UCLA Men's Basketball Earns #7 Seed in the Midwest Region; Will Face Utah State Thursday
It's another trip back across the Rockies for a team which has struggled on that side of the country.
The NCAA Men’s Tournament seeds have been announced and the UCLA Bruins are seeded seventh in the Midwest. The team will face the #10 seed Utah State Aggies in Lexington, Kentucky on Thursday.
By comparison, the Bruins received a significantly lower seed than some of the other Big Ten teams in the NCAA Tournament, but given UCLA’s inconsistent play throughout the season, a number seven seed feels about right.
At the same time, it doesn’t feel right having the Illinois Fighting Illini, a team the Bruins finished ahead of in the conference standings, being seeded above UCLA in the same region. Illinois received the number six seed in the Midwest region.
At the same time, at least they are in the NCAA Tournament. The same cannot be said for Indiana or Ohio State.
Assuming the Bruins get past the Aggies, they will likely face the number two seed Tennessee Volunteers who open against Wofford on Thursday.
If they can make it to the Sweet 16, UCLA will face one of the five teams. Besides #6 seed Illinois, they could face the winner of the Texas vs. Xavier First Four game, the number three seed Kentucky Wildcats or the number fourteen seed Troy Trojans.
But, first, they must come out strong against Utah State before they can think about anyone else. As we saw this weekend, if they can’t win their first game, none of the other ones matter.
Here’s the complete 68-team bracket.
Next up, the UCLA women’s basketball team will find out where they are going when the Women’s Selection Show begins at 5 pm PT on ESPN.
Go Bruins!!!
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Game is scheduled to start at 6:25pm. So there goes my excuse to stop working early
UCLA opens as a 5.5 point favorite while Tennessee is a 19.5 pt favorite over Wofford