It is true that we live in an era where conspiracy theories are a dime a dozen. And the tin foil hats are rocked 24/7 on social media. UCLA head coach Mick Cronin has joined in on the fun. Last week Cronin said that the NCAA Tournament would screw UCLA on its March Madness betting seeding. Cause by March Madness Betting punishment for its future move into the Big Ten Conference. Regardless, UCLA is the best team in the current Pac-12 campaign. Most important of all, the Bruins finished the regular season in the black.
2023 Pac-12 Conference Tournament UCLA Bruins
When: Thursday, March 9, 2023, 12 p.m. ET
Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
TV: Pac-12 Network
CashBet Odds: +110 to win the Pac-12 Tournament
UCLA Bruins Pac-12 Tournament CashBet Wagering Analysis
First, The Bruins will face the winner of Wednesday’s game between the Washington Huskies and Colorado Buffaloes. Tipoff time at T-Mobile Arena is at 12 p.m. ET with television coverage on Pac-12 Network. And as a sportsbook team, they were comfortably ranked in the top-5 for most of the campaign. Cronin led the Bruins to the Final Four two years ago. Hence, Fans and gamblers see the potential for a return.
UCLA Goes Golden On the Court and Cashier’s Cage
The UCLA Bruins are 27-4 straight up, 18-12-1 against the spread, and 15-16 over/under the total. Overall, UCLA has national rankings of 119th for scoring offense, 84th for field goal percentage, 149th for 3-point field goal percentage, 176th for free throw percentage, and 120th for offensive rebounding. While on defense, UCLA has national rankings of 7th for scoring defense, 31st for field goal percentage permitted, 45th for 3-point field goal percentage allowed, and 50th for defensive rebounding.
Late on, UCLA failed to cover two of its previous nine games. The Bruins went over the 2023 March Madness Betting total in three of their final four outings. Jaime Jaquez Jr leads UCLA with 17.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per contest. UCLA won its last game against Arizona. Although the Bruins had already clinched the Pac-12 Conference championship, it was an impressive performance.
Against Arizona, Jaime Jaquez had 22 points and ten rebounds. Additionally, Tyger Campbell added 21 points, and David Singleton had 17. Singleton made a season-best five 3-pointers for the UCLA Bruins. UCLA went undefeated at home for the first time since 2006-07. And they have won 25 in a row at Pauley Pavilion in the nation’s longest active bet on NCAA basketball home winning streak. UCLA had already clinched the Pac-12 regular-season title, winning by four games over the Wildcats.
Jaquez dunked to push UCLA’s lead to 68-54. But the Wildcats weren’t done yet. Despite Azuolas Tubelis playing with four fouls. He scored consecutive baskets, and Kylan Boswell hit a 3-pointer to cut Arizona’s deficit to seven points. At that point, there was a 2023 March Madness Betting belief that an upset was possible.
Tubelis scored 16 of his 24 points in the first half for the Wildcats. Also, he had ten rebounds before fouling out in the closing seconds. Also fouling out were Pelle Larsson (10 points) and Kerr Kriisa (13 points).
The Bruins ran off eight straight points coming out of halftime to lead 48-37. To show, Adem Bona’s three-point play launched a 14-6 run that extended their lead to 64-50. Bona picked up his third and fourth fouls during that stretch. At the same time, Tubelis did the same for Arizona.
Arizona raced to a 15-4 lead to start the game, with Tubelis scoring 10 points. The Bruins shot 1-11 as Bona picked up two quick fouls and sat down the rest of the half.
At the onset, UCLA was down 23-14. But the Bruins ran off 15 straight points to take their first lead and went ahead 29-23. Jaylen Clark scored seven points in a row, and Singleton began and ended the spurt with 3-pointers.
