No. 2 seed UCLA opens NCAA Tournament vs. UNC Asheville

The UCLA guys's basketball group is headed back to the NCAA Tournament in pursuit of the team's goal of a national championship after being seeded the No. 2 in the West Area where it will play UNC Asheville in a first-round game Thursday at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.

The 15th-seeded Bulldogs (27-7), who won the Big South Tournament title last week, are led by Drew Pember's 21.1 points and 9.4 rebounds per video game.

The Bruins (29-5) are headed to the dance again but may have some concern marks looming about the health of Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year Jaylen Clark and Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Adem Bona.

UCLA's seeding puts it in the discussion for a nationwide title, however with the run possibly beginning without Clark and Bona, it moistens the hopes of Bruins fans who haven't seen the program win a NCAA title given that 1995.

UCLA won the Pac-12 regular-season title by 4 video games over Arizona, which edged the Bruins 61-59 in the conference competition last Saturday night in Las Vegas. Bona did not play in the game due to a shoulder injury he suffered in Friday night's semifinal win over Oregon. Clark has actually not played considering that suffering a lower leg injury March 4 in the regular-season ending win over Arizona.

However, the recent play of freshman Amari Bailey has been a good sign for UCLA. Bailey scored a career-high 26 points in Thursday night's conference quarterfinal win over Colorado and notched 19 points and 7 rebounds in the loss to Arizona.

It's the 3rd consecutive season UCLA has actually made a national tournament quote under fourth-year coach Mick Cronin. The Bruins were most likely to earn a quote in 2020, however the pandemic canceled the Pac-12 and NCAA competitions. In 2021, Cronin took UCLA from the First Four to the Final Four, and last year his team reached the Sweet Sixteen.

The ruling Pac-12 Coach of the Year has his work cut out for him this postseason.

" They call it March Madness for a reason," Cronin said recently. "They don't call it March Normal."