A new edition of the Rothstein 45 dropped on Thursday, where college basketball insider Jon Rothstein showed just a tad more faith in the UCLA Bruins following their addition of Serbian teenager Nikola Kusturica, slotting in UCLA at No. 19, a bump ahead of their No. 20 ranking from before the team landed Kusturica.
The expectations for Kusturica are giant. The Serbian 17-year old will spend two years in college basketball before becoming draft eligible, giving Mick Cronin and the Bruins time to put together a formidable roster around him.
Of course, Kusturica won’t be alone this season. UCLA has Eric Dailey Jr, Trent Perry, Xavier Booker and Jaylen Petty to give Cronin’s rotation some depth but ultimately the ceiling of this Bruins’ team will be determined by Kusturica.
The No. 19 ranking is respectable, but it’s a far cry from the days when UCLA ruled the sport. Even though the Bruins still have the most-ever national championships, they haven’t won one since 1995.
Rothstein predicts a starting unit of Perry, Petty, Kusturica, Dailey and Booker, with the only three notable losses for UCLA from last year’s roster being Tyler Bilodeau, Donovan Dent and Skyy Clark.
According to Rothstein, the best team in the Big Ten Conference next season will be Illinois, who comes in at No. 3 in the rankings behind Florida and Duke. Michigan State Spartans are at No. 5, the defending champion Michigan Wolverines are at No. 7 and the USC Trojans come in at No. 13.
For UCLA to be a true threat in the Big Ten, they’ll need to improve on the road, with cross-country conference clashes proving to be a weakness for the Bruins through their first two seasons in the Big Ten.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: UCLA basketball lands at No. 19 in the latest Rothstein 45