Go, Bruins! When they compete like this - win or lose - I can live with it. It’s the fight and competitiveness that’s vital. Still saw a few in-game powder puff moments where the guys were unwilling to sacrifice their body, resulting in Purdue getting the ball or rebound. They need to stop playing like ballerinas and more like WWE wrestlers. That play where Purdue’s
Brandon went sliding across the floor to try and stop a ball from going out of bounds is what we need to see more of from these guys. More of what Cronin told Booker last week - knock someone on their butt. I say play mean and with fury. Great win. Love it
That wasn't a lightbulb for Dent Seau, that was a freakin' Klieg-light that he switched on. Clearly a virtuoso performance worthy of the pre-season hype. It's better late than never if he can come close to duplicating that effort consistently going forward. It would significantly elevate this team's ceiling heading towards March, especially when Sky gets back.
Seems that Coach Wooden didn't allow the Bruins to spoil his night and embarrass themselves against #4 Purdue, but to instead put up a very competitive fight and remain unbeaten at Pauley. Was great to see the $3M Dent and preseason #12 Bruins finally show up for a much-needed, Quad-1 win for frustrated HC Cronin. As in past seasons, it apparently requires a verbal public spanking from him to eventually get the players he recruited (his "free agents" who can't be traded midseason, LOL) to snap out of their lethargic, inconsistent level of play and respond with a greatly improved performance. And although he isn't allowed to complain about the SBTRs in the postgame interview, he did take the opportunity to blast the Big-10 folks for UCLA's brutal road scheduling up to now and the reduced time to prepare for Purdue (valid points that he wants addressed). Hope the Bruins can sustain their momentum, but the bench was a complete no-show and absolutely needs to step up their level of competitiveness and contributions as well.
I agree that the B10 scheduling for UCLA should be called out. It should be the AD's job, because when Cronin does it, it shifts a lot of the coverage of last night game to his comments and not the actual game itself. But we all know the AD is asleep at the wheel.
I actually like that HC Cronin calls attention to things at the administrative level because he isn't the type to beat around the bush and wait for the current AD to take the initiative and do anything impactful on his own to support the basketball program.
Mentioned this late in the game thread. I had to run an errand last night and had to listen to the Purdue feed on the satellite radio. While the two were no Lewin and Murray, it was an interesting experience. Some takeaways were they too were frustrated by some of the officiating. They were very complimentary of the crowd and mentioned the venue repeatedly. In no way did they disrespect the Bruin players, high praise for the level of play. They were convinced that Dent was going to the critical shot at the end, but it turned out to be Bilo. Oh and I heard a lot of tractor and farm equipment ads. That was a new one!
Better to keep that farm equipment away from the Bruins so they don't go digging themselves into any more deep holes at the start of games... ;-) It sure didn't look good when they fell behind 27-15 with 7:24 remaining in the 1st half, but I'm sure Coach Wooden was smiling when the Bruins fought back and Dent hit that Don Nelson shot to tie it at halftime. Luckily, that 3-pointer at the end of the game didn't go in for Purdue!
Excellent win, but now we need to keep up this momentum!
Our next 5 games should all be wins. 4 at home, away is at a bad Oregon team. Our only tough game is against an up and down Indiana team (they've lost four in a row).
But where the heck were these players all season? They are getting paid a lot more than most of us fans, and they readily admit their competitive greatness was missing, but why? No excuses, not travel, not road games, none!
I had lost all faith. But if this team can sustain this level of play, with better rebounding of course, then we have a chance to dance.
When Skyy returns, our level of toughness will be even greater.
Don't worry, there is a huge stockpile of unused hopium this season, and expect that HC Cronin will continue to be relentless with his "free agents". Remember, anti-Cronin fever is curable!
Is he a tactician or a heart surgeon? Because that team that was playing after the 13 minute mark of the first half (as pointed out by B4E) and for the rest of the game, played with grit and sheer will. Those guys last night were warriors.
That was the most fun game I've watched in a long long time, just in terms of the sustained effort and execution from our guys. Kudos to the team and coaches for putting that one out there last night. It took great performances from multiple players and a consistent defensive effort and execution by the team for 40 mins, and we usually don't have everything clicking like that at once, but it was great to see what we have believed U.C.L.A. Basketball can be.
It does beg the question as to where that performance has been all year (and for the last 2+ years as well). There is no doubt that Cronin is an effective coach when he has a roster that fits and buys into his style, but his recruiting/retention, team building, and offensive systems have never been complete. Last night the offense stayed productive and never went into the seemingly inevitable 6-8 minute scoring slumps that have doomed so many previous games and it was clearly Dent's play that was the difference. After the opening few minutes, he consistently attacked the paint to create his own scoring chances or drew the defense to him leaving shooters open on the perimeter or cutters going to the basket. I asked in the thread whether this was him feeling healthy or him feeling confident (and Matt rightly noted those two often go together), but the other part is that maybe Purdue didn't have a guy who could cut off that initial drive inside and Dent had a great mismatch. Either way, it was a pretty fundamental change on the offensive end from the usual lob-the-ball-around-the-perimeter-until-the-shot-clock-is-low-and-then-play-desperate-iso-ball. Hopefully we can see that continue from Dent, and from either Tyler or Clark for some minutes so Dent isn't having to carry that load for 39 minutes every game.
And a final old-man-yelling-at-clouds moment, I didn't like seeing the students on the court after that game. In accordance with our program's elite tradition and standards, you didn't go on the court for a midseason home win over just a #4 team. Rushing the court was for beating a #1 or winning a conference title. We don't hang Sweet 16 banners in Pauley. I get it's a different time for both the kids and for our program, but act like you've been there before - and that you plan on being there again.
I am definitely Team Storm the Court. College should be fun and we should be encouraging students to become lifelong fans, so why bar them from doing something that every other fanbase is able to do? Telling a bunch of kids they can’t do something because of “tradition” or whatever isn’t a good way to build a persistent fanbase.
Terrific piece on how Cronin's schematic adjustmentsreally showed through. The defensive gameplan against Braden Smith was brilliant, especially having Booker step up with length when Purdue hunted switches. I'veseen similar tactics work in playoff games but dunno if UCLA has consistently executed like this before. The post-doubling math made total sense even when it looked risky.
Go, Bruins! When they compete like this - win or lose - I can live with it. It’s the fight and competitiveness that’s vital. Still saw a few in-game powder puff moments where the guys were unwilling to sacrifice their body, resulting in Purdue getting the ball or rebound. They need to stop playing like ballerinas and more like WWE wrestlers. That play where Purdue’s
Brandon went sliding across the floor to try and stop a ball from going out of bounds is what we need to see more of from these guys. More of what Cronin told Booker last week - knock someone on their butt. I say play mean and with fury. Great win. Love it
Wonderful write-up, DD.
#4 Boiler Makers eh? Way cool!
...now do this for the rest of the season!
😁👍🏻
I'm hopiuming that this is the lightbulb-on game.
That wasn't a lightbulb for Dent Seau, that was a freakin' Klieg-light that he switched on. Clearly a virtuoso performance worthy of the pre-season hype. It's better late than never if he can come close to duplicating that effort consistently going forward. It would significantly elevate this team's ceiling heading towards March, especially when Sky gets back.
I think this game provides further evidence that the Bruins will go as far as the $3M man is willing to carry them.
Seems that Coach Wooden didn't allow the Bruins to spoil his night and embarrass themselves against #4 Purdue, but to instead put up a very competitive fight and remain unbeaten at Pauley. Was great to see the $3M Dent and preseason #12 Bruins finally show up for a much-needed, Quad-1 win for frustrated HC Cronin. As in past seasons, it apparently requires a verbal public spanking from him to eventually get the players he recruited (his "free agents" who can't be traded midseason, LOL) to snap out of their lethargic, inconsistent level of play and respond with a greatly improved performance. And although he isn't allowed to complain about the SBTRs in the postgame interview, he did take the opportunity to blast the Big-10 folks for UCLA's brutal road scheduling up to now and the reduced time to prepare for Purdue (valid points that he wants addressed). Hope the Bruins can sustain their momentum, but the bench was a complete no-show and absolutely needs to step up their level of competitiveness and contributions as well.
Go Bruins!
I agree that the B10 scheduling for UCLA should be called out. It should be the AD's job, because when Cronin does it, it shifts a lot of the coverage of last night game to his comments and not the actual game itself. But we all know the AD is asleep at the wheel.
the donut is a wheel without the strength of spokes or a core 🤣
I actually like that HC Cronin calls attention to things at the administrative level because he isn't the type to beat around the bush and wait for the current AD to take the initiative and do anything impactful on his own to support the basketball program.
Cronin realizes by now that he has to say it because no one else in the department is going to.
Goes back to Jelly 1.0. I complained about the scheduling. Their response was that they had no control over scheduling.
"that it lacked the competitive temperament needed on a nightly basis to win at the level UCLA fans expect of their program."
Yes it was good to see the effort tonight last for two halves. Great game, Bruins!
Thanks for the morning after cheer, Dmitri!
Mentioned this late in the game thread. I had to run an errand last night and had to listen to the Purdue feed on the satellite radio. While the two were no Lewin and Murray, it was an interesting experience. Some takeaways were they too were frustrated by some of the officiating. They were very complimentary of the crowd and mentioned the venue repeatedly. In no way did they disrespect the Bruin players, high praise for the level of play. They were convinced that Dent was going to the critical shot at the end, but it turned out to be Bilo. Oh and I heard a lot of tractor and farm equipment ads. That was a new one!
Better to keep that farm equipment away from the Bruins so they don't go digging themselves into any more deep holes at the start of games... ;-) It sure didn't look good when they fell behind 27-15 with 7:24 remaining in the 1st half, but I'm sure Coach Wooden was smiling when the Bruins fought back and Dent hit that Don Nelson shot to tie it at halftime. Luckily, that 3-pointer at the end of the game didn't go in for Purdue!
For those who aren't subscribed to the Peacock network, NBC posted a nice recap of the game on YouTube--I've viewed it several times already... :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lxmLrV67Pw
Excellent win, but now we need to keep up this momentum!
Our next 5 games should all be wins. 4 at home, away is at a bad Oregon team. Our only tough game is against an up and down Indiana team (they've lost four in a row).
Soooo happy we won! 💙💛💙💛
But where the heck were these players all season? They are getting paid a lot more than most of us fans, and they readily admit their competitive greatness was missing, but why? No excuses, not travel, not road games, none!
I had lost all faith. But if this team can sustain this level of play, with better rebounding of course, then we have a chance to dance.
When Skyy returns, our level of toughness will be even greater.
Go Bruins!!! 💙💛💙💛
Maybe the players had been too busy counting and spending their NIL money? Hope they avoid a letdown and don't regress against NW on Saturday.
If they regress in any of the remaining games, then my hopium is gone 💯 and I will be back to repeating all the problems with Cronin 🤣
Don't worry, there is a huge stockpile of unused hopium this season, and expect that HC Cronin will continue to be relentless with his "free agents". Remember, anti-Cronin fever is curable!
[Note: I'm not a doctor.]
I will never be a fan of Cronin... his personality grates on me and too many losses and inflexibility. He's not a great coach or recruiter.
But if he stops using the non-standard 'ain't' that would help ease the fever ever so slightly 🤣
Vintage Cronin win
Is he a tactician or a heart surgeon? Because that team that was playing after the 13 minute mark of the first half (as pointed out by B4E) and for the rest of the game, played with grit and sheer will. Those guys last night were warriors.
Bilo must be walking on air today. With great modesty, he credited his teammates.
Mick, too, was very mindful. "Coaches don't win games. Players win games."
That was the most fun game I've watched in a long long time, just in terms of the sustained effort and execution from our guys. Kudos to the team and coaches for putting that one out there last night. It took great performances from multiple players and a consistent defensive effort and execution by the team for 40 mins, and we usually don't have everything clicking like that at once, but it was great to see what we have believed U.C.L.A. Basketball can be.
It does beg the question as to where that performance has been all year (and for the last 2+ years as well). There is no doubt that Cronin is an effective coach when he has a roster that fits and buys into his style, but his recruiting/retention, team building, and offensive systems have never been complete. Last night the offense stayed productive and never went into the seemingly inevitable 6-8 minute scoring slumps that have doomed so many previous games and it was clearly Dent's play that was the difference. After the opening few minutes, he consistently attacked the paint to create his own scoring chances or drew the defense to him leaving shooters open on the perimeter or cutters going to the basket. I asked in the thread whether this was him feeling healthy or him feeling confident (and Matt rightly noted those two often go together), but the other part is that maybe Purdue didn't have a guy who could cut off that initial drive inside and Dent had a great mismatch. Either way, it was a pretty fundamental change on the offensive end from the usual lob-the-ball-around-the-perimeter-until-the-shot-clock-is-low-and-then-play-desperate-iso-ball. Hopefully we can see that continue from Dent, and from either Tyler or Clark for some minutes so Dent isn't having to carry that load for 39 minutes every game.
And a final old-man-yelling-at-clouds moment, I didn't like seeing the students on the court after that game. In accordance with our program's elite tradition and standards, you didn't go on the court for a midseason home win over just a #4 team. Rushing the court was for beating a #1 or winning a conference title. We don't hang Sweet 16 banners in Pauley. I get it's a different time for both the kids and for our program, but act like you've been there before - and that you plan on being there again.
I am definitely Team Storm the Court. College should be fun and we should be encouraging students to become lifelong fans, so why bar them from doing something that every other fanbase is able to do? Telling a bunch of kids they can’t do something because of “tradition” or whatever isn’t a good way to build a persistent fanbase.
There has been one trip past the Sweet 16 since the current freshman were born. God forbid the students enjoy themselves.
I am THE "Get Off My Lawn!" curmudgeon, but I disagree with you here, g.
Just saw an "ad" from UCLA athletics, announcing that Coach Chesney will be at the 12/31 home game vs Indiana!
Terrific piece on how Cronin's schematic adjustmentsreally showed through. The defensive gameplan against Braden Smith was brilliant, especially having Booker step up with length when Purdue hunted switches. I'veseen similar tactics work in playoff games but dunno if UCLA has consistently executed like this before. The post-doubling math made total sense even when it looked risky.