Seven wins in eight games didn’t do much to budge UCLA from where the NCAA tournament selection committee had projected the Bruins to land a month ago.
UCLA received a No. 3 seeding in the South Regional in the only bracket that mattered Sunday, one spot better than the Bruins had been slotted in February. UCLA (29-4) will play 14th-seeded Kent State (22-13) in a first-round game Friday at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento.
The Bruins have won nine of their last 10 games but did not fare well in the Pac-12 Conference tournament, squeaking past USC by two points in a quarterfinal before falling flat in a semifinal loss to Arizona.