Jordan Brand Classic 2012: Shabazz Muhammad Showing Instills Fear in Pac-12

The 2012 Jordan Brand classic featured an outright impressive 20-point and four-rebound outing by Shabazz Muhammad, giving him co-MVP honors and a chance to boast his skills to the nation.

More importantly, it gave the UCLA Bruins a major sigh of relief and gave the rest of the Pac-12 several sleepless nights in the near future.

Muhammad, 6'6'', 215-pound talent out of Nevada, is an All-American athlete that clearly boasts the ability to score with the basketball. The Bishop Gorman H.S. talent averaged 29 points per game his senior season with the team.

He is an outright scoring threat that has every bit of the ability to translate this to both the college game and NBA.

The Bruins showed major struggles last season, despite having especially high hopes for the 2011 campaign. Starting with two poor losses to Loyola Marymount and Middle Tennessee, there was no question in anyone's mind that these Bruins were in for a rough season.

The major struggles for this team were in its scoring ability, as the team ranked 164th in the nation in points per game with just over 68.

In the team's second-round loss to the Arizona Wildcats, the Bruins posted just 58 points.

At 13.5 points per game, Lazeric Jones was the main scoring threat for this ball club, yet still encountered struggles throughout the season. The senior scored at least 20 points in just two of his last nine games and was held to single-digits in three of his last eight.

It's tough to win games when the team's leading scorer can't produce regularly—something Muhammad is capable of bringing to the table.

Losing Jones this season is a huge loss for this team offensively, but Muhammad fills the void and then some for the Bruins. He will be a major scoring threat for a team that showed significant improvements in the second half of the season.

The addition of Muhammad will have the rest of the Pac-12 fearing the Bruins, as this is a team riding a strong momentum from the end of last season and that has a go-to guy offensively.