I've been to Japan and enjoyed my visit there too. Maybe an overseas exhibition trip to Japan and/or Hawaii could be a nice, additional recruiting incentive---or did that China trip with the President bailing out the sunglass thieves effectively put an end to any future international travel ideas? Anyway, the Bruins also seemed to be wandering in Japan when they were supposed to be playing against Iowa and Wisconsin... :-(
I think Maryland appears to be a good example of how challenging it is to assemble an entirely new roster and try to quickly develop them into a highly competitive team. [With so many seniors on both the UCLA mens and womens teams, next season will be challenging for them as well.] Even though HC Cronin retained a few key players from the previous season, he's still having trouble getting any kind of consistency from this year's team. At least the Bruins displayed some resiliency after their big lead got whittled down to just 5 in the 2nd half. It was an ugly win, but it could've easily been an embarrassing loss if the Terrapins hadn't shot so many bricks and score only 55 for the entire game. Hope the Bruins can recover from all of their injuries and be at full strength for their 2nd road trip back east. Looking back at last season, they ended up going only 2-7 east of the Rockies, which included the non-conference loss to UNC in NY and the loss to the Badgers in the Big-10 tourney in Indianapolis (it will be in Chicago this year). They gotta start learning how to compete and win on the road and in a different time zone.
It's an interesting conundrum Mick is struggling with. The deck gets shuffled every year due to the Portal and NIL. He wants to have older players, but in addition to team bonding and culture shaping (defense first) challenges, the older the player, the deeper bad habits (in relation to Mick's fundamentals) have been ingrained in them. Again, "building" a team is much more complex now than it was at the beginning of his tenure here at UCLA when he had 2 or 3 years to develop his squad/players. If we can get healthy, I think there are a few more "lightbulbs" that will go off over kids heads moving forward. This has been a frustrating process to watch, but I am expecting we will see much better play as we move forward. We can only hope it all "clicks in" before we play the upper echelon of the Big 18.
Perhaps a player's light bulb stays dim longer than expected because the scholastics part of their existence at UCLA is tougher compared to where the student-athlete had transferred from. And I believe the former Pac-12 teams have a legitimate complaint about having to travel back east 4 or 5 times during the regular season because of the added hassle and stress. Glad I didn't have to worry about packing a suitcase, catching flights, and studying on the road during my time at UCLA! The Bruins are now in their 2nd season competing in the Big-10 and into Year-3 of the NIL/transfer portal era--hope they can eventually excel in this crazy environment!
Unfortunately, to paraphrase the old Real Estate cliché, the three most important things in conference realignment are football, football, and football...
Mick's problem isn't that he doesn't know how to construct a team. His problem is that he is unable to. UCLA under Mick Cronin no longer is a destination school.
Mick's issue is that he is toxic in California, and has made the program irrelevant nationally. He again has struck out on all offers (save for another undersized 3* center), and none even have UCLA among their interest.
Next year, after these seniors and portals depart, he may face himself in the same situation as his first year in Cincinnati when he had only one scholarship player on the team and had to scramble to fill the roster (even with a football player). He will be forced to overpay for players. Will donations continue or dry up?
Next year, a show-me year, may make the Euro year look like the '96 Bulls by comparison.
I am happy we won. It's much better than losing to a terrible team, rebounds be damned.
But reality is reality...
Cronin has turned off donors and alumni. He can't recruit. He can't build chemistry. He tears down players and destroys confidence.
Even Tracy Murray said it was terrible the way Cronin was yelling at Jamar. So why don't the Croninistas criticize Tracy... because it's so easy to rip those here.
The team hasn't won against even one quality opponent and Pauley is empty. Yes empty, and Cronin blames donut head jelly 2.0, you know the donut who gave him a hushed extension worth $$$$.
Michigan, Purdue, Nebraska, Illinois, Mich St and Iowa are all ranked. UCLA is nowhere.
When Mick arrived at UCLA, he was stoked by all the talent he now could land, he marveled at the possibilities of the offenses he could run, and the potential for accomplishments.
Now, it's either "unrealistic expectations of the UCLA fan base," or "He's The Guy," or "Who else we gonna' get?" from the Croninistas.
He does often act and sound angry and frustrated, but I don't think he's imploding. I do agree he can read the writing, and it actually looks good to him (because it's the writing in his contract extension!). It's the AD who likes to tell everyone to read (the room)...
I've been to Japan and enjoyed my visit there too. Maybe an overseas exhibition trip to Japan and/or Hawaii could be a nice, additional recruiting incentive---or did that China trip with the President bailing out the sunglass thieves effectively put an end to any future international travel ideas? Anyway, the Bruins also seemed to be wandering in Japan when they were supposed to be playing against Iowa and Wisconsin... :-(
I think Maryland appears to be a good example of how challenging it is to assemble an entirely new roster and try to quickly develop them into a highly competitive team. [With so many seniors on both the UCLA mens and womens teams, next season will be challenging for them as well.] Even though HC Cronin retained a few key players from the previous season, he's still having trouble getting any kind of consistency from this year's team. At least the Bruins displayed some resiliency after their big lead got whittled down to just 5 in the 2nd half. It was an ugly win, but it could've easily been an embarrassing loss if the Terrapins hadn't shot so many bricks and score only 55 for the entire game. Hope the Bruins can recover from all of their injuries and be at full strength for their 2nd road trip back east. Looking back at last season, they ended up going only 2-7 east of the Rockies, which included the non-conference loss to UNC in NY and the loss to the Badgers in the Big-10 tourney in Indianapolis (it will be in Chicago this year). They gotta start learning how to compete and win on the road and in a different time zone.
Go Bruins!
It's an interesting conundrum Mick is struggling with. The deck gets shuffled every year due to the Portal and NIL. He wants to have older players, but in addition to team bonding and culture shaping (defense first) challenges, the older the player, the deeper bad habits (in relation to Mick's fundamentals) have been ingrained in them. Again, "building" a team is much more complex now than it was at the beginning of his tenure here at UCLA when he had 2 or 3 years to develop his squad/players. If we can get healthy, I think there are a few more "lightbulbs" that will go off over kids heads moving forward. This has been a frustrating process to watch, but I am expecting we will see much better play as we move forward. We can only hope it all "clicks in" before we play the upper echelon of the Big 18.
Perhaps a player's light bulb stays dim longer than expected because the scholastics part of their existence at UCLA is tougher compared to where the student-athlete had transferred from. And I believe the former Pac-12 teams have a legitimate complaint about having to travel back east 4 or 5 times during the regular season because of the added hassle and stress. Glad I didn't have to worry about packing a suitcase, catching flights, and studying on the road during my time at UCLA! The Bruins are now in their 2nd season competing in the Big-10 and into Year-3 of the NIL/transfer portal era--hope they can eventually excel in this crazy environment!
No doubt that travel is a factor for West Coast teams. It's as if it wasn't even considered with the Conference move.
Unfortunately, to paraphrase the old Real Estate cliché, the three most important things in conference realignment are football, football, and football...
Welcome home, Dmitri, thanks for the write-up.Yes, Tyler just seems to disappear sometimes. I lived in Japan from 56 to 59. It was much different!
should've won this one by 20-30...
Everyone faces a reshuffled deck each year.
Mick's problem isn't that he doesn't know how to construct a team. His problem is that he is unable to. UCLA under Mick Cronin no longer is a destination school.
Mick's issue is that he is toxic in California, and has made the program irrelevant nationally. He again has struck out on all offers (save for another undersized 3* center), and none even have UCLA among their interest.
Next year, after these seniors and portals depart, he may face himself in the same situation as his first year in Cincinnati when he had only one scholarship player on the team and had to scramble to fill the roster (even with a football player). He will be forced to overpay for players. Will donations continue or dry up?
Next year, a show-me year, may make the Euro year look like the '96 Bulls by comparison.
On point, Sea...
I am happy we won. It's much better than losing to a terrible team, rebounds be damned.
But reality is reality...
Cronin has turned off donors and alumni. He can't recruit. He can't build chemistry. He tears down players and destroys confidence.
Even Tracy Murray said it was terrible the way Cronin was yelling at Jamar. So why don't the Croninistas criticize Tracy... because it's so easy to rip those here.
The team hasn't won against even one quality opponent and Pauley is empty. Yes empty, and Cronin blames donut head jelly 2.0, you know the donut who gave him a hushed extension worth $$$$.
Michigan, Purdue, Nebraska, Illinois, Mich St and Iowa are all ranked. UCLA is nowhere.
When Mick arrived at UCLA, he was stoked by all the talent he now could land, he marveled at the possibilities of the offenses he could run, and the potential for accomplishments.
Now, it's either "unrealistic expectations of the UCLA fan base," or "He's The Guy," or "Who else we gonna' get?" from the Croninistas.
He's imploding. He can read the room.
He does often act and sound angry and frustrated, but I don't think he's imploding. I do agree he can read the writing, and it actually looks good to him (because it's the writing in his contract extension!). It's the AD who likes to tell everyone to read (the room)...