The best of men’s basketball: looking back at the season so far

In honor of award season in Los Angeles, the Bruin Sports editors are handing out honors of their own to various components of the UCLA men’s basketball program. Who won big and who got snubbed? Tweet your nominations to @DBSports.

Best team performance

The Kentucky upset – a time when things looked far brighter for UCLA basketball. That December night seemed to offer hope to a flailing program, with the Bruins’ scrappy conquest of the No. 1 Wildcats. And then everybody realized Kentucky wasn’t who it was proclaimed to be, just as UCLA didn’t turn into who we thought it could turn into.

That doesn’t mean that we can’t revel in one of the few highlights of the 2015-2016 season for a little longer. The Bruins electrified the crowd that night, with Prince Ali’s dunk and Thomas Welsh’s lights-out baseline jumpers. UCLA was in control for the whole night and offered a glimpse at the blue-blood basketball program it once was. But now we know that that night didn’t mean much.

Two months and a whole lot of reality later, the Bruins of early December might as well be one of UCLA’s star-studded squads of the 70s because they are nowhere to be found now. – Tanner Walters

Best senior on the roster

Tony Parker. I guess the guy is technically UCLA’s worst senior, too. The forward/center has not had the finale of a season that many Bruin fans were expecting – or at least hoping for. Most recently, Parker was benched for sophomore guard/forward Jonah Bolden in coach Steve Alford’s first non-injury, non-suspension lineup in years.

Parker remains the team’s leader in rebounds, but he is also sluggish. While his size has helped UCLA at times this year, the sole senior was the first starter to meet the bench when Alford saw need for a change.

As we enter the final weeks of February, the Bruins are trying to finally stabilize from their disparate performances in the conference. Whether their veteran leader will be on the court or on the sidelines for the majority of the minutes remains to be seen. – Tanner Walters

Best test of fans’ patience

Every. Single. Game. This UCLA team got fans so excited early in the season, only to let them down time after time throughout conference play. Each contest seems like it could be the start of a glorious turnaround – until the ball is tipped, and the same old unimpressive Bruins take the floor.

The scene is brutally familiar at this point. Aaron Holiday sizing up his defender for a few dribbles and making an unsuccessful attempt to blow past him. Thomas Welsh coming to set a screen and popping toward the baseline for a jumper that opponents are now willing to give him. Holiday swinging the ball to Bryce Alford, leaving the junior guard with 10 seconds to try to generate a sliver of space and hoist a contested three.

I’m not sure we can blame the players, either. Each guy is just asked to do more than he’s capable of. Can you really picture any of them inhabiting their same roles on a good team? I sure can’t. – Matt Cummings

Best sign for the future

Jonah Bolden’s recent play. Bolden has jumped into the starting lineup this year with good reason, and he’s making a case for a starting spot next year as well. He’s emerged as a legitimate factor on both ends of the court, using his length to bother opponents as a defender and create advantageous angles on offense.

The sophomore had Bill Walton raving all over the ESPN broadcast of the recent Arizona game, as he showed off a versatile skill set: passing, shooting, rebounding, defending and cutting. Walton has been outspoken in his criticisms of the current UCLA program, but Bolden is one guy who’s caught his fancy. – Matt Cummings

Best road series

UCLA has struggled on the road this season, which might be an understatement. The Bruins opened up Pac-12 play with losses at Washington and Washington State, and followed that up with a double-digit loss to Oregon in Eugene and a 80-61 drubbing at USC.

Needless to say, the award for best road trip performance was far from difficult to assign. Last weekend, UCLA kept it competitive on its road series at the Arizona schools. While unable to repeat the brilliance of January’s 87-84 upset of the Wildcats, the Bruins fell just short of holding off Arizona’s comeback, falling 81-75. UCLA rebounded with its game against Arizona State just two days later, easily handling the Sun Devils 78-65.

UCLA has yet to sweep a road series, but will need to figure out how pretty quickly. Two of the Bruins’ final six games come on the road against two teams UCLA hasn’t seen all season – Cal and Stanford. – Claire Fahy

Best individual performance

Isaac Hamilton might be this team’s greatest offensive threat, but Bryce Alford is the team’s greatest showman. Alford’s flashy play only benefits the Bruins – when the guard’s shot is on, it is considerably harder to beat UCLA.

The best individual performance by a Bruin this season has to be Alford’s game against Arizona Jan. 7. The guard was solid throughout, scoring 25 points on 52 percent shooting – an impressive stat for any night, but particularly when your team is taking on the No. 7 program in the country.

Obviously, when you drain the game-winning three-pointer right in front of Russell Westbrook, you find yourself in a league of your own – and that’s exactly where Bryce Alford was that night. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to translate his clutch performances into consistent play, but he definitely has given Bruin fans a couple nights to remember. – Claire Fahy

Best crowd performance

In terms of narrowing down the list of games for this category, it wasn’t hard. There were really only two games where the crowd played a significant role – the Arizona and Kentucky games. Between the two though, it was tough.

For the Kentucky game, Pauley Pavilion was finally packed. The student section came out in full force, and even celebrities like Jessica Alba and Shaquille O’Neal made an appearance. The rowdy fans made it difficult for the Wildcat offense to find any kind of rhythm, and the Bruins got more hyped the more they scored. The only problem was, the crowd wasn’t there to see an unranked UCLA team win. They were there to see coach John Calipari and No. 1 Kentucky dominate. That’s why that game is not the best crowd performance of the year. Arizona is.

The fans were finally there to root for their team, not the one they were playing. Yes, the star power of Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant may have helped bring the people out to the game. But for once, leading up to that game, UCLA looked like it might be a contender in the Pac-12, and the showdown against the expected conference champ was hyped. The Bruins were coming out of a disastrous road trip in Washington, but there was still hope that the team that upset Kentucky and Gonzaga was actually good.

The night of the Arizona game, it was almost as packed as it was for the Kentucky, and it was just as loud. Walking out of Pauley after junior guard Bryce Alford hit a game-winning three-pointer with 1.8 seconds left, it was hard to say UCLA won that game without the help of the crowd. – Korbin Placet