It will be a sold out Pauley Pavilion tonight. Tip-off a little after 7:30 p.m. on Pac-12 Networks.

Just arrived at Pauley

The Bruins will have a chance to atone for the overconfidence and casual play Mick Cronin saw the other night.

Taking a break for 15 and thought I would take a stab at next years 2 deep for Week 1. May not be the lineup that finishes the season but seems like it would give the team the right level of experience going into the season. I am not 100% sure exactly who is returning for next season but took a guess based on what I have read. Please correct me if I listed someone who will not be on the team next season.

QB - Schlee, Moore
RB - Steele, Harden
WR - Brown, Ford
WR - Sturdivant, Martin
WR - Mokiao-Atimalala, Loya
TE - Habermehl, Matavao
OT - DiGiorgio, Cole
OG - Holstege, Yoon
OC - Clemens, Roy
OG - Carlin, Jeffers
OT - Kounta, Fina

DE - Ga. Murphy, Gr. Murphy
DT - Toia, Magna
DT - Smith, Williams
Edge - Latu, Heimlicher
LB - Muassau, Medrano
LB - Oladejo, Kaho
LB - Vaughns, Jones
CB - Kirkwood, Davies
S - Anderson, Churchwell
S - Ramsey, Nimmo
CB - Humphrey, Johnson

I am sure many will not agree that Schlee should start the season as the #1 QB but he can take care of the ball and is an effective runner. Moore has talent but I would prefer to ease him in rather than let him take too many hits as he is learning. I did not like the way he took hits in the All-American game. He is going to need to learn to protect himself. Years ago he would be redshirted and then given a shot to win the job the next season. But with the transfer portal and everyone wanting to go pro after three seasons, you almost have to play him some. Garbers and Martin may be the odd men out, but you never know. I think Duncan Redshirts. Griffin may end up 3rd string if two of the top 4 transfer. Then he will go on to running a Fortune 500 company one day.

The players I am most excited to see play as first time Bruins are Steele and Oladejo. These guys are real. We are going to enjoy watching them punish opposing teams.

Position Group Assessment:
QB: Deep - about as deep as you get without a returning starter
RB: Deep - could see Steele and Harden run for 1000+ each
WR: Deep - A lot of players with different talents for Chip to work with. If he can tap into Fords potential, watch out.
TE: Quality Depth - Carson, who I do not have listed above, looked great in limited playing time as a true freshman.
OL: Average Depth - I think the starters will be fine and we can go with the 6 OLineman formations but not sure what will happen if we get a couple injuries
DL: Average Depth - Kind of a repeat of OL. Starters can stop the run and starters and backups can pressure the QB but not sure how well we hold up against the run if there is an injury at DT.
LB: Deep: I expect a big step up from a group that only lost one player from the two deep, added a top transfer, and has some young guys with more experience.
DB: No Idea - This was the weakest position group on the team last year and both safeties graduated. On paper there is talent and all the CBs are back.

Overall, if the OL and DL can stay healthy and the secondary can improve then the O will continue to produce big numbers and D's improvement will be the key to a good season.

The March 2 contest at Pauley Pavilion will be at 6 p.m. on ESPN

Of the 70s

Naasir Cunningham, who UCLA offered a scholarship to back in November 2021, has the Bruins in his top five along with Duke, Kansas, Memphis and Rutgers.

Cunningham, from Atlanta, is currently the No. 4 overall prospect in the class.

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About 20 mins until Cronin meets with us

Big game to continue the momentum

Jaime Jaquez Jr. was named the conference’s player of the week and Amari Bailey was tabbed the top freshman.

Who you like?
I have no dog in this fight but I love the way Mahomes plays.
Chiefs are underdogs so I’ll pull for them.
Also looking forward to Rihanna at halftime and some great commercials.
Still remember the first game, before it was called the Super Bowl. Had to drive to Laguna to watch Packers beat the Chiefs because game was blacked out in Los Angeles.

More here:

The two teams we only play once this year in basketball are the two teams that have the worst records in the PAC 12. And teams 2-10 had to play us twice and have a total of 11 losses to us vs only 2 wins. So their records skew worse thanks to us.

It goes to show that despite our flaws and our tendency to lose focus, we have played a very tough schedule and done it very well.

Unfortunately the committee will forget that and if we lose a couple more games between now and tournament time, figure out how to penalize us for being in a “weak” conference while propping up a team ahead of us by dismissing that they had byes against top teams in their conference and were able to beat up on bottom dwellers.

what are your expectations? Can they position themselves get a 1 or 2 seed or is that out of the question given their losses to Arizona and suc and the fact that they are only a month left. Do they have enough to get them to the Final Four? In my mind they seem to lack the outside shooting to get them very far and they don't seem like a great offensive rebounding team. Thoughts??

I’ll be back to doing my usual postgame breakdown later tonight, as well.

It might just be click bait, but another UCLA site is saying that a tentative agree on his contract has been worked out and we would soon have a new Defensive Coordinator.
The story is pretty weak with no real facts or details, but it is known he was fighting an illness last year and although he has indicated he expects to return, there have been unverified rumors about what is going on behind the scenes.
Do any of our crack sleuths or insiders on this board have any information to share?

A head up: I’ll be covering HS basketball playoffs tonight so I will not be around.

Did I miss something or did we hire a new D Line coach?

QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson, RB Zach Charbonnet, WR Jake Bobo and OL Jon Gaines II were among the 319 players invited to the combine.

Slot receiver Kazmeir Allen and OL Atonio Mafi were among the notable names who weren’t invited.

Checking in from practice. After missing the last two games with an illness, Will McClendon is back practicing.

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As some of you may recall, there was some issues with the live stats during the Sun Bowl and among them was the passing totals by halftime.

Today, after weeks of back and forth with Pittsburgh, the NCAA and review of the game footage, UCLA QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson was officially credited with 286 yards passing, the program announced this afternoon. (He was previously at 262 yards passing in the Sun Bowl box score).

Thus, Thompson-Robinson officially finished with 10,710 yards passing for his career, eclipsing Cade McNown’s mark by two yards to overtake the top spot. That officially gives DTR seven career program records.

Doing this one remotely due to a HS wrestling assignment earlier today that I just got back from.