just taller and left-handed,” Cronin reflected this summer, per Bolch. “And I say that because he’s a guy who can do everything. He’ll lead you in scoring one game, he can lead you in blocked shots another game, he can lead you in assists and he can lead you in rebounding."
“He did that this summer," Cronin had noted. "He played for the Turkish national team in 19-under and 20-under, both championships this summer, and I charted him and there were many games where he led them in scoring but there were also games where he was assists leader, rebound leader or blocked-shot leader.”
The matchup will take place at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu, as part of the Allstate Maui Invitational tournament. Both Marquette and UCLA are 3-0 thus far this season.
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