The last three seasons have all been really rough. No dance. Lost in round of 32. Lost in round of 32.
Our loss tonight was not just because Bilo did not play. Our season did not earn us a good seed and we were thrown into the East, the toughest region.
Cronin now has a GM named Max who is supposedly going to help with recruiting. Cronin said he'd like 5M more to pay for players. I suggest he use his own salary.
I am not sure if this was the toughest region. Supposedly UConn was a weak #2 , and I think us seeing Michigan State for a 3rd time this year would have benefitted us. And duke may not be as good as everyone thought. But in general getting a lower seed is what sunk the season
IIRC Tamara, in 2023 we lost Jaylen Clark right before the PAC 10 tournament and for the dance. This year, we lost both Bilodeau and Dent in the B10 tournament, never getting back Tyler. Yet to their credit, Cronin and our Bruins upset higher seeded teams in B10 tournament, and damn near beat UConn tonight. IMHO that's pretty good coaching. Cronin must feel snakebit with all of the injuries he's had these last few years just prior to the dance.
2023 was a big "what if" year. I remember Adem Bona dislocated his shoulder during the Pac 12 tourney, and he played the second round game and ended up with a shoulder tear that forced him out of the Sweet 16 game. Bona was considered one and done until that happened. So I understand why Cronin would be cautious in holding out Bilodeau. As long as he can get healthy, Bilodeau should get looks from NBA teams and potentially work himself into the 2nd round of the NBA draft, so you can't jeopardize that for him.
The Bruins did improve, but not fast enough. The Nebraska game following the Michigan road trip was the turning point when we actually started to play defense, but it was far too late.
But even if we improved, everyone saw the ceiling on this team. Dent was not the player we expected, and he never lived up to his $3M price tag. And we lacked athletic bigs who could protect our interior and rebound.
If you ask me whether the Bruins improved over the course of the season, I would say yes, but only after the disastrous blowouts during their forgettable Michigan road trip. It's unfortunate that they didn't play at a high level from the very outset of this season and instead had to suffer the indignity of another 7-seed draw and be forced to play in the East Regional. But it doesn't really matter whether they improved or not, as the season is indeed finally over, and the Bruins again were impacted by injuries (one of them catastrophic) instead of contracting March Madness and making a deeper run through the tournament.
Yes the Bruins improved. That is clear - we beat a handful of teams that are currently in the Sweet 16 near the end of the season. And it's a great story for Cronin's ability to get players to eventually buy into his system.
But the problem is the early season. The NCAA definitely awards teams that have great non-con records even if they stumble a bit during the conference season. That's why Nebraska and Purdue ended up 4 and 2 seeds respectively. They started off their seasons like 20-0 and the NCAA awarded that even if they racked up losses during conference play. So we need a coach that can figure out how to win the tough games in November and December.
That's contrary to Cronin's philosophy. He has said that he doesn't care about November and December games while he tinkers with lineups and rotations. He only cares about March.
That's why I think we should move on from Cronin, especially if next season looks the same as this season. In my mind, the new GM has 1 offseason to build a competent roster for UCLA. Let's see how it goes.
If the end of next season has the same (or worse) outcome, I wouldn't expect the situation will get any better under HC Cronin (anti-Cronin fever will spread rapidly).
The 14-0 run when it was 42-42 killed us. We had them in foul trouble, 2 each on the starters at the start of the half. We should’ve kept on being aggressive in the paint and put their starters in foul trouble.
Actually, the Bruins last lead was at 44-42 with 15:40 left in the game before they were badly outscored 14-0. They did close the deficit to 58-54 with 7:23 left, but then they completely fell apart for good. I thought they should've looked more for open shooters for 3s instead of forcing it inside and missing (a lot of layups!), getting shots blocked, or just turning it over. Anyway, losing their leading scorer to injury, pulling off an ugly 1st-round win, and finally ending their season with a 2nd-round regression seemed fitting for the Bruins and HC Cronin after experiencing such an inconsistent, underperforming, and disappointing season. Glad the Lady Bruins are still playing!
Will more money solve UCLA’s issues? We have seen a lot of teams spend more money than UCLA this year and flame out in the first round (BYU) or got only as far as we did (Kentucky, Kansas). UCLA, imo, will never get close to their level of NIL so it’s probably time to start looking at coaches who can do elite things with less money - like what Kelvin Sampson or Tom Izzo does at their schools, and the first coach I can think of is TJ Otzelberger at IA St. He’s the model of a coach I think ucla should try to target and replace Cronin with. Cronin is a great coach but I think he’s about done as much as he can here.
I really love Otzelburger as well. What a great story at Iowa State. You are so right in stating that we need a coach who can create an elite team with less...
I am really tired of Cronin stating he just needs millions more to buy players... it diminishes the players he has on his team.
I like Bruin Source and here is what they had to say...
I see nothing wrong with those statements. NIL is the name of the game now, and he probably does need more $$$ to win recruits and transfers. I personally hate the way college sports have changed but it is the way things are.
His statements about needing more money is honestly more to boosters asking them to donate more, instead of whining about his players in the program currently.
At the same time, I do think I am leaning towards Chenalex's position that Cronin is not the man for the job in this era. He was doing well before but it is becoming harder for him to build a program the way he was in the past
Chen, T, keep an eye on Josh Schertz at St. Louis......He just signed an extension there, but in a year or two, if his alumni do not infuse the program, and if things don't work with Mick, he might be ready to move up....
Remembering what had transpired the last time UCLA fired their HC, I wonder what the coaching community generally thinks about the UCLA HC job nowadays, and if they're receptive to taking on the pressure and challenge of trying to win #12 (quickly). Maybe potential candidates are happy where they're at and will just use the job opening and possibility of leaving to get an immediate raise/extension at their current job.
A team scattered with role players, lacking a true star. I remember past teams would have potential 3-4 NBA caliber players, lately not so much and it’s shows. I hope they figure this out.
Obviously not something I was gonna talk about in the immediate aftermath of this loss, and maybe not something I’ll talk about in the postmortems (with those things, I usually let them take me where they go) but one thing I’ll note is that Mick Cronin is not alone in failing to evaluate both players and the NIL market - the defending champions just got bounced because they completely misevaluated their backcourt, for example - and a lot of blue blood programs are finding themselves falling behind due to some level of arrogance. UCLA, Kentucky, Kansas, and UNC are all out of the tourney already with varying levels of dysfunction, but one thing I would note is that many of these fanbases assume winning is their birthright and have been slow to adapt to the changing college landscape. The teams that have done best are either new money teams (Michigan, Arizona, Houston) or Duke, who was already running the best paid-players operation pre-NIL and just got to bring it into the open.
This is not a defense of Cronin but rather a statement that UCLA fans in general cannot sit by and be bystanders regarding NIL. If Cronin is replaced, then UCLA fans need to come out with the NIL guns before the first game even tips off instead of doing the “if they win then rewards will come” bullshit they always do, and if Cronin stays, they still need to invest in NIL regardless of their opinion of Cronin, because any potential future coach will look at UCLA fans being fickle and decide that the program is not serious.
The core issue isn’t just NIL—it’s that Cronin’s recruiting pipeline has effectively dried up. While the verbal from 4-star Joe Philon is a win, Mick’s constant refrain that "brand and academics don't matter anymore" is a tired excuse.
He’s ignoring the reality of elite recruiting. Top-tier talents like Cameron Boozer, Caleb Wilson, or Koa Peat don't rely solely on a school’s collective; they bring their own 3rd-party deals from brands like Nike or New Balance.
Even if Cronin gets an extra $5M in his war chest, without a strategy to land these NBA-ready freshmen, we’re destined for mid-tier purgatory—peaking at the Top 25 like Nebraska. To actually contend for a National Championship, we need a steady stream of elite talent combined with a competitive NIL, not one or the other.
I think the problem is that having NBA-ready freshman is really not a solution to the problem. So far, only Duke has found success with NBA-ready freshman. Sure, Arizona is still in the Sweet 16 but Tommy Lloyd has never made it to the elite 8 so I won't count them as having a successful season just yet, even though just on talent alone, they should waltz into the championship game now.
Kansas and BYU both paid a ton of money to NBA-ready freshman and BYU lost in the first round and Kansas only made it as far as we did. Southern Cal had Arenas and they stunk all year long. Last year, Rutgers had 2 lottery picks and they didn't even make the tournament. Getting NBA-ready freshman also means having to deal with the headaches like what Bill Self had to put up with wrt to Darryn Petersen. Dybantsa was making more than Byu's football coach until December when BYU renegotiated their football coach's contract to prevent him from getting poached by Penn State. Are we ready to pay a 5-star recruit more than what we're paying Bob Chesney? Because that seems like it'll be what it takes to recruit them.
I think the best way for Cronin to field a competitive elite team would be to recruit the Joe Philon's and Eric Freeny's. 4 star recruits that maybe he can convince to take a redshirt year adn turn them into the next Jules Bernard/Cody Riley. But that requires patience and time, neither of which are on Cronin's side now.
Here's the thing. Dybantsa is rumored to be paid ~$7M, but out of that $5M is by BYU, and Nike chipped in $2M.
Same with Darryn Petersen - his NIL is ~$4M, but a huge chunk of that is paid by Adidas.
And honestly, both BYU and Kansas had better results / higher seeded teams than we did.
Yes- I'd say yes- we are ready to pay a game changing 5-star recruit ~$3M, if we're willing to pay Dent the same. And we should work with with Nike to shell out the rest of it.
If we have $8-$10M, I'd pay for 2 top-5 game changing recruits, and spread the rest of the money getting solid role players.
The issue isn't money- again, even 24/7 sports noted that the Southern California local talent was stacked the last couple of years, they just didn't want to go to UCLA / play for Cronin.
We are not going to win with a team of Jules Bernards and Cody Rileys. Just like the NBA, a winning college team requires a mix of stars and role players. And that takes money.
The strategy is still money; you described guys going to three of the top NIL schools in the country for basketball. But it is a money issue, just not in the way you're thinking of.
Let's take BYU, for example. BYU spent the reported $7 million for AJ Dybantsa, a player who will go in the top 3 of the NBA draft come April. He's the exact type of elite recruit that can raise a program's ceiling. But because they had to spend so much to get him, BYU didn't have enough money to fill out the rest of the roster in a way that made them legitimate national contenders, and they flamed out in the first round.
What those top schools are able to do is similar to what we saw from the SEC pre-NIL, where those schools were able to win so much in large part because they were able to sign talent to their bench that would legitimately start at other schools. Take Duke again. Yes they have Cameron Boozer, a player who likely would have gone there regardless because he's a Duke legacy, but they have so much money on hand that they were able to swoop in on Nik Khamenia, a longtime UCLA lean, and make him a big last-second offer to shift him over to them, where he's simply a role player at best and is likely transferring out after this year. Or take Arizona and Brayden Burries. Both UCLA and Arizona were in on him, but Arizona had more NIL in the tank to pay him, along with being able to pay for a number of players that UCLA would love to have.
I'd also say that NBA-ready freshmen are not the be-all, end-all of whether you're great or not. Michigan, Purdue, and Michigan State all lack that kind of freshman phenom, instead building naturally and through the portal. So there are many ways to skin that proverbial cat.
Which is why I said evaluations are so important, to find the guys who best fit your system and style of play, and then having the NIL funds to secure those commitments. Cronin has not been good enough at the former (I'd say Bilodeau, Clark, and Perry were good evals, and Freeny might get there, but that's about it), and the NIL situation has made it harder when it comes to actually landing the guys they target.
See my post above. I may be wrong, but for guys like Dybanstra, Boozer, Petersen, and Cooper Flagg last year- isn't a large part of their NIL paid by 3rd-parties like Nike, Adidas, etc?
So again... why would we pay $3M for Dent when we can shell $3M + let Nike cover the rest for a true game changing, top 5 Freshman?
Our strategy should be simple: we target the prospect rich SoCal talent, create a pipeline. We make an agreement with Nike- you help us convince them to stay in SoCal / play for UCLA, you get them that Nike endorsement. We split the NIL.
That would first require an administration that is supportive of NIL and could help facilitate those deals. Men of Westwood is solid at raising funds (in large part because Cronin does a ton of legwork), but they don't have those kinds of connections. You're basically advocating for a change at the AD level which, hey, I'm all for and would happily support.
The tl;dr is that Bruins For Life was set up as the football-only NIL headed by Washington while MoW was more for basketball. A lot of reporting came out regarding Washington using a non-profit he runs to launder tax-deductible donations to B4L, which he has denied but the emails are right there. Coincidentally, UCLA was doing a review of B4L as part of getting its house in order for a new coach, noticed this issue, and was already in the process of phasing B4L out and shifting MoW back to working for football again as part of the Chesney hiring process.
"Or take Arizona and Brayden Burries. Both UCLA and Arizona were in on him, but Arizona had more NIL in the tank to pay him"
The problem with our fan base is that they cannot fathom money being the deciding factor in a player choosing Arizona over UCLA. They are very greedy with other people's money.
but brand and academics really don't matter that much anymore. Do you think Trent Perry and Donovan Dent came here because of brand and academics? lol. The kids are following the money, as they should. Most of these kids will never play in the NBA so they have four years to max out on their basketball earnings.
Coming out of high school, Andrews was absolutely the take over Dent. Higher-rated recruit with ties to the Compton Magic AAU team that had been the lifeblood of UCLA teams for almost a decade.
That might actually be part of the problem, as Cronin has not been able to get his pick of the guys from that team in recent years, where before Compton Magic would push guys towards him.
The point is, Cronin has struck out the last 2 years with the SoCal pipeline, when it was extremely talent rich. Arizona's NIL is roughly about ours.
I'll give him a pass on Alijah Arenas (overrated anyway) - his dad is still sore over UCLA not recruiting him. But he struck out on Brayden Burries, Tounde Yessoufou, and Nikolas Khamenia. And he's going to strike out on Brandon McCoy this year too.
Isn't Brandon McCoy the guy that's choosing between Cal Baptist and Long Beach State despite every major program recruiting him and promising to throw millions of dollars at him? If he doesn't choose UCLA I don't think it's because of anything Mick is or isn't doing but more about whatever priorities he and his team have.
Arizona's roster cost almost $10 million. Among the highest in the country. Re Perry, lots of players say school X is their dream school. But Perry isn't even a good example because he almost transferred out of UCLA after last season over a few hundred thousand dollars.
On recruiting, high school recruiting is not the be all end all anymore. Since everyone is basically on a 1 year contract, it makes little difference if a top recruit is a freshman or from the portal. So if Cronin has "struck out" on the SoCal pipeline (which isn't even true....Dent, Perry, Clark are all socal guys), i'd put that in the "who cares" column.
I suggest the Chesney model which is to completely change the mindset, instill the values and actions that create an authentic cultural transformation, and do it in a highly visible transparent way. And yes the money will follow.
I actually stated below that I agreed with Chen that hiring a coach that can do more with less is a smart way to begin, build from there, and the money will flow.
I am not sure if this is the bullsh** pathway that you are referring to, but it seems to be working for Chesney.
I would temper expectations a bit on Chesney. You do have a habit for falling in love with the new thing (remember your infatuation with Foster when he was hired?).
For the record, I would take Oztelberger in a heartbeat, and think he's a tremendous coach. But he isn't leaving Iowa State unless the situation is notably better, which UCLA is not at the moment thanks to administrative failures.
I haven't written enough about Chesney yet (and I mean to write more once basketball ends and I can breathe for a bit), but he also came to UCLA with an expectation that the school was going to heavily increase its NIL budget - Bob Myers was repeatedly talking about UCLA's plan to be in the top 5 of the Big Ten in terms of NIL during the introductory press conference, for example.
Chesney can absolutely do more with less, and evaluations are where you win on the margins, but you also need the money to sign the big names that can get you over the hump. That's the recognition that a lot of these guys making the jump up are making - that the situation NIL-wise has to be notably better for the move to happen.
Lol I said it'd be next week! I might be able to sneak it out late this week but between women's basketball (we'll be at Pauley tonight and Joe and I are looking into potentially traveling for the next rounds if we can) and my actual job (last week of school before spring break) it might be a bit hard.
I know I'll probably get flamed for this because it doesn't fit into what many consider to be his personality, but Cronin should be praised for putting Bilodeau's health and future above the immediate need of this team, frustrating as not having him last night in a winnable game was for all of us. Some others stepped up in his absence over these past 4 games though that wasn't as consistent as we'd want - let's face it, this team was ultimately always going to go as far as the guard play would take them, which was just laid more bare after Bilo was hurt - but putting the player's future above (potentially) his own is the kind of act that not many would ascribe to a coach with Cronin's rep - this doesn't mean I'm a "Croninista" but fair is fair: he did a solid for a player who gave 3 years to the program and that should be recognized along with all his flaws.
Cronin talked about trying to play to his players’ strengths but as the stats show, we did not take enough 3s for how good our shooters were. Our team shot 40% corner 3s but that only accounted for 10% of our total shots. Crazy!
Do you think we currently have any pure shooters, including new recruits Javonte Floyd and Joe Philon?
Maybe Trent Perry can turn into a pure shooter, hopefully. But not sure we have that go to player with Bilo gone.
Cronin trying to recruit players who are just good defenders doesn't seem to be a formula for success as most of the great teams score a lot of points, along with playing good defense.
And I do worry that he has lost the West Coast recruiting pipeline. Maybe GM Max will help but local HS players are not lining up to play for UCLA.
No pure shooter on our team for next year but yes Trent and maybe if Skyy Clark gets his additional year approved then he counts as one. I wonder if Cronin will go after Sheldstad and try and stick with the 3-guard lineup that worked so well.
Man, I am fascinated by that hire. St. Mary's has a much easier path just to get to the NCAA Tournament than ASU does, especially now that Gonzaga is gone from the WCC. I'm guessing that loss to Texas A&M just broke Bennett's belief that he could be competitive at that level with P5 teams anymore.
I do agree that the loss to A&M was a real blow especially after the season they had in the WCC. I am wondering if Gonzaga leaving was the reason he took the ASU job. Without them in the WCC there are no Quad 1 teams left, and Bennett would have to arrange a big out of conference schedule to make up for that.
I know Dent got some criticism because he didn't live up to his NIL value, but the one thing he did consistently throughout the year was be a true ball handler. The guy good could break a press by himself and never panicked if he was near the sidelines. Dylan Andrews and Mack were never good ball handlers. Dent always kept his head up while he dribbled and never stopped his dribble. That's a true point guard. I know he had problems shooting and finishing at the rim but it was huge upgrade over Mack and Andrews.
Dent is an elite playmaker and Skyy Clark, Tyler Bilodeau, and Trent Perry wouldn’t have had the seasons they’ve had if it wasn’t for Dent. He’s always good at making the right decisions and passes the ball to his teammates at exactly the right height for them to catch and shoot in rhythm. The dropoff whenever Trent Perry played PG was stark. It’s a shame that Dent couldn’t replicate his shooting stats from New Mexico because that will cost him a chance to play in the NBA.
I think both Dent and Perry need to hit the weight room hard - Dent so he has a chance to do something in the G-league/Europe and Perry so he can get to Skyy Clark’s level as a perimeter defender
It's too bad that DD had a difficult time adjusting to HC Cronin's system and style of play vs. what he had thrived under over at UNM. Was also very unfortunate that Mara transferred out after having a positive impact and promising future as a Bruin last season. I wonder how different this season would've been had both of them been on the court together.
Another interesting stat - per ESPN, due to injuries "The Bruins played just seven games with their ideal starting five and went 6-1 in that span, with wins over Illinois, Michigan State and Nebraska." Maybe fully healthy, the ceiling was higher than it appeared through such a frustrating - for many reasons - season...
I mean, they also spent a good chunk of the season starting Booker and having Perry come off the bench, so that number is a bit misleading, but I don't disagree with the idea that injuries played a factor in the season.
And Freeny developed into a role player too. And Booker got a lot better too late in the season.
And as the team said multiple times themselves, it took a LOT of time to finally drill in the idea that defense is mostly effort, and they have to put in that effort.
So, it wasn't just health. It was maturity of the kids and the buy-in into Cronin's philosophy of diving for every loose ball, as well as the actual practice and execution of correctly rotating on screens and switches.
I think with Cronin, the fan base is much more unhappier compared to the donor base. Despite 4 mediocre seasons, Cronin can still raise top 20 NIL. I don’t see realistically see Cronin being fired until he loses the donors also, since that’s basically what happened with Foster
"What is The Standard?" and "When do you pull the plug?" are questions you've raised earlier. IMO it's situational, not steadfast. Grossly generalizing, UCLA should be in the conversation every year. (I won't commit to how many years of leniency should be granted.) Those conversations entertained should NOT be, "Will UCLA miss the Dance this year? Are they a bubble/play-in team?," or of the antics of a hothead who abuses and is surly to the media, and is the subject of viral videos and media attention for his court side demeanor. (You can be thankful that I'm not in the athletic department. OTOH, my fecklessness makes me a suitable candidate for the staff.)
The thing is, it does matter in these conversations. I know many here have said that Cronin should have been fired after the Euro failure. That would have been after one down year after 4 steadily improving seasons, culminating in a 4 loss regular season that was sunk by 2 major conference tourney injuries. Just saying he should have been fired long ago ignores that history.
I agree UCLA should be a tournament team virtually every year, and other than 1 year they have been. I agree the generally shouldn't be in the bubble conversation, and outside of Year 2, they haven't been.
Honestly I think this year starts to heat up the seat as last 2 years. Back to back fringe Top 25 teams that do nothing in the tournament sets the stage for a critical year next year.
"The guy with the best players usually wins." [John Wooden]
"The best players often follow the most money." [unknown]---quote seems relevant to today's transfer portal/NIL era...
Ben Bolch obtained this funny story from HC Cronin back in December: "Guys pick schools because they get paid, so these neutral-site games help raise money. So next spring, when we sign a guy in the portal and you go interview him and he tells you he really bonded with me, and I've known him for two weeks, you'll know why he came".
Anyone know why he threw out the $5M more NIL figure during the UConn postgame press conference---shouldn't he be asking for more than that to at least get back to the Final Four? ;-)
I think he meant $5m on top of what he had for this year.
Evan Miyakawa, a CBB analytics guy over on Twitter, just said that based on his discussions with different teams, the NIL market is 35% higher than last offseason, so a $1million player last year would be valued at $1.35million today.
Another blue blood job might be opening - there were reports of Bill Self retiring but he has denied them. Seems like a lot of smoke there though.
Self most recently won an NCAA championship in 2022 after being Hubert Davis's UNC, but has also struggled in the NIL era. But he has rightfully earned a very long leash at Kansas. he's had health issues over the last few years so it'll be interesting to see what he ultimately ends up doing.
Dealing with the Darryn Peterson drama might be the reason - he wouldn't be the first long-time successful coach to get to the Roger Murtaugh place with today's athlete...
Keep your eye on April 7.
Now that the season's over, B4e, did the Bruins improve?
The last three seasons have all been really rough. No dance. Lost in round of 32. Lost in round of 32.
Our loss tonight was not just because Bilo did not play. Our season did not earn us a good seed and we were thrown into the East, the toughest region.
Cronin now has a GM named Max who is supposedly going to help with recruiting. Cronin said he'd like 5M more to pay for players. I suggest he use his own salary.
Did he say that?
Yes.
I am not sure if this was the toughest region. Supposedly UConn was a weak #2 , and I think us seeing Michigan State for a 3rd time this year would have benefitted us. And duke may not be as good as everyone thought. But in general getting a lower seed is what sunk the season
IIRC Tamara, in 2023 we lost Jaylen Clark right before the PAC 10 tournament and for the dance. This year, we lost both Bilodeau and Dent in the B10 tournament, never getting back Tyler. Yet to their credit, Cronin and our Bruins upset higher seeded teams in B10 tournament, and damn near beat UConn tonight. IMHO that's pretty good coaching. Cronin must feel snakebit with all of the injuries he's had these last few years just prior to the dance.
2023 was a big "what if" year. I remember Adem Bona dislocated his shoulder during the Pac 12 tourney, and he played the second round game and ended up with a shoulder tear that forced him out of the Sweet 16 game. Bona was considered one and done until that happened. So I understand why Cronin would be cautious in holding out Bilodeau. As long as he can get healthy, Bilodeau should get looks from NBA teams and potentially work himself into the 2nd round of the NBA draft, so you can't jeopardize that for him.
The Bruins did improve, but not fast enough. The Nebraska game following the Michigan road trip was the turning point when we actually started to play defense, but it was far too late.
But even if we improved, everyone saw the ceiling on this team. Dent was not the player we expected, and he never lived up to his $3M price tag. And we lacked athletic bigs who could protect our interior and rebound.
That's the summary of the season.
If you ask me whether the Bruins improved over the course of the season, I would say yes, but only after the disastrous blowouts during their forgettable Michigan road trip. It's unfortunate that they didn't play at a high level from the very outset of this season and instead had to suffer the indignity of another 7-seed draw and be forced to play in the East Regional. But it doesn't really matter whether they improved or not, as the season is indeed finally over, and the Bruins again were impacted by injuries (one of them catastrophic) instead of contracting March Madness and making a deeper run through the tournament.
Yes the Bruins improved. That is clear - we beat a handful of teams that are currently in the Sweet 16 near the end of the season. And it's a great story for Cronin's ability to get players to eventually buy into his system.
But the problem is the early season. The NCAA definitely awards teams that have great non-con records even if they stumble a bit during the conference season. That's why Nebraska and Purdue ended up 4 and 2 seeds respectively. They started off their seasons like 20-0 and the NCAA awarded that even if they racked up losses during conference play. So we need a coach that can figure out how to win the tough games in November and December.
That's contrary to Cronin's philosophy. He has said that he doesn't care about November and December games while he tinkers with lineups and rotations. He only cares about March.
That's why I think we should move on from Cronin, especially if next season looks the same as this season. In my mind, the new GM has 1 offseason to build a competent roster for UCLA. Let's see how it goes.
If the end of next season has the same (or worse) outcome, I wouldn't expect the situation will get any better under HC Cronin (anti-Cronin fever will spread rapidly).
April 7, but what year?
The 14-0 run when it was 42-42 killed us. We had them in foul trouble, 2 each on the starters at the start of the half. We should’ve kept on being aggressive in the paint and put their starters in foul trouble.
Actually, the Bruins last lead was at 44-42 with 15:40 left in the game before they were badly outscored 14-0. They did close the deficit to 58-54 with 7:23 left, but then they completely fell apart for good. I thought they should've looked more for open shooters for 3s instead of forcing it inside and missing (a lot of layups!), getting shots blocked, or just turning it over. Anyway, losing their leading scorer to injury, pulling off an ugly 1st-round win, and finally ending their season with a 2nd-round regression seemed fitting for the Bruins and HC Cronin after experiencing such an inconsistent, underperforming, and disappointing season. Glad the Lady Bruins are still playing!
Will more money solve UCLA’s issues? We have seen a lot of teams spend more money than UCLA this year and flame out in the first round (BYU) or got only as far as we did (Kentucky, Kansas). UCLA, imo, will never get close to their level of NIL so it’s probably time to start looking at coaches who can do elite things with less money - like what Kelvin Sampson or Tom Izzo does at their schools, and the first coach I can think of is TJ Otzelberger at IA St. He’s the model of a coach I think ucla should try to target and replace Cronin with. Cronin is a great coach but I think he’s about done as much as he can here.
I really love Otzelburger as well. What a great story at Iowa State. You are so right in stating that we need a coach who can create an elite team with less...
I am really tired of Cronin stating he just needs millions more to buy players... it diminishes the players he has on his team.
I like Bruin Source and here is what they had to say...
https://x.com/bruinsource/status/2035941292304417004?s=46
I see nothing wrong with those statements. NIL is the name of the game now, and he probably does need more $$$ to win recruits and transfers. I personally hate the way college sports have changed but it is the way things are.
His statements about needing more money is honestly more to boosters asking them to donate more, instead of whining about his players in the program currently.
At the same time, I do think I am leaning towards Chenalex's position that Cronin is not the man for the job in this era. He was doing well before but it is becoming harder for him to build a program the way he was in the past
He did pay $3 million for Donnie and for the vast majority of the season Donnie struggled. Money doesn't always buy success.
Yes, Chen's comments are spot on and we need a Coach like TJ Otzelberger...then enough money will naturally flow from winning.
Chen, T, keep an eye on Josh Schertz at St. Louis......He just signed an extension there, but in a year or two, if his alumni do not infuse the program, and if things don't work with Mick, he might be ready to move up....
Remembering what had transpired the last time UCLA fired their HC, I wonder what the coaching community generally thinks about the UCLA HC job nowadays, and if they're receptive to taking on the pressure and challenge of trying to win #12 (quickly). Maybe potential candidates are happy where they're at and will just use the job opening and possibility of leaving to get an immediate raise/extension at their current job.
A team scattered with role players, lacking a true star. I remember past teams would have potential 3-4 NBA caliber players, lately not so much and it’s shows. I hope they figure this out.
Obviously not something I was gonna talk about in the immediate aftermath of this loss, and maybe not something I’ll talk about in the postmortems (with those things, I usually let them take me where they go) but one thing I’ll note is that Mick Cronin is not alone in failing to evaluate both players and the NIL market - the defending champions just got bounced because they completely misevaluated their backcourt, for example - and a lot of blue blood programs are finding themselves falling behind due to some level of arrogance. UCLA, Kentucky, Kansas, and UNC are all out of the tourney already with varying levels of dysfunction, but one thing I would note is that many of these fanbases assume winning is their birthright and have been slow to adapt to the changing college landscape. The teams that have done best are either new money teams (Michigan, Arizona, Houston) or Duke, who was already running the best paid-players operation pre-NIL and just got to bring it into the open.
This is not a defense of Cronin but rather a statement that UCLA fans in general cannot sit by and be bystanders regarding NIL. If Cronin is replaced, then UCLA fans need to come out with the NIL guns before the first game even tips off instead of doing the “if they win then rewards will come” bullshit they always do, and if Cronin stays, they still need to invest in NIL regardless of their opinion of Cronin, because any potential future coach will look at UCLA fans being fickle and decide that the program is not serious.
The core issue isn’t just NIL—it’s that Cronin’s recruiting pipeline has effectively dried up. While the verbal from 4-star Joe Philon is a win, Mick’s constant refrain that "brand and academics don't matter anymore" is a tired excuse.
He’s ignoring the reality of elite recruiting. Top-tier talents like Cameron Boozer, Caleb Wilson, or Koa Peat don't rely solely on a school’s collective; they bring their own 3rd-party deals from brands like Nike or New Balance.
Even if Cronin gets an extra $5M in his war chest, without a strategy to land these NBA-ready freshmen, we’re destined for mid-tier purgatory—peaking at the Top 25 like Nebraska. To actually contend for a National Championship, we need a steady stream of elite talent combined with a competitive NIL, not one or the other.
I think the problem is that having NBA-ready freshman is really not a solution to the problem. So far, only Duke has found success with NBA-ready freshman. Sure, Arizona is still in the Sweet 16 but Tommy Lloyd has never made it to the elite 8 so I won't count them as having a successful season just yet, even though just on talent alone, they should waltz into the championship game now.
Kansas and BYU both paid a ton of money to NBA-ready freshman and BYU lost in the first round and Kansas only made it as far as we did. Southern Cal had Arenas and they stunk all year long. Last year, Rutgers had 2 lottery picks and they didn't even make the tournament. Getting NBA-ready freshman also means having to deal with the headaches like what Bill Self had to put up with wrt to Darryn Petersen. Dybantsa was making more than Byu's football coach until December when BYU renegotiated their football coach's contract to prevent him from getting poached by Penn State. Are we ready to pay a 5-star recruit more than what we're paying Bob Chesney? Because that seems like it'll be what it takes to recruit them.
I think the best way for Cronin to field a competitive elite team would be to recruit the Joe Philon's and Eric Freeny's. 4 star recruits that maybe he can convince to take a redshirt year adn turn them into the next Jules Bernard/Cody Riley. But that requires patience and time, neither of which are on Cronin's side now.
Here's the thing. Dybantsa is rumored to be paid ~$7M, but out of that $5M is by BYU, and Nike chipped in $2M.
Same with Darryn Petersen - his NIL is ~$4M, but a huge chunk of that is paid by Adidas.
And honestly, both BYU and Kansas had better results / higher seeded teams than we did.
Yes- I'd say yes- we are ready to pay a game changing 5-star recruit ~$3M, if we're willing to pay Dent the same. And we should work with with Nike to shell out the rest of it.
If we have $8-$10M, I'd pay for 2 top-5 game changing recruits, and spread the rest of the money getting solid role players.
The issue isn't money- again, even 24/7 sports noted that the Southern California local talent was stacked the last couple of years, they just didn't want to go to UCLA / play for Cronin.
Chen- case and point:
https://x.com/latsondheimer/status/2035931622982471940
We are not going to win with a team of Jules Bernards and Cody Rileys. Just like the NBA, a winning college team requires a mix of stars and role players. And that takes money.
I used them as examples for how I envision Philon and Freeny's college career will go. We obviously need stars haha
The strategy is still money; you described guys going to three of the top NIL schools in the country for basketball. But it is a money issue, just not in the way you're thinking of.
Let's take BYU, for example. BYU spent the reported $7 million for AJ Dybantsa, a player who will go in the top 3 of the NBA draft come April. He's the exact type of elite recruit that can raise a program's ceiling. But because they had to spend so much to get him, BYU didn't have enough money to fill out the rest of the roster in a way that made them legitimate national contenders, and they flamed out in the first round.
What those top schools are able to do is similar to what we saw from the SEC pre-NIL, where those schools were able to win so much in large part because they were able to sign talent to their bench that would legitimately start at other schools. Take Duke again. Yes they have Cameron Boozer, a player who likely would have gone there regardless because he's a Duke legacy, but they have so much money on hand that they were able to swoop in on Nik Khamenia, a longtime UCLA lean, and make him a big last-second offer to shift him over to them, where he's simply a role player at best and is likely transferring out after this year. Or take Arizona and Brayden Burries. Both UCLA and Arizona were in on him, but Arizona had more NIL in the tank to pay him, along with being able to pay for a number of players that UCLA would love to have.
I'd also say that NBA-ready freshmen are not the be-all, end-all of whether you're great or not. Michigan, Purdue, and Michigan State all lack that kind of freshman phenom, instead building naturally and through the portal. So there are many ways to skin that proverbial cat.
Which is why I said evaluations are so important, to find the guys who best fit your system and style of play, and then having the NIL funds to secure those commitments. Cronin has not been good enough at the former (I'd say Bilodeau, Clark, and Perry were good evals, and Freeny might get there, but that's about it), and the NIL situation has made it harder when it comes to actually landing the guys they target.
See my post above. I may be wrong, but for guys like Dybanstra, Boozer, Petersen, and Cooper Flagg last year- isn't a large part of their NIL paid by 3rd-parties like Nike, Adidas, etc?
So again... why would we pay $3M for Dent when we can shell $3M + let Nike cover the rest for a true game changing, top 5 Freshman?
Our strategy should be simple: we target the prospect rich SoCal talent, create a pipeline. We make an agreement with Nike- you help us convince them to stay in SoCal / play for UCLA, you get them that Nike endorsement. We split the NIL.
That would first require an administration that is supportive of NIL and could help facilitate those deals. Men of Westwood is solid at raising funds (in large part because Cronin does a ton of legwork), but they don't have those kinds of connections. You're basically advocating for a change at the AD level which, hey, I'm all for and would happily support.
I'm in agreement then. I'm just saying this is where the sport is going.
https://andscape.com/features/nil-college-basketball-sneaker-deals-brands-dybantsa-peterson-adidas-nike/
https://about.nike.com/en/newsroom/releases/nike-partners-with-16-top-university-of-texas-athletes-through-new-blue-ribbon-elite-nil-program
Speaking of Men of Westwood, there were stories of money mishandling by James Washington. Never heard anything after that. So were they just rumors?
We actually wrote about it!
https://www.themightybruin.com/p/bruins-for-life-life-support-tax-fraud-ucla
The tl;dr is that Bruins For Life was set up as the football-only NIL headed by Washington while MoW was more for basketball. A lot of reporting came out regarding Washington using a non-profit he runs to launder tax-deductible donations to B4L, which he has denied but the emails are right there. Coincidentally, UCLA was doing a review of B4L as part of getting its house in order for a new coach, noticed this issue, and was already in the process of phasing B4L out and shifting MoW back to working for football again as part of the Chesney hiring process.
"Or take Arizona and Brayden Burries. Both UCLA and Arizona were in on him, but Arizona had more NIL in the tank to pay him"
The problem with our fan base is that they cannot fathom money being the deciding factor in a player choosing Arizona over UCLA. They are very greedy with other people's money.
but brand and academics really don't matter that much anymore. Do you think Trent Perry and Donovan Dent came here because of brand and academics? lol. The kids are following the money, as they should. Most of these kids will never play in the NBA so they have four years to max out on their basketball earnings.
Brand does matter.
Dent was a local kid and always wanted to play for UCLA. Cronin was the one who offered Dylan Andrews a scholarship over Dent: https://www.latimes.com/sports/ucla/story/2025-03-28/ucla-mens-basketball-donovan-dent-transfers
Coming out of high school, Andrews was absolutely the take over Dent. Higher-rated recruit with ties to the Compton Magic AAU team that had been the lifeblood of UCLA teams for almost a decade.
That might actually be part of the problem, as Cronin has not been able to get his pick of the guys from that team in recent years, where before Compton Magic would push guys towards him.
Same with Trent Perry, for that matter. Local kid, says UCLA was always his dream school: https://247sports.com/college/ucla/article/ucla-basketball-trent-perry-talks-about-committing-to-ucla-231541106/
The point is, Cronin has struck out the last 2 years with the SoCal pipeline, when it was extremely talent rich. Arizona's NIL is roughly about ours.
I'll give him a pass on Alijah Arenas (overrated anyway) - his dad is still sore over UCLA not recruiting him. But he struck out on Brayden Burries, Tounde Yessoufou, and Nikolas Khamenia. And he's going to strike out on Brandon McCoy this year too.
Isn't Brandon McCoy the guy that's choosing between Cal Baptist and Long Beach State despite every major program recruiting him and promising to throw millions of dollars at him? If he doesn't choose UCLA I don't think it's because of anything Mick is or isn't doing but more about whatever priorities he and his team have.
Arizona's roster cost almost $10 million. Among the highest in the country. Re Perry, lots of players say school X is their dream school. But Perry isn't even a good example because he almost transferred out of UCLA after last season over a few hundred thousand dollars.
On recruiting, high school recruiting is not the be all end all anymore. Since everyone is basically on a 1 year contract, it makes little difference if a top recruit is a freshman or from the portal. So if Cronin has "struck out" on the SoCal pipeline (which isn't even true....Dent, Perry, Clark are all socal guys), i'd put that in the "who cares" column.
I suggest the Chesney model which is to completely change the mindset, instill the values and actions that create an authentic cultural transformation, and do it in a highly visible transparent way. And yes the money will follow.
I actually stated below that I agreed with Chen that hiring a coach that can do more with less is a smart way to begin, build from there, and the money will flow.
I am not sure if this is the bullsh** pathway that you are referring to, but it seems to be working for Chesney.
I would temper expectations a bit on Chesney. You do have a habit for falling in love with the new thing (remember your infatuation with Foster when he was hired?).
For the record, I would take Oztelberger in a heartbeat, and think he's a tremendous coach. But he isn't leaving Iowa State unless the situation is notably better, which UCLA is not at the moment thanks to administrative failures.
I learned my lesson with Foster and I had an idealistic mindset back then.
Chesney has proven he is a game changer with an undeniable, repeatable record of success.
There are likely other coaches similar to Oztelberger out there. I honestly don't know who but I didn't know of Chesney at the time either.
I haven't written enough about Chesney yet (and I mean to write more once basketball ends and I can breathe for a bit), but he also came to UCLA with an expectation that the school was going to heavily increase its NIL budget - Bob Myers was repeatedly talking about UCLA's plan to be in the top 5 of the Big Ten in terms of NIL during the introductory press conference, for example.
Chesney can absolutely do more with less, and evaluations are where you win on the margins, but you also need the money to sign the big names that can get you over the hump. That's the recognition that a lot of these guys making the jump up are making - that the situation NIL-wise has to be notably better for the move to happen.
Oztelberger might be one of the top candidates for the North Carolina job.
A shout out to our seniors: Tyler, DD, Jamar, Skyy, Jamerson, Peoples (?), thanks for the fun and thrills guys! Good luck to y'all!
My sweet friend, that is such a kind message. You have a beautiful heart 💙💛💙💛
Thank you, {{Tamara}}, I've been thinking of poor Tyler missing his chance, I'm sure it was painful for him.
Skyy applying for another year
I vote for break. he stinks.
$22.5M aside, is Mick the guy?
DD, don't wait too long for the post mortem!
Lol I said it'd be next week! I might be able to sneak it out late this week but between women's basketball (we'll be at Pauley tonight and Joe and I are looking into potentially traveling for the next rounds if we can) and my actual job (last week of school before spring break) it might be a bit hard.
You and Joe are excellent sports pundits. Certainly, you guys can quit your day jobs.
I know I'll probably get flamed for this because it doesn't fit into what many consider to be his personality, but Cronin should be praised for putting Bilodeau's health and future above the immediate need of this team, frustrating as not having him last night in a winnable game was for all of us. Some others stepped up in his absence over these past 4 games though that wasn't as consistent as we'd want - let's face it, this team was ultimately always going to go as far as the guard play would take them, which was just laid more bare after Bilo was hurt - but putting the player's future above (potentially) his own is the kind of act that not many would ascribe to a coach with Cronin's rep - this doesn't mean I'm a "Croninista" but fair is fair: he did a solid for a player who gave 3 years to the program and that should be recognized along with all his flaws.
Interesting offensive stats by Ethan Sabro...
https://x.com/esabro3/status/2036171992798245266?s=46
Cronin talked about trying to play to his players’ strengths but as the stats show, we did not take enough 3s for how good our shooters were. Our team shot 40% corner 3s but that only accounted for 10% of our total shots. Crazy!
I agree, Chen.
Do you think we currently have any pure shooters, including new recruits Javonte Floyd and Joe Philon?
Maybe Trent Perry can turn into a pure shooter, hopefully. But not sure we have that go to player with Bilo gone.
Cronin trying to recruit players who are just good defenders doesn't seem to be a formula for success as most of the great teams score a lot of points, along with playing good defense.
And I do worry that he has lost the West Coast recruiting pipeline. Maybe GM Max will help but local HS players are not lining up to play for UCLA.
No pure shooter on our team for next year but yes Trent and maybe if Skyy Clark gets his additional year approved then he counts as one. I wonder if Cronin will go after Sheldstad and try and stick with the 3-guard lineup that worked so well.
I like the 3 guard line-up but we desperately need an athletic rim protector who can score.
ASU is hiring Randy Bennett which is a great hire for them.
Man, I am fascinated by that hire. St. Mary's has a much easier path just to get to the NCAA Tournament than ASU does, especially now that Gonzaga is gone from the WCC. I'm guessing that loss to Texas A&M just broke Bennett's belief that he could be competitive at that level with P5 teams anymore.
I do agree that the loss to A&M was a real blow especially after the season they had in the WCC. I am wondering if Gonzaga leaving was the reason he took the ASU job. Without them in the WCC there are no Quad 1 teams left, and Bennett would have to arrange a big out of conference schedule to make up for that.
there's also the fact that ASU nearly tripled his salary. factor in the cost of living, this guy just got a massive increase in quality of life.
I know Dent got some criticism because he didn't live up to his NIL value, but the one thing he did consistently throughout the year was be a true ball handler. The guy good could break a press by himself and never panicked if he was near the sidelines. Dylan Andrews and Mack were never good ball handlers. Dent always kept his head up while he dribbled and never stopped his dribble. That's a true point guard. I know he had problems shooting and finishing at the rim but it was huge upgrade over Mack and Andrews.
Dent is an elite playmaker and Skyy Clark, Tyler Bilodeau, and Trent Perry wouldn’t have had the seasons they’ve had if it wasn’t for Dent. He’s always good at making the right decisions and passes the ball to his teammates at exactly the right height for them to catch and shoot in rhythm. The dropoff whenever Trent Perry played PG was stark. It’s a shame that Dent couldn’t replicate his shooting stats from New Mexico because that will cost him a chance to play in the NBA.
I think both Dent and Perry need to hit the weight room hard - Dent so he has a chance to do something in the G-league/Europe and Perry so he can get to Skyy Clark’s level as a perimeter defender
It's too bad that DD had a difficult time adjusting to HC Cronin's system and style of play vs. what he had thrived under over at UNM. Was also very unfortunate that Mara transferred out after having a positive impact and promising future as a Bruin last season. I wonder how different this season would've been had both of them been on the court together.
With Mara, I think we would still be in the tournament and at least an elite 8 appearance.
Another interesting stat - per ESPN, due to injuries "The Bruins played just seven games with their ideal starting five and went 6-1 in that span, with wins over Illinois, Michigan State and Nebraska." Maybe fully healthy, the ceiling was higher than it appeared through such a frustrating - for many reasons - season...
I mean, they also spent a good chunk of the season starting Booker and having Perry come off the bench, so that number is a bit misleading, but I don't disagree with the idea that injuries played a factor in the season.
Does ideal starting 5 mean bilo, dent, perry, clark and dailey?
We only went to this lineup after the Michigan trip because skyy came back from injury, and perry had been playing well in his absence.
So it was definitely a small sample size, and feels like we got exposed on the boards. But I do think this was our best lineup in terms of offense.
Also Perry took time to develop over the season.
And Freeny developed into a role player too. And Booker got a lot better too late in the season.
And as the team said multiple times themselves, it took a LOT of time to finally drill in the idea that defense is mostly effort, and they have to put in that effort.
So, it wasn't just health. It was maturity of the kids and the buy-in into Cronin's philosophy of diving for every loose ball, as well as the actual practice and execution of correctly rotating on screens and switches.
UNC just fired their coach
Yes, I saw that. It sure didn't take UNC long to do it. Unhappy fan and donor base, and he's fired.
UNC did it right...
His winning % was just under 70%, higher than Cronin. His buyout is $5.3 million, nothing compared to Cronin's $22 million thanks to our smilin' AD.
We are stuck. Our standard is mediocre. But UNC will rise again.
I think with Cronin, the fan base is much more unhappier compared to the donor base. Despite 4 mediocre seasons, Cronin can still raise top 20 NIL. I don’t see realistically see Cronin being fired until he loses the donors also, since that’s basically what happened with Foster
He sure complains a lot about money for being Top 20. Plus, I really liked your comment about how money doesn't necessarily translate to success.
I have heard that some donors love Cronin, others don't. So mixed bag.
Where have you heard that?
Jamal Madni who is well connected with the donor base.
Donors may have acquired immunity to anti-Cronin fever... :-)
I think it's the AD who should actually be fired first.
I don't know if I agree that they "did it right". UNC was inconsistent but they had very high highs, and so I don't know if he deserves the boot.
But also this shows that you don't want to be the coach who follows the great one, as the program can turn on you real fast
Paulie,
I am honestly waiting for the day that you will agree with me on anything 🤣
I think you and I just have very different views on the standard that should be upheld in every blueblood program.
I agree, we need a standard. You have repeatedly said that Cronin should have been fired before this season. When would have fired him?
"What is The Standard?" and "When do you pull the plug?" are questions you've raised earlier. IMO it's situational, not steadfast. Grossly generalizing, UCLA should be in the conversation every year. (I won't commit to how many years of leniency should be granted.) Those conversations entertained should NOT be, "Will UCLA miss the Dance this year? Are they a bubble/play-in team?," or of the antics of a hothead who abuses and is surly to the media, and is the subject of viral videos and media attention for his court side demeanor. (You can be thankful that I'm not in the athletic department. OTOH, my fecklessness makes me a suitable candidate for the staff.)
The thing is, it does matter in these conversations. I know many here have said that Cronin should have been fired after the Euro failure. That would have been after one down year after 4 steadily improving seasons, culminating in a 4 loss regular season that was sunk by 2 major conference tourney injuries. Just saying he should have been fired long ago ignores that history.
I agree UCLA should be a tournament team virtually every year, and other than 1 year they have been. I agree the generally shouldn't be in the bubble conversation, and outside of Year 2, they haven't been.
Honestly I think this year starts to heat up the seat as last 2 years. Back to back fringe Top 25 teams that do nothing in the tournament sets the stage for a critical year next year.
If you were in the UCLA Athletic Dept., I would advocate for your firing along with your boss.
LOL
"The guy with the best players usually wins." [John Wooden]
"The best players often follow the most money." [unknown]---quote seems relevant to today's transfer portal/NIL era...
Ben Bolch obtained this funny story from HC Cronin back in December: "Guys pick schools because they get paid, so these neutral-site games help raise money. So next spring, when we sign a guy in the portal and you go interview him and he tells you he really bonded with me, and I've known him for two weeks, you'll know why he came".
Anyone know why he threw out the $5M more NIL figure during the UConn postgame press conference---shouldn't he be asking for more than that to at least get back to the Final Four? ;-)
According to the UCLA athletics website, it was in regards to needs to change. But this seems more tongue in cheek to me
on future changes UCLA needs to make, in order to advance further in the tournament
“Right now I'm worried about tonight consoling the guys. I would like about five more million. There's my answer.”
I think he meant $5m on top of what he had for this year.
Evan Miyakawa, a CBB analytics guy over on Twitter, just said that based on his discussions with different teams, the NIL market is 35% higher than last offseason, so a $1million player last year would be valued at $1.35million today.
Another blue blood job might be opening - there were reports of Bill Self retiring but he has denied them. Seems like a lot of smoke there though.
Self most recently won an NCAA championship in 2022 after being Hubert Davis's UNC, but has also struggled in the NIL era. But he has rightfully earned a very long leash at Kansas. he's had health issues over the last few years so it'll be interesting to see what he ultimately ends up doing.
Dealing with the Darryn Peterson drama might be the reason - he wouldn't be the first long-time successful coach to get to the Roger Murtaugh place with today's athlete...