Bilodeaux, Mack and Daily missed crucial free throws that would have iced the game! He can’t shoot free throws for them, 5-15 in the second half won’t cut it in March! I support them 100% and I’ll never give up on them, even after they lost 5 out 6 in late December early January. Everyone said that he lost the team, then they won 7 in a row. They needed to be called out at that point and it did spark their 7 game winning streak.
The only thing I can think of was those late free throws were big, maybe the players just were too worried about getting him his 500th win instead of just playing a regular game where if you lose you’re not letting your coach down in his first chance to get that 500th win!
Not an excuse but I know if I was on the line that added pressure would have been on my mind. They were playing with that added pressure and that may have been the main factor.
I'm sure this is the same way people felt before their really underwhelming performance before that incredible run from the first 4 in game against a Michigan St. Tom Izzo team to finally falling to a very good Gonzaga team on a last second logo shot.
Like the players, don't give up on them, or the coach,(*especially Baskets) hopefully they play inspired ball instead of giving up like Baskets! They can actually learn from this major disappointment.
They seemed really tight in the late stages of the second half.
They have major wins against Oregon, home and away, Gonzaga, Wisconsin, Michigan St, road win against Indiana and some tough close game loses to Illinois, Carolina.
They are 6-2 I believe against top 25 teams this year. And this is a new team besides Andrews, Mack, Mara and Laz. They still have 4 more before the big 10 tourney and may have blown a chance at the double bye for the 1-4 teams but they have faired pretty well, better than Oregon in their first season. Better than Washington and USC also. New conference, new tougher travel for their road games and the California fires and this latest illness that made Mara lose 11 lbs, Dailey and Bilodeau both missing a couple of games with the face and ankle injury.
With all those factors 19-8 (10-6) and tied for 5th isn't a bad first season.
This is their only loss to a non tourney team besides the N, Carolina team. New Mexico is a good team. So all is not lost. Nebraska is probably going to make the tourney also. Maryland are all part of 10 teams projected to make the tournament. Only 13 from the SEC has more teams slated to be selected. Only 8 from the Big 12 and just 4 from the ACC are getting in. I think SMU who would be a 5th team should also make it.
Kansas got blown out by BYU by 34! Losing 46-26 at half and then getting outscored 45-31 in the 2nd half. So teams lose games that they shouldn't and you either get better or give up. See Pitino's rant in the halftime lockeroom. " You don't hang your heads after a missed shot! You get back an f##king platy defense! Who raised you guys? Life's tough, you don't just give up in life when things don't go your way, you dig down and fight, you don't give up! Paraphrasing but it was why some think he's one of the better coaches who motivate his guys to find that toughness to never give up. I'm sure Mick is the same way. Like Hurley and from what I've heard Izzo is the same way. These guys are getting paid to play and can just transfer portal our when the going gets tough. Mick doesn't want those guys! And most coaches aren't going to win by being worried about their image or what recruits might think. Micj said that earlier in the media availability presser before this game.
UCONN blew late leads to a 1-12 Seton Hall team a week ago and then blew another game against Villanova on their home court last night. You can't tell me that Hurley doesn't know how to coach them, they did win against Marquette and Creighton before and in between those two bad losses. College kids sometimes underperform (*Dailey last night) but he did hit a couple in the 2nd half before missing those 2 big free-throws and it can't be placed all all on the coach. Every time they tried to lob it into Mara there was a second defender right their when the pass arrived. Give them credit for taking that away from them. Cronin should be teaching him to catch those passes and immediately dish it right back to a perimeter player, like a touch or tap pass like Bird used to do.
It ain't over yet! No one thought they'd be winning the national championship and many probably felt they'd have a season like the football team had.
More than one thing can be true at the same time. Clearly, make free throws and win the game. It's also true that Cronin screwed the pooch in not playing Mara much more. With Mara on the floor more in the first half, the D allowed 23 points. Not on the floor in the 2nd and no rim protection, we gave 41 points. One could argue it shouldn't have been close enough to come down to free throws.
I agree, but I also recognized on the first few passes to him in the post, how they smothered him, only the dunk and that one time he passed out instead of going up strong besides the and-1 and he missed the free-throw.
They had a plan to collapse and make it tough just to catch the passes into the post.
Dylan 1-6
Dylan 1-7
The past 2 games
Trent who I think is going to be very good looked overmatched or just not confident, hua body language on D and he looked rushed ok the offensive end!
So I understand him not getting more minutes.
But Dailey 3-10, 0-4 in the first half so 3-6 in the 2nd, give him credit for having the confidence to keep shooting because if you lose confidence and pass up shots good coaches will recognize that and tell players to anticipate him passing and give him room to shoot and cheat towards helping the other 4 players on D. But 5-15 from the line after going 4-4 and committing all those fouls in the 2nd half after both teams only getting 6 in the 1st half. They just looked out of sync and playing scared in the 2nd.
I really think if this way Mick's 500th win game it might have been different. I think they cooked dir to that added pressure. As soon as they let them back in the game they stared playing not to lose instead of playing their game.
Maybe Micks biggest problem us not giving minutes to guys like Mara and Perry in the early non conference easier games. They're all home games so play them more minutes to get them more used to playing in pressure games. But one might argue you only get better playing against better competition instead of playing less talented teams and getting those guys extra minutes. It's a fine line to balance playing time for guys who might cosr you a few extra losses in the seadon.im sure all coaches ha e second thoughts about those choices.
Is my priority to win this game or give minutes to guys who may get invaluable experience by playing them in situations where when they fail it costs you a game.
My comments regarding Mara were more on his defense and rim protection. Minnesota attacked the rim and found their way to the FT line. Mara was stuck on the bench. They don't score 41 points in the 2nd half with Mara on the floor.
He looked really good, like a polished confident big man in the game last night against the Trojans. It's nice to see his enthusiasm. He just needs to keep the ball high when he either rebounds missed shots or on the entry passes. That one from Mack was a thing of beauty.
He looks really confident and the team played really well and looked extremely confident especially in the 2nd half. Their offense thrives when they're getting those deflections that lead to turnovers and points from them. And the offense with Mara in their looks really smooth. His passing is very good. He see the floor well from that vantage point. His govd and go passes to Sky looked really fluent.
Confidence seems to high and thats what was the case in their run years ago with Juzang, Jaquez and Tyger and Clark. Maybe they'll go on another run. Elite 8 would be an accomplishment. I liked your comment we might pull this out late un yesterday's blowout! All Mick's calling out the team may have been the key to them getting their act together. The collapse against Minnesota had me worried but the double bye should help with their confidence and hopefully Cronin impresses upon them to keep that effort up.
Congratulations to Coach Cronin on achieving his 232nd career loss (134-61 at UCLA). The look on Hep Cronin's face during the TV broadcast when the Bruins were completing their faceplant said it all--poor dad looked visibly ill (I wonder if he's sticking around to attend the OSU game).
With only 4 more regular season games remaining, the players and coaching staff still seem unable to address a lot of their team's inconsistencies and individual weaknesses. But maybe I'm worried about the wrong stuff, according to Coach Cronin during the postgame interview (amusing, as usual):
"I'm going to say this again--because all we're worried about is our shooting instead of playing defense. I've been doing this a long time. I know when my team's mind is on the wrong stuff. Our crowd's mind is on the wrong stuff. Our crowd makes--they make it worse when a guy misses a free throw. I mean the stress in Pauley is crazy when a guy--'uhhh, uhhh'--I mean, the guy's not trying--how about help the guy? How about cheer for the guy? I mean it's not like he's trying to miss the free throw. That just makes it worse. Everybody's worried about the wrong stuff!"
You can bet Coach Cronin would have delivered this sort of pep talk during halftime if the Bruins were down by 11 instead of being up by 11 against Minnesota. The Bruins' defense crumbled in the 2nd half and watched Garcia score a season high 32 points, with the missed FTs just adding to the misery. A very bad game overall for the players and coaching staff that just needs to be flushed down the toilet,,,
*I forgot a big win against Arizona and another loss to a non tourney team Rutgers! If we don't get to the sweet 16, then I'll concede that they didn't live up to their true potential. But I'm not going to hang that on Cronin. Maybe I'm wrong but Cronin has never been fired. Nope just checked!
Murray State 69-24 (.742) Cincinnati 296-147
(.668) UCLA 134-60 (.684) 499-232 (.682)
How many Championships did Lute Olson win? 1 in 1060 games 780-280 (.736)
1 season at Long Beach St 24-2
9 at Iowa 167-91 (.647)
24 at Arizona 589-187 (.736)
Pitino 753-307 (.710) 2 Championships 1993, 2016
23 year drought!
Izzo 727-299 (.709)
1 championship
Calipari 828-271 (.753)
1 Championship, 1 runner up lost in the final to Florida
Coach K got 5 but first 3 seasons his record was an abysmal 38-47!
Imagine if they gave up on him. Would another coach or any number of coaches would they have achieved 5 championships. 1570 games including his first 5 seasons as Army coach 73-59.
Besides Wooden whom am I forgetting that we strive to somehow bring to LA to get us relevant and up to the standards you seem to have for our Bruins?
Honest question? Who have we failed to land to get us back to our "standards"?
Pitino had to resign from his Louisville Job because of his extra curricular activities. Escort scandal involving players. Not like Harrick who just went out to dinner and that cost him his job!
Calipari, we tried, coach K we tried!
Besides Knight, Danny Crum (*we had) but left from too high of expectations.
Bruce Pearl has a shady past. Roy Williams, Jay Wright we tried!
Bill Self 2 championships.
Who am I missing that is showing unprecedented success that we've missed out on?
We tried for Brad Stevens I remember but he went to the Celtics and I'm pretty sure he has no regrets!
Keep Mick for the foreseeable future!
Even Belichick lost twice to the Giants in his unbelievable run of 6 of 8 Suprbowls in 23 seasons
And before that a very less than stellar 5 year Cleveland Browns record of 36-44!
Great expectations lead to great disappointment and firing coaches and a bunch of possible missed opportunities if we maybe just stuck with a guy like Cronin.
*I rember the catch phrase expectations managed!
If you had a fan post section I'd have titled this little missive
"Expectations Managed! 😑
Bye Ben! Bye Mick! Next!"
He's the best since Howland and Harrick. Saw a great interview with Howland by Mark Gottfried
Just because he didn't get fired doesn't mean he is a great coach. He is a good coach but not close to a great coach.
Cronin is stubborn. He makes costly mistakes due to his stubborness. We shall see how the rest of the season unfolds. But I doubt we will get a decent seed, and likely not in the West.
We have very few games left. I said I DOUBT we will get a decent seed - which still leaves room for the possibility of a decent seed. I did not make a proclamation, I offered my opinion. That's all.
Yes, I thought this unexpected, bad Quad-3 home loss really hurt the Bruins and their hopes for a double-bye in the conference tourney, let alone their potential seeding for the NCAA tourney. They saw what the Gophers did at U$C and came out with a great defensive effort, but then they unexplicably checked out of the game in the 2nd half. I've gotten seasick experiencing so many ups and downs this season, but have to remind myself that with a complete roster reload, this is like another "Year-1" season for Coach Cronin and UCLA.
"As of December 2024, Steve Alford's overall college basketball coaching record is 687-357. This makes him the 11th winningest active Division I coach."
Crnin needs nearly 200 more wins to achieve Alfie level greatness if total wins are the measure of being a good coach.
Also, Crnin's seat was blazing hot at Cincinnati.
Finally, is there a coach among your Mr. Rushmore of coaches who repeatedly brags about the number of career wins to validate himself?
Not much more to be said than Dimitri said. The last sentence highlights what I’ve said from day one. Can Cronin ever be a “great” coach. Some think he already is. I think he never was or will be. He had one really good season at Cincinnati. He’s had one really good season at ucla.
I don’t think cronin can create another good season, at least not without any 5 star recruits coming in now or in the future.
Many look at the runs in March to determine who is a great coach. The final tourney is a crap shoot though. You shouldn’t be hoping for a magical run in March to save your job. The goal should be for the entire season to remain a top 10 team year after year. There’s more intelligent people out there than me for sure, especially when it comes to stats… but I’d be curious what teams rank in the top 10 year after year for the full season. Who would be on this list? North Carolina under their old coach, duke, UConn, Alabama, Houston, Tennessee, auburn, Purdue, Kentucky, Kansas, Arizona, Illinois, Gonzaga, Baylor, Oregon, Villanova, Florida… I’m sure I missed some and I’m not saying they have a good year every year. It’s not uncommon for any of these programs to at least be ranked for most of the season. UCLA seems to be flirting outside the top 25 for most of the season. It tells you how much excitement is usually around the program for most of the season. It’s not enough in my book to manage expectations season after season expecting a magical run in March to “save” the season. You shouldn’t need March to determine whether the season was a success or failure, that should be determined prior to any conference tournaments looking at the season as a whole.
In my book, this is another lost season. A sprinkle of strong quality wins with a handful of absolute head scratching losses due to coaching failures is what this season is. It looks a lot like every other season. I’d rather enjoy an entire season of consistent efficient teams. Under Cronin, you’re going to get a roller coaster year after year with extreme highs and extreme lows. That’s not the kind of coach I will ever support.
How many coaches have 500* on his next win and have never been fired? Pretty sure not many if any at all at least before they reach 500.
Read my post on the best coaches and besides Coach K and Wooden. Nobody had more than 2 after 20+ seasons!
Kevin Ollie won in his 2nd year 2014 after succeeding Calhoun but was fired in 2018.
Jim Calhoun had 3.
Hurley 2 .
My question at the end of my second post/comment was name the guy who should be on our bench that we failed to get, and what's his record and how many chips does he have since turning us down or we failing to offer enough or offer them the job in the first place? Please enlighten me, I'll check your Wikipedia page to read about all the praise you've received as a basketball prognosticator/guru
extraordinaire! lol
Wow nothing there. Maybe there's a glitch over at the site.
But all ribbing and kidding aside who should be out coach that we missed our on or who should be our next one.
It’s easy to look back and say we should have got so and so, look at how well they’re doing… you could point at guys like Nate oats, Tommy Loyd, rick Barnes, rick pittino, or even Shaka smart who has had his own run of poor seasons. We could all argue to the end of time about character flaws and why this would or wouldn’t work. Hindsight is 20/20 and neither of us get an opinion on the new hire anyways, so does any of that really matter?
That’s part of the question is who gets hired next and what does the hiring process look like? The current people in charge will make another shitty hire so it doesn’t really matter what I say or think. The problem I see is that none of the people in charge seem to care about the full body of work. I said from the beginning that cronin wasn’t a great coach. He took Cincinnati to the sweet 16. He had one season at Cincinnati that was a full season of success and consistency. He’s always struggled with recruiting 5 star talent. These were all notable flaws prior to coming to ucla. What makes anyone think that coming to ucla would change those flaws? Sure, I’m jaded, but it’s hard to look at coaches like oats and not wonder what could have been. Alabama is now a consistently good team with an offense that is amazingly exciting to watch. UCLA is middling program in the big10 that spends half its time being a boring defensive minded team to watch and the other half squeeking out 5 point wins against inferior opponents.
Mark Few, would you say the same about him? No chips and a litany of heartbreaking losses and what does he do, manage expectations over at UCLA 2.0 since Lute won his I chip.
I don't see where UCLA has failed their fans and Alumni.
Calhoun? Not getting him or the others and I'll share my other comment that included my list of best coaches and their sparse amount of chips in 20+ seasons.
I have said a million times as I said before… I don’t care about winning championships anymore. I’d rather a full season of consistent play and coaching through the entire year.
Maybe you don't, but that's the end all be all here. Cronin's on record saying that it's all about March here. They're 19-8, not top tier, but not terrible. A lot better than last year.
Agreed and I understand that. The coach at Tennessee turned us down, and a few others if I recall.
We don't have a college town. Every old school blue blood school does have that huge fan base that travels. But most don't have 5-6 professional teams and all the great tourist stuff to do. It's not the ideal coaching job considering, but theirs hood and bad with every situation.
Howland had a great interview with Gottfried. I really enjoyed his stories about Harrick and all the other things he spoke about. He was crushed when they fired him. I know he had done some things, lost all the decent local California recruits, burned bridges with some AAU people. I don't recall all the talk that substantiated his dismissal but I really liked Howland. I never saw any press conferences, post game etc. Just started watching them since Cronin.
Gonzaga is consistently ranked in the top 20 and usually top 10 for long stretches of EVERY season. Gonzaga has more 25 win seasons under mark fee than ucla will ever have again. Yeah, they’re in a crappy conference, but Gonzaga is consistent year after year with mark few at the helm. UCLA… crickets
You don't need 5 star talent to win a NC. Most 5 stars head to the NBA early. In the current NIL and free agent era, that dynamic has become outdated. Now, when you have a talented, 7'3" center that is a work in progress and solid rim protector, sitting him on the bench is coaching malpractice.
"There are a few things to point to in the aftermath of what feels like the most frustrating loss of the season for the Bruins, but I want to start with a bit of a contrarian opinion: UCLA’s offense was not the reason they lost this game. The Bruins shot 45.1% from the field in the game, and even in the second half when Minnesota staged its comeback UCLA still shot 45.5%."
Just looking at these stats out of context isn't really fare to call this a "slow but still efficient night." UCLA shot 5-15 from the FT line in the second half (33%). Missing 3 front end of 1-1s and missing both FTs at least twice. Those should been seen as empty possessions as well and really more than anything I think are the reason this is an L.
My point is more that people are always quick to criticize the offense in these situations, but if the offense is hitting 45% of their shots and generating a bunch of trips to the free-throw line, then it isn't the system itself that's the problem. There are obvious failures in execution (specifically with the free throws) but the offense itself was not the culprit here.
This game seemed like a repeat of the UNC loss back in December, where the offense wasn't the problem, they built a huge lead (16 pts.), got outrebounded, and then failed to make their FTs down the stretch. The very next game they beat Gonzaga, so hopefully the Bruins can also bounce back and beat OSU and make Hep Cronin and Bill Walton happy.
I agree with you, Cam. Our defense our on a master class in the first half, our scores didn't score. In the second half Minnesota made adjustments which undermined our defense but still the offense didn't score
The, "Mighty Bruins", LOST to Minnesota? AT HOME? Perhaps you need to start thinking of a, "new" name for this site. Here's a few suggestions:. 1. TheSoftBruin 2. ThePaperBruin 3. TheFlawedBruin 4. TheFrailBruin By the way, as a WISCONSIN fan, the, "view", is only getting better from above you in the B1G Standings. Go Badgers!
Why do you feel the need to berate the Bruins. It just speaks so poorly of you. Yes, we had a bad loss and Wisconsin is having a much better season. You truly don't add anything of value so not sure why you are here.
Wisconsin's game AT UCLA was STOLEN from Wisconsin. When was the last time a team shot 51% from the field, 50% on 3's, and 86% from the line and LOST? The game was STOLEN from Wisconsin. And when the B1G Tournament rolls around, E2148, Wisconsin will have a DOUBLE BYE.
So you're not just a chicken shit troll, you're a whiny little child that can't accept defeat. And to add more to your legendary sour grapes bitching, you troll an opponents website because you have nothing else to do. How sad and pathetic is that?
Wow, the Wisconsin troll is back again. You must live underground like Badger in your Mommie's basement. Wake me up when you hang a banner. You've got less class than an Arizona fan at McHale. Losing to UCLA must have really stung your pathetic little ass.
UCLA needs to hang a, "banner", at Pauley Pavilion that honors the REAL person that got UCLA most of their titles, SAM GILBERT. You know the old saying, right? If you're not cheating, then you're not trying.
John, you clearly have way too much time on your hands. Your ignorance is a shining light to all the other morons who talk shit about things they know nothing about. You can't produce a fine wine with sour grapes. All you end up with is a whining sorry ass Badger.
And yet you're still on a UCLA site about losing to UCLA. UW having a better record than UCLA must be really important to you. I don’t even give one shit, let alone two about beating Wisconsin. I don't think UCLA has much of a shot in the NCAA Tournament. You know who else has no shot at winning it all? Wisconsin. Sit back and enjoy your irrelevance. It might be time to go outside.
Good for YOU, ArmyMule. You didn't get, "edited". I'm HOPING that Wisconsin gets another shot at UCLA, on a NEUTRAL COURT. I just LOVE how the dimwits on this site complain about Cronin. You FOOLS ran the two Head Coaches AFTER Wooden OUT OF TOWN, and BOTH OF THEM HAD BETTER RECORDS THAN WOODEN! And having a BETTER RECORD than UCLA IS important to me. And I'm ENJOYING IT, IMMENSELY! Can't you tell?
All of this analysis, particular about not playing Mara and Perry, is off point. UCLA lost because they could not hit a free throw in the second half and had they hit even 50%, they would have won. Perry and Mara were playing terrible, hurting the team, when they were in and to speculate that in the second half they would become productive is unrealistic speculation. Got to trust Cronin on that. This is not the first loss due to choking on crucial free throws and I would like to say Cronin has to work on that but I do not know how one changes chocking--hypnosis? Garcia who I think leads the Big10 in scoring went off in the second half just like Watkins did against our ladies and when somebody gets crazy hot like that, not much you can do about it--it happens.
I agree! Last time I looked up the sky is still there! It's not falling!
Every portal transfer guy came from losing to mediocre programs. Dailey looks like an NBA first round pick based on games against teams with Oregon written on their jerseys! I jest but, what happened to Sky, he only played 24 minutes and it wasn't due to foul trouble. If anything if Cronin has praised anyone with hardly ever saying anything negative it's Clark. I don't think he's that great defensively but the effort is there. But maybe he got that bug that Mara had. Maybe he wasn't 100%. His 3's the past several games were huge.
Dailey, Bilo, and even Dylan before his last 2 games have had huge big 3's to stop runs from teams getting back into the game.
Up 17, there's no excuse to lose. But college ball and the NBA are a game of runs and confidence. We had really good confidence during that 7 game streak. And confidence is huge especially with younger players. It's infectious! We just tightened up and this is the first game, and there's been a few where we almost collapsed, but we didn't and thats coaching! But to blame mick for this loss? Perry and Mara weren't on last night. Dailey came on in the second half but Mack is great and terrible on different possessions. But I like jim and Mick does praise him for effort attitude. Hey we lose games occasionally. 73-9 Warriors team lost the most important games that year. To the Cavs!
Cronin mentioned the fans during his postgame conference so I have to confess…
It was my fault. This loss is on me. There’s a ucla shirt I have from my college years where the team (under Cronin) has never lost if I’ve worn it except for the sweet 16 game in 2023, because even the magic of that shirt couldn’t overcome losing two starters.
During UCLA’s poor conference stretch I was in Asia, but I had that shirt on for most of the 7 game win streak, and yes it was in the laundry during the Illinois game but I didn’t think I needed to bring it out for freakin Minnesota. Bad foresight on my part there 😔
That was awful. Minnesota’s coach Ben Johnson learned from our game against Indiana and shifted to a four guard lineup and got out in transition after misses. This prevented UCLA from getting into its halfcourt defense and made Cronin reluctant to deploy Mara for reasons I don’t understand.
Penn State just beat Minnesota, so that makes our loss perhaps even worse. Ben Bolch also commented that the loss is likely to negatively impact our seeding... Our team and its coach is the epitomy of an enigma... so frustrating.
This is from my comment to Army & Baskets
Bilodeaux, Mack and Daily missed crucial free throws that would have iced the game! He can’t shoot free throws for them, 5-15 in the second half won’t cut it in March! I support them 100% and I’ll never give up on them, even after they lost 5 out 6 in late December early January. Everyone said that he lost the team, then they won 7 in a row. They needed to be called out at that point and it did spark their 7 game winning streak.
The only thing I can think of was those late free throws were big, maybe the players just were too worried about getting him his 500th win instead of just playing a regular game where if you lose you’re not letting your coach down in his first chance to get that 500th win!
Not an excuse but I know if I was on the line that added pressure would have been on my mind. They were playing with that added pressure and that may have been the main factor.
I'm sure this is the same way people felt before their really underwhelming performance before that incredible run from the first 4 in game against a Michigan St. Tom Izzo team to finally falling to a very good Gonzaga team on a last second logo shot.
Like the players, don't give up on them, or the coach,(*especially Baskets) hopefully they play inspired ball instead of giving up like Baskets! They can actually learn from this major disappointment.
They seemed really tight in the late stages of the second half.
They have major wins against Oregon, home and away, Gonzaga, Wisconsin, Michigan St, road win against Indiana and some tough close game loses to Illinois, Carolina.
They are 6-2 I believe against top 25 teams this year. And this is a new team besides Andrews, Mack, Mara and Laz. They still have 4 more before the big 10 tourney and may have blown a chance at the double bye for the 1-4 teams but they have faired pretty well, better than Oregon in their first season. Better than Washington and USC also. New conference, new tougher travel for their road games and the California fires and this latest illness that made Mara lose 11 lbs, Dailey and Bilodeau both missing a couple of games with the face and ankle injury.
With all those factors 19-8 (10-6) and tied for 5th isn't a bad first season.
This is their only loss to a non tourney team besides the N, Carolina team. New Mexico is a good team. So all is not lost. Nebraska is probably going to make the tourney also. Maryland are all part of 10 teams projected to make the tournament. Only 13 from the SEC has more teams slated to be selected. Only 8 from the Big 12 and just 4 from the ACC are getting in. I think SMU who would be a 5th team should also make it.
Kansas got blown out by BYU by 34! Losing 46-26 at half and then getting outscored 45-31 in the 2nd half. So teams lose games that they shouldn't and you either get better or give up. See Pitino's rant in the halftime lockeroom. " You don't hang your heads after a missed shot! You get back an f##king platy defense! Who raised you guys? Life's tough, you don't just give up in life when things don't go your way, you dig down and fight, you don't give up! Paraphrasing but it was why some think he's one of the better coaches who motivate his guys to find that toughness to never give up. I'm sure Mick is the same way. Like Hurley and from what I've heard Izzo is the same way. These guys are getting paid to play and can just transfer portal our when the going gets tough. Mick doesn't want those guys! And most coaches aren't going to win by being worried about their image or what recruits might think. Micj said that earlier in the media availability presser before this game.
UCONN blew late leads to a 1-12 Seton Hall team a week ago and then blew another game against Villanova on their home court last night. You can't tell me that Hurley doesn't know how to coach them, they did win against Marquette and Creighton before and in between those two bad losses. College kids sometimes underperform (*Dailey last night) but he did hit a couple in the 2nd half before missing those 2 big free-throws and it can't be placed all all on the coach. Every time they tried to lob it into Mara there was a second defender right their when the pass arrived. Give them credit for taking that away from them. Cronin should be teaching him to catch those passes and immediately dish it right back to a perimeter player, like a touch or tap pass like Bird used to do.
It ain't over yet! No one thought they'd be winning the national championship and many probably felt they'd have a season like the football team had.
More than one thing can be true at the same time. Clearly, make free throws and win the game. It's also true that Cronin screwed the pooch in not playing Mara much more. With Mara on the floor more in the first half, the D allowed 23 points. Not on the floor in the 2nd and no rim protection, we gave 41 points. One could argue it shouldn't have been close enough to come down to free throws.
I agree, but I also recognized on the first few passes to him in the post, how they smothered him, only the dunk and that one time he passed out instead of going up strong besides the and-1 and he missed the free-throw.
They had a plan to collapse and make it tough just to catch the passes into the post.
Dylan 1-6
Dylan 1-7
The past 2 games
Trent who I think is going to be very good looked overmatched or just not confident, hua body language on D and he looked rushed ok the offensive end!
So I understand him not getting more minutes.
But Dailey 3-10, 0-4 in the first half so 3-6 in the 2nd, give him credit for having the confidence to keep shooting because if you lose confidence and pass up shots good coaches will recognize that and tell players to anticipate him passing and give him room to shoot and cheat towards helping the other 4 players on D. But 5-15 from the line after going 4-4 and committing all those fouls in the 2nd half after both teams only getting 6 in the 1st half. They just looked out of sync and playing scared in the 2nd.
I really think if this way Mick's 500th win game it might have been different. I think they cooked dir to that added pressure. As soon as they let them back in the game they stared playing not to lose instead of playing their game.
Maybe Micks biggest problem us not giving minutes to guys like Mara and Perry in the early non conference easier games. They're all home games so play them more minutes to get them more used to playing in pressure games. But one might argue you only get better playing against better competition instead of playing less talented teams and getting those guys extra minutes. It's a fine line to balance playing time for guys who might cosr you a few extra losses in the seadon.im sure all coaches ha e second thoughts about those choices.
Is my priority to win this game or give minutes to guys who may get invaluable experience by playing them in situations where when they fail it costs you a game.
Hindsight is always 20-20.
But were all disappointed!
Pitino
https://youtube.com/shorts/4azeJAc5Qpc?si=rpZdNJhiA_SdNauy
*wasn't not way
My comments regarding Mara were more on his defense and rim protection. Minnesota attacked the rim and found their way to the FT line. Mara was stuck on the bench. They don't score 41 points in the 2nd half with Mara on the floor.
He looked really good, like a polished confident big man in the game last night against the Trojans. It's nice to see his enthusiasm. He just needs to keep the ball high when he either rebounds missed shots or on the entry passes. That one from Mack was a thing of beauty.
He looks really confident and the team played really well and looked extremely confident especially in the 2nd half. Their offense thrives when they're getting those deflections that lead to turnovers and points from them. And the offense with Mara in their looks really smooth. His passing is very good. He see the floor well from that vantage point. His govd and go passes to Sky looked really fluent.
Confidence seems to high and thats what was the case in their run years ago with Juzang, Jaquez and Tyger and Clark. Maybe they'll go on another run. Elite 8 would be an accomplishment. I liked your comment we might pull this out late un yesterday's blowout! All Mick's calling out the team may have been the key to them getting their act together. The collapse against Minnesota had me worried but the double bye should help with their confidence and hopefully Cronin impresses upon them to keep that effort up.
Congratulations to Coach Cronin on achieving his 232nd career loss (134-61 at UCLA). The look on Hep Cronin's face during the TV broadcast when the Bruins were completing their faceplant said it all--poor dad looked visibly ill (I wonder if he's sticking around to attend the OSU game).
With only 4 more regular season games remaining, the players and coaching staff still seem unable to address a lot of their team's inconsistencies and individual weaknesses. But maybe I'm worried about the wrong stuff, according to Coach Cronin during the postgame interview (amusing, as usual):
"I'm going to say this again--because all we're worried about is our shooting instead of playing defense. I've been doing this a long time. I know when my team's mind is on the wrong stuff. Our crowd's mind is on the wrong stuff. Our crowd makes--they make it worse when a guy misses a free throw. I mean the stress in Pauley is crazy when a guy--'uhhh, uhhh'--I mean, the guy's not trying--how about help the guy? How about cheer for the guy? I mean it's not like he's trying to miss the free throw. That just makes it worse. Everybody's worried about the wrong stuff!"
Pitino
https://youtube.com/shorts/4azeJAc5Qpc?si=RwMvZD89J2AAY1Yb
You can bet Coach Cronin would have delivered this sort of pep talk during halftime if the Bruins were down by 11 instead of being up by 11 against Minnesota. The Bruins' defense crumbled in the 2nd half and watched Garcia score a season high 32 points, with the missed FTs just adding to the misery. A very bad game overall for the players and coaching staff that just needs to be flushed down the toilet,,,
*I forgot a big win against Arizona and another loss to a non tourney team Rutgers! If we don't get to the sweet 16, then I'll concede that they didn't live up to their true potential. But I'm not going to hang that on Cronin. Maybe I'm wrong but Cronin has never been fired. Nope just checked!
Murray State 69-24 (.742) Cincinnati 296-147
(.668) UCLA 134-60 (.684) 499-232 (.682)
How many Championships did Lute Olson win? 1 in 1060 games 780-280 (.736)
1 season at Long Beach St 24-2
9 at Iowa 167-91 (.647)
24 at Arizona 589-187 (.736)
Pitino 753-307 (.710) 2 Championships 1993, 2016
23 year drought!
Izzo 727-299 (.709)
1 championship
Calipari 828-271 (.753)
1 Championship, 1 runner up lost in the final to Florida
Coach K got 5 but first 3 seasons his record was an abysmal 38-47!
Imagine if they gave up on him. Would another coach or any number of coaches would they have achieved 5 championships. 1570 games including his first 5 seasons as Army coach 73-59.
Besides Wooden whom am I forgetting that we strive to somehow bring to LA to get us relevant and up to the standards you seem to have for our Bruins?
Honest question? Who have we failed to land to get us back to our "standards"?
Pitino had to resign from his Louisville Job because of his extra curricular activities. Escort scandal involving players. Not like Harrick who just went out to dinner and that cost him his job!
Calipari, we tried, coach K we tried!
Besides Knight, Danny Crum (*we had) but left from too high of expectations.
Bruce Pearl has a shady past. Roy Williams, Jay Wright we tried!
Bill Self 2 championships.
Who am I missing that is showing unprecedented success that we've missed out on?
We tried for Brad Stevens I remember but he went to the Celtics and I'm pretty sure he has no regrets!
Keep Mick for the foreseeable future!
Even Belichick lost twice to the Giants in his unbelievable run of 6 of 8 Suprbowls in 23 seasons
And before that a very less than stellar 5 year Cleveland Browns record of 36-44!
Great expectations lead to great disappointment and firing coaches and a bunch of possible missed opportunities if we maybe just stuck with a guy like Cronin.
*I rember the catch phrase expectations managed!
If you had a fan post section I'd have titled this little missive
"Expectations Managed! 😑
Bye Ben! Bye Mick! Next!"
He's the best since Howland and Harrick. Saw a great interview with Howland by Mark Gottfried
https://youtu.be/-6ZPaDMfYKI?si=qUCl3S3prux_g-0S
Right. Cronin has never gotten fired.
Just because he didn't get fired doesn't mean he is a great coach. He is a good coach but not close to a great coach.
Cronin is stubborn. He makes costly mistakes due to his stubborness. We shall see how the rest of the season unfolds. But I doubt we will get a decent seed, and likely not in the West.
Great or not, if the dunce AD actually fired him, he would hire someone worse. Jarmond is cheap and clueless.
Agree about Jelly Jarmond 2.0
Why do people love to make negative proclamations? A month ago a 🤡 said the NCAA Tournament was doubtful.
We have very few games left. I said I DOUBT we will get a decent seed - which still leaves room for the possibility of a decent seed. I did not make a proclamation, I offered my opinion. That's all.
Yes, I thought this unexpected, bad Quad-3 home loss really hurt the Bruins and their hopes for a double-bye in the conference tourney, let alone their potential seeding for the NCAA tourney. They saw what the Gophers did at U$C and came out with a great defensive effort, but then they unexplicably checked out of the game in the 2nd half. I've gotten seasick experiencing so many ups and downs this season, but have to remind myself that with a complete roster reload, this is like another "Year-1" season for Coach Cronin and UCLA.
Meanwhile, Go Lady Bruins! :-)
"As of December 2024, Steve Alford's overall college basketball coaching record is 687-357. This makes him the 11th winningest active Division I coach."
Crnin needs nearly 200 more wins to achieve Alfie level greatness if total wins are the measure of being a good coach.
Also, Crnin's seat was blazing hot at Cincinnati.
Finally, is there a coach among your Mr. Rushmore of coaches who repeatedly brags about the number of career wins to validate himself?
Blazing hot at Cincinnati. What a bunch of horseshit.
Not much more to be said than Dimitri said. The last sentence highlights what I’ve said from day one. Can Cronin ever be a “great” coach. Some think he already is. I think he never was or will be. He had one really good season at Cincinnati. He’s had one really good season at ucla.
I don’t think cronin can create another good season, at least not without any 5 star recruits coming in now or in the future.
Many look at the runs in March to determine who is a great coach. The final tourney is a crap shoot though. You shouldn’t be hoping for a magical run in March to save your job. The goal should be for the entire season to remain a top 10 team year after year. There’s more intelligent people out there than me for sure, especially when it comes to stats… but I’d be curious what teams rank in the top 10 year after year for the full season. Who would be on this list? North Carolina under their old coach, duke, UConn, Alabama, Houston, Tennessee, auburn, Purdue, Kentucky, Kansas, Arizona, Illinois, Gonzaga, Baylor, Oregon, Villanova, Florida… I’m sure I missed some and I’m not saying they have a good year every year. It’s not uncommon for any of these programs to at least be ranked for most of the season. UCLA seems to be flirting outside the top 25 for most of the season. It tells you how much excitement is usually around the program for most of the season. It’s not enough in my book to manage expectations season after season expecting a magical run in March to “save” the season. You shouldn’t need March to determine whether the season was a success or failure, that should be determined prior to any conference tournaments looking at the season as a whole.
In my book, this is another lost season. A sprinkle of strong quality wins with a handful of absolute head scratching losses due to coaching failures is what this season is. It looks a lot like every other season. I’d rather enjoy an entire season of consistent efficient teams. Under Cronin, you’re going to get a roller coaster year after year with extreme highs and extreme lows. That’s not the kind of coach I will ever support.
How many coaches have 500* on his next win and have never been fired? Pretty sure not many if any at all at least before they reach 500.
Read my post on the best coaches and besides Coach K and Wooden. Nobody had more than 2 after 20+ seasons!
Kevin Ollie won in his 2nd year 2014 after succeeding Calhoun but was fired in 2018.
Jim Calhoun had 3.
Hurley 2 .
My question at the end of my second post/comment was name the guy who should be on our bench that we failed to get, and what's his record and how many chips does he have since turning us down or we failing to offer enough or offer them the job in the first place? Please enlighten me, I'll check your Wikipedia page to read about all the praise you've received as a basketball prognosticator/guru
extraordinaire! lol
Wow nothing there. Maybe there's a glitch over at the site.
But all ribbing and kidding aside who should be out coach that we missed our on or who should be our next one.
Enlighten us all!
It’s easy to look back and say we should have got so and so, look at how well they’re doing… you could point at guys like Nate oats, Tommy Loyd, rick Barnes, rick pittino, or even Shaka smart who has had his own run of poor seasons. We could all argue to the end of time about character flaws and why this would or wouldn’t work. Hindsight is 20/20 and neither of us get an opinion on the new hire anyways, so does any of that really matter?
That’s part of the question is who gets hired next and what does the hiring process look like? The current people in charge will make another shitty hire so it doesn’t really matter what I say or think. The problem I see is that none of the people in charge seem to care about the full body of work. I said from the beginning that cronin wasn’t a great coach. He took Cincinnati to the sweet 16. He had one season at Cincinnati that was a full season of success and consistency. He’s always struggled with recruiting 5 star talent. These were all notable flaws prior to coming to ucla. What makes anyone think that coming to ucla would change those flaws? Sure, I’m jaded, but it’s hard to look at coaches like oats and not wonder what could have been. Alabama is now a consistently good team with an offense that is amazingly exciting to watch. UCLA is middling program in the big10 that spends half its time being a boring defensive minded team to watch and the other half squeeking out 5 point wins against inferior opponents.
I’ll take Nate oats for $1000 trabek
LOL. Cronin beat Oates, or did you forget?
So we are back to firing Cronin again this week?
It appears so.
If so, then Coach Self at #23 Kansas (currently 17-9 overall, 8-7 and 6th-place in Big-12) should be fired after getting blown out by 34 at BYU.
LOL
Please no.
https://www.themightybruin.com/p/postgame-talk-coaching-free-throws-doom-ucla-bruins-basketball-minnesota-loss-64-61/comment/94600663?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=53v09
Mark Few, would you say the same about him? No chips and a litany of heartbreaking losses and what does he do, manage expectations over at UCLA 2.0 since Lute won his I chip.
I don't see where UCLA has failed their fans and Alumni.
Calhoun? Not getting him or the others and I'll share my other comment that included my list of best coaches and their sparse amount of chips in 20+ seasons.
Also, a lot of coaches won't take the challenge of coaching at UCLA because of the expectations of winning Championships.
I have said a million times as I said before… I don’t care about winning championships anymore. I’d rather a full season of consistent play and coaching through the entire year.
Maybe you don't, but that's the end all be all here. Cronin's on record saying that it's all about March here. They're 19-8, not top tier, but not terrible. A lot better than last year.
You know Idiot Jarmond would hire someone worse than Cronin.
Agreed and I understand that. The coach at Tennessee turned us down, and a few others if I recall.
We don't have a college town. Every old school blue blood school does have that huge fan base that travels. But most don't have 5-6 professional teams and all the great tourist stuff to do. It's not the ideal coaching job considering, but theirs hood and bad with every situation.
Howland had a great interview with Gottfried. I really enjoyed his stories about Harrick and all the other things he spoke about. He was crushed when they fired him. I know he had done some things, lost all the decent local California recruits, burned bridges with some AAU people. I don't recall all the talk that substantiated his dismissal but I really liked Howland. I never saw any press conferences, post game etc. Just started watching them since Cronin.
Gonzaga is consistently ranked in the top 20 and usually top 10 for long stretches of EVERY season. Gonzaga has more 25 win seasons under mark fee than ucla will ever have again. Yeah, they’re in a crappy conference, but Gonzaga is consistent year after year with mark few at the helm. UCLA… crickets
And Gonzaga is in a really difficult conference, right?
Debbie Downer.
Cronin's beaten Tommy Lloyd, Few, Altman twice, Gard, Musselman, Izzo this season.
You don't need 5 star talent to win a NC. Most 5 stars head to the NBA early. In the current NIL and free agent era, that dynamic has become outdated. Now, when you have a talented, 7'3" center that is a work in progress and solid rim protector, sitting him on the bench is coaching malpractice.
"There are a few things to point to in the aftermath of what feels like the most frustrating loss of the season for the Bruins, but I want to start with a bit of a contrarian opinion: UCLA’s offense was not the reason they lost this game. The Bruins shot 45.1% from the field in the game, and even in the second half when Minnesota staged its comeback UCLA still shot 45.5%."
Just looking at these stats out of context isn't really fare to call this a "slow but still efficient night." UCLA shot 5-15 from the FT line in the second half (33%). Missing 3 front end of 1-1s and missing both FTs at least twice. Those should been seen as empty possessions as well and really more than anything I think are the reason this is an L.
My point is more that people are always quick to criticize the offense in these situations, but if the offense is hitting 45% of their shots and generating a bunch of trips to the free-throw line, then it isn't the system itself that's the problem. There are obvious failures in execution (specifically with the free throws) but the offense itself was not the culprit here.
This game seemed like a repeat of the UNC loss back in December, where the offense wasn't the problem, they built a huge lead (16 pts.), got outrebounded, and then failed to make their FTs down the stretch. The very next game they beat Gonzaga, so hopefully the Bruins can also bounce back and beat OSU and make Hep Cronin and Bill Walton happy.
Go Bruins!
I agree with you, Cam. Our defense our on a master class in the first half, our scores didn't score. In the second half Minnesota made adjustments which undermined our defense but still the offense didn't score
The, "Mighty Bruins", LOST to Minnesota? AT HOME? Perhaps you need to start thinking of a, "new" name for this site. Here's a few suggestions:. 1. TheSoftBruin 2. ThePaperBruin 3. TheFlawedBruin 4. TheFrailBruin By the way, as a WISCONSIN fan, the, "view", is only getting better from above you in the B1G Standings. Go Badgers!
Why do you feel the need to berate the Bruins. It just speaks so poorly of you. Yes, we had a bad loss and Wisconsin is having a much better season. You truly don't add anything of value so not sure why you are here.
UCLA, we know what it's like to be winners. Guess Wisconsin is trying to deal with this new reality.
pro tip, John: Act like you've been there before and don't go posting on other team's websites
Eat shit. How bad does it look that our “frail” team beat you guys three weeks ago?
Hope you have that same energy when the B1G tournament rolls around you cuck
Wisconsin's game AT UCLA was STOLEN from Wisconsin. When was the last time a team shot 51% from the field, 50% on 3's, and 86% from the line and LOST? The game was STOLEN from Wisconsin. And when the B1G Tournament rolls around, E2148, Wisconsin will have a DOUBLE BYE.
LOL the cope is unreal and you have the nerve to post this bullshit on another team’s forum. FOH
So you're not just a chicken shit troll, you're a whiny little child that can't accept defeat. And to add more to your legendary sour grapes bitching, you troll an opponents website because you have nothing else to do. How sad and pathetic is that?
Wow, the Wisconsin troll is back again. You must live underground like Badger in your Mommie's basement. Wake me up when you hang a banner. You've got less class than an Arizona fan at McHale. Losing to UCLA must have really stung your pathetic little ass.
UCLA needs to hang a, "banner", at Pauley Pavilion that honors the REAL person that got UCLA most of their titles, SAM GILBERT. You know the old saying, right? If you're not cheating, then you're not trying.
John, you clearly have way too much time on your hands. Your ignorance is a shining light to all the other morons who talk shit about things they know nothing about. You can't produce a fine wine with sour grapes. All you end up with is a whining sorry ass Badger.
Wisconsin (21-5) (11-4)
UCLA (19-8) (10-6)
Any questions, ArmyMule?
And yet you're still on a UCLA site about losing to UCLA. UW having a better record than UCLA must be really important to you. I don’t even give one shit, let alone two about beating Wisconsin. I don't think UCLA has much of a shot in the NCAA Tournament. You know who else has no shot at winning it all? Wisconsin. Sit back and enjoy your irrelevance. It might be time to go outside.
Good for YOU, ArmyMule. You didn't get, "edited". I'm HOPING that Wisconsin gets another shot at UCLA, on a NEUTRAL COURT. I just LOVE how the dimwits on this site complain about Cronin. You FOOLS ran the two Head Coaches AFTER Wooden OUT OF TOWN, and BOTH OF THEM HAD BETTER RECORDS THAN WOODEN! And having a BETTER RECORD than UCLA IS important to me. And I'm ENJOYING IT, IMMENSELY! Can't you tell?
The divorce is really going badly, huh?
All of this analysis, particular about not playing Mara and Perry, is off point. UCLA lost because they could not hit a free throw in the second half and had they hit even 50%, they would have won. Perry and Mara were playing terrible, hurting the team, when they were in and to speculate that in the second half they would become productive is unrealistic speculation. Got to trust Cronin on that. This is not the first loss due to choking on crucial free throws and I would like to say Cronin has to work on that but I do not know how one changes chocking--hypnosis? Garcia who I think leads the Big10 in scoring went off in the second half just like Watkins did against our ladies and when somebody gets crazy hot like that, not much you can do about it--it happens.
I agree! Last time I looked up the sky is still there! It's not falling!
Every portal transfer guy came from losing to mediocre programs. Dailey looks like an NBA first round pick based on games against teams with Oregon written on their jerseys! I jest but, what happened to Sky, he only played 24 minutes and it wasn't due to foul trouble. If anything if Cronin has praised anyone with hardly ever saying anything negative it's Clark. I don't think he's that great defensively but the effort is there. But maybe he got that bug that Mara had. Maybe he wasn't 100%. His 3's the past several games were huge.
Dailey, Bilo, and even Dylan before his last 2 games have had huge big 3's to stop runs from teams getting back into the game.
Up 17, there's no excuse to lose. But college ball and the NBA are a game of runs and confidence. We had really good confidence during that 7 game streak. And confidence is huge especially with younger players. It's infectious! We just tightened up and this is the first game, and there's been a few where we almost collapsed, but we didn't and thats coaching! But to blame mick for this loss? Perry and Mara weren't on last night. Dailey came on in the second half but Mack is great and terrible on different possessions. But I like jim and Mick does praise him for effort attitude. Hey we lose games occasionally. 73-9 Warriors team lost the most important games that year. To the Cavs!
Cronin mentioned the fans during his postgame conference so I have to confess…
It was my fault. This loss is on me. There’s a ucla shirt I have from my college years where the team (under Cronin) has never lost if I’ve worn it except for the sweet 16 game in 2023, because even the magic of that shirt couldn’t overcome losing two starters.
During UCLA’s poor conference stretch I was in Asia, but I had that shirt on for most of the 7 game win streak, and yes it was in the laundry during the Illinois game but I didn’t think I needed to bring it out for freakin Minnesota. Bad foresight on my part there 😔
That was awful. Minnesota’s coach Ben Johnson learned from our game against Indiana and shifted to a four guard lineup and got out in transition after misses. This prevented UCLA from getting into its halfcourt defense and made Cronin reluctant to deploy Mara for reasons I don’t understand.
Talk about self inflicted wounds.
Penn State just beat Minnesota, so that makes our loss perhaps even worse. Ben Bolch also commented that the loss is likely to negatively impact our seeding... Our team and its coach is the epitomy of an enigma... so frustrating.