The USA TODAY US LBM Coaches Poll released their first poll of the 2026-2027 men’s college basketball season but it didn’t include the UCLA Bruins, with Mick Cronin’s team being left off of the Top-25.
Cronin’s Bruins have had two-straight Round of 32 exits but expectations are a bit higher entering the new season after the addition of Serbian freshman Nikola Kusturica. Even with the European addition, the rest of the country will have to see it from UCLA before believing it.
Last year the addition of Donovan Dent was supposed to elevate the UCLA offense but that failed to come to fruition against the Big Ten Conference, with the Bruins going 24-12. UCLA still received votes in the Coaches Poll, accruing the second-most votes of any team not included
in the Top-25.
The coaches just prefer other programs over UCLA heading into the new season. Illinois is the highest-ranked Big Ten team at No. 3 with No. 6 Michigan State, No. 20 Michigan, No. 22 USC and No. 24 Purdue being the Big Ten schools in the first Coaches Poll of the season. Along with UCLA, Nebraska, Ohio State, Indiana, Wisconsin and Maryland all received Top-25 votes to kick off the college basketball season.
For better or worse, the Bruins will enter the new season with milder expectations than is accustomed for the legendary program. UCLA holds the most NCAA titles for a program with 11 but the Bruins have not won one since 1995. It’s been over 30 years since the last UCLA championship but perhaps Cronin’s unheralded squad can squash that drought this season.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: UCLA left off of the first US LBM Coaches Poll of the new season
