Joe Lunardi, the ESPN college basketball analyst who becomes as ubiquitous as confetti falling inside arenas this time of year, listed UCLA as a No. 10 seed in his latest projected NCAA tournament bracket, bound for a first-round game against Wisconsin.
Jerry Palm, Lunardi’s counterpart at CBS Sports, placed the Bruins in a more precarious spot, as a No. 11 seed and one of his teams on the bubble.
Losers of three consecutive games, UCLA (17-8) could easily adopt a win-and-you’re-in mantra Thursday afternoon against Oregon State (14-12) in a Pac-12 Conference tournament quarterfinal at T-Mobile Arena.