Mick Cronin dishes on how veteran presence has changed the game

The veteran presence is in effect.

The UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team struck gold a lot in the transfer portal this offseason.

There are plenty of veterans coming into Westwood, something that has proven to be a success for other college programs.

Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times and Cronin talked about the changes in the sport.

“The days of having a young team and trying to grow that team to where they all get older and get better as they get older, that’s not happening anymore,” Cronin said. “And you can’t compete at a high level with a young team. So it’s exponentially changed in the direction of where you’re bringing in older guys to fill spots.”

The days of having four or five freshmen has become a rarity, especially for top teams and veterans and older players have been making more of a difference as of late.

Mick Cronin knows that, and it will be interesting to see if the 2024-2025 season is a replication of that.