Despite losing in the championship of the Pac-12 Tournament, UCLA and Mick Cronin still enter March Madness as one of the top teams in the country. They’re a little bit banged up right now with injuries to two starters in Adem Bona and Jaylen Clark. While Clark is out for the remainder of the season, UCLA is hoping that Bona will be able to play in their first round matchup later this week against UNC Asheville. On Sunday, Mick Cronin seemed to suggest that Bona could be available as per Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times.

Adem Bona has been an incredibly important player for UCLA this season as a freshman. Bona was injured in their conference tournament semifinal game against Oregon when he dove on the floor for a loose ball. He sat out during UCLA’s conference championship loss to Arizona. Bona’s absence leaves the UCLA front court extremely thin especially on the defensive end with only Kenneth Nwuba and Mac Etienne behind him.

This season Bona played in 32 games for UCLA including 31 starts. He averaged 7.8 points per game, 5.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocked shots with shooting splits of 66.9 percent shooting from the field and 58.8 percent shooting from the free-throw line. Bona was voted the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year in addition to being named to the All-Defensive and All-Freshman teams.

Last season UCLA made it to the Sweet Sixteen in March Madness and the year before that they were in the Final Four. UCLA has been a formidable team under Mick Cronin