{"id":63677,"date":"2017-11-21T13:00:18","date_gmt":"2017-11-21T21:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=63677"},"modified":"2017-11-21T10:19:56","modified_gmt":"2017-11-21T18:19:56","slug":"ucla-basketball-struggling-opponents-distractions-ncaa-championship-odds-drop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ucla-basketball-struggling-opponents-distractions-ncaa-championship-odds-drop\/","title":{"rendered":"UCLA Basketball Struggling Against Opponents and Distractions as NCAA Tourney Odds Drop"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UCLA basketball team<\/a> has been battling two opponents, those on the court and one of the fathers of the three players suspended for shoplifting in China earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\"Steve
UCLA Coach Steve Alford has had to deal with the indefinite suspension of three of his freshman from the team while trying to block out the distraction of LaVar Ball. (Image: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Recently the Bruins haven\u2019t been having much success in defeating either.<\/p>\n

The team lost to Creighton on Monday, 100-89 and it was their first defeat of the season. They were three-point underdogs, playing in the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City, Missouri.<\/p>\n

UCLA was ranked No. 23 in the country and will now probably drop out of the AP Top 25 when the new rankings come out next week, especially if they lose to Wisconsin on Tuesday night. The Badgers are two-point favorites.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey’re really good, in particular offensively,\u201d Bruins coach Steve Alford said of Creighton. \u201cThey’re a lot of hard matchups and we’ve got some young guys playing, but this will be a good lesson.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alford was alluding to the suspension of the three freshmen for shoplifting in China on Nov. 9. It was the day before the team\u2019s first game of the season against Georgia Tech.<\/p>\n

LiAngelo Ball, Cody Riley and Jalen Hill did not play in that contest and were suspended indefinitely from the team a week later.<\/p>\n

Absence of Trio Hurting Team<\/h2>\n

Riley was penciled in as the starter at power forward and Hill was expected to see significant minutes off the bench. The younger brother of former UCLA star and current Los Angeles Laker Lonzo Ball, was part of a glut of guards and was probably going to see minimal time off the bench.<\/p>\n

The disciplinary action has definitely played a part in the alteration of their odds to win the NCAA Championship. They opened as a 25-1 pick to win their 12th<\/sup> title in school history. After the scandal the team has dropped to anywhere from 40-1 to 70-1.<\/p>\n

In the four games they have played this season they have won three of them, but lost all of them against the spread. Against the Yellow Jackets they were 9 \u00bd-point picks and only won by three. Against Central Arkansas they were giving away 27 1\/2 points and needed overtime to squeak out a five-point victory.<\/p>\n

They were even bigger favorites against South Carolina State at a minus-37 and won by 28.<\/p>\n

Ball\u2019s Father Providing Distraction<\/h2>\n

When the trio was arrested in China they were looking at a possible 10-year prison sentence but President Trump, who was in the midst of a 12-day Asian trip, interceded with President Xi Jinping of China. He later tweeted about his actions.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you think the three UCLA Basketball Players will say thank you President Trump? They were headed for 10 years in jail!\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

They did at a press conference later that day, but one person who didn\u2019t seem to appreciate the assistance was Ball\u2019s father, LaVar<\/a>. He has been critical of Trump and went on CNN Monday to elaborate on his criticism.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you help, you shouldn\u2019t have to say anything,\u201d he said. \u201cSomebody told me about the tweet a couple days ago \u2026 why is that on your mind? All this stuff going on, and that\u2019s on your mind, that a father didn\u2019t say thank you? And you\u2019re the head of the U.S.? Come on.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the two have been battling in the media, Alford has said it won\u2019t affect his team. The coach had Lonzo Ball on his team and said his father never interfered and he expects the same with his middle son.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UCLA basketball team has been battling two opponents, those on the court and one of the fathers of the three players suspended for shoplifting in China earlier this month. Recently the Bruins haven\u2019t been having much success in defeating either. The team lost to Creighton on Monday, 100-89 and it was their first defeat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":63678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUCLA Basketball Struggling Against Opponents and Distractions as NCAA Tourney Odds Drop<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The UCLA Men\u2019s basketball program suffered its first loss of the season amid distractions by one of the fathers of the three players suspended.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UCLA Basketball Struggling Against Opponents and Distractions as NCAA Tourney Odds Drop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The UCLA Men\u2019s basketball program suffered its first loss of the season amid distractions by one of the fathers of the three players suspended.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ucla-basketball-struggling-opponents-distractions-ncaa-championship-odds-drop\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-11-21T21:00:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-11-21T18:19:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/hi-res-b5ecda72d2d53c62509b336da33fc547_crop_north-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ucla-basketball-struggling-opponents-distractions-ncaa-championship-odds-drop\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ucla-basketball-struggling-opponents-distractions-ncaa-championship-odds-drop\/\",\"name\":\"UCLA Basketball Struggling Against Opponents and Distractions as NCAA Tourney Odds Drop\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ucla-basketball-struggling-opponents-distractions-ncaa-championship-odds-drop\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ucla-basketball-struggling-opponents-distractions-ncaa-championship-odds-drop\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/hi-res-b5ecda72d2d53c62509b336da33fc547_crop_north-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-11-21T21:00:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-11-21T18:19:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"The UCLA Men\u2019s basketball program suffered its first loss of the season amid distractions by one of the fathers of the three players suspended.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ucla-basketball-struggling-opponents-distractions-ncaa-championship-odds-drop\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ucla-basketball-struggling-opponents-distractions-ncaa-championship-odds-drop\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/ucla-basketball-struggling-opponents-distractions-ncaa-championship-odds-drop\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/hi-res-b5ecda72d2d53c62509b336da33fc547_crop_north-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/hi-res-b5ecda72d2d53c62509b336da33fc547_crop_north-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"UCLA Coach Steve Alford has had to deal with the indefinite suspension of three of his freshman from the team while trying to block out the distraction of LaVar Ball. 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