For the first four years of Mick Cronin’s tenure, it felt like UCLA had discovered the fountain of continuity. Even as college basketball transformed amid a proliferation of transfers, the Bruins stayed together. Players like Tyger Campbell, Jaime Jaquez, David Singleton and Jules Bernard helped steadily build the program back into a 30-game winner and Pac-12 champion.
Now, all the well-known faces of Cronin’s rebuild have departed. The top five scorers from last season’s roster are gone. Just four scholarship players are returning, and reserve center Kenneth Nwuba is the only one with more than a season of playing experience in a UCLA uniform.
But instead of going hard in the transfer portal to replace departing veterans with more veterans, Cronin and his staff took a different approach. The Bruins signed seven freshmen, marking a new era for the program’s final season in the Pac-12. Former Utah wing Lazar Stefanovic is the only incoming transfer.
The strategy stands in contrast to modern roster-building norms and will test Cronin’s coaching touch as the Bruins also welcome three new assistants. As offseason player movement cycle finally ends, it’s time to start breaking down the rosters of the sport’s top programs. For this installment, we’re taking a look at UCLA and trying to decipher what its lineup could look like when the season begins. With so many new faces, this can only be considered the rough outline of a roster that will see roles and rotations settled in the weeks and months ahead.
Projected starting lineup
1. Dylan Andrews
6-2 | 175 | So.
A former top-50 prospect, Andrews gained valuable experience last season off the bench and could be a Pac-12 breakout star as he steps into the point guard role vacated by Campbell. Given the program’s influx of new players, Cronin needs Andrews to orchestrate the offense and embrace a massive increase in responsibility following the…
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