Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
The UCLA Bruins don’t have the toughest non-conference schedule in college basketball, but they also do not have the easiest one. Regardless, they should start the season off by going 8-0.
UCLA very well could extend that winning streak, but it will play eight very manageable games in a row to start off the season. With that said, the Bruins did get upset by Cal Poly last season, so who knows if they will get upset early on in the upcoming one. That could happen, though, considering that this team will be losing leading scorer Shabazz Muhammad and will have a new head coach.
Related: Washington Huskies Can Make Some Noise Early In the Season
Regardless, this team will play the Missouri Tigers in their ninth game of the year. These two met up last year and UCLA won in overtime. However, the game will be played on the road for the Bruins this time around.
Either team could win this matchup and it will be interesting to see how both do in the upcoming season since they will both be losing some talent.
If the Bruins can pull off the victory they will have one tuneup game before they take on the Duke Blue Devils. Maybe they will surprise us by going undefeated up until the Duke game, but we will have to wait and see if that will actually be the case. If UCLA can go undefeated until that game, though, the matchup will definitely get a lot of buzz–it should anyways.
Unfortunately, Duke should enter the year by being ranked in the top 10. UCLA will still have the talent to make some noise, but Duke will likely be favored in that game.
Whether the case, UCLA should have no problem by starting the season off with an 8-0 record.
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