Postgame Talk: Another Incomplete Game, Another Road Loss for UCLA Against Ohio State, 86-74
Tyler Bilodeau showed out, but he was the lone bright spot for the Bruins.
I’m running into a problem with some of these postgames because the story has not changed.
Once again, the UCLA Bruins started a road game slowly, then battled back before letting things get away from them. Once again, the UCLA Bruins were soundly beaten on the boards by an opponent that understands that aspect of the game. Once again, the UCLA Bruins got no-shows from a few staters that made things impossible to overcome.
You can point to various things as being factors here, like the officials having another great day at the office or the continued absence of Skyy Clark denying this team another consistent two-way player, but the result continues to point towards Mick Cronin having failed to construct this roster in a way that can consistently perform against quality opponents, and it was evident in UCLA’s 86-74 loss to Ohio State.
There isn’t much I want to talk about from this game, because the script has not changed much. UCLA got a great offensive game from Tyler Bilodeau, who scored 30 points, went 9-19 from the field, and even led the team with eight rebounds, but the rest of the Bruins were nowhere to be found. Donovan Dent looked like he was going to be on track for a good performance after a solid first half, but he disappeared in the second, only taking five shots and playing much too passively when his team needed him to take over. Trent Perry, fresh off a career-high performance on Wednesday, only managed seven points on 2-9 shooting. Xavier Booker only played two disastrous minutes, and the fact that he continues to start games looks more and more bizarre by the minute. Even Eric Dailey Jr, who had a good game on the stat sheet, went missing for long stretches, in part because he could not figure out how to play basketball without fouling, ultimately fouling out of the game at the 8:55 mark of the second half.
No, UCLA lost this game for the same reason they’ve lost so many this season. The inability to rebound stands out chief among them, but UCLA’s wing and post rotation is completely broken in general. The loss of Aday Mara, and the lack of any real plan to replace him, stands out in this regard, but you could point at the small forward position (or the three if you like your numbered position) as a major problem as well. UCLA has no true small forward on the roster, and is forced into playing both Eric Dailey and Jamar Brown out of position to try and cover for it. Dailey is much too slow to guard the three effectively, and isn’t good enough with the ball in his hands to take advantage of his size against smaller defenders, yet Mick Cronin committed to the idea of Dailey working at the three because he became enamored with Dailey’s performances last year (where, it should be noted, he was playing primarily as a four). Throw in a completely rushed misevaluation of Xavier Booker in the aftermath of Mara’s departure, and the problems grow further.
The ironic part here is that Mick Cronin, the coach, is showing a great deal of growth this year. He has been much more hands-off with the offense, and the sideline antics have been cut in half. The Bruins, even with half the roster refusing to show up on a nightly basis, still manages to put together solid offensive performances most nights, and you can see spurts of the Bruins looking like a great defensive team, mixing in both zone and man coverages at a level that would feel foreign to anyone who watched the Bruins in Cronin’s first few seasons.
But Coach Mick Cronin has been failed by Program Manager Mick Cronin. After this game, Cronin said in the press conference that the blame for this roster falls squarely on him, and the best you can hope for is that this will lead to some introspection on what Coach Cronin actually needs to be successful.
The question going forward is whether Cronin will get that opportunity at all.
Go Bruins.
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As a tactician, mick is fair. I have yet to see him able to adopt a fast paced offense, in some part because he doesn’t recruit that style of player but even when he’s had teams capable of playing up tempo, he’s throttled them back and played his grinding matchup offense. As a defensive coach, I think he’s one of the better. As I compare him to Roy Williams or Bill Self or Calipari, he’s a better defensive coach. However, he’s never had the caliber of player as those coaches and his offensive liabilities are detrimental. Apart from a weak mid Major, when was the last time in the Cronin era that Bruins blew out anyone? The more I watch him, the more I think of Howland and the similarities. However during the Howland glory days, he was willing to embrace the up tempo game when he had the opportunity. Mick makes every game a grind. I’m starting to believe that has been a big factor in his recruiting outcomes as well.
Finally, I’m going on record as saying Dent has been a big disappointment. I was so excited to move past Andrews and see a floor leader with great vision, true scoring and distributing ability. Apart for a few early season cupcakes, we’ve seen none of that. He doesn’t score, gets in foul trouble, and disappears for long stretches. This team desperately needs a floor leader and scorer who is never afraid to shoot, gets the tough bucket and keeps his teammates in the game. Dent hasn’t been that guy.
Point redux: The problem isn't that YoungestTo500™ (who will be challenged to hit .500 next year) doesn't know how to construct a roster. It's that he is unable to do so because he is toxic. Consider next year's starting 5 and roster. Can he even field a team?