Thank goodness for the UCLA defense, unforced turnovers by MSU, the time-zone adjustment for the traveling visitors, and home-court advantage at rockin' Pauley Pavilion. Dailey also looked liked he was fouled hard on his winning basket (SBTRs!). Great to be on the winning side once again after the final shot is taken (I still hate Suggs!).
Shoutout to Laz for that big 3! He knew it was a big shot. He gathered himself and then took the biggest shot of his Senior season so far! And a big thanks for being a Surrogate Step Dad to Adem. Lights-out big guy! Cronin got some laughs on that one! He keeps getting up at midnight to eat. Cronin said, that's fine, never seen a person eat like him in my life!
And to Dailey for that must needed go ahead bucket. After going scoreless from the field besides a few foul shots for nearly 8 minutes and to still win against a #9 Michigan State team coming off their first conference loss to SC! Tyler and Dailey were the only one's to make both free throws in that tight 2nd half.
This is a well coached team and they have pride! They were called out by Cronin and instead of folding, they met the the challenge! And in that time, their most unique player came to be a big part of the team. Not just a tall guy to give the other front court players some rest. But a legit threat to the other team on both ends of the court. For the first time I saw him really get physical! At around the 14:45 mark in the first half he is getting leaned on by 6'11" 245 Carson Cooper and he just takes both his hands and blatantly pushed him back, "enough already of you leaning on me"
This was after a defensive sequence where Adem gets a deflection that almost turned into a a steal and a fast break opportunity, but they got it back and made a last second 3 pointer. Maybe that was the frustration that led to Mara really pushing back on Cooper!
Hopefully they don't have a let down against Penn State this Saturday.
22-9Â or possibly 25-6 at best.
Is my prediction but at thus point barring a major injury or a total collapse, they're definitely going to be a decent seeded team.
One last thing. How is that Oregon who we just beat by 26 points gets 39 votes to our 26 in the AP poll and they 31 to our 7 in the coaches poll? Somebody hates Mick/UCLA.
What a game. I had to listen on the radio...so I could only hear the game being called. Radio seems a lost art these days, but man oh man what a thriller!
Thank you for an excellent analysis of a game only available here by watching my computer print out each play one at a time. The quality of the play did not come through with only the bottom line result of each play. Hopefully the Big Ten network will run a replay of the game. This team has potential to finish high in the Big Ten and then do well in the tournament. Thirty years is too long to wait for another championship. I attended UCLA when Coach Wooden was winning almost every year -- yes, I am spoiled but would like to be spoiled even more. Regards from "The Orient" (central Maryland)
Remember during the losing streak most on TMB were calling out Cronin for being a lousy coach, didn't coach offense, should not call out his players publicly, he was losing the team, etc. It is time to put all of that talk to rest for good. He is a terrific coach with a history of winning. He gets his players to play for him and his team has heart and grit. They also averaged 80.5 PPG during the five game streak. He can get the offense clicking. He made the steps necessary to put this team together after a dismal last year. He is respected by his fellow coaches. Time to get 100% behind Cronin. He can win.
I saw that stat somewhere else and it was very surprising to me. 80.5 PPG?? after looking at the scores, we have scored 94 (Iowa), 85 (Wis), 65 (@UW), 82 (@SC), 78 (Ore), and 63 (MSU) - so the scoring has been inconsistent.
Good defense, leads to turnovers, fast breaks and natural mismatches that leads to good opportunities.
Aday (*Adem Bona) I've been referring to him as Adem, also opens up a different aspect of their offense, his high screens lead to open 3's or an opportunity to penetrate which leads to multiple options. The alley-oop and Mara is a very good passer. The more comfortable he gets at receiving those post up passes the better he'll get at finding open teammates when they double and triple team him. Lauren Betts had 11 assists in their recent game with Minnesota, the defense collapsed and she just became the point center hitting all her open teammates. Mara has made some incredibly good passes in this run of wins.
Only Duke 16, Auburn 14, St Johns 9, Creighton 8, and and Memphis 6, Arizona 5 have winning streaks like the Bruins. A few teams from mid major have 6 or 7 game steaks but conference play is in the major conferences is brutal.
PS - I am not a fan of his personality. I wish he were more like Wooden. Don't like the aggressive swearing and yelling. Yet his players respond and are behind him. I would much rather have Cronin than Calapari and many other well thought of coaches.
I'm sure Coach Cronin's publicly unfiltered and angry demeanor would be even more of a issue if the performance of any of his teams regressed or showed absolutely no improvement by the end of the season, or if it led to a mass exodus of players. Despite the subpar roster the Bruins had last year, he pushed them to a .500 regular season record in the Pac-12 (10-10, 5th place). I learned my lesson during the tail end of Year-1 and then during the Final Four run in Year-2 about doubting his coaching ability at UCLA.
We're so very lucky to have had the great Coach Wooden teach here, where "Goodness Gracious Sakes Alive!" was typically his strongest display of anger. Seems more college coaches these days are the aggressive, yelling, and swearing type and open to publicly criticizing specific players. But lots of other things have changed since Coach Wooden's era:
the higher number of talented players out there (along with their attitudes), one-and-done NBA possibilities, the transfer portal, NIL, etc.
To your credit Baskets, you said you thought they would make the NCAA Tournament. Someone else here said it was doubtful they would. 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣
I will also give army props for his comments during the poor stretch of play. Where was aday Mara? I echoed similar comments that bilodeau shouldn’t play the 5 on this team. Imagine what this team may have looked like if Mara got the same play time he is during this win streak from the beginning of the season. Far too often cronin refuses to give his young players the opportunity to learn through making mistakes. Perry for example seems like a player who given the opportunity could be a great contributor on this team.
Regardless, with a true big man, ucla could actually make life challenging for any team they play. Let’s hope that Mara continues to get the minutes he needs to develop
Thank goodness for the UCLA defense, unforced turnovers by MSU, the time-zone adjustment for the traveling visitors, and home-court advantage at rockin' Pauley Pavilion. Dailey also looked liked he was fouled hard on his winning basket (SBTRs!). Great to be on the winning side once again after the final shot is taken (I still hate Suggs!).
Go Bruins!
Shoutout to Laz for that big 3! He knew it was a big shot. He gathered himself and then took the biggest shot of his Senior season so far! And a big thanks for being a Surrogate Step Dad to Adem. Lights-out big guy! Cronin got some laughs on that one! He keeps getting up at midnight to eat. Cronin said, that's fine, never seen a person eat like him in my life!
And to Dailey for that must needed go ahead bucket. After going scoreless from the field besides a few foul shots for nearly 8 minutes and to still win against a #9 Michigan State team coming off their first conference loss to SC! Tyler and Dailey were the only one's to make both free throws in that tight 2nd half.
This is a well coached team and they have pride! They were called out by Cronin and instead of folding, they met the the challenge! And in that time, their most unique player came to be a big part of the team. Not just a tall guy to give the other front court players some rest. But a legit threat to the other team on both ends of the court. For the first time I saw him really get physical! At around the 14:45 mark in the first half he is getting leaned on by 6'11" 245 Carson Cooper and he just takes both his hands and blatantly pushed him back, "enough already of you leaning on me"
This was after a defensive sequence where Adem gets a deflection that almost turned into a a steal and a fast break opportunity, but they got it back and made a last second 3 pointer. Maybe that was the frustration that led to Mara really pushing back on Cooper!
Hopefully they don't have a let down against Penn State this Saturday.
22-9Â or possibly 25-6 at best.
Is my prediction but at thus point barring a major injury or a total collapse, they're definitely going to be a decent seeded team.
One last thing. How is that Oregon who we just beat by 26 points gets 39 votes to our 26 in the AP poll and they 31 to our 7 in the coaches poll? Somebody hates Mick/UCLA.
That's disrespect!
It was ever thus...
It was awesome that MSU got caught sleeping on Stefanovic.
What a game. I had to listen on the radio...so I could only hear the game being called. Radio seems a lost art these days, but man oh man what a thriller!
This team is going to make a run if the defense keeps playing like this
Man getting outrebounded by almost 20 and still winning does something to my heart.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaab/2025/02/05/mick-cronin-ucla-statement-wins-michigan-state/78236069007/
Sounds like tom Izzo and others in the media credit the "yelling" at the players for the turnaround. But who knows
Thank you for an excellent analysis of a game only available here by watching my computer print out each play one at a time. The quality of the play did not come through with only the bottom line result of each play. Hopefully the Big Ten network will run a replay of the game. This team has potential to finish high in the Big Ten and then do well in the tournament. Thirty years is too long to wait for another championship. I attended UCLA when Coach Wooden was winning almost every year -- yes, I am spoiled but would like to be spoiled even more. Regards from "The Orient" (central Maryland)
Remember during the losing streak most on TMB were calling out Cronin for being a lousy coach, didn't coach offense, should not call out his players publicly, he was losing the team, etc. It is time to put all of that talk to rest for good. He is a terrific coach with a history of winning. He gets his players to play for him and his team has heart and grit. They also averaged 80.5 PPG during the five game streak. He can get the offense clicking. He made the steps necessary to put this team together after a dismal last year. He is respected by his fellow coaches. Time to get 100% behind Cronin. He can win.
I saw that stat somewhere else and it was very surprising to me. 80.5 PPG?? after looking at the scores, we have scored 94 (Iowa), 85 (Wis), 65 (@UW), 82 (@SC), 78 (Ore), and 63 (MSU) - so the scoring has been inconsistent.
But a win is a win, and we've won 6 in a row!
They probably could have scored in the 70s against MSU. There was some missed layups and FTs they should have made.
Good defense, leads to turnovers, fast breaks and natural mismatches that leads to good opportunities.
Aday (*Adem Bona) I've been referring to him as Adem, also opens up a different aspect of their offense, his high screens lead to open 3's or an opportunity to penetrate which leads to multiple options. The alley-oop and Mara is a very good passer. The more comfortable he gets at receiving those post up passes the better he'll get at finding open teammates when they double and triple team him. Lauren Betts had 11 assists in their recent game with Minnesota, the defense collapsed and she just became the point center hitting all her open teammates. Mara has made some incredibly good passes in this run of wins.
Only Duke 16, Auburn 14, St Johns 9, Creighton 8, and and Memphis 6, Arizona 5 have winning streaks like the Bruins. A few teams from mid major have 6 or 7 game steaks but conference play is in the major conferences is brutal.
Izzo said we better hope he keeps yelling. All those people who said he lost the team don't know shit.
PS - I am not a fan of his personality. I wish he were more like Wooden. Don't like the aggressive swearing and yelling. Yet his players respond and are behind him. I would much rather have Cronin than Calapari and many other well thought of coaches.
I'm sure Coach Cronin's publicly unfiltered and angry demeanor would be even more of a issue if the performance of any of his teams regressed or showed absolutely no improvement by the end of the season, or if it led to a mass exodus of players. Despite the subpar roster the Bruins had last year, he pushed them to a .500 regular season record in the Pac-12 (10-10, 5th place). I learned my lesson during the tail end of Year-1 and then during the Final Four run in Year-2 about doubting his coaching ability at UCLA.
We're so very lucky to have had the great Coach Wooden teach here, where "Goodness Gracious Sakes Alive!" was typically his strongest display of anger. Seems more college coaches these days are the aggressive, yelling, and swearing type and open to publicly criticizing specific players. But lots of other things have changed since Coach Wooden's era:
the higher number of talented players out there (along with their attitudes), one-and-done NBA possibilities, the transfer portal, NIL, etc.
Wooden didn't get the ironic "St. John" nickname by chance. He talked a lot, quietly, while on that bench.
Haha. 6 straight victories! The Cronin haters cannot take all this winning!
i'm not getting tired of winning
Neither am I. Lol 😆.
Ha! This is a good quad 1 win for sure. Wasn’t always good basketball, but a win is a win
To your credit Baskets, you said you thought they would make the NCAA Tournament. Someone else here said it was doubtful they would. 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣
Better restock your supply of hopium--looks like it will once again be in demand soon!
Not a Hopium smoker, just not a pessimistic clown about this team.
Good write up sir!
I will also give army props for his comments during the poor stretch of play. Where was aday Mara? I echoed similar comments that bilodeau shouldn’t play the 5 on this team. Imagine what this team may have looked like if Mara got the same play time he is during this win streak from the beginning of the season. Far too often cronin refuses to give his young players the opportunity to learn through making mistakes. Perry for example seems like a player who given the opportunity could be a great contributor on this team.
Regardless, with a true big man, ucla could actually make life challenging for any team they play. Let’s hope that Mara continues to get the minutes he needs to develop
Mara was 3-9 last game. He needs to be much better than that!
Outstanding write up Sir. Viva el matador Mara.
My favorite thing about Mara is that he has yet to attempt a college three.