Mick's presser answered that question well. If you go 4-28 from 3, they can just pack in the defense. Make a few, and the passing lanes open up. Years ago, I remember Duke not guarding Matt Barnes even when he had the ball at the FT line. They just laid off him and protected the rim. He couldn't make the shot. Ironically, he had a long NBA career as a 3 point shooter and excellent defender. It's much easier when you don't need to defend the entire floor.
Tyus Edney would have penetrated in the paint. George Zidek would have scored over anyone. JR and Toby would have created their jumpers. Ed and Charles would have taken over in fast breaks.
If you have a great offense you can handle a great defense. Look at how we tore apart Arkansas in 1995. Arkansas had a stifling defense and we won by 11 points.
You need both a great defense and offense. We have a great defense... We don't have a Coach that can create a great offense.
Tyus wouldn't penetrate without the others hitting shots. Having talent is 90% of the solution. Our guards simply aren't of the quality needed. Great offenses require good spacing. Shooting 4-28 from outside eliminates spacing.
Hard to believe 30 YEARS has passed since that last championship. Yep, I've been waiting forever for the next one. That team had a lot of quickness and athleticism, and if it weren't for Tyus Edney's 4.8 seconds of heroics, we'd be lamenting another early tournament exit. Remember what prevented the Bruins from repeating as champs the following season? It was that Princeton offense (and defense) that knocked UCLA out in the 1st round of the tournament:
Here’s the thing. UCLA is unable to defend fast teams with quick point guards. UCLA is too slow. Take New Mexico, NC, and now Nebraska all as examples. UCLA struggles on offense and Dylan, Sky, and Mack are too inconsistent. I’m actually baffled by the use of Mara. The guy should be shooting double doubles each game. Instead, he is used for screens, which prevent him from posting up low. Talk about misusing talent. He’d fare much better with another team that knows how to use big men. I don’t see a good tournament run or Big 10 record if this is the type of effort we see. Nebraska out hustled UCLA - not a little but by a long-shot. They wanted it more. UCLA plays like they deserve to win without effort.
I see the most glaring problem that we do not have a decent Big. Bilodeau is a power forward, not a 5, and having him playing defense against taller, stronger centers and at the same time expecting him to be the primary scorer and not wear down is wishful thinking. Kyle does not have the size--Johnson is our top rebounder. As for Mara, he may be better than last year but better than terrible is still bad--more turn overs, fouls and other give away than whatever he contributes. Kind of strange to me that with all the transfer players Cronin got, he did not get a decent Big.
In Cronin's scheme, it is give it to Billodeau (which every team is aware and packs in for) or create open 3's which UCLA had but 14% not going to do it.
Andrews is obviously in a very dark place about scoring and it does not look like he can get out of his funk. Do not know if/when we get back Dailey or Kyle?
UCLA will be fortunate to get into the Big Dance unless some miraculous turn around and will not survive the first week end.
I think you are off in your evaluation of Mara. Mara had zero turnovers today. He was 2-2 from the floor, had 2 blocks, a nice assist to Bilodeau in 11 minutes. What he needs is more playing time for this team to go anywhere. And, the guards need to learn when to feed him the ball, where to feed him the ball and also when not to feed him the ball. That comes with playing the game.
Thank you, Army, Mara is learning to use his size with finesse on defense, now on offense he's got that common big problem of putting the ball on the floor on the inside when he could reach the basket without that faint dribble.
I think you both are fair on Mara and just seeing the opposite sides of the same guy. There are obvious glaring holes in his game as UCLA4EVER says. We've seen him get pushed around and be slow to react, particularly on defense. I also see a lot of the potential that Army sees. In the later stages of the 2nd half, he had a nice drop step and baby hook, followed by getting good position in the high post with the ball and when the D came to him he found a wide open cutting Bilodeau for a dunk.
My issue with Mara is that he's almost a year and a half into the program and his development has been frustratingly slow with little progress so far. Mara obviously has some nice moves, can see the game, and his height commands attention on both ends, but his game speed and grit and confidence need to take giant steps, and that's gonna require a lot of real game time. It was clear in Dec 2023 that the team wasn't going anywhere, and I said Cronin should start playing guys with the future of the program in mind, but he didn't. Like Dimitri talks about Cronin not playing the bench against the cupcakes this year, similarly he hasn't devoted time to the players that we really need to be further along at this point in their careers.
FWIW, Mara was even in his 11 minutes today. I'd love to see him getting a more minutes every game, but I'd also love for him to be ready to see those minutes too.
We all see the flaws. As you said, the development requires playing time. If not, it may come from another program in the easy transfer era. Our potential is greater next year, if he gets developed. Would love to see Mara e able to develop the face up shot from the free throw line. It would open up space for cutters and his excellent passing. Plus, a little high/low action with Bilodeau.
In 11 minutes, Mara had one rebound, one assist and 5 points when others fed him under the basket for dunks. I remember he was under the basket for a rebound, was pushed back by a Nebraska guard, then fouled the guard--I call that a turnover. Could not rebound well because he does not jump (can he get both feet off the floor?). The point is his only "skill" is his 7'3" height, he can not move effectively and has limited ability to score--dunks under the rim and a spotty hook shot from two or three feet. He does not have the athleticism, skill or mobility needed which is not uncommon for men his size. Not many Chamberlins or Jabars or Mings.
I had high hopes when he decided to come to UCLA as the "crown jewel" of the international players but he was unplayable last year and not much better this year which is very sad.
I actually think ucla makes the big dance this year. They’ve surprised me and their defense keeps them in every game. The challenge for this team is that cronin isn’t and never will be a good offensive minded college basketball coach. He could do ok in the nba where they can play iso ball as they’re all so talented offensively. In college, there isn’t enough talent for that game plan to work long term and against other good teams. Without the ability to develop offensive game plans that fit the players available, you will never be a national championship caliber team. Last year is a perfect example of an inability to work with the pieces available. In today’s college nil landscape, you must be able to come up with a good offensive game plan every season. Cronin isn’t capable of that. They’re like Virginia who had one magical season but never materialized long term… I don’t think a defense only team works anymore.
I say lots of stupid stuff so you can write me off, but I’m actually disappointed ucla opened the season so well. I think it prolongs cronins journey at ucla a bit longer and I’ve clearly never thought he was capable of turning this team around. Today’s game is the epitome of why a cronin coached team will never win a natty. Not at ucla, not at any other college program. He’s overpaid and under delivered. The fans show up when ucla is winning and entertaining. Without both, we are stuck at this new plateau of mediocrity
Well hello, baskets. You're getting better like a fine wine. Mick's offense is not poor, IMO. It's pretty average. The same guys that beat Gonzaga by making 3s just lost to Nebraska by missing them. We got decent looks and threw up a Pink Floyd type performance. Us old parts recognize that as just another brick in the wall. Mick is a good coach. He's also more than a bit stubborn. We definitely missed Dailey. I don't understand how Mack gets free rein to drive into the entire defense while other players get the quick hook. Having Bilodeau guarding the opposing 5 isn't going so well defensively and is likely to affect his offense negatively. We need to play our centers, warts and all. Why play so many guards when they aren't that good? I don't think most posters understand what players line Mara and Kyle contribute. Mara can look clumsy and weak at times and that's all they focus on. On another board, I read some guy saying that UCLA didn't know how to attack Nebraska's zone defense. I thought that one was truly interesting. This is a solid, competitive team that is well coached overall. With a little better shooting and with Dailey playing, the Bruins win. That being said, some changes are in order. Will Mick make them?
Hey army! Glad for your thoughts as always. I think we are on the same page with Mara for sure. It’s discouraging that he hasn’t gotten more play time. Against my opinions of him not developing, he actually looks like he has. I agree that it’s not a poor offense too… maybe I just think it’s a poor offensive scheme.
The quick hooks for everyone but Mack are also troubling. Harris is clearly out of his league and shouldn’t have played today.
I think that Andrews needs to be asked to dribble and penetrate more. Putting all the pressure on Mack and bilodeau wears them out and they need support. Yes he was stuffed on his drive to the basket at the end, but that’s what they should have been doing all game. Put Mara in there and tell your guards to put shots off the backboard. The 3’s weren’t falling so they needed to try something else. They just waited to long to try it at the end
Mara and Kyle when he returns from injury should join for 35 minutes a game at the 5. Bilodeau is a 4. Not having Dailey was costly. I'd start Clark, Johnson, Dailey, Bilodeau and Mara. My next two guards would be Mack and Harris. If Mack forces things, then probably Andrews. We are deep in mediocre guards!
Careful baskets, when we criticized Cronin's perennial offensive shortcomings last week, some folks here got pretty bent.
The problem with that though is you're right.
Cronin is a great defensive teacher and coach, and no one around here has ever said anything different. UCLA's defense under Cronin is often elite and it will keep the Bruins in virtually every game against any opponent. Holding Nebraska to 66 points and 33% shooting on their floor today is a really good effort. Good enough that any average offense should have won that game.
Explain how missed free throws or missed wide open threes is a coach's offensive shortcoming. Those are open looks. Has nothing to do with any scheme. OPEN LOOKS.
why? he's not an NBA talent. What was in it for him at LMU? Start at a mediocre program in a mid major conference? Been there done that. He's probably having the time of his life putting on that UCLA uniform even though he's barely playing.
Come on, gibby. I'm not gonna refer to one of our players as trash, but I do agree with you that Harris, along with much of the bench, isn't contributing as much as we need.
I'm also gonna suggest that Harris's poor play isn't the thing that is limiting this team.
The complaint is that Cronin screwed up rotations today by not giving Harris more playing time. He's like 2-18 on three point shooting. That's like Bad Will McLendon from 2022-2023. He doesn't deserve more playing time as when he's gotten playing time, he's been terrible. Can't hit open shots, traveled on a drive, and just isn't good on defense. So trash may be harsh, but that's my opinion based on his performance.
Yeah, that's all fair. I share those opinions about his performance, today and this season. We have a big problem at guard right now, and I have no idea why Andrews has regressed so much this season.
Andrews was bad today and has been for weeks, Mack was inefficient, Clark was hampered. If anything, I would just play Perry more. He's made some mistakes for sure, but his offensive numbers are pretty decent.
Is "trash" too harsh a term to use to describe our poorly performing student athletes?
Time was when that term was reserved for professionals, and off limits for our young innocents. After all, those newly adulted are someone's son or daughter!
No longer, for me.
Now, in this age of pay-for-play (or free agency, as CMC describes it), the under performing and slackards are fair game to be the recipients of harsh criticism, as is so with any other government employee on the taxpayers' largesse. And the criticism needn't be softened with a follow-up comment, "Gee, he/she really is a good kid, though."
The kid gloves are off!
So...Dylan is unplayable and may never find his mojo. Will he find peace in the portal, as have Jan and Wil? (Also who bears responsibility for his implosion?)
Related note, I propose that "commit" no longer be used for accepting a college offer. Instead, the reality demands, "Player X has accepted a 1 year contract to Program Y."
I hear you, SEA. I'm just quibbling about semantics, I guess. I don't love personal shots at our kids. But I am fine saying when our players play like trash. To me that's different, and fair. But the environment has changed a lot since I first made that distinction, too.
Bench development was sacrificed to look like Phi Slamma Jamma against the cupcakes.
The word preseason was that this team had plenty of speed to play at warp speed and to full court D, but they could not keep pace with the speed of the Huskers.
Player depth would enable a nine man rotation, but the bench hasn't seen sufficient minutes to hold their own when called upon.
"The strength of this team is that EVERYONE is a shooter." -- CMC
This year's squad represents a massive increase in experience and age compared to last year's heavy underclassman squad, but lack of age and experience explains the squad's losses to NM and NE.
The "please, someone get hot" CMC prayerful offense of the JJ and JJJ years has been replaced by "drive, Sebastian, drive!" this year, but Mack needs to stop driving the lane a la Bryce all of the time.
The Bruins would have won if only they scored more points than the other team (gee, ya' think?), but ..
So what happened in the1995 National Championship game when arguably the best point guard in the Country. a kid named Tyus Edney couldn't play because of a hand/wrist injury...
Oh wait... a guy named Dollar came off the bench and filled in admirably and we won by 11 pts with a six man rotation against the vaunted defense and 3 machine known as Arkansas.
Missing a player on a team that your BFF Cronin called 'deep' and 'shooters' as Sea accurately pointed out, will never pass as the reason we lost.
We lost because Cronin is who he is... it goes much deeper than the scoreboard... reread Sea's comments to fully understand this debacle is much bigger than one game.
I know the Cronin critics enjoy trolling after losses. But they're deluded if they think missing two of our bigger guys had no effect. There's a lot of depth at guard. Front court it was Mara and Bilodeau yesterday. SMH.
The Pollyanas say that to the Bruins' credit, they were in the game despite being 2 men down, a 50% Skyy, too many turnovers, and 4-28 from the arc.
I say that's looking at it backwards. Rather, how did the Bruins lose by 8 to a team that shot 32.7%, 7-25 from the three, and didn't score a fg in the final 7:15? (That's rhetorical, but stating the obvious, it's because the Bruins played even worse!)
Check out Tracy Pierson's post-mortem on BRO. Savage.
Cronin is a very good defensive minded coach, no question about that. But I would like to pose this multi-layered question to everyone...
What do you like or love about Cronin's offense, player development on the offense side, and game-day coaching?
In particular, what is it about Cronin's offensive schemes and in game management of the offensive side that helps us win games, develops players strengths and overcomes weaknesses, and ultimately gives us the best possible chance to win, especially in tight games...
The touted speed and depth of this year's team are questionable and have flaws of construction and rotation.
Post game CMC said that Dominic Harris and Trent Perry played a combined 17 minutes, but neither of them scored. "I told them they'd get opportunities with Eric out." Yes, Mick, they didn't answer the bell when called upon, and failed. Never the question of did you prepare them and put them in the right position to succeed.
Imagine the challenge and mental and physical toll on a player knowing that every game is going to be a slog fest.
It takes a rare player to play for a screamer and to where offense comes to die--difficulty scoring in wins too, and too often everyone goes cold, not just a player or 2 with an off game.
I am so tired of being called delusional and a troll and told I am thrilled if the team loses, by a few in this community. I have cheered for this team despite everything. I cheer for all Bruin teams. I have loved UCLA since I was a teen. I earned two degrees from our glorious school. I could never be happy with losing, ever.
I will never like Cronin, the screamer, the under the bus thrower and the multi-milliomaire who is worried about affording his daughter's college tuition. And yes, Ctonin is the definitive 'where offense comes to die.'
I will be curious if any of the 'attackers' respond with positive comments about Cronin's offense.
I pointed out that guys had open looks all throughout the game, and did not convert them. That’s not on Cronin, that’s just players missing shots. If anything Cronin’s offensive system put them in a position to succeed, they just did not convert.
To talk about Perry and Harris, Perry had multiple open looks in the paint and did not convert them, which UCLA ran plays to get Harris an open look, and he did not convert them (when Andrews wasn’t committing a turnover, which again is not an offensive system problem).
The ultimate irony is that the offense looks much better to the people upset at it if Andrews just plays at a normal level. He’s a frustrating player because we’ve seen him operate at an all-conference level for half a season, and we’ve seen him play at replacement level for a similar amount of time. I also don’t think it’s a problem that Cronin believed Andrews could be close to that player this season, unless people are upset at loyalty now for some reason.
On the flip side, you guys are going to have to pick out what in Cronin’s offensive game plan was the problem in this game, because they generated a ton of open looks on offense, they just didn’t convert.
I tend to find that the views of fans regarding coaching does not match up with that of the players. Fans see the yelling and ask “how can anyone choose to play for that coach”, but players seem to actively seek that out. Look up and down the top 25 and you find hard-nosed coaches who love to yell at anyone and everyone; hell, the last two NCAA championships were won by a coach that would make Bobby Knight blush. Yet players continue to line up to play for these coaches, because there is an understanding that they’ll improve. Cronin has a good reputation as a developer of talent - Jaquez, Campbell, Bona, and countless others that stayed multiple years stand out as evidence on that front - so you’ll have to do way more to convince me Cronin’s behavior is a bad thing.
You are so wrong. No person who loves UCLA would be happy we lost. I am very sad we lost.
You don't even try to listen to what people have to say who have a different opinion or perspective.
You just throw them in some sort of troll bucket. Your loss as there are some very thoughtful people who have great insight into the problems of this team and coach.
Pundits, players and CMC himself said that the team has incomparable depth. Re pace of play, CMC further said that opponents will need to bring oxygen to games.
So when you're down to two front court players because the other two are injured, you don't think that limits the front court depth? I can't with this blog anymore.....people just like to spew bullshit.
Sure, suggesting Cronin botched rotations playing a small shooting guard at power forward yesterday while not giving a trash player more minutes in non conference games is about the dumbest thing I have ever read. Harris is not high major material. He makes Andrews look like LeBron.
To land a 3 point specialist to appease the critics after last year's gang that couldn't shoot debacle. Is CMC's talent evaluation suspect? Resident expert Gibbs recognizes that Dom is not high major material.
Not to throw up bricks all over the place, but that's what's happening. He's not playable. Bitching about Cronin not giving him more playing time is idiotic.
Not true. We all give our opinions regardless of whether we win or lose. I suggest taking a look at GBruin's commentary as he has some really good analysis and thoughts. He used to write for Bruins Nation when we had that blog prior to The Mighty Bruin.
Nobody was bitching after they beat Gonzaga. Now Cronin doesn't know how to use rotations and he's at fault for his players missing open shots because they lost to Nebraska. It's just exhausting. They're going to lose 6-10 games this season. Can you handle that?
At least this disappointing loss can be flushed down the toilet pretty quickly so the Bruins can focus on an even tougher opponent back home at Pauley on Tuesday. Sounded like a lot of Wolverine fans were in attendance for the U$C game at the Galen Center yesterday. Hope the Bruins can quickly recover from their various injuries (and poor shooting!).
Cronin sucks! No offense. His rotations sucked because he didn't play a trash player more in non conference. His recruiting sucks because he recruited a 3rd string(at UCLA) guard. Whine, bitch, complain. 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣
My only "bitch", more a head scratcher for me, is that Cronin did not think about the fact he had only one true Big in Mara, who by any stretch is not a player to hang one's hat on or play extended minutes, and did not recruit another Big instead of Harris. (Hope Mara proves me wrong). Bilodeau and Kyle are both 6'9" and Dailey 6'8"--all power forwards and not built to play the 5.. Michigan has two 7 footers which will be tough for UCLA to deal with tonight. That being said, coaches are going to make mistakes in recruiting but this seemed to be an obvious mistake.
What scares me more than the 7-footers are the guards. Their two starting guards are both averaging nearly 50% shooting from the field. They're a very offensively efficient team, and our defense will need to step up to contain them.
Dailey aside, Bruins aren't going anywhere in March, or even the Big 10, without a pg.
Yep 💯
Thank you for your analysis. 4/27 from three point land. Me thinks UCLA offensively should start working on an alternative inside game. Just saying.
CMC doesn't do inside games.
His Cincinnati teams did inside games.
What happened?
Mick's presser answered that question well. If you go 4-28 from 3, they can just pack in the defense. Make a few, and the passing lanes open up. Years ago, I remember Duke not guarding Matt Barnes even when he had the ball at the FT line. They just laid off him and protected the rim. He couldn't make the shot. Ironically, he had a long NBA career as a 3 point shooter and excellent defender. It's much easier when you don't need to defend the entire floor.
Tyus Edney would have penetrated in the paint. George Zidek would have scored over anyone. JR and Toby would have created their jumpers. Ed and Charles would have taken over in fast breaks.
If you have a great offense you can handle a great defense. Look at how we tore apart Arkansas in 1995. Arkansas had a stifling defense and we won by 11 points.
You need both a great defense and offense. We have a great defense... We don't have a Coach that can create a great offense.
Tyus wouldn't penetrate without the others hitting shots. Having talent is 90% of the solution. Our guards simply aren't of the quality needed. Great offenses require good spacing. Shooting 4-28 from outside eliminates spacing.
Hard to believe 30 YEARS has passed since that last championship. Yep, I've been waiting forever for the next one. That team had a lot of quickness and athleticism, and if it weren't for Tyus Edney's 4.8 seconds of heroics, we'd be lamenting another early tournament exit. Remember what prevented the Bruins from repeating as champs the following season? It was that Princeton offense (and defense) that knocked UCLA out in the 1st round of the tournament:
https://www.ncaa.com/video/basketball-men/2020-03-19/watch-full-game-princeton-upsets-defending-champ-ucla-1996-ncaa-tournament
Can Lauren Betts join the men's team?
Go Bruins!
How about the entire Women's team... they are great on O and D.
Even better! :-)
They would lose as well. Different competition. And much taller. SMH.
LOL, just joking--at least I was...
Here’s the thing. UCLA is unable to defend fast teams with quick point guards. UCLA is too slow. Take New Mexico, NC, and now Nebraska all as examples. UCLA struggles on offense and Dylan, Sky, and Mack are too inconsistent. I’m actually baffled by the use of Mara. The guy should be shooting double doubles each game. Instead, he is used for screens, which prevent him from posting up low. Talk about misusing talent. He’d fare much better with another team that knows how to use big men. I don’t see a good tournament run or Big 10 record if this is the type of effort we see. Nebraska out hustled UCLA - not a little but by a long-shot. They wanted it more. UCLA plays like they deserve to win without effort.
I see the most glaring problem that we do not have a decent Big. Bilodeau is a power forward, not a 5, and having him playing defense against taller, stronger centers and at the same time expecting him to be the primary scorer and not wear down is wishful thinking. Kyle does not have the size--Johnson is our top rebounder. As for Mara, he may be better than last year but better than terrible is still bad--more turn overs, fouls and other give away than whatever he contributes. Kind of strange to me that with all the transfer players Cronin got, he did not get a decent Big.
In Cronin's scheme, it is give it to Billodeau (which every team is aware and packs in for) or create open 3's which UCLA had but 14% not going to do it.
Andrews is obviously in a very dark place about scoring and it does not look like he can get out of his funk. Do not know if/when we get back Dailey or Kyle?
UCLA will be fortunate to get into the Big Dance unless some miraculous turn around and will not survive the first week end.
I think you are off in your evaluation of Mara. Mara had zero turnovers today. He was 2-2 from the floor, had 2 blocks, a nice assist to Bilodeau in 11 minutes. What he needs is more playing time for this team to go anywhere. And, the guards need to learn when to feed him the ball, where to feed him the ball and also when not to feed him the ball. That comes with playing the game.
Thank you, Army, Mara is learning to use his size with finesse on defense, now on offense he's got that common big problem of putting the ball on the floor on the inside when he could reach the basket without that faint dribble.
I think you both are fair on Mara and just seeing the opposite sides of the same guy. There are obvious glaring holes in his game as UCLA4EVER says. We've seen him get pushed around and be slow to react, particularly on defense. I also see a lot of the potential that Army sees. In the later stages of the 2nd half, he had a nice drop step and baby hook, followed by getting good position in the high post with the ball and when the D came to him he found a wide open cutting Bilodeau for a dunk.
My issue with Mara is that he's almost a year and a half into the program and his development has been frustratingly slow with little progress so far. Mara obviously has some nice moves, can see the game, and his height commands attention on both ends, but his game speed and grit and confidence need to take giant steps, and that's gonna require a lot of real game time. It was clear in Dec 2023 that the team wasn't going anywhere, and I said Cronin should start playing guys with the future of the program in mind, but he didn't. Like Dimitri talks about Cronin not playing the bench against the cupcakes this year, similarly he hasn't devoted time to the players that we really need to be further along at this point in their careers.
FWIW, Mara was even in his 11 minutes today. I'd love to see him getting a more minutes every game, but I'd also love for him to be ready to see those minutes too.
We all see the flaws. As you said, the development requires playing time. If not, it may come from another program in the easy transfer era. Our potential is greater next year, if he gets developed. Would love to see Mara e able to develop the face up shot from the free throw line. It would open up space for cutters and his excellent passing. Plus, a little high/low action with Bilodeau.
In 11 minutes, Mara had one rebound, one assist and 5 points when others fed him under the basket for dunks. I remember he was under the basket for a rebound, was pushed back by a Nebraska guard, then fouled the guard--I call that a turnover. Could not rebound well because he does not jump (can he get both feet off the floor?). The point is his only "skill" is his 7'3" height, he can not move effectively and has limited ability to score--dunks under the rim and a spotty hook shot from two or three feet. He does not have the athleticism, skill or mobility needed which is not uncommon for men his size. Not many Chamberlins or Jabars or Mings.
I had high hopes when he decided to come to UCLA as the "crown jewel" of the international players but he was unplayable last year and not much better this year which is very sad.
Yep, Cronin's scheme is an open book.
I actually think ucla makes the big dance this year. They’ve surprised me and their defense keeps them in every game. The challenge for this team is that cronin isn’t and never will be a good offensive minded college basketball coach. He could do ok in the nba where they can play iso ball as they’re all so talented offensively. In college, there isn’t enough talent for that game plan to work long term and against other good teams. Without the ability to develop offensive game plans that fit the players available, you will never be a national championship caliber team. Last year is a perfect example of an inability to work with the pieces available. In today’s college nil landscape, you must be able to come up with a good offensive game plan every season. Cronin isn’t capable of that. They’re like Virginia who had one magical season but never materialized long term… I don’t think a defense only team works anymore.
I say lots of stupid stuff so you can write me off, but I’m actually disappointed ucla opened the season so well. I think it prolongs cronins journey at ucla a bit longer and I’ve clearly never thought he was capable of turning this team around. Today’s game is the epitome of why a cronin coached team will never win a natty. Not at ucla, not at any other college program. He’s overpaid and under delivered. The fans show up when ucla is winning and entertaining. Without both, we are stuck at this new plateau of mediocrity
Well hello, baskets. You're getting better like a fine wine. Mick's offense is not poor, IMO. It's pretty average. The same guys that beat Gonzaga by making 3s just lost to Nebraska by missing them. We got decent looks and threw up a Pink Floyd type performance. Us old parts recognize that as just another brick in the wall. Mick is a good coach. He's also more than a bit stubborn. We definitely missed Dailey. I don't understand how Mack gets free rein to drive into the entire defense while other players get the quick hook. Having Bilodeau guarding the opposing 5 isn't going so well defensively and is likely to affect his offense negatively. We need to play our centers, warts and all. Why play so many guards when they aren't that good? I don't think most posters understand what players line Mara and Kyle contribute. Mara can look clumsy and weak at times and that's all they focus on. On another board, I read some guy saying that UCLA didn't know how to attack Nebraska's zone defense. I thought that one was truly interesting. This is a solid, competitive team that is well coached overall. With a little better shooting and with Dailey playing, the Bruins win. That being said, some changes are in order. Will Mick make them?
Hey army! Glad for your thoughts as always. I think we are on the same page with Mara for sure. It’s discouraging that he hasn’t gotten more play time. Against my opinions of him not developing, he actually looks like he has. I agree that it’s not a poor offense too… maybe I just think it’s a poor offensive scheme.
The quick hooks for everyone but Mack are also troubling. Harris is clearly out of his league and shouldn’t have played today.
I think that Andrews needs to be asked to dribble and penetrate more. Putting all the pressure on Mack and bilodeau wears them out and they need support. Yes he was stuffed on his drive to the basket at the end, but that’s what they should have been doing all game. Put Mara in there and tell your guards to put shots off the backboard. The 3’s weren’t falling so they needed to try something else. They just waited to long to try it at the end
Mara and Kyle when he returns from injury should join for 35 minutes a game at the 5. Bilodeau is a 4. Not having Dailey was costly. I'd start Clark, Johnson, Dailey, Bilodeau and Mara. My next two guards would be Mack and Harris. If Mack forces things, then probably Andrews. We are deep in mediocre guards!
Careful baskets, when we criticized Cronin's perennial offensive shortcomings last week, some folks here got pretty bent.
The problem with that though is you're right.
Cronin is a great defensive teacher and coach, and no one around here has ever said anything different. UCLA's defense under Cronin is often elite and it will keep the Bruins in virtually every game against any opponent. Holding Nebraska to 66 points and 33% shooting on their floor today is a really good effort. Good enough that any average offense should have won that game.
But there's the problem. Again.
💯 spot on, as always Greg.
Explain how missed free throws or missed wide open threes is a coach's offensive shortcoming. Those are open looks. Has nothing to do with any scheme. OPEN LOOKS.
Dominick Harris has been trash this year.
Dominick's played less that 8 minutes this year and prolly deserves it.
Yes gib! Let it fly. He is really bad across the board. On defense, on offense, just not a high iq player and he can’t put it in the basket
He made a bad decision in coming to UCLA. Should have remained at LMU.
why? he's not an NBA talent. What was in it for him at LMU? Start at a mediocre program in a mid major conference? Been there done that. He's probably having the time of his life putting on that UCLA uniform even though he's barely playing.
Come on, gibby. I'm not gonna refer to one of our players as trash, but I do agree with you that Harris, along with much of the bench, isn't contributing as much as we need.
I'm also gonna suggest that Harris's poor play isn't the thing that is limiting this team.
The complaint is that Cronin screwed up rotations today by not giving Harris more playing time. He's like 2-18 on three point shooting. That's like Bad Will McLendon from 2022-2023. He doesn't deserve more playing time as when he's gotten playing time, he's been terrible. Can't hit open shots, traveled on a drive, and just isn't good on defense. So trash may be harsh, but that's my opinion based on his performance.
Yeah, that's all fair. I share those opinions about his performance, today and this season. We have a big problem at guard right now, and I have no idea why Andrews has regressed so much this season.
Andrews was bad today and has been for weeks, Mack was inefficient, Clark was hampered. If anything, I would just play Perry more. He's made some mistakes for sure, but his offensive numbers are pretty decent.
None of our guards played well today. I would like to see Perry play more as well. Don't know what the result of that would have been.
Is "trash" too harsh a term to use to describe our poorly performing student athletes?
Time was when that term was reserved for professionals, and off limits for our young innocents. After all, those newly adulted are someone's son or daughter!
No longer, for me.
Now, in this age of pay-for-play (or free agency, as CMC describes it), the under performing and slackards are fair game to be the recipients of harsh criticism, as is so with any other government employee on the taxpayers' largesse. And the criticism needn't be softened with a follow-up comment, "Gee, he/she really is a good kid, though."
The kid gloves are off!
So...Dylan is unplayable and may never find his mojo. Will he find peace in the portal, as have Jan and Wil? (Also who bears responsibility for his implosion?)
Related note, I propose that "commit" no longer be used for accepting a college offer. Instead, the reality demands, "Player X has accepted a 1 year contract to Program Y."
Sorry, Tamara. I, too, hate it.
I hear you, SEA. I'm just quibbling about semantics, I guess. I don't love personal shots at our kids. But I am fine saying when our players play like trash. To me that's different, and fair. But the environment has changed a lot since I first made that distinction, too.
I understand and appreciate the distinction you draw.
Let me see if I correctly understand the thread:
The team doesn't have a playable pg.
The team doesn't have a starting c.
The 4 plays out of position at the 5.
The leading rebounder is the 3, and his sub.
Bench development was sacrificed to look like Phi Slamma Jamma against the cupcakes.
The word preseason was that this team had plenty of speed to play at warp speed and to full court D, but they could not keep pace with the speed of the Huskers.
Player depth would enable a nine man rotation, but the bench hasn't seen sufficient minutes to hold their own when called upon.
"The strength of this team is that EVERYONE is a shooter." -- CMC
This year's squad represents a massive increase in experience and age compared to last year's heavy underclassman squad, but lack of age and experience explains the squad's losses to NM and NE.
The "please, someone get hot" CMC prayerful offense of the JJ and JJJ years has been replaced by "drive, Sebastian, drive!" this year, but Mack needs to stop driving the lane a la Bryce all of the time.
The Bruins would have won if only they scored more points than the other team (gee, ya' think?), but ..
Mick can't shoot the ball for them!
No Dailey, no winning.
Sea is 💯 spot on...
So what happened in the1995 National Championship game when arguably the best point guard in the Country. a kid named Tyus Edney couldn't play because of a hand/wrist injury...
Oh wait... a guy named Dollar came off the bench and filled in admirably and we won by 11 pts with a six man rotation against the vaunted defense and 3 machine known as Arkansas.
Missing a player on a team that your BFF Cronin called 'deep' and 'shooters' as Sea accurately pointed out, will never pass as the reason we lost.
We lost because Cronin is who he is... it goes much deeper than the scoreboard... reread Sea's comments to fully understand this debacle is much bigger than one game.
Playing a 6'3" guard at power forward when the 6'8" power forward was injured had no effect? LOL.
So with all the depth on this team, we had no one... 🤣🤣🤣
I know the Cronin critics enjoy trolling after losses. But they're deluded if they think missing two of our bigger guys had no effect. There's a lot of depth at guard. Front court it was Mara and Bilodeau yesterday. SMH.
I never said it didn't have an impact. Of course it impacts a game But our offensive woes have been present even in the wins.
Check out last year's shooting stats. LMAO 🤣.
Is the cup half empty or half full?
The Pollyanas say that to the Bruins' credit, they were in the game despite being 2 men down, a 50% Skyy, too many turnovers, and 4-28 from the arc.
I say that's looking at it backwards. Rather, how did the Bruins lose by 8 to a team that shot 32.7%, 7-25 from the three, and didn't score a fg in the final 7:15? (That's rhetorical, but stating the obvious, it's because the Bruins played even worse!)
Check out Tracy Pierson's post-mortem on BRO. Savage.
I feel like BRO has been ridiculously apologetic for Cronin for quite some time.
Let's see how many whiners there are after the next win.
Cronin is a very good defensive minded coach, no question about that. But I would like to pose this multi-layered question to everyone...
What do you like or love about Cronin's offense, player development on the offense side, and game-day coaching?
In particular, what is it about Cronin's offensive schemes and in game management of the offensive side that helps us win games, develops players strengths and overcomes weaknesses, and ultimately gives us the best possible chance to win, especially in tight games...
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
Your "CMC is who he is."
The touted speed and depth of this year's team are questionable and have flaws of construction and rotation.
Post game CMC said that Dominic Harris and Trent Perry played a combined 17 minutes, but neither of them scored. "I told them they'd get opportunities with Eric out." Yes, Mick, they didn't answer the bell when called upon, and failed. Never the question of did you prepare them and put them in the right position to succeed.
Imagine the challenge and mental and physical toll on a player knowing that every game is going to be a slog fest.
It takes a rare player to play for a screamer and to where offense comes to die--difficulty scoring in wins too, and too often everyone goes cold, not just a player or 2 with an off game.
I 💯 agree with everything you said, Sea.
I am so tired of being called delusional and a troll and told I am thrilled if the team loses, by a few in this community. I have cheered for this team despite everything. I cheer for all Bruin teams. I have loved UCLA since I was a teen. I earned two degrees from our glorious school. I could never be happy with losing, ever.
I will never like Cronin, the screamer, the under the bus thrower and the multi-milliomaire who is worried about affording his daughter's college tuition. And yes, Ctonin is the definitive 'where offense comes to die.'
I will be curious if any of the 'attackers' respond with positive comments about Cronin's offense.
I pointed out that guys had open looks all throughout the game, and did not convert them. That’s not on Cronin, that’s just players missing shots. If anything Cronin’s offensive system put them in a position to succeed, they just did not convert.
To talk about Perry and Harris, Perry had multiple open looks in the paint and did not convert them, which UCLA ran plays to get Harris an open look, and he did not convert them (when Andrews wasn’t committing a turnover, which again is not an offensive system problem).
The ultimate irony is that the offense looks much better to the people upset at it if Andrews just plays at a normal level. He’s a frustrating player because we’ve seen him operate at an all-conference level for half a season, and we’ve seen him play at replacement level for a similar amount of time. I also don’t think it’s a problem that Cronin believed Andrews could be close to that player this season, unless people are upset at loyalty now for some reason.
Thank you for stepping in.
Any thoughts on the short leash as a teaching tool?
And an update on DD's experienced team this year.
"We shot 42% from the 3 for the month of December as a team."
That's a positive on the offense.
Also the ft disparity was absurd, but CMC didn't blame that for the loss.
On the flip side, you guys are going to have to pick out what in Cronin’s offensive game plan was the problem in this game, because they generated a ton of open looks on offense, they just didn’t convert.
I tend to find that the views of fans regarding coaching does not match up with that of the players. Fans see the yelling and ask “how can anyone choose to play for that coach”, but players seem to actively seek that out. Look up and down the top 25 and you find hard-nosed coaches who love to yell at anyone and everyone; hell, the last two NCAA championships were won by a coach that would make Bobby Knight blush. Yet players continue to line up to play for these coaches, because there is an understanding that they’ll improve. Cronin has a good reputation as a developer of talent - Jaquez, Campbell, Bona, and countless others that stayed multiple years stand out as evidence on that front - so you’ll have to do way more to convince me Cronin’s behavior is a bad thing.
i can't believe they are still on him for screaming. comical.
The Cronin critics are estatic about the L. They get to troll about the depth and lack of scoring. Funny how they shut the fuck up last weekend.
You are so wrong. No person who loves UCLA would be happy we lost. I am very sad we lost.
You don't even try to listen to what people have to say who have a different opinion or perspective.
You just throw them in some sort of troll bucket. Your loss as there are some very thoughtful people who have great insight into the problems of this team and coach.
Laughing about what Cronin said about depth and putting it into a warped context is indeed trolling. The truth hurts. Sorry.
Gibbs,
Pundits, players and CMC himself said that the team has incomparable depth. Re pace of play, CMC further said that opponents will need to bring oxygen to games.
So when you're down to two front court players because the other two are injured, you don't think that limits the front court depth? I can't with this blog anymore.....people just like to spew bullshit.
Sure, suggesting Cronin botched rotations playing a small shooting guard at power forward yesterday while not giving a trash player more minutes in non conference games is about the dumbest thing I have ever read. Harris is not high major material. He makes Andrews look like LeBron.
Then why did Cronin recruit Harris...
To land a 3 point specialist to appease the critics after last year's gang that couldn't shoot debacle. Is CMC's talent evaluation suspect? Resident expert Gibbs recognizes that Dom is not high major material.
Caught gibby in the crosshairs... 🤣
Tamara, you enjoy trolling? Why did Mick recruit Berke? Not every recruit is gonna pan out. But yeah, let's laugh and troll and bitch.
Don't you? He's Will McLendon 2.0.
Not to throw up bricks all over the place, but that's what's happening. He's not playable. Bitching about Cronin not giving him more playing time is idiotic.
yeah we will win next game and there will be crickets.
Not true. We all give our opinions regardless of whether we win or lose. I suggest taking a look at GBruin's commentary as he has some really good analysis and thoughts. He used to write for Bruins Nation when we had that blog prior to The Mighty Bruin.
Nobody was bitching after they beat Gonzaga. Now Cronin doesn't know how to use rotations and he's at fault for his players missing open shots because they lost to Nebraska. It's just exhausting. They're going to lose 6-10 games this season. Can you handle that?
they can't
At least this disappointing loss can be flushed down the toilet pretty quickly so the Bruins can focus on an even tougher opponent back home at Pauley on Tuesday. Sounded like a lot of Wolverine fans were in attendance for the U$C game at the Galen Center yesterday. Hope the Bruins can quickly recover from their various injuries (and poor shooting!).
Go Bruins!
11-3, but reading some of the comments you would think we are 7-7. The knee jerk caucus out in full force.
They were blaming Cronin and his offense after UNC. Never mind the players botched free throws.
Cronin sucks! No offense. His rotations sucked because he didn't play a trash player more in non conference. His recruiting sucks because he recruited a 3rd string(at UCLA) guard. Whine, bitch, complain. 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣 🤣
My only "bitch", more a head scratcher for me, is that Cronin did not think about the fact he had only one true Big in Mara, who by any stretch is not a player to hang one's hat on or play extended minutes, and did not recruit another Big instead of Harris. (Hope Mara proves me wrong). Bilodeau and Kyle are both 6'9" and Dailey 6'8"--all power forwards and not built to play the 5.. Michigan has two 7 footers which will be tough for UCLA to deal with tonight. That being said, coaches are going to make mistakes in recruiting but this seemed to be an obvious mistake.
What scares me more than the 7-footers are the guards. Their two starting guards are both averaging nearly 50% shooting from the field. They're a very offensively efficient team, and our defense will need to step up to contain them.