UCLA basketball's NCAA Tournament chances are slim, but not gone

As up-and-down as this season has been, UCLA still has a shot at March Madness.

It won’t be easy, not with the Bruins (14-11, 5-7) hovering near the bottom of the Pac-12. Common wisdom dictates that a team needs 20 regular-season wins to ea a spot in the NCAA Touament. Last year, UCLA got there with 19. And, according to kenpom.com, the team has at least a 60 percent chance of winning four of its last six games — with matchups at Stanford and against No. 16 Oregon essentially slotted as coin flips.

Heading into Thursday’s 7 p.m. home tipoff against Utah, here’s a look at what the Bruins need to do to feel a little safer on Selection Sunday.

Motivation tactics

Even Steve Alford admits he’s had a bit of a leaing curve this season.

As far as motivation goes, it’s taken him time to figure out how to best push his team’s buttons. Recently, that’s meant fewer references to the big picture, one that has the team sitting uncomfortably outside almost every NCAA Touament projection. With just three weeks left in the season, the third-year head coach said his latest group of players has not responded as well to pressure as their predecessors.

“That’s been me, not them,” he added. “Anytime I’ve applied a little bit of that mental pressure, we haven’t handled it well. It’s leaing your team. Last year’s team handled that really well.”

After starting 2016 with back-to-back losses at Washington and Washington State, the Bruins have yet to move above .500 at any point in conference play. If that trend holds, it will be a first for the program since the league expanded to 10 teams in 1978.

But that’s exactly the sort of thing that Alford doesn’t want his team to think about. A year ago, stressing urgency worked for UCLA, something that the coach attributed in part to the presence of senior guard Norman Powell.

This season, the staff has leaed that it’s better to steer the team’s focus in a different way. One difference is by integrating “three keys” for each game, so as to keep the Bruins from getting overloaded with information during game-week preparation.

“The way we respond to things, I think, is a little bit different,” said junior point guard Bryce Alford. “I think we’ve done a better job when our coaches give us a one-game scenario.”

Jonah Bolden’s growth

By mid-February, most teams have settled in with comfortable rhythms, with all their flaws and strengths.

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That may not be the case for UCLA. The Bruins’ new starting five has only been deployed in four games, and the key difference — sophomore Jonah Bolden — is coming off a career performance. The 6-foot-10 forward has become the team’s starting power forward, giving the Bruins more versatility than when senior Tony Parker played next to 7-footer Thomas Welsh in a dual-center lineup.

Although the impetus for the change was defense, Bolden has also shown signs of an offensive breakthrough. After spending most of the season as a non-factor on that end of the floor, he has shot 11 of 18 in his past two games for 26 points, accounting for nearly a quarter of his season total.

“When we were big-big, we were messing around with Jonah at the four spot and the three spot,” Steve Alford said. “I think that was hard on him.”

Added Bolden: “It’s worked out the way it’s supposed to work out.”

Late impressions

Perhaps the best news for UCLA is that it still has enough time to fix perception.

The Pac-12 doesn’t have a dominant power this season, but it might have more depth than any other conference in the country. Five of the Bruins’ last six opponents rank top 50 in RPI, which means there’s still time for them to make up ground. The NCAA touament selection committee showed last year that it will weigh the final few weekends of the season more heavily, giving UCLA a surprising No. 11 seed due in part to a strong effort in its Pac-12 Touament loss to Arizona.

The Bruins also can look elsewhere in the league for inspiration. Last season, Oregon was just 4-4 in conference play, then won nine of their next 10. The Ducks then eaed a spot in the conference championship game, and eaed a No. 8 seed in March Madness.

If UCLA can get through the rest of its slate with just one or two more losses, its brand name should help push it toward the right side of the bubble.

“We’ve got six games that we believe that we can win,” said Bryce Alford. “And we know that we can play with anybody in the country when we play well. ... We’re a very positive group and a very confident group for the rest of the season.”

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UCLA (14-11, 5-7) vs. Utah (19-7, 8-5)

Thursday, Feb. 18, 7 p.m., Pauley Pavilion

TV: ESPN2 (Dave Pasch, Bill Walton)

Radio: AM 570 (Bill Roth, Darrick Martin)

• UCLA is 4-2 against the Utes since the latter joined the Pac-12 before the 2011-12 season. The Bruins won the last two meetings at Pauley Pavilion by double digits — two victories that sandwiched a 32-point loss in Salt Lake City on Jan. 4, 2015.

• Utah center Jakob Poeltl ranks second in the conference with 17.8 points per game, and shoots a league-best 67.1 percent from the field. “At least in the Pac-12, especially offensively, I don’t think we’ve seen anybody this good,” Steve Alford said.

• Against Pac-12 opponents, UCLA point guard Bryce Alford is shooting 26.8 percent on the road, but 50.0 percent at home. The Bruins play four of their last six regular-season games in Westwood.

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