The UCLA Bruins came into the 2025-26 season with pretty high expectations, especially when they were in the AP Top 25 rankings to start the campaign. For most of the season, Mick Cronin’s squad has been pretty inconsistent. He even questioned his team’s toughness on a number of occasions. The bugaboos may have been put to bed for the team as a whole with their upset of Purdue on Tuesday night. But Xavier Booker remains less than convincing.
Addressing the Xavier Booker Issue for UCLA
When you look at Booker, you think he’s got the potential at his size of 6-foot-11 to be one of the best bigs in the Big Ten. Heck, he was a five-star player coming out of high school. He spent his first two seasons in East Lansing playing for Tom Izzo and Michigan State. In that time, he showed flashes of something special, but there were also moments where he was unplayable. Whether it be defensively, or in many cases, not crashing the boards. That was a big no-no at MSU. Thus, things didn’t quite work out, so a new home seemed like the right move.
Thus, Booker made his way to UCLA. Great, a new opportunity. Well, here we are again. What’s not working out? Sure, it hasn’t been a great start to the season for the Bruins as a whole, but Booker being less than playable once again seems to be the common denominator.
Even in a Massive Win, Bruins Need More
Coming into UCLA’s clash with Purdue, Booker had some ugly performances. He scored double-figures in just one conference game this season, and that was in early December. Not to mention, he went scoreless in three of the last five games. For a player who was once compared to Jaren Jackson Jr, especially with his three-point shooting potential.
If that isn’t ugly enough for ya, Booker lacks the motivation to crash the glass. More often than not, watching him, you would think he could get you five rebounds a game. That doesn’t even seem reachable for him. He had a nice showing with nine points in the Bruins’ two-point upset of the Boilermakers—funny enough, getting the game’s final rebound. Not to mention, he played a season-high 35 minutes.
Hats off to him, but I’ve seen him show this kind of potential before, and it’s hard to actually believe that he’s going to have two good showings in a row. In the game before Purdue, Booker started, had a block, and played two minutes total. I guess the real question here is, can Coach Mick Cronin trust Xavier Booker to help this team in the big moments?
He couldn’t deliver enough for Tom Izzo, who’s montra is defend, rebound, and run. Who’s to say he’s doing enough for UCLA, because he’s certainly not. Maybe he just doesn’t actually have that drive. For UCLA to actually make something out of this season, Booker has to score consistently, not to mention have a presence on the glass, and it’s still up in the air if he can even manage that. It sucks to see a player with so much potential struggle, but it’s the truth.
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