I hope Booker surprises us and develops into a solid post player, before the BIG begins. That's asking a lot and if he can't hold his own, Purdue and Michigan et al will have their way with us.
Mara still needed development so it will be interesting to see how he performs this season at Michigan.
Cronin has had one improbable Final Four, one Pac-12 Title, and not much else. This is the year, if there is any hope for a Nattie.
If this season does not end well, Jelly 2.0 will finish us off if he is still at Morgan.
Ummm. Gotta remember Cronin inherited a cluster after Steve Alford. Cronin’s UCLA teams have advanced to the Sweet 16 or farther in 2021, 2022, and 2023. UCLA didn’t do anything like this since 2006-2008. PAC -12 coach of the year in 2019 and 2022. Bruins program has produced five NBA Draft selections in three consecutive NBA Drafts from 2022-2024. Coupled with his term at Cincinnati, Cronin has a solid pedigree.
UCLA hangs only National Title banners. Don't care about anything else. He has never won a Title, anywhere. This year is his best chance. Let's see what happens.
Agree that Mick needs to deliver this year, but in his defense I thought we were well placed to go deep a couple of years ago until Jaylen Clark went down and then Bona was 1/2 strength.
Nice write up Dimitri. I’m interested to see what the closing lineup looks like.
Booker is the X Factor for our season.
If he makes zero to minimal improvement as a five then I agree we’ll move to the lineup you mentioned and we’ll be playing Jamerson a lot more.
But…if he makes strides, we can theoretically play five out with a five who’s quick enough to guard the perimeter yet strong enough to bang down low, while providing a dangerous pick-and-roll/pick-and-pop threat.
Judging by the UC Irvine game I don’t have much confidence in him providing that for more than five minutes a game. I would be happy to be proven wrong. Because if he makes those strides we’re probably going to the Final Four.
Outstanding write-up DD.
I hope Booker surprises us and develops into a solid post player, before the BIG begins. That's asking a lot and if he can't hold his own, Purdue and Michigan et al will have their way with us.
Mara still needed development so it will be interesting to see how he performs this season at Michigan.
Cronin has had one improbable Final Four, one Pac-12 Title, and not much else. This is the year, if there is any hope for a Nattie.
If this season does not end well, Jelly 2.0 will finish us off if he is still at Morgan.
Ummm. Gotta remember Cronin inherited a cluster after Steve Alford. Cronin’s UCLA teams have advanced to the Sweet 16 or farther in 2021, 2022, and 2023. UCLA didn’t do anything like this since 2006-2008. PAC -12 coach of the year in 2019 and 2022. Bruins program has produced five NBA Draft selections in three consecutive NBA Drafts from 2022-2024. Coupled with his term at Cincinnati, Cronin has a solid pedigree.
UCLA hangs only National Title banners. Don't care about anything else. He has never won a Title, anywhere. This year is his best chance. Let's see what happens.
Agree that Mick needs to deliver this year, but in his defense I thought we were well placed to go deep a couple of years ago until Jaylen Clark went down and then Bona was 1/2 strength.
That's a good point.
Nice write up Dimitri. I’m interested to see what the closing lineup looks like.
Booker is the X Factor for our season.
If he makes zero to minimal improvement as a five then I agree we’ll move to the lineup you mentioned and we’ll be playing Jamerson a lot more.
But…if he makes strides, we can theoretically play five out with a five who’s quick enough to guard the perimeter yet strong enough to bang down low, while providing a dangerous pick-and-roll/pick-and-pop threat.
Judging by the UC Irvine game I don’t have much confidence in him providing that for more than five minutes a game. I would be happy to be proven wrong. Because if he makes those strides we’re probably going to the Final Four.
Cronin's gems during the off season:
"We lost to Tennessee because Tyler didn't make a single basket in the first half. We lost because he didn't make a single basket in the first half!"
"It's not fair that we have to do so much traveling."
Somewhere, also, there was a mention of "youngest coach to 500 wins."
Damn, throw back to throwing under the bus, and the beauty of the definitive mick 🤣
Thanks Dmitri! Lets hope at least a few of our players show up!
Dimitri. Fantastic overview/update for the upcoming basketball season. Good deal.