UCLA Basketball: How Bruins Can Still Make Postseason

There are two scenarios for the Bruins to make the NCAA Tournament.

When it comes to your UCLA Bruins and the NCAA Tournament, the two haven't been mentioned in the same sentence since last season.

Until now.

Joe Lunardi of ESPN spoke to Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times about UCLA's chances now that the Bruins are above .500 and on a five-game winning streak.

Spoke with ESPN's Joe Lunardi about UCLA's path to NCAA tournament. Lunardi says if Bruins win last 7 games and don't stumble against bad team in Pac-12 tourney opener, they're probably in. Lose once more but get two Quad 1 wins?

Said Lunardi: "They would be right on the edge."

— Ben Bolch (@latbbolch) February 14, 2024

There are two scenarios in which Lunardi sees the Bruins making the postseason.

The first is to win their final seven games of the regular season, starting Thursday against Colorado. That would put the Bruins at 20-11, a win against Chaminade wouldn't count toward the tournament record because it's Division II. Most importantly, the Bruins would have a 3-6 record against Quad 1 teams.

If this scenario happens, Lunardi says the Bruins " would be right there with that.”

The second scenario is if the Bruins win six of their final seven with at least two Quad 1 wins.

UCLA has three Quad 1 games on the schedule with Washington, Washington State, and Arizona. If they lost one of these games, they would finish the regular season 19-13 and 2-7 against Quad 1 opponents.

Lunardi claimed they "would be right on the edge."

UCLA hasn't missed the tournament since 2019, the year before Mick Cronin's arrival. Cronin has made 12 consecutive tournaments dating back to his last nine seasons at Cincinnati. 

However the remaining of the schedule works out, the Bruins are worth watching. If UCLA wants to secure a tournament bid, a Pac-12 Tournament title would solidify their spot.