Tag: Mick Cronin

After fourth straight loss, is UCLA even an NCAA Tournament team?

Mick Cronin and the UCLA Bruins have lost four straight and lack the talent necessary to make a serious run, and could fall out of the NCAA Tournament picture.

Heading into December the UCLA Bruins were 5-2 on the season, including a 4-0 record at home with their only losses coming in the Maui Invitational to then No. 4 Marquette (by two points) and then No. 11 Gonzaga (by four points).

Sure the one point win over UC Riverside was less than convincing, but at the time there was little concern Mick Cronin’s very young team, littered with international players, wouldn’t find their way into being a top 25 caliber program and compete for second place in the Pac-12 behind Arizona.

The month of December, however, has been anything but kind to UCLA. The Bruins managed just 56 points against a struggling Villanova squad on the road, and then had a horrible shooting day in an eventual 67-60 loss to Ohio State in Atlanta.

Those two losses in a vacuum are not resume killers, but coming back home and falling to Cal-State Northridge (237th at KenPom) and then again to a seriously struggling Maryland team, who was up by 20 at times and eventually won by nine, is cause for real panic at the Pauley Pavilion.

Currently the Bruins are an astonishing 172nd in the NET rankings, with an 0-4 record in Quad 1 games and 0-1 in Quad 3. They are down to 84 at KenPom, sandwiched between future Big Ten partners Indiana and Minnesota, and have the 151st ranked offense in the country.

Cronin has discussed multiple reasons for this team’s struggles, including a lack of disciplined players which resulted in freshman Sebastian Mack losing his starting role for being late to a meeting, as well as complaints about the school’s lack of NIL funding which made making transfer portal additions a struggle.

If Cronin truly feels he’s incapable of building a roster that can compete heading into the Big Ten, will he jump ship? Could Louisville entice him with an offer this offseason assuming they move on from Kenny Payne? Would being closer to his hometown of Cincinnati get a deal done?

Those are all things worth monitoring this offseason, but for now Cronin and the Bruins have just one objective: right the ship enough to still go dancing in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

The resume right now is, frankly, nowhere near an at-large bid, but picking up a handful of Quad 1 wins in conference play is certainly possible if this team can find a go-to scorer against teams like Colorado, Arizona State, USC, and of course Arizona.

UCLA has a few days off before heading to Corvallis to take on Oregon State on December 28 followed by Oregon two days later.

Picking up a pair of wins in the state of Oregon may not move the resume needle all that much, but it would at least end the calendar year on a high note for Cronin and the Bruins.

National commentator blasts UCLA basketball’s NIL failures, speculates about Mick Cronin

Doug Gottlieb did not hold back.

The outlook for UCLA basketball gets worse by the day. The Trojans lost their fourth straight game Friday night, and they absorbed a second straight home-court loss at Pauley Pavilion after winning their previous 29 games at home. Maryland — which, by the way, is not having a particularly good season — went into Westwood and handled the Bruins fairly easily, building a 20-point lead and eventually winning by a comfortable nine-point margin, 69-60.

UCLA’s offense is a disaster. The Bruins simply lack high-end scorers and shooters. They don’t have elite talent. This is UCLA basketball we’re talking about, and the Bruins have been very good in recent years. They made the Final Four in 2021. They were a top-four seed in each of the last two NCAA Tournaments. UCLA basketball is not a program we cheer for here at Trojans Wire, but objectively speaking, UCLA has been good, and when UCLA is good in basketball, it should not have any problem landing top talent. Yet, as we noted earlier this week, coach Mick Cronin basically conceded that the Bruins’ NIL operation is deficient and has failed to bring in elite transfers.

Following the Maryland loss, Doug Gottlieb of Fox Sports not only made light of the Bruins’ NIL problems; he said Mick Cronin might get restless as a result. That point might be going too far — we think Cronin loves living in Los Angeles and won’t want out of UCL — but the focus on UCLA’s NIL deficiencies is impossible to ignore right now. It offers a parallel to what USC football is going through, and it’s something we’re going to continue to talk about.

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UCLA basketball coach Mick Cronin claims Bruins are losing battles for elite transfers due to NIL

Mick Cronin is really frustrated with UCLA’s NIL situation.

Just because a public figure says something, that doesn’t mean it is automatically true. However, when a public figure such as the coach of UCLA men’s basketball speaks, every word he says is going to be noticed and picked apart. If the coach chooses to say something in public, he is doing it for a reason. He is doing it because he knows he wants to get a certain reaction and create an intended effect or response.

UCLA men’s basketball coach Mick Cronin certainly appears to be expressing his frustration with the Bruins’ NIL operation. He is very clearly suggesting and implying that UCLA is being outspent for top transfer portal prospects. This is an indirect reference to the reality that UCLA is working with a young, inexperienced and — let’s all admit it — not very good team this season.

Cronin’s remarks drew a lot of attention (as intended). He was responding to a question from UCLA beat writer Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times:

Cronin used to coach at Cincinnati, so maybe his reference to the “Reds” is that UCLA is uncomfortably close to Cincinnati here instead of acting like a true heavyweight in NIL competitions for elite transfer prospects.

Whether you believe Cronin or not, it’s clear that UCLA’s NIL operation is not delivering elite results, much as USC football’s NIL setup is not winning battles against Phil Knight and the Oregon Ducks. It’s quite a story in college sports.

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What Mick Cronin said about Ohio State after playing the Buckeyes in the CBS Sports Classic

In case you missed it, UCLA head coach Mick Cronin had some high praise for Ohio State guard Bruce Thornton. #GoBucks

Ohio State went to Atlanta and won the war of attrition against the UCLA Bruins in the CBS Sports Classic on Saturday.

Both teams struggled mightily in the first half to find any offense, but both teams worked hard on the defensive end to make life miserable for each other.

The Buckeyes came out with a 67-60 victory because of their ability to make more plays than UCLA with the sands of the hourglass running out.

Bruins’ head coach Mick Cronin met with the media after the game to provide his thoughts on Ohio State and his team and to field questions.

If you missed any of what he said, we have the media conference in its entirety thanks to the UCLA athletics YouTube channel.

Cronin’s comments followed those of Bruins’ forward Adem Bona. Cronin focused on his team’s inability to play defense as consistently in the second half, some missed layups and free throws and some high praise for Buckeye guard Bruce Thornton.

UCLA has lost on a neutral court to Marquette, Gonzaga and Ohio State by a combined 11 points.The Buckeyes improved to 9-2 and prepare to host Saint Louis on Thursday.

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Mick Cronin was so mad that he and UCLA had to wait 33 minutes for a post-loss press conference

Mick Cronin was MAD.

You can imagine UCLA head coach Mick Cronin wouldn’t be the happiest of people after Gonzaga took down the Bruins Thursday night 79-76 to move on to the Elite Eight at the 2023 men’s NCAA tournament.

But that wasn’t what he decided to talk about when it came to his opening statement as he sat down to talk to reporters.

No, it was this: “My opening statement is it just took 33 minutes to get me in here, which is ridiculous. Any questions?”

What’s the deal with that? I wasn’t sure, but there’s an answer per Arash Markazi below: Usually, the losing team goes first in press conferences. Apparently, that wasn’t the case:

Not a great night all around.

USC’s season just became more complicated, but in a very good way

If UCLA has a very successful February, the USC win over the Bruins will become more valuable. If UCLA crumbles, USC could win the Pac-12 title. Either outcome is good.

What follows is a first-world problem for USC basketball and its fans: On one hand, the UCLA Bruins need to win a lot in the next several weeks. UCLA winning means that USC’s victory over the Bruins on Thursday night would look a million times better on the NCAA Tournament ledger sheet. If the UCLA win ages well, USC’s odds of playing in March Madness will rise.

Let’s consider a very different scenario: If UCLA — now just one game ahead of the Trojans — loses a bunch of games in February, the Bruins will lose their hold on first place. USC, Utah and Arizona would all have a chance to overtake the Bruins.

When was the last time USC won the regular-season championship of its conference? 1985, when the Trojans claimed the Pac-10 title.

Either their win over UCLA grows in value, or they get a better chance to win a conference championship.

Either way, USC has created more interesting possibilities for its season.

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Andy Enfield moves to 6-3 vs Mick Cronin in 9 games against UCLA

In 2020 (the Jonah Mathews game) and now 2023 (the Boogie Ellis game), Enfield has beaten Cronin and UCLA in must-win situations. He keeps coming through.

When Mick Cronin came to UCLA before the 2019-2020 college basketball season, he hadn’t reached a Final Four, but he had made Cincinnati a nationally relevant program. The Bearcats had been a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. They had reached the Sweet 16. Cronin had established himself as a quality coach over several years.

Andy Enfield showed signs of becoming a quality coach. Yet, let’s be honest: When Pat Haden hired him to USC, it was on the basis of that one amazing season at Florida Gulf Coast, the 2013 campaign in which Enfield reached the Sweet 16 as a No. 15 seed with his FGCU “Dunk City” Eagles, the team which shocked No. 2 seed Georgetown and then beat No. 7 San Diego State to become the first 15 seed in NCAA Tournament history to reach the regional semifinals.

Cronin had a much fuller — and longer — body of work when UCLA hired him. Enfield was hired based on potential, not longevity, by Haden and USC.

If you had been told four years ago — when Cronin was hired in Westwood — that Enfield would win six of nine games against Cronin, you probably would have been laughed out of the building.

Yet, that’s the record for Enfield after his 77-64 win against UCLA on Thursday. Enfield had lost three straight to Cronin — twice last March, then on January 5 of this year — but he took back the upper hand when he absolutely had to.

Establishing superiority against Cronin is important because it enables recruits to legitimately consider the idea that USC, not UCLA, is the program of the future in Los Angeles. Enfield has won some high-profile recruiting battles. Each win over UCLA increases the odds he can continue to succeed on the trail and raise USC’s ceiling. Meanwhile, these wins over UCLA carry enormous significance for each Trojan team.

The 2020 Enfield win over Cronin — the Jonah Mathews game — got USC into the 2020 NCAA Tournament before the event was wiped out by the pandemic. This win in 2023 could make the difference between making the NCAAs and going to the NIT. If USC does make the 2023 NCAA Tournament, that will be three straight tournaments on an official level, four straight if we include 2020. Only once before has USC made the NCAA Tournament in three consecutive years: 2007-2009 under Tim Floyd.

USC has not historically been a place where the NCAA Tournament is an annual, regular expectation. That has clearly changed under Andy Enfield, who continues to prove that he can stand up to UCLA and Mick Cronin.

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Oregon MBB recap: Bruins come alive to defeat Ducks

UCLA came to play in the second half and overwhelmed the Ducks 65-56 to hand Oregon its first conference loss.

The Oregon men’s basketball team played one good half.

Unfortunately against a team like UCLA, that’s not nearly enough. The Bruins outscored the Ducks 44-29 in the second half to defeat Oregon 65-56 inside Pauley Pavilion.

With the loss, Oregon falls to 4-5 overall and 1-1 in Pac-12 action. UCLA improved to 7-2 and 2-0 in conference play.

It was definitely a tale of two halves. The Ducks played great defense in the first half, but after the break, Oregon played virtually no defense. It was also crushed on the boards, especially on the offensive end. The Bruins managed to pull down 16 offensive rebounds and scored 13 second-chance points.

Oregon shot 24-of-49 from the field, but just 4-of-17 from long range and they could never get to the free-throw line on a regular basis. The Ducks were just 4-of-7 from the charity stripe.

Forward Quincy Guerrier was off to a good start, but he hurt his ankle late in the first half and although he came back to play, his effectiveness never quite came back.

Tom Izzo comments on UCLA NCAA Tournament run

Tom Izzo gave his comments on the UCLA NCAA Tournament run after his Spartans fell just short of defeating the Bruins in the first four.

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Michigan State had a 5-point lead with just over one minute left in their first four game against UCLA, a bad final minute leading into overtime and the Bruins got past the Spartans.

Almost two weeks removed from that game, UCLA is still playing and will be heading to the final four.

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After witnessing the Bruins historic run, Spartan fans can’t help to think “what if”. Michigan State coach Tom Izzo is no exception to that rule, the head man in East Lansing took to radio to share his mindset.

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UCLA coach Mick Cronin and his superfan father are the best story of the men’s Final Four

This is the best.

Of course Gonzaga’s possible run to a national title in the men’s NCAA tournament is one of the best March Madness stories, as is Baylor and Houston eyeing their first.

But let’s take a moment to appreciate UCLA head coach Mick Cronin and his father Hep, who has become the Bruins superfan cameras pan to during the team’s surprise run to the Final Four.

He’s been seen fist pumping and celebrating, and Mick has expressed how amazing it is to have his dad there cheering him on, including on Tuesday night as the Bruins upset No. 1 seed Michigan. Mick hadn’t seen him in a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Here are some highlights, including Mick Cronin talking about him in a post-game interview on Tuesday:

Love it. Love all of it. Can’t wait to see them both in the Final Four.

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