Cronin will get the turnover (and related) problems under control, especially when Andrews returns. My biggest concern is although Boston University is a small team without any talented bigs, UCLA did not dominate the rebounding as they should have. Not blocking out is part of it but we do not have any player over 6'9" nor with any bulk to bang with the talented Bigs. Will be a season long problem.
It's kinda how I feel about these portal players... Meh. I was a little excited at the instant facelift we got with these portal transfers - yep I got sucked in. But the flaws of a patchwork team are showing... perhaps fixable flaws, perhaps by the BIG Ten season, or by the Tourney, perhaps not. Perhaps they will just jump ship again if they don't like Cronin's defense first, offense a distant second, style. And we have ZERO HS recruits in the early signing period - ZERO!
Every year for as long as I can remember, I loved UCLA Basketball, not only because I love college b-ball and UCLA, but because I loved the players... we had so many truly great players with great personalities - so many legends. Players who loved UCLA, revered the four letters and who played their hearts out for the Blue and Gold...
The NIL has lost me - it's way more visible and central to Basketball than Football because of the small team size. I have little connection with the portal players as they have little loyalty to UCLA or any school for that matter. Sure these portal players would rather win than lose and I am sure they would like to win a nattie, at whatever school they land at during their hopscotch college careers. But I don't see a fighting spirit that was naturally a part of players who came to UCLA because it was UCLA, not a pot of NIL money.
The Euro experiment last season was a disaster. Mara is the only one remaining from that group and he may give us a few good minutes per game. The patchwork comes from the tranfer portal which comprises a huge part of the team.
Chenalax is also correct... we don't have a true center, and that will hurt us as well. Because Cronin can't complain about NIL funds as he is now loaded with them... I wonder how long before we even come close to UConn... I doubt we will ever win a championship under Cronin - he is a decent to good, but not great coach.
After listening to the post game interview with Josh Lewin, it was clear that CMC is focused on getting the defense set first and the offense will follow.
The late Bobby Knight must be happy with such words from Cronin. During Knight's heydays at Indiana, his team played stifling, unrelenting defense. Howland coached bruins the same way before his downfall.
Cronin will get the turnover (and related) problems under control, especially when Andrews returns. My biggest concern is although Boston University is a small team without any talented bigs, UCLA did not dominate the rebounding as they should have. Not blocking out is part of it but we do not have any player over 6'9" nor with any bulk to bang with the talented Bigs. Will be a season long problem.
Thanks, Dmitri, I saw a Meh game, too.
It's kinda how I feel about these portal players... Meh. I was a little excited at the instant facelift we got with these portal transfers - yep I got sucked in. But the flaws of a patchwork team are showing... perhaps fixable flaws, perhaps by the BIG Ten season, or by the Tourney, perhaps not. Perhaps they will just jump ship again if they don't like Cronin's defense first, offense a distant second, style. And we have ZERO HS recruits in the early signing period - ZERO!
Every year for as long as I can remember, I loved UCLA Basketball, not only because I love college b-ball and UCLA, but because I loved the players... we had so many truly great players with great personalities - so many legends. Players who loved UCLA, revered the four letters and who played their hearts out for the Blue and Gold...
The NIL has lost me - it's way more visible and central to Basketball than Football because of the small team size. I have little connection with the portal players as they have little loyalty to UCLA or any school for that matter. Sure these portal players would rather win than lose and I am sure they would like to win a nattie, at whatever school they land at during their hopscotch college careers. But I don't see a fighting spirit that was naturally a part of players who came to UCLA because it was UCLA, not a pot of NIL money.
I'm with you, Tamara, these Euro players aren't used to college B-ball over here. SoCal produces a ton of good players. The NIL is a disaster, IMO.
The Euro experiment last season was a disaster. Mara is the only one remaining from that group and he may give us a few good minutes per game. The patchwork comes from the tranfer portal which comprises a huge part of the team.
Chenalax is also correct... we don't have a true center, and that will hurt us as well. Because Cronin can't complain about NIL funds as he is now loaded with them... I wonder how long before we even come close to UConn... I doubt we will ever win a championship under Cronin - he is a decent to good, but not great coach.
After listening to the post game interview with Josh Lewin, it was clear that CMC is focused on getting the defense set first and the offense will follow.
The late Bobby Knight must be happy with such words from Cronin. During Knight's heydays at Indiana, his team played stifling, unrelenting defense. Howland coached bruins the same way before his downfall.