Where UCLA Men's Basketball Stands in Way Too Early Rankings, NCAA Championship Odds

The Bruins are once again a favorite to win a national title in 2023, regardless of which combination of players decide to return.

Seven months away from next season and a full year away from the next title game, the Bruins are being picked as an early contender on the hardwood.

UCLA men's basketball saw its season come to a close in the Sweet 16 this March Madness, one year after returning to the Final Four for the first time in 13 years. Coach Mick Cronin now has more postseason wins across his first three years in charge than any Bruin coach before him, including John Wooden, Steve Lavin and Ben Howland.

That doesn't take into account the fact that Cronin's first shot at tournament play was robbed of him and his team when the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, so even without a championship, UCLA has found major success under their new leader.

And according to experts, pollsters and oddsmakers, that 12th title might not be too far away.

CBS Sports, The Athletic and Bleacher Report all have UCLA as the No. 1 team in their way-too-early top 25 rankings. ESPN has the Bruins at No. 3 behind Arkansas and Houston, while Sports Illustrated has them all the way down at No. 11 with Pac-12 rival Arizona at No. 9.

There are some major discrepancies across the outlets when it comes to personnel projections – Sports Illustrated, for instance, is acting under the assumption that guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. goes pro. The national writers all agree that Johnny Juzang is set to return, but the general feeling around Westwood is that he is the more likely of the two to leave, despite what mock drafts may suggest.

The Athletic also has forward Cody Riley staying and center Myles Johnson leaving, but the opposite scenario has already been alluded to by Cronin and seems to be much more likely.

Evening out the differences in these outlets' opinions are the Las Vegas oddsmakers, balancing out the predictions and assumptions with a more consensus hierarchy.

BetMGM has UCLA tied for the sixth-best odds to win the 2023 NCAA championship at +1400, right alongside North Carolina and Baylor, but still behind Duke, Kentucky, Arkansas, Gonzaga and Kansas.

DraftKings Sportsbook and BetOnline are the next most optimistic for the Bruins at +1600, tied for the seventh-best odds in DraftKings' rankings and eighth in BetOnline's. The Vegas Insider Consensus has UCLA at +1666, seventh-best in the nation, while Caesar's Sportsbook has them the lowest in ninth at +2000.

Considering guard/forward Jake Kyman is the only player from this year's roster guaranteed to leave the program as of Wednesday, entering the transfer portal at the end of March, there are plenty of moves left to be made in Westwood and elsewhere. At least two more players will have to leave the program in order for UCLA to come in under the scholarship limit.

That movement could simply be Riley and guard Jules Bernard calling it quits on their college career, it could be Jaquez and Juzang going pro, or it could be guard David Singleton and center Kenny Nwuba transferring. Once those decisions get locked in, so too will the betting odds and general consensus from the experts around the internet.

But with the Final Four just coming to a close and a full 12 months to speculate, UCLA is one of the teams to watch as the offseason develops.

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