The refs were horrible. Our free throw shooting was horrible. Our turnovers, inability to score and focus down the stretch were horrible. And Cronin is Cronin - he's been coaching for years and he has the same unfixable stubborn flaws. He is not gonna change.
The difference is we just don't have a true leader and go to guy on this team to overcome the flaws of Cronin. We had Ed and Tyus and Charles to overcome Jim Harrick's flaws. We had JJJ and Tyger and Clark and even Singleton to overcome Cronin's flaws (except against the Zags and Zona).
But this team does not have players who can simply take over with consistency from game to game, who can be the glue when things start to unravel, who can calm the team when the water gets rough, and who can lead by example through words and action.
The NIL is largely to blame for this as long gone are the days of player development and school loyalty and therefore, long gone are the days of the natural evolution of leadership. It's difficult if not impossible to hop from school to school and then transform into a true leader overnight as a big part of leadership is loyalty and the portal and $$$ have taken that away.
Bilo is a good shooter for sure but I don't see him as a true leader with the kind of intangibles that can take a team under his wings and calm the waters - he is a very good player but I haven't seen him truly lead the team in other ways.
I think you're talking about a QB, like a Tyger Campbell. That we don't have. A leader that can control the game. I've never been fond of the "go to guy" scenario, as in only having one guy and opponent can key on. I do think we lack an on floor leader at this point.
You said it Tamra, but our players lost this game. CM gets his share but there as some lackadaisical passing and no one other than the FT shooter can be blamed for the miss.
That's the hard truth and thank you for stating it, mgibby. I know CMC has his critics, but he doesn't step up to the line. It's called a free throw, and it can be argued that missing the front end of a 1 and 1 is a turnover. Tracy Murray has been commenting on this weakness, saying that missing FTs is a lack of concentration and really no excuse at this level of play.
Remember George Zidek... he was by no means a natural talent either as a shooter or at the line. But he got up every morning at 5 am and went to the gym and practiced shooting and free throws for hours. He became an amazing shooter with his hook shot and was somthing like 90% at the line.
Yes, if we made our free throws we would have won. But that doesn't eliminate the fact that we don't have true leaders on this team - something that is truly missing on this team.
Since I focused on this game, I would say put Bilo in earlier, as others have noted here. However, a greater concern is a pattern many of us have also noticed where he doesn't have the best players in the game at the end. An important example of this is the last victory against AZ, where Dailey (one of the best players we have) sat even though his head wasn't ringing in this one. This goes back to former years, and is not a new development. So yeah that's the gist of my comment.
I'm usually the last guy to blame a game on the refs, as there are a thousand moving pieces in every game and I'd normally argue that you need to be good enough to make the refs irrelevant in the first place.
But I'm gonna start by pointing out that UNC made more free throws (24) than UCLA even attempted (22) in the entire game. We all saw that game. We all saw what was going on. The officiating was utter bullshit, but it was also totally in keeping with the east coast favoritism and national narrative that UCLA has had to confront forever. It sucks. And we have to be better enough to overcome it.
So as to the part about being good enough to make that screw job irrelevant, UCLA has to control the things it can: run a consistent offense, play gritty defense, make free throws, and maintain its head when adversity hits. And that's where UCLA under Cronin consistently comes up short year after year - and there is one constant there.
Cronin pulling Johnson in the first minute is a microcosm of what's wrong with his style and why it is fatal for a team's development. Cronin is so overly concretely inflexibly regimented that any step outside his script gets the players off balance and in their heads. The players live under the fear of making mistakes instead of the playing with the opportunity and freedom to reach their ceilings. Coach Wooden famously didn't call timeouts when opponents made a run because he wanted (and trusted) his players to figure it out and respond. Cronin yanks a player after the opening possession for not obeying his design. In the absence of an unconscious shooter like Johnny Juzang or a unicorn leader like Jaime Jaquez, how can we expect our players to recognize, respond, and most importantly, breathe when things get tough and don't go according to plans, whether it's due to the vagaries of sport, the idiocy of the refs, or the fact that there are other D-1 athletes who want to win too?
Our talent and defensive scheme will win most games, despite the lack of a consistent and reliable offensive system. But when it comes down to a final handful of plays in a tight game on the road with a hostile crowd and horseshit refs, do we trust that our players have what it takes to make the plays that will make the difference?
💯on point in pinpointing and expanding on Cronin's fatal flaws. And Cronin's lack of introspection or 40,000 ft view of what he does wrong over and over again, will invariably lead us to never, never land when it comes to winning a Nattie. What a contrast to Wooden...
Lunchpail 'tough as nails' players like JJJ and Tyger are rare and make any coach look great. Wooden knew how to develop great players no matter their individual strengths or weaknesses - he simply got the best from them because he was a true teacher who knew that when the lessons were taught, his players could carry them through to the court.
You put it better than I did, Tamara. We all know Coach Wooden always considered himself a teacher, and that was his greatest strength.
A good analogy (maybe lol) is the difference between learning a language and learning conversational phrases. It's fine to memorize how to say "I want roast duck and a beer" in Czech before traveling to Prague, but if you get there and change your mind and want fried cheese instead but haven't memorized those words, or if the waiter comes responds in Czech and says they're out of duck and asks what size beer but you haven't learned enough to interpret that response, that first memorized phrase will leave you hungry and thirsty. That's UCLA under Cronin, conversational basketball. Wooden taught the language and his players became fluent.
That's very fair, Jim. The players shouldn't be excused for missing free throws (see my Scandinavian Death Metal lyrics from last week for my feelings on that), but UNC only shot in the 60's from the stripe too. I'm focusing on the ongoing issue that we don't have more options or adaptability or inherent creativity in our offensive arsenal to counter a bad FT night or when other holes in the game appear. We were better than that other team yesterday and there's no good excuse for losing that game.
And I'm totally with you, Greg, with only two options for the other team to watch, someone else has to step up. Alas, we have seen no one else and must live and die by the FTs.
Yes, Cronin is an utter control freak, and basketball as you aptly point out is part mental - a big part. When you play with a constant fear of getting yanked for one mistake and then get yanked, that doesn't build mental toughness, but it sure can break it. Cronin yanks players at will as I guess he thinks that one mistake deserves punishment and certainly a throw under the bus.
Yet...
What confounds Cronin's short death leash for breaking confidence is his inexplicable hiprocacy. Cronin keeps Dylan on the floor during a horrendous showing of turnovers, missed shots, lack of focus... And he has kept Skyy on the floor in prior games when he was having a terrible game. He also kept Bilo off the floor way too long during the UNC game and it broke his rhythm.
All told... Cronin doesn't have a natural feel for his players state of mind or for the game, and that's why his yanking, not yanking and his rotations are nonsensically horrific at times.
And yes, his one consistency is his lack of accumen when it comes to having a fluid offense that works effectively no matter the situation. I remember calling Ed O'Bannon's 1995 championship team 'poetry in motion.' If you watch those games that seaaon and in March Madness, there is almost an elegance to the offense and the defense was great too - just watch what George Zidek did to Corliss Williamson in the paint.
That was disgusting, Coach MC save Tyler for too long, Long enough to let Tyler lose his mojo. We need to spend a week or more practicing free throws. Uncontested shots!
Let's mourn this loss. Our players are looking for Bilodeaux or Mack to save the day while they play lackadaisically. We had our chances! The Refs were bad but so were we.
A former Coach was excoriated when he said, "I can't shoot the ball for them." The script has flipped. Now it's the fans who say CMC can't be faulted for players missing free throws.
not nice. His alternative was....to not get a pay raise. Don't tell me you would not have done the same thing. Most of us have done that in our professions. Can't fault a guy for gong out to look for more money and then staying put when his current job matches it.
Wah. Barnes wasn't a miss. Deal with it. He used UCLA to get more money from Tennessee. I could give two shits whether you think my comment was nice or not.
I never wanted Barnes as our coach and don't wish he was our coach now. I think we got extremely lucky swinging and missing multiple times and having Cronin fall into our lap. All I'm saying is he did what every coach would do -- and what you or I would do -- to get a pay raise. And that is, if your current employer is not paying you appropriately, you seek more money elsewhere and let them match it.
One problem was really only two guys came ready to play on offense against UNC......Bilodeau and Mack. Once Bilodeau got his 4th foul, they struggled to put the ball in the basket. Missed FTs essentially cost us the game.
We were out rebounded on the offensive end 7 to 9 and it really hurt at the end of the game. I will say this again, our biggest problem is that we do not have a true Big to protect the paint area and it is not surprising the number of fouls Bilodeau picks up playing the post or that he only had 3 rebounds for the game. Bilodeau is a skilled shooter but does not have great defensive abilities. UNC is a small team and has had problems all season with rebounds but out rebounded us 34-28.
Hard to teach good free throw mechanics in the middle of the season and 13-22 is not going to get it done in close games. BTW, we would have taken more FT's if we did not miss so many front ends which killed us late.
Was a total shit show by UCLA, the kind that should be forgotten about because there were too many problems to mention and correct. BTW, while UNC shot more FT's than us, the ones on reach ins and moving blocks were legitimate. I do not think the refs, particularly in the second half were so bad and teams got to learn how to to adjust to the way the refs are calling the game.
This team is ok. The offense started clicking a bit and I actually think they’ll get better. Inability to adjust at the end of the game cost them some.
Mack should be starting. He’s proven he’s one of the few players that can put the ball in the net. Even though I think giving home the ball at the end isn’t what would do, it’s a fine decision as he’s the only real slasher on the team. I’d like to see an actual play drawn up though instead of just street ball… but that’s how cronin rolls, ucla doesn’t have offensive plays. Just one on one iso ball. That’s what you get with a cronin coached team. A banked three saved ucla against oregon, but ucla can’t save it until the end and hope for miracles.
This team does have depth. I actually think Mara has gotten better. Someone mentioned there are no nba prospects on this team. I’d say Dailey and Mara both still have a shot.
The presence to play the same players when it’s clearly not working is also a cronin philosophy. If it’s broke, he ain’t changing. Hammer home the goal and hope that some iso players can carry the team by the end of the season. That’s cronins mindset. Practice defense and hope someone grows into an iso one on one player. Mack was that last season and is this season. There really aren’t any offensive plays though. Why was stephanovich even on the court at the end? He’s poor at defense and got beat and had to foul Davis. On the other end of the court there’s no play calls for him even though that’s what he needs. So did singleton, but those guys don’t have any play calls aside from the inbounds play which is to pass into the corner for a jump shot… that’s it though. That’s why you have two players scoring all the points because it’s clear they don’t actually practice offensive sets. Just defense and iso ball offense
Coach Cronin has assembled his first competitive "free-agent"/NIL team this season, but it was utterly disappointing to watch them fall apart and lose to NC after leading for most of the way. They've shown that they can play tough defense and win gritty, but still need a ton of improvement on their rebounding, offense, FT shooting, and individual consistency. Can't wait to see how they'll perform in conference play.
With regards to next Saturday's final non-conference game, I hope the Bruins can bounce back and finally win against Coach Few. UCLA under Coach Cronin has had zero luck so far against Gonzaga and NC (0-7 combined overall record):
2019-20: North Carolina 74-64
2020-01: Gonzaga 93-90 OT (Final Four)
2021-02: Gonzaga 83-63, North Carolina 73-66 (Sweet-16)
The key is we don't have a fluid, flexible offense that adjusts when needed. And we don't have true genuine leaders on this team - due to your accurate "free agent" depiction of the team. Although we have pieces of talent, we don't have a coach who has a much needed offensive accumen...
Cronin doesn't care about offense and believes that if you have a great defense then there will be just enough of an average offense to pull out a win.
Cronin needs to learn how great defense and great offense (see the Women's BB team) are possible but he has three strikes: 1. He does not have a great offensive mind. 2. He won't hire someone who has a great offensive mind. 3. He is too stubborn and unwilling to lessen his unyielding need to control his players, breaking their confidence in high pressure situations.
Cronin has the makings of never winning a Nattie, but also he is good enough not to ever be fired. Sad state of affairs.
But perhaps this defines Cronin's treatment of his players and lack of understanding of human beings... He joked at the Press Conference after the Zona game that he was going to have to figure out how to pay for his daughter's college tuition of $80,000 a year. You have got to be kidding! He makes millions upon millions every year - his comment was disgusting and insulting to the millions who are scraping by. Idk, I just don't have much respect for him, regardless of how many wins or losses.
But of course I will be cheering on our Bruins against the Zags. My deep love for UCLA will never be altered regardless.
I don't believe Coach Cronin doesn't care about offense--he just seems to prefer iso-ball and relying on his most skilled players to create and score. By the way, if you want some, I still have a stash of leftover hopium from Coach Cronin's Year-4 season because none was ever necessary during last season. Might help make all or some of the negative flaws you mentioned to disappear (temporarily)... :-)
I hate the Zags too! Despise them. No need for hopium as I am always in conflict 🤣 Love my Bruins, don't like Cronin which reaches far beyond his iso ball coaching. Go Bruins!
We are 10-2 (easy schedule, but still a lot of good wins) and ranked #22 in the land, but based on some of these comments you'd think we were 5-7 with no hope of the tournament. We were never going to run the table. I'm not going to freak out that we let one get away 3000 miles away against a team that is pretty comparable.
We have one of the best coaches in the nation that the players adore. Stay the course.
Actually, they need to both study hard and practice hard EVERY week!
But fear not, it's still early in the season to panic, with 19 games yet to be played in the regular season, followed by the B1G Conference tourney in Indianapolis.
A lot of negativity on this thread for a team that only has two losses and has quality road wins against Oregon and Arizona.
I actually found the UNC game encouraging rather than deflating. Here’s why:
- without Dailey playing, ucla pushed the lead to 16 in the second half.
- right when ucla extended the lead to 16, Bilodeau was hit with two questionable fouls and had to sit for an extended period where they lost the lead.
So without the two best players, they lost the lead - it’s natural - take the two best players off any nba/college team and see how well they do against a decent opponent. And yet, ucla was 3 missed free throws and/or a couple of frustrating bad calls from a victory. We would be talking about our team’s grit if the play where Andrews lost the ball in the final minute was properly called. Or if the UNC player who barreled into Lazar was properly called for a foul. My view of the team and its effort doesnt change simply because we didn’t get those calls.
The poster saying he wishes we have Rick Barnes baffles me. Tennessee has had final four level talent the last couple of years and has never made it that far under Barnes. Cronin has been known to get his players to play above expectations. He did that on his final four run, had a team be legit national title contenders until we had two devastating injuries, and even this year, the team that showed up against UNC, Arizona, and Oregon is clearly not the same team that lost to New Mexico. Skyy Clark, Dailey, Mara are all improved. Only exception is Andrews who I think should lose his starting spot and be encouraged to transfer if things don’t turn around. But I still have faith in this team and if you told me we’d be 10-2 going into the Gonzaga game at the beginning of the season I would’ve thought things were going very very well.
I definitely think Mack should be starting in place of Andrews. Andrews turnovers were inexcusable. Not sure what has happened to him but he is just not focused. Perhaps he's going through challenges that we don't know about.
Inexcusable.
💯 Sea.
That's a long flight home for the players to replay shoulda woulda coulda, while CMC seethes and blames the refs and his players for coming up short.
The refs were horrible. Our free throw shooting was horrible. Our turnovers, inability to score and focus down the stretch were horrible. And Cronin is Cronin - he's been coaching for years and he has the same unfixable stubborn flaws. He is not gonna change.
The difference is we just don't have a true leader and go to guy on this team to overcome the flaws of Cronin. We had Ed and Tyus and Charles to overcome Jim Harrick's flaws. We had JJJ and Tyger and Clark and even Singleton to overcome Cronin's flaws (except against the Zags and Zona).
But this team does not have players who can simply take over with consistency from game to game, who can be the glue when things start to unravel, who can calm the team when the water gets rough, and who can lead by example through words and action.
The NIL is largely to blame for this as long gone are the days of player development and school loyalty and therefore, long gone are the days of the natural evolution of leadership. It's difficult if not impossible to hop from school to school and then transform into a true leader overnight as a big part of leadership is loyalty and the portal and $$$ have taken that away.
This all makes me truly sad.
I would debate that a bit. Bilodeau is a pretty solid go to guy. The irony is that he was 5-6 from three and only 3-7 from the line.
3 of his 4 misses came in the last 4 minutes, after he had sat a bit. Not great, but interesting to think about.
Bilo is a good shooter for sure but I don't see him as a true leader with the kind of intangibles that can take a team under his wings and calm the waters - he is a very good player but I haven't seen him truly lead the team in other ways.
I think you're talking about a QB, like a Tyger Campbell. That we don't have. A leader that can control the game. I've never been fond of the "go to guy" scenario, as in only having one guy and opponent can key on. I do think we lack an on floor leader at this point.
You said it Tamra, but our players lost this game. CM gets his share but there as some lackadaisical passing and no one other than the FT shooter can be blamed for the miss.
Agree
His players missed key free throws. There were other factors, but making the free throws wins the game.
13-22 shooting on FTs. Mick wasn't the one throwing up those bricks.
That's the hard truth and thank you for stating it, mgibby. I know CMC has his critics, but he doesn't step up to the line. It's called a free throw, and it can be argued that missing the front end of a 1 and 1 is a turnover. Tracy Murray has been commenting on this weakness, saying that missing FTs is a lack of concentration and really no excuse at this level of play.
Remember George Zidek... he was by no means a natural talent either as a shooter or at the line. But he got up every morning at 5 am and went to the gym and practiced shooting and free throws for hours. He became an amazing shooter with his hook shot and was somthing like 90% at the line.
Yes, if we made our free throws we would have won. But that doesn't eliminate the fact that we don't have true leaders on this team - something that is truly missing on this team.
Yeah, but it's Mick's job to ensure the right personnel are in the game during crunch time, and he failed that this game
So would you have put Dailey in? Who was out of it and terrible yesterday?
Since I focused on this game, I would say put Bilo in earlier, as others have noted here. However, a greater concern is a pattern many of us have also noticed where he doesn't have the best players in the game at the end. An important example of this is the last victory against AZ, where Dailey (one of the best players we have) sat even though his head wasn't ringing in this one. This goes back to former years, and is not a new development. So yeah that's the gist of my comment.
Is Mick blaming the refs? I know I am, but I haven’t seen any video of him mentioning the officiating in his postgame comments
He said the loss was caused by missed FTs, some bad turnovers, and dumb fouls.
Dailey got hit in the face in the 1st half and Cronin said he wasn't himself after that.
I'm usually the last guy to blame a game on the refs, as there are a thousand moving pieces in every game and I'd normally argue that you need to be good enough to make the refs irrelevant in the first place.
But I'm gonna start by pointing out that UNC made more free throws (24) than UCLA even attempted (22) in the entire game. We all saw that game. We all saw what was going on. The officiating was utter bullshit, but it was also totally in keeping with the east coast favoritism and national narrative that UCLA has had to confront forever. It sucks. And we have to be better enough to overcome it.
So as to the part about being good enough to make that screw job irrelevant, UCLA has to control the things it can: run a consistent offense, play gritty defense, make free throws, and maintain its head when adversity hits. And that's where UCLA under Cronin consistently comes up short year after year - and there is one constant there.
Cronin pulling Johnson in the first minute is a microcosm of what's wrong with his style and why it is fatal for a team's development. Cronin is so overly concretely inflexibly regimented that any step outside his script gets the players off balance and in their heads. The players live under the fear of making mistakes instead of the playing with the opportunity and freedom to reach their ceilings. Coach Wooden famously didn't call timeouts when opponents made a run because he wanted (and trusted) his players to figure it out and respond. Cronin yanks a player after the opening possession for not obeying his design. In the absence of an unconscious shooter like Johnny Juzang or a unicorn leader like Jaime Jaquez, how can we expect our players to recognize, respond, and most importantly, breathe when things get tough and don't go according to plans, whether it's due to the vagaries of sport, the idiocy of the refs, or the fact that there are other D-1 athletes who want to win too?
Our talent and defensive scheme will win most games, despite the lack of a consistent and reliable offensive system. But when it comes down to a final handful of plays in a tight game on the road with a hostile crowd and horseshit refs, do we trust that our players have what it takes to make the plays that will make the difference?
💯on point in pinpointing and expanding on Cronin's fatal flaws. And Cronin's lack of introspection or 40,000 ft view of what he does wrong over and over again, will invariably lead us to never, never land when it comes to winning a Nattie. What a contrast to Wooden...
Lunchpail 'tough as nails' players like JJJ and Tyger are rare and make any coach look great. Wooden knew how to develop great players no matter their individual strengths or weaknesses - he simply got the best from them because he was a true teacher who knew that when the lessons were taught, his players could carry them through to the court.
You put it better than I did, Tamara. We all know Coach Wooden always considered himself a teacher, and that was his greatest strength.
A good analogy (maybe lol) is the difference between learning a language and learning conversational phrases. It's fine to memorize how to say "I want roast duck and a beer" in Czech before traveling to Prague, but if you get there and change your mind and want fried cheese instead but haven't memorized those words, or if the waiter comes responds in Czech and says they're out of duck and asks what size beer but you haven't learned enough to interpret that response, that first memorized phrase will leave you hungry and thirsty. That's UCLA under Cronin, conversational basketball. Wooden taught the language and his players became fluent.
Outstanding analogy. After yesterday's debacle, I will take a large German Stout with a rough finish, and a deep bowl of fried cheese 🤣
"east coast favoritism", you got that straight, Greg, but refs don't miss FTs
That's very fair, Jim. The players shouldn't be excused for missing free throws (see my Scandinavian Death Metal lyrics from last week for my feelings on that), but UNC only shot in the 60's from the stripe too. I'm focusing on the ongoing issue that we don't have more options or adaptability or inherent creativity in our offensive arsenal to counter a bad FT night or when other holes in the game appear. We were better than that other team yesterday and there's no good excuse for losing that game.
And I'm totally with you, Greg, with only two options for the other team to watch, someone else has to step up. Alas, we have seen no one else and must live and die by the FTs.
As usual great analysis Greg. Appreciate your thoughts. Merry Christmas my friend.
Johnson has been terrible all year.
Expanding my thoughts a bit more...
Yes, Cronin is an utter control freak, and basketball as you aptly point out is part mental - a big part. When you play with a constant fear of getting yanked for one mistake and then get yanked, that doesn't build mental toughness, but it sure can break it. Cronin yanks players at will as I guess he thinks that one mistake deserves punishment and certainly a throw under the bus.
Yet...
What confounds Cronin's short death leash for breaking confidence is his inexplicable hiprocacy. Cronin keeps Dylan on the floor during a horrendous showing of turnovers, missed shots, lack of focus... And he has kept Skyy on the floor in prior games when he was having a terrible game. He also kept Bilo off the floor way too long during the UNC game and it broke his rhythm.
All told... Cronin doesn't have a natural feel for his players state of mind or for the game, and that's why his yanking, not yanking and his rotations are nonsensically horrific at times.
And yes, his one consistency is his lack of accumen when it comes to having a fluid offense that works effectively no matter the situation. I remember calling Ed O'Bannon's 1995 championship team 'poetry in motion.' If you watch those games that seaaon and in March Madness, there is almost an elegance to the offense and the defense was great too - just watch what George Zidek did to Corliss Williamson in the paint.
Coach Wooden is not smiling.
That was disgusting, Coach MC save Tyler for too long, Long enough to let Tyler lose his mojo. We need to spend a week or more practicing free throws. Uncontested shots!
Let's mourn this loss. Our players are looking for Bilodeaux or Mack to save the day while they play lackadaisically. We had our chances! The Refs were bad but so were we.
A former Coach was excoriated when he said, "I can't shoot the ball for them." The script has flipped. Now it's the fans who say CMC can't be faulted for players missing free throws.
LOL. Alfraud also couldn't play defense for them. Wait, did he even try to coach defense?
very fair point
Rick Barnes, the would-be Bruins coach before he wasn't, looks like a greater miss each year.
Barnes used UCLA to get more money from Tennessee. So fuck him. Not trustworthy.
not nice. His alternative was....to not get a pay raise. Don't tell me you would not have done the same thing. Most of us have done that in our professions. Can't fault a guy for gong out to look for more money and then staying put when his current job matches it.
Wah. Barnes wasn't a miss. Deal with it. He used UCLA to get more money from Tennessee. I could give two shits whether you think my comment was nice or not.
I never wanted Barnes as our coach and don't wish he was our coach now. I think we got extremely lucky swinging and missing multiple times and having Cronin fall into our lap. All I'm saying is he did what every coach would do -- and what you or I would do -- to get a pay raise. And that is, if your current employer is not paying you appropriately, you seek more money elsewhere and let them match it.
This was really a heartbreaking loss. I was at MSG and could literally see the the shoulders of our team drop after every missed free throw.
How is it that upper classmen, who are supposed to be team leaders can flub so poorly on the charity stripe?
We give this game away, it was in the bag!!!!
Had we played even 20% below our average performance we could have pulled it off.
Instead, we laid an egg and shit the bed in the last 60 seconds.
I feel the team will come back exceptionally angry in a week and take it to the Zags.
Between these two games (obviously I’d have us win both), I’ll take a win vs. the Zags as opposed to NC…. given the option.
Go BRUINS. I still believe in this team. 😎
One problem was really only two guys came ready to play on offense against UNC......Bilodeau and Mack. Once Bilodeau got his 4th foul, they struggled to put the ball in the basket. Missed FTs essentially cost us the game.
The other thing that keeps bothering me is our inability to get defensive rebounds at the end of the game.
We are not blocking out proficiently and I don’t know if thats on the coaches or on the players.
Either way, that needs to be fixed post haste.
We cannot give teams 2nd chances late in the game. That’s unconscionable.
We were out rebounded on the offensive end 7 to 9 and it really hurt at the end of the game. I will say this again, our biggest problem is that we do not have a true Big to protect the paint area and it is not surprising the number of fouls Bilodeau picks up playing the post or that he only had 3 rebounds for the game. Bilodeau is a skilled shooter but does not have great defensive abilities. UNC is a small team and has had problems all season with rebounds but out rebounded us 34-28.
Hard to teach good free throw mechanics in the middle of the season and 13-22 is not going to get it done in close games. BTW, we would have taken more FT's if we did not miss so many front ends which killed us late.
Was a total shit show by UCLA, the kind that should be forgotten about because there were too many problems to mention and correct. BTW, while UNC shot more FT's than us, the ones on reach ins and moving blocks were legitimate. I do not think the refs, particularly in the second half were so bad and teams got to learn how to to adjust to the way the refs are calling the game.
This team is ok. The offense started clicking a bit and I actually think they’ll get better. Inability to adjust at the end of the game cost them some.
Mack should be starting. He’s proven he’s one of the few players that can put the ball in the net. Even though I think giving home the ball at the end isn’t what would do, it’s a fine decision as he’s the only real slasher on the team. I’d like to see an actual play drawn up though instead of just street ball… but that’s how cronin rolls, ucla doesn’t have offensive plays. Just one on one iso ball. That’s what you get with a cronin coached team. A banked three saved ucla against oregon, but ucla can’t save it until the end and hope for miracles.
This team does have depth. I actually think Mara has gotten better. Someone mentioned there are no nba prospects on this team. I’d say Dailey and Mara both still have a shot.
The presence to play the same players when it’s clearly not working is also a cronin philosophy. If it’s broke, he ain’t changing. Hammer home the goal and hope that some iso players can carry the team by the end of the season. That’s cronins mindset. Practice defense and hope someone grows into an iso one on one player. Mack was that last season and is this season. There really aren’t any offensive plays though. Why was stephanovich even on the court at the end? He’s poor at defense and got beat and had to foul Davis. On the other end of the court there’s no play calls for him even though that’s what he needs. So did singleton, but those guys don’t have any play calls aside from the inbounds play which is to pass into the corner for a jump shot… that’s it though. That’s why you have two players scoring all the points because it’s clear they don’t actually practice offensive sets. Just defense and iso ball offense
Coach Cronin has assembled his first competitive "free-agent"/NIL team this season, but it was utterly disappointing to watch them fall apart and lose to NC after leading for most of the way. They've shown that they can play tough defense and win gritty, but still need a ton of improvement on their rebounding, offense, FT shooting, and individual consistency. Can't wait to see how they'll perform in conference play.
With regards to next Saturday's final non-conference game, I hope the Bruins can bounce back and finally win against Coach Few. UCLA under Coach Cronin has had zero luck so far against Gonzaga and NC (0-7 combined overall record):
2019-20: North Carolina 74-64
2020-01: Gonzaga 93-90 OT (Final Four)
2021-02: Gonzaga 83-63, North Carolina 73-66 (Sweet-16)
2022-23: Gonzaga 79-76 (Sweet-16)
2023-24: Gonzaga 69-65
2024-25: North Carolina 76-74, Gonzaga TBD
Happy Holidays & Go Bruins!
The key is we don't have a fluid, flexible offense that adjusts when needed. And we don't have true genuine leaders on this team - due to your accurate "free agent" depiction of the team. Although we have pieces of talent, we don't have a coach who has a much needed offensive accumen...
Cronin doesn't care about offense and believes that if you have a great defense then there will be just enough of an average offense to pull out a win.
Cronin needs to learn how great defense and great offense (see the Women's BB team) are possible but he has three strikes: 1. He does not have a great offensive mind. 2. He won't hire someone who has a great offensive mind. 3. He is too stubborn and unwilling to lessen his unyielding need to control his players, breaking their confidence in high pressure situations.
Cronin has the makings of never winning a Nattie, but also he is good enough not to ever be fired. Sad state of affairs.
But perhaps this defines Cronin's treatment of his players and lack of understanding of human beings... He joked at the Press Conference after the Zona game that he was going to have to figure out how to pay for his daughter's college tuition of $80,000 a year. You have got to be kidding! He makes millions upon millions every year - his comment was disgusting and insulting to the millions who are scraping by. Idk, I just don't have much respect for him, regardless of how many wins or losses.
But of course I will be cheering on our Bruins against the Zags. My deep love for UCLA will never be altered regardless.
UCLA love foreverer!
I don't believe Coach Cronin doesn't care about offense--he just seems to prefer iso-ball and relying on his most skilled players to create and score. By the way, if you want some, I still have a stash of leftover hopium from Coach Cronin's Year-4 season because none was ever necessary during last season. Might help make all or some of the negative flaws you mentioned to disappear (temporarily)... :-)
I hate them Zags. Go Bruins!
I hate the Zags too! Despise them. No need for hopium as I am always in conflict 🤣 Love my Bruins, don't like Cronin which reaches far beyond his iso ball coaching. Go Bruins!
We are 10-2 (easy schedule, but still a lot of good wins) and ranked #22 in the land, but based on some of these comments you'd think we were 5-7 with no hope of the tournament. We were never going to run the table. I'm not going to freak out that we let one get away 3000 miles away against a team that is pretty comparable.
We have one of the best coaches in the nation that the players adore. Stay the course.
You and I don't agree on 'Cronin is one of the best.' I would love to have my opinion be reversed but I don't see him changing.
But we do agree on other much more important things :) Merry Christmas, Evan! 💙💛
Can CBC get them to practice hard for a week on the basics?
Actually, they need to both study hard and practice hard EVERY week!
But fear not, it's still early in the season to panic, with 19 games yet to be played in the regular season, followed by the B1G Conference tourney in Indianapolis.
Go Bruins!
Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Bruin friends since we won't meet again until next year, y'all stay safe!
Love ya Jim! Merry Christmas to you and your lovely family 🎄❄️❤️💙💛
Love ya, too, Tamara, you and yours have a very Merry Christmas!
💙💛
And to you and yours, too, Jim, and all the other Bruin fans here and your loved ones. Peace.
A lot of negativity on this thread for a team that only has two losses and has quality road wins against Oregon and Arizona.
I actually found the UNC game encouraging rather than deflating. Here’s why:
- without Dailey playing, ucla pushed the lead to 16 in the second half.
- right when ucla extended the lead to 16, Bilodeau was hit with two questionable fouls and had to sit for an extended period where they lost the lead.
So without the two best players, they lost the lead - it’s natural - take the two best players off any nba/college team and see how well they do against a decent opponent. And yet, ucla was 3 missed free throws and/or a couple of frustrating bad calls from a victory. We would be talking about our team’s grit if the play where Andrews lost the ball in the final minute was properly called. Or if the UNC player who barreled into Lazar was properly called for a foul. My view of the team and its effort doesnt change simply because we didn’t get those calls.
The poster saying he wishes we have Rick Barnes baffles me. Tennessee has had final four level talent the last couple of years and has never made it that far under Barnes. Cronin has been known to get his players to play above expectations. He did that on his final four run, had a team be legit national title contenders until we had two devastating injuries, and even this year, the team that showed up against UNC, Arizona, and Oregon is clearly not the same team that lost to New Mexico. Skyy Clark, Dailey, Mara are all improved. Only exception is Andrews who I think should lose his starting spot and be encouraged to transfer if things don’t turn around. But I still have faith in this team and if you told me we’d be 10-2 going into the Gonzaga game at the beginning of the season I would’ve thought things were going very very well.
hilarious isn't it. A lot of these people were singing Cronin's praises after we beat Oregon. The fair weatherness is embarrassing.
I definitely think Mack should be starting in place of Andrews. Andrews turnovers were inexcusable. Not sure what has happened to him but he is just not focused. Perhaps he's going through challenges that we don't know about.