One metric that UCLA might want to track as it prepares for March isn’t its national ranking or projected NCAA tournament seeding.
It’s the team’s adjusted defensive efficiency, a number that hasn’t been nearly as fun for the Bruins to monitor. It measures how many points a team allows per 100 possessions while adjusting for the level of its competition.
UCLA’s adjusted defensive efficiency as of Tuesday was 102.6, according to analytics guru Ken Pomeroy. That ranked the Bruins No. 117 out of 351 teams.
That’s a bad spot to be in for a team with national championship aspirations.