Good write up, Dimitri. On the money with all your observations.
Personally, I thought it was a very good first game for the Bruins. It was good to see the freshmen get minutes, something I'd like to see continue moving forward unlike last season, when Cronin never gave Watson enough time on the floor to find his role with the team. With 6 players gone from last season's team, there will be plenty of situations when Bailey, Andrews, McClendon, Etienne, and Bona will have to make big contributions for this team to make a deep run although I assume Bona will play on the first unit when he's cleared by the NCAA. Every time I see or hear his name mentioned, it's usually in conjunction with the word "beast" so let's get him on the floor so we can witness this. I can hardly wait to see Bona go up against Oumar Ballo.
I love the path that Jaylen Clark has taken by embracing defense as his calling card. NBA players who can run, jump, and shoot are a dime a dozen. Guys who play team ball and play lock down defense are few and far between. Jaylen's offensive game is still a work in progress. He worked on his shot which looks much better, the handles needs improvement, but that will come in time. But the defense will get him a long career in the NBA, much like it has for guys like Caruso, GP2, and Marcus Smart. He says he wants the conference DPOY and he's going to get it.
I am keeping my fingers crossed that Abramo Canka turns out to be a sleeper and Cronin's ace in the hole. I've watched a lot of his FIBA U20 film and he looks like he's got a good combination of skills and athleticism. Here's the best scouting report that I could find on him:
I've been trying to figure out how I'm going to watch UCLA basketball when the Bruins move to the Big Ten. The Big Ten signed a $7B deal with Fox, CBS, and NBC to cover football, but most of the Big Ten basketball games will be televised on the Big Ten Network (BTN).
As a Spectrum Cable subscriber in Los Angeles, I have all of Spectrum's sports channels. I have the usual national networks and the Pac12, ACC ,and SEC networks, but I don't have BTN. From what I can tell, BTN is not offered in the Los Angeles region of Spectrum Cable. I looked at my Spectrum TV channel guide and all their tier packages and I didn't see the Big Ten Network listed as an offering anywhere. Perhaps it is offered as an unadvertised standalone subscription as opposed to being included in a bundled tier. I'm going to give them a call to see what the deal is.
I certainly hope I don't have to buy yet another subscription in order to watch the Big Ten Network and Bruin basketball. I have too damn many cable and streaming subscriptions now as it is.
I would have liked to see Cronin give Bailey the green light more. With his style of play, he needs a couple of Iso plays where he's driving and dishing, and learning to take the contact / get to the FT line.
Singleton was also very efficient tonight, added much needed outside shooting to our team.
UCLA Cruises in Season-Opening Win Over Sacramento State, 76-50
Good write up, Dimitri. On the money with all your observations.
Personally, I thought it was a very good first game for the Bruins. It was good to see the freshmen get minutes, something I'd like to see continue moving forward unlike last season, when Cronin never gave Watson enough time on the floor to find his role with the team. With 6 players gone from last season's team, there will be plenty of situations when Bailey, Andrews, McClendon, Etienne, and Bona will have to make big contributions for this team to make a deep run although I assume Bona will play on the first unit when he's cleared by the NCAA. Every time I see or hear his name mentioned, it's usually in conjunction with the word "beast" so let's get him on the floor so we can witness this. I can hardly wait to see Bona go up against Oumar Ballo.
I love the path that Jaylen Clark has taken by embracing defense as his calling card. NBA players who can run, jump, and shoot are a dime a dozen. Guys who play team ball and play lock down defense are few and far between. Jaylen's offensive game is still a work in progress. He worked on his shot which looks much better, the handles needs improvement, but that will come in time. But the defense will get him a long career in the NBA, much like it has for guys like Caruso, GP2, and Marcus Smart. He says he wants the conference DPOY and he's going to get it.
I am keeping my fingers crossed that Abramo Canka turns out to be a sleeper and Cronin's ace in the hole. I've watched a lot of his FIBA U20 film and he looks like he's got a good combination of skills and athleticism. Here's the best scouting report that I could find on him:
https://kuzeykl-41267.medium.com/abramo-canka-scouting-report-526f8ca1a2d7
Looking forward to Friday's game against CSULB which should be a step up from Sac State.
I've been trying to figure out how I'm going to watch UCLA basketball when the Bruins move to the Big Ten. The Big Ten signed a $7B deal with Fox, CBS, and NBC to cover football, but most of the Big Ten basketball games will be televised on the Big Ten Network (BTN).
As a Spectrum Cable subscriber in Los Angeles, I have all of Spectrum's sports channels. I have the usual national networks and the Pac12, ACC ,and SEC networks, but I don't have BTN. From what I can tell, BTN is not offered in the Los Angeles region of Spectrum Cable. I looked at my Spectrum TV channel guide and all their tier packages and I didn't see the Big Ten Network listed as an offering anywhere. Perhaps it is offered as an unadvertised standalone subscription as opposed to being included in a bundled tier. I'm going to give them a call to see what the deal is.
I certainly hope I don't have to buy yet another subscription in order to watch the Big Ten Network and Bruin basketball. I have too damn many cable and streaming subscriptions now as it is.
That is going to be a problem.
Is Will McClendon still not cleared to play? We can always use more bodies but seems like he’s going to lose out on playing time.
I would have liked to see Cronin give Bailey the green light more. With his style of play, he needs a couple of Iso plays where he's driving and dishing, and learning to take the contact / get to the FT line.
Singleton was also very efficient tonight, added much needed outside shooting to our team.