So many calls in OT were baffling, some that helped and some that hurt. Other than the out of bounds at the end, the 3rd foul on Dailey was ridiculous, where he was penalized for a defender landing on his back, never undercutting the other player. Frustrating to see bad officiating otherwise mar a fun game to watch.
I think Dent and Perry was just gassed in OT and double OT. They couldn’t stay in front of the Indiana guards With Bilodeau out, it put more of a load on them. With Clark back he can take minutes off their shoulders.
I like UCLA’s fight, especially after an offensive lull that allowed Indiana to extend the lead. But you’re not going to win many games giving up 90+ points. Again defense failed the team
Solid breakdown of the inconsistency problem. That shooting drought in the second half is realy the killer here, not just the bad call at the end. When a team misses 11 straight and still manages to claw back from 10 down with under 2 minutes, thats both impressive and frustrating becuase it shows they could have avoided that situation entirely with better execution.
Cronin said our defense was awful the entire game. True.
But, I would say that our offense was terrible too. We shot terrible at Oregon and again tonight.
Oregon and Northwestern wins were smoke & mirrors as they are near or at the bottom of the BIG. I am happy we won those games but they are not a good measure of where we are as a team.
He said the players were pouting during the lengthy scoring drought in H2, missing shot after shot because they were acting like someone stole their favorite toy and they were 3 years old.
That's helpful.
He also said the players didn't listen to the scouting report. They didn't listen to him. He said they went over that inbounds play 15 times. But...
Oh and he also mentioned that he won 500 games without the best talent 🤣🤣🤣
He says it's all about defense, rebounding, effort, execution. Great, but here's the thing...
It's tragically sad that these players are his recruits, every single one of them. He evaluated them, he picked them, he paid them, a lot.
He's supposed to be their leader and teacher. He's supposed to inspire, mentor, connect, help them reach competitive greatness.
He's supposed to ensure they are sound fundamentally and work on their technique, build their confidence. That kind of stuff.
Whatever he is doing, however he is coaching, leading, teaching. It's not working.
If you’d ever like to know what the rest of the world thinks about cronin… just go read the comments in his YouTube post game conferences. You’ll find that more and more people are saying what I’ve said from the beginning. Cronin is an absolute garbage coach… if the regular beatniks like myself are reading the comments, I can guarantee the players and their families are too. Anybody that watches his interviews and says “that looks like a coach I would fight for”… is an absolute ….. you fill in the blank. The writing has been on the wall from the beginning. The majority of logical basketball players don’t want to play for cronin
Future players being influenced by You Tube comments is about as likely as them being influenced by UCLA message board comments. Meanwhile, Sky Clark is wearing a Cronin Crew shirt on the neck last night and former players have nothing but praise for him.
P.S… dent made the mistake of his life coming to play for a coach who torched any sort of nba draft stock he had last year. At New Mexico, dent had a complimentary center that allowed him to compliment his skill sets. He chose to come play for a coach that doesn’t even roster a true center 😂
Bad news is that we lost. Good news is that we fought really hard still. And there is still a lot of games left, and most of them at home. I still think we are making the tournament, and who knows what can happen in March Madness.
Also , hope we can get skyy Clark back healthy soon
YoungestTo500™'s post game remarks were all over the map. However, he was clear: Reporters are stupid and their questions are stupid; his players (the most talented group he's ever had!, he has said) don't listen and they can't execute. But he can't trade 'em, so what can he do? Any player viewing that can't help but think, "Now THAT'S a coach I would run through a wall for."
I would ask this, have you seen one player, current or former, speak ill of Cronin? I haven't. Tough/Asshole coaches are nothing new to these players, the have likely been dealing with them their entire competitive careers.
UCLA is simply creating far too many low-margin-for-error situations this season.
football coaches talk about "complementary football" (offense/defense) all the time. It's no less important for basketball
Star players can't be caught losing games with crippling endgame mistakes. Donovan Dent... has not been a ruthless closer with the regularity UCLA has needed.
I agree... but I also think it's the word "regularity" that has Cronin so exasperated. Clearly Dent *can* be that guy - as when it really seemed like he took playing against Braden Smith personally - neither he nor most of the rest of the roster plays at the highest, most intense level consistently. I'd bet that most of us who are parents or teachers have experienced wondering why the hell our kids or students make the decisions they do when you *know* they know better... one of the things Cronin said on the radio side post-game does ring true - they play too often like "they think they'll win anyway" which is incredibly frustrating to coach, especially if there isn't internal player leadership...
That said...
We do seem to have had this exact conversation multiple times in the last 5 years - with the exception of the "what if" year with all its veteran leadership. Which is at best troubling.
Right now, we're 1-4 against teams who share one side or the other of the bubble with us (per most common projections) with 3 left. It's going to be hard to get on the right side of the bubble with a losing record against that "peer group" without an upset in the Michigan road trip, Illinois at Pauley, or a major run in the B1G tournament.
My goodness there is a lot of negativity on this board when the Bruins lose. You know, if Dent stays in front of the Indiana cutter and takes a charge and hits a game winning free throw with 1.3 seconds left, this ranks right up there with the Purdue game as one of the best you’ve seen this year. Two teams playing with elite effort for 50 minutes throwing haymaker after haymaker at each other. As Dimitri pointed out, we did not play very well in the second half. Yet, we showed elite grit and a never-say-die mental toughness to take this game to OT. Both the players and the crowd were drained at the end. One team had to lose, and unfortunately, it was us. If we had given up and mailed it in at the end of this game during regulation, then maybe the negativity would be warranted. But we didn’t. Our play the last two minutes of regulation and in the double OT was just short of heroic, despite the refs, no Skyy and no Bilo in the second OT. We shouldn’t be trashing the program after a game like this.
So many calls in OT were baffling, some that helped and some that hurt. Other than the out of bounds at the end, the 3rd foul on Dailey was ridiculous, where he was penalized for a defender landing on his back, never undercutting the other player. Frustrating to see bad officiating otherwise mar a fun game to watch.
I think Dent and Perry was just gassed in OT and double OT. They couldn’t stay in front of the Indiana guards With Bilodeau out, it put more of a load on them. With Clark back he can take minutes off their shoulders.
I like UCLA’s fight, especially after an offensive lull that allowed Indiana to extend the lead. But you’re not going to win many games giving up 90+ points. Again defense failed the team
Solid breakdown of the inconsistency problem. That shooting drought in the second half is realy the killer here, not just the bad call at the end. When a team misses 11 straight and still manages to claw back from 10 down with under 2 minutes, thats both impressive and frustrating becuase it shows they could have avoided that situation entirely with better execution.
Cronin said our defense was awful the entire game. True.
But, I would say that our offense was terrible too. We shot terrible at Oregon and again tonight.
Oregon and Northwestern wins were smoke & mirrors as they are near or at the bottom of the BIG. I am happy we won those games but they are not a good measure of where we are as a team.
He said the players were pouting during the lengthy scoring drought in H2, missing shot after shot because they were acting like someone stole their favorite toy and they were 3 years old.
That's helpful.
He also said the players didn't listen to the scouting report. They didn't listen to him. He said they went over that inbounds play 15 times. But...
Oh and he also mentioned that he won 500 games without the best talent 🤣🤣🤣
He says it's all about defense, rebounding, effort, execution. Great, but here's the thing...
It's tragically sad that these players are his recruits, every single one of them. He evaluated them, he picked them, he paid them, a lot.
He's supposed to be their leader and teacher. He's supposed to inspire, mentor, connect, help them reach competitive greatness.
He's supposed to ensure they are sound fundamentally and work on their technique, build their confidence. That kind of stuff.
Whatever he is doing, however he is coaching, leading, teaching. It's not working.
Just watched the post game… “believe me I know I’ve won 500 of em” 😂🤣😂 somebody give that man a medal! Maybe a cookie 🤷♂️🤦♂️ what a wanker!
Give him a toddler toy... symbolic of his team 🤣
If you’d ever like to know what the rest of the world thinks about cronin… just go read the comments in his YouTube post game conferences. You’ll find that more and more people are saying what I’ve said from the beginning. Cronin is an absolute garbage coach… if the regular beatniks like myself are reading the comments, I can guarantee the players and their families are too. Anybody that watches his interviews and says “that looks like a coach I would fight for”… is an absolute ….. you fill in the blank. The writing has been on the wall from the beginning. The majority of logical basketball players don’t want to play for cronin
Well, we have donut head jelly 2.0
to thank for extending cronin's contract in a hush, hush back room deal that gave him millions more... jelly 2.0 is truly to blame.
Instagram is way telling for comments. Brutal.
Future players being influenced by You Tube comments is about as likely as them being influenced by UCLA message board comments. Meanwhile, Sky Clark is wearing a Cronin Crew shirt on the neck last night and former players have nothing but praise for him.
P.S… dent made the mistake of his life coming to play for a coach who torched any sort of nba draft stock he had last year. At New Mexico, dent had a complimentary center that allowed him to compliment his skill sets. He chose to come play for a coach that doesn’t even roster a true center 😂
The good news for you is that as soon as cronin creates a consistent winning program, I won’t show up anymore.
The bad news is death, taxes, and cronin being a mediocre coach. So I’ll probably be around until cronin gets canned or leaves for somewhere else
Bad news is that we lost. Good news is that we fought really hard still. And there is still a lot of games left, and most of them at home. I still think we are making the tournament, and who knows what can happen in March Madness.
Also , hope we can get skyy Clark back healthy soon
Thanks, Dmitri, this should have been Trent's Big Game.
YoungestTo500™'s post game remarks were all over the map. However, he was clear: Reporters are stupid and their questions are stupid; his players (the most talented group he's ever had!, he has said) don't listen and they can't execute. But he can't trade 'em, so what can he do? Any player viewing that can't help but think, "Now THAT'S a coach I would run through a wall for."
Cronin is to be held accountable for the teams performance but this is certainly not the most talent group he’s ever had.
2022-2023 was much more stacked talent wise. Jaime Jaquez Jr., Jaylen Clark, Adem Bona, Amari Bailey, Tyler Campbell.
Aye, xX.
I would ask this, have you seen one player, current or former, speak ill of Cronin? I haven't. Tough/Asshole coaches are nothing new to these players, the have likely been dealing with them their entire competitive careers.
Notes from UCLAWIRE:
UCLA is simply creating far too many low-margin-for-error situations this season.
football coaches talk about "complementary football" (offense/defense) all the time. It's no less important for basketball
Star players can't be caught losing games with crippling endgame mistakes. Donovan Dent... has not been a ruthless closer with the regularity UCLA has needed.
I agree... but I also think it's the word "regularity" that has Cronin so exasperated. Clearly Dent *can* be that guy - as when it really seemed like he took playing against Braden Smith personally - neither he nor most of the rest of the roster plays at the highest, most intense level consistently. I'd bet that most of us who are parents or teachers have experienced wondering why the hell our kids or students make the decisions they do when you *know* they know better... one of the things Cronin said on the radio side post-game does ring true - they play too often like "they think they'll win anyway" which is incredibly frustrating to coach, especially if there isn't internal player leadership...
That said...
We do seem to have had this exact conversation multiple times in the last 5 years - with the exception of the "what if" year with all its veteran leadership. Which is at best troubling.
Right now, we're 1-4 against teams who share one side or the other of the bubble with us (per most common projections) with 3 left. It's going to be hard to get on the right side of the bubble with a losing record against that "peer group" without an upset in the Michigan road trip, Illinois at Pauley, or a major run in the B1G tournament.
Go Bruins
P.S. UWIRE
Saturday, the UCLA bench was outscored by the Indiana bench, 27-8. It mattered a lot.
A lot of UCLA’s bench scoring is currently in the starting lineup in Perry.
I’m also not really a big fan of focusing on bench scoring. You can get by perfectly fine with your starters scoring the vast majority of the points.
When starters aren't starting (Skyy), then bench depth matters.
My goodness there is a lot of negativity on this board when the Bruins lose. You know, if Dent stays in front of the Indiana cutter and takes a charge and hits a game winning free throw with 1.3 seconds left, this ranks right up there with the Purdue game as one of the best you’ve seen this year. Two teams playing with elite effort for 50 minutes throwing haymaker after haymaker at each other. As Dimitri pointed out, we did not play very well in the second half. Yet, we showed elite grit and a never-say-die mental toughness to take this game to OT. Both the players and the crowd were drained at the end. One team had to lose, and unfortunately, it was us. If we had given up and mailed it in at the end of this game during regulation, then maybe the negativity would be warranted. But we didn’t. Our play the last two minutes of regulation and in the double OT was just short of heroic, despite the refs, no Skyy and no Bilo in the second OT. We shouldn’t be trashing the program after a game like this.