No. 30 on the left is walk on Joseph Wallace, who played with Cody Riley at Sierra Canyon. No. 15 on the right is LiAngelo Ball, who with the facial hair and re-sculpted body is almost unrecognizable.
No. 5 third from the right is Chris Smith, who looks a good two inches taller than Kris Wilkes (No. 13), and about 3 inches taller than LiAngelo.
Third from the left (No. 2) is Cody Riley, who looks about twice as wide as any other Bruin. The official roster lists him at 265 pounds, and I believe it. The really good news is despite being a freshman, Cody's play against the pros cemented his rep for having good footwork and the skill to use his wide body to it's full advantage.
In the center (No. 24) is Jalen Hill, who jumps like a pogo stick and last season looked about a thick as one. You'll notice that while he's not a wide body, he is developing some muscle. The really good news here is Jalen is the kind of guy clawing / banging / relentless guy inside you don't want guarding you.
We don't know how UCLA will fare this year, but there is one thing I think we can count on. Last year the Bruin defense could be an adventure, and no one would confuse them with a physical team. That's going to change ... and likely in a big way.
This year Hands can be (and very likely will be) very physical on defense. Holiday isn't very big or strong, but has learned to be pesky. Cody will have opponents bouncing off him, and God help anyone stupid enough to try and strong arm him. (He'll remind you of Alfred Aboya in that respect).
During the time he's on the court Hill will scrap with anybody, and Wilkes is at least very long and moves well. Which leaves the veteran big men Welch, who now weighs 255 pounds and isn't afraid to use it. Plus Goloman, who only weighs 225 but doesn't shy away from contact and uses his 6'11" frame for leverage very, very well.
Don't expect UCLA to score like a pinball machine this season a la Lonzo and Co. (Although the Bruins will have a very exciting and fast paced offense) However you also shouldn't expect a repeat of last year's soft defense either.
By season end, this year's squad will be able to body up and bang with anybody .... anytime.
