Hey, I'm going to step in here and state there's no reason for this kind of comment. We really don't need people calling out each other. We want this to be as inclusive a community as possible, and this kind of comment can very quickly lead to a toxic atmosphere where people are afraid to engage with the community.
I agree, I expect more from UCLA basketball than most. This season has been a disappointment. Other 2nd year coaches have fared much better than cronin and I’m left wondering what could have been. Cronin is a good coach, I just don’t think he’s “the” coach... so what... why does that bother you so much?
Baskets, I was more wondering about your thoughts with the re-commitment from Amari Bailey.,i too, expect a lot out of UCLA basketball. On the other hand, I understand the math when it comes to the roster. That is why I think your recruiting criticism is unfair. Until we have more slots open up as players depart, we will have small classes and using class recruiting rankings for small classes makes little sense. As far as coaching, we have lost Chris Smith, Jalen Hill and most of Cody Riley. The team simply isn’t the group that we thought we would have. Cronin is doing an excellent job with the cards he has been dealt. It’s still going to be a couple of years before he has players that he recruited. Again, Kentucky and Duke had top ranked recruiting classes last year. Both are in position to miss the tournament at the moment.
This comment reminds me of the celebrations that happened when UCLA made a few sweet 16’s in a row and people joked about creating shirts to commemorate...
Recruiting gained a huge boost as I posted previously that it’s a great win. I’m wondering whether Bailey will stay, but hopeful he will. If he chooses to play college ball it should put UCLA in a top 10 recruiting class and I will have to eat some crow.
Last year UCLA was banking on one 5 star recruit and really didn’t have many slots available. So, yes I agree that I’m being to harsh on cronin for last year as well
In regards to the players out... smith was underwhelming prior to his acl tear. Hill had looked terrible until it was announced he’d be out which may be why he looked terrible. Riley has clearly been struggling. The defense has looked mostly just meh for most of the season and the defensive metrics confirm the eye test.
UCLA has been scraping by all season. I think the pac-12 is pretty poor this year, and UCLA has been a no show against quality teams. They got blown out by usc, Ohio state, San Diego state, and Washington state. The OSU game i call a blowout because they were down by 15-20 for most of the game
I like that they are winning games that they should, but even before smith and hill were out, this wasn’t a good team. They are 15-5, but their “quality” wins look less quality as the season wears on. Colorado at home is probably the best win of the season.
So yeah, I’m tough on cronin, but it’s his second year and until a few days ago his recruiting for next year didn’t look great. There’s also no telling what recruits will do if they get offered to go to the g league.
Cronin has been good at getting the most out of these players. One game of shooting 50% is an anomaly. I just can’t get excited when the rest of this season has been a disappointment based on the preseason expectations. There were a few articles talking about how this could be a special season for UCLA with so many juniors and seniors on the roster. From game one it became obvious that the juniors and seniors weren’t really going to lead.
Last comment is on Jules Bernard. What happened? He looked great at the end of last year, the best I’ve ever seen him play. This year, cronin has managed to crush his spirit? Why? I have no idea what he’s doing, but it’s clearly impacted Singleton and Jules negatively and Juaqez was trending down prior to his magical game this week. The trend line has been heading down for weeks and the win against Arizona didn’t change all the other games that happened this season
Smith was struggling early. Bernard and Jaquez were playing well, then slumped, and played better against the ‘Cats. I don’t think you or any of us have any real understanding of how this pandemic has affected UCLA and every other team this year. Many traditional powers are struggling. I think Cronin is one of the top 2 coaches in the league, along with Dana Altman. Right now, SC has vastly more talent and is a real matchup problem for us. We need to recruit another big.
Sorry, had a dinner tonight and didn’t get to watch. Saw the highlights and looked like UCLA shot lights out. Is this their best fg% so far this season? I’m guessing it is in pac 12 play for sure
Always good to beat zona so how can I complain.
UCLA also landed a good recruit today which continues on the positive. I just hope he doesn’t bounce to the g league. If he’s top 10, hard to imagine g league won’t offer and what 18 year old is turning down 6 figures... time will tell.
Thanks for defending me dimitri. It’s ok though, I am constantly negative. This game is an extreme outlier from the last two months. UCLA hasn’t shot this well all season and expecting it to continue is delusional. Great game but not sustainable with this roster
If someone had told me before the season started, that at some point during the season Chris Smith would be lost to injury, Jalen Hill would be out due to personal issues (health related), and Cody Riley would be playing on a sprained ankle, then I would have predicted we would have finished the Pac 12 season in dead last. Kudos to Mick Cronin for keeping this team in it.
Cronin is also really impressing on the recruiting trail, with now two 5 stars committed. Cronin was not responsible for Covid and the termination of the season last year, and all the recruiting restrictions that came of it. Despite the Covid related speed bumps, including the fact that Nix chose to go G-league, because at the time of his decision it sounded like there would be no California college sports allowed due to Covid, Cronin has his team out performing their skill level, and he is out-recruiting his competition.
Just thought I should provide some of the optimistic view point , not always represented on threads.
Good solid points for sure. I always hope to be wrong and appreciate the optimism that I often fail to see. I’d say I’m the most negative for sure and like the counter balance to see the positives
Mick Cronin is 4-0 against Sean Miller while at UCLA. Now he just needs to avoid going 0-4 against Andy Enfield.
Where's Baskets?
Hey, I'm going to step in here and state there's no reason for this kind of comment. We really don't need people calling out each other. We want this to be as inclusive a community as possible, and this kind of comment can very quickly lead to a toxic atmosphere where people are afraid to engage with the community.
He's always dogging Cronin and whining. I don't believe my comment broke any rules. If it did, go ahead and delete it.
He's the definition of relentless negativity.
I agree, I expect more from UCLA basketball than most. This season has been a disappointment. Other 2nd year coaches have fared much better than cronin and I’m left wondering what could have been. Cronin is a good coach, I just don’t think he’s “the” coach... so what... why does that bother you so much?
15-5, much of it without Smith, is hardly a disappointment.
Name a coach who would come here that would do better than Cronin is doing right now. Bennett, Beard, Barnes,Calipari, and Few all said no. SMH.
We had this discussion before and I agreed with you that there weren’t any other coaches that wanted to come. It doesn’t make cronin “the” coach
He's the coach now, and you're just a critic typing on the keyboard.
Don’t worry dimitri, I have thick skin. My opinion is different than most, but I won’t be silenced 😂
Baskets, I was more wondering about your thoughts with the re-commitment from Amari Bailey.,i too, expect a lot out of UCLA basketball. On the other hand, I understand the math when it comes to the roster. That is why I think your recruiting criticism is unfair. Until we have more slots open up as players depart, we will have small classes and using class recruiting rankings for small classes makes little sense. As far as coaching, we have lost Chris Smith, Jalen Hill and most of Cody Riley. The team simply isn’t the group that we thought we would have. Cronin is doing an excellent job with the cards he has been dealt. It’s still going to be a couple of years before he has players that he recruited. Again, Kentucky and Duke had top ranked recruiting classes last year. Both are in position to miss the tournament at the moment.
Exactly, Army. UCLA is on track to make the NCAA Tournament and hell, they might even win a game or two.
This comment reminds me of the celebrations that happened when UCLA made a few sweet 16’s in a row and people joked about creating shirts to commemorate...
Baskets, sorry the current roster won't win the Natty this year. Get realistic.
Recruiting gained a huge boost as I posted previously that it’s a great win. I’m wondering whether Bailey will stay, but hopeful he will. If he chooses to play college ball it should put UCLA in a top 10 recruiting class and I will have to eat some crow.
Last year UCLA was banking on one 5 star recruit and really didn’t have many slots available. So, yes I agree that I’m being to harsh on cronin for last year as well
In regards to the players out... smith was underwhelming prior to his acl tear. Hill had looked terrible until it was announced he’d be out which may be why he looked terrible. Riley has clearly been struggling. The defense has looked mostly just meh for most of the season and the defensive metrics confirm the eye test.
UCLA has been scraping by all season. I think the pac-12 is pretty poor this year, and UCLA has been a no show against quality teams. They got blown out by usc, Ohio state, San Diego state, and Washington state. The OSU game i call a blowout because they were down by 15-20 for most of the game
I like that they are winning games that they should, but even before smith and hill were out, this wasn’t a good team. They are 15-5, but their “quality” wins look less quality as the season wears on. Colorado at home is probably the best win of the season.
So yeah, I’m tough on cronin, but it’s his second year and until a few days ago his recruiting for next year didn’t look great. There’s also no telling what recruits will do if they get offered to go to the g league.
Cronin has been good at getting the most out of these players. One game of shooting 50% is an anomaly. I just can’t get excited when the rest of this season has been a disappointment based on the preseason expectations. There were a few articles talking about how this could be a special season for UCLA with so many juniors and seniors on the roster. From game one it became obvious that the juniors and seniors weren’t really going to lead.
Last comment is on Jules Bernard. What happened? He looked great at the end of last year, the best I’ve ever seen him play. This year, cronin has managed to crush his spirit? Why? I have no idea what he’s doing, but it’s clearly impacted Singleton and Jules negatively and Juaqez was trending down prior to his magical game this week. The trend line has been heading down for weeks and the win against Arizona didn’t change all the other games that happened this season
Smith was struggling early. Bernard and Jaquez were playing well, then slumped, and played better against the ‘Cats. I don’t think you or any of us have any real understanding of how this pandemic has affected UCLA and every other team this year. Many traditional powers are struggling. I think Cronin is one of the top 2 coaches in the league, along with Dana Altman. Right now, SC has vastly more talent and is a real matchup problem for us. We need to recruit another big.
Sorry, had a dinner tonight and didn’t get to watch. Saw the highlights and looked like UCLA shot lights out. Is this their best fg% so far this season? I’m guessing it is in pac 12 play for sure
Always good to beat zona so how can I complain.
UCLA also landed a good recruit today which continues on the positive. I just hope he doesn’t bounce to the g league. If he’s top 10, hard to imagine g league won’t offer and what 18 year old is turning down 6 figures... time will tell.
Thanks for defending me dimitri. It’s ok though, I am constantly negative. This game is an extreme outlier from the last two months. UCLA hasn’t shot this well all season and expecting it to continue is delusional. Great game but not sustainable with this roster
If someone had told me before the season started, that at some point during the season Chris Smith would be lost to injury, Jalen Hill would be out due to personal issues (health related), and Cody Riley would be playing on a sprained ankle, then I would have predicted we would have finished the Pac 12 season in dead last. Kudos to Mick Cronin for keeping this team in it.
Cronin is also really impressing on the recruiting trail, with now two 5 stars committed. Cronin was not responsible for Covid and the termination of the season last year, and all the recruiting restrictions that came of it. Despite the Covid related speed bumps, including the fact that Nix chose to go G-league, because at the time of his decision it sounded like there would be no California college sports allowed due to Covid, Cronin has his team out performing their skill level, and he is out-recruiting his competition.
Just thought I should provide some of the optimistic view point , not always represented on threads.
Good solid points for sure. I always hope to be wrong and appreciate the optimism that I often fail to see. I’d say I’m the most negative for sure and like the counter balance to see the positives