WATCH: Mick Cronin Talks UCLA's Health, Impressions Entering Season
UCLA men's basketball coach Mick Cronin spoke with the media ahead of Monday morning's practice session at the Mo Ostin Basketball Center. Cronin talked about his team cookout on Friday, welcoming Ben Howland back to Westwood, the status of Mac Etienne and Will McClendon, where he thinks the team is heading into the season and what he expects out of the progression of a freshman-heavy roster.
Saw you were cooking the other day, what were you cooking?
Trying to cook up some wins. Oh, you're talking about the burgers. Man that was a long – grilling out for the team and next thing you know I've got Alex is eating, every one of his assistants is eating. So it was, like, 80 burgers. I couldn't make them fast. A guy like Adem Bona, he's two burgers at a time, they're not like you and I. So, no it was great, we got a new grill out back.
So that was here?
Oh yeah, that was here. Yeah, so little wrinkle, something different for the guys on Friday, coach on the grill. Nothing like a fresh burger, fresh dog, fresh sausage, you know? We're not gonna let coach Savino cook.
Pasta for him?
Yeah, we're still – he claims he can make his own sauce, but I don't know about that. He's yet to make it for me, let's just leave it at that. Coach Ivo says he's good on lamb chops, but we don't buy that here.
Coach Howland visited?
Oh yeah, he looks great. See, what I learned is when you retire, you look stress-free. He looks like he's in great health, great spirits, he's enjoying Santa Barbara, so good for him. It's great to have him back, you know? Actually, he and I go way back, so when he got the job here and – like I had told you forever, I would be here a lot, recruiting, friends and whatnot – but when he got the job is when I would stay, make sure I was staying up, watching his games. Cause, you know, us being friends, so that's one. I was at the Memphis game, the Final Four, actually sat with some UCLA people, was there rooting for him whatever year that was, '08 maybe? Yeah, so it was great. He had great words of advice for the team, words of wisdom for the team as well.
Present him with a jacket?
Oh yeah, yeah. Those jackets are hard to get, Doug Erickson don't come off those jackets for everybody. Those are, like, locked in a safe somewhere. Doug's got them where all his coach Wooden stuff is locked away. It's tough to get one of those, he doesn't even let me give them out. Doug's seniority, so the varsity letter Wooden jacket can only get, you gotta be something. I don't know, you gotta ask Doug the criteria for that.
Close to ready for the season a few days out from the exhibition?
I mean, nobody ever – coaches, we're all paranoid, you never feel like you're ready. But like I always tell you guys, it's a marathon, not a sprint. College basketball's about March, not November. The guys are ready, I know that. Preseason practice is the hardest part of the year. There's a lot of teaching, especially when you have eight freshmen. You know, you get to the games, kids, they need to start playing, they don't want to sit here. Coaches love practice, you know? You don't get any losses in practice and you love to teach. Games become more strategy and stress.
Do you have a starting lineup for the exhibition?
Um, you know me, I never would say, so we'll see. Knock on wood nobody misses class or does anything stupid, so, you know.
Adem is back and ok?
I anticipate him playing Wednesday.
Still learning something new or being surprised every day?
Yeah, I mean, I don't put a whole lot of stock in – when you're doing drills, different guys look good at different times. You know, some guys, in the 3-on-3, if you're a super fast guy, you can dominate a 3-on-3 drill. But we're working on our defense, it's harder to play defense 3-on-3. So you might look great offensively in that drill, but 5-on-5's a different story. Now you have to operate in smaller spaces, make more reads, it's not just about your 1-on-1 quickness. So I would say to the bigger question would be yes. We're gonna have to, as a staff, learn a lot as the season goes on because we have new guys. I would say, like with this team, where we start should be nowhere where we finish, if we can get healthy. And I say that mostly because you've got freshmen that are playing big roles and you also have two in Mac and Will that are coming off injuries. So, you know, I would anticipate that, you know, by February that their injuries aren't a thing, they're not rusty. They'll play before that, but how long does it take them to get their confidence back, dust off, you know, all that stuff. And freshman getting minutes to where they have experience. So we're a very different team than the last couple years, as far as that piece, cause we have some many guys that are gonna be very talented guys, but those two guys could be big. I would say right now, our starting five is elite, but we need those guys – those two guys in particular, we need for our bench.
Any progressions you have in mind for freshmen to set a game pace for them?
Here's what I know, here's what I know. No case is the same, no case is the same. Because kids learn at their own pace, they adjust at their own pace. They also, it could depend on how many minutes a guy gets. You know, the more – if you can defend and rebound, not turn the ball over, you're gonna get more minutes. Therefore, then your offense will get better because you're out there on the floor. It's hard to get minutes if you get beat for a layup every time I put you in. So it's so varied. Like Tyger and Jaime played the whole game, almost, as freshmen. Other guys struggled. It depends on the team you're on. There's just way too many variables to put a stamp on 'Freshmen need 10 games' It just depends, you know? We scrimmaged San Diego State, Amari Bailey looked like – coach Dutcher was telling me he doesn't hunt bad shots. Like, most McDonald's All-Americans don't defend and hunt shots cause people tell them that's how they gotta play to get draft, but he knows that that's not basketball. He's a basketball-savvy guy, very intelligent guy. So his floor game – but that's why he's an aberration, like he gets that. He gets that you can have a great game and have eight points, eight assists, eight rebounds. So, but most kids don't. Their whole self worth is off how many points they score, not how many they give up. So we'll see, it'll all be different, I just think it'll be so many of them will be at different paces and certain levels. But I do know this – you gotta have a bench, back to the original. And Will and Mac, they're not freshmen, they're redshirt freshmen, so getting them healthy is gonna be really important for this team in the long run, to what we want to look like in March.
Will and Mac going to be able to go in the exhibition?
Not Wednesday. Mac is in live practice, Will is not right now. So Mac's ahead of Will. But Mac will not play Wednesday.
Is this the best defense you've had at UCLA?
Uh, no. Too many freshmen. Hard to be great defensively with freshmen, but that will be our goal—to be that. You know, you’ve got to try every day. Coach Dutcher and I blame the assistants for the scrimmage. You know, we’re supposed to be these defensive gurus and it’s like 89-87 or something like that. Like, what were you thinking, how does that happen? So I don’t know. But we’re sure trying. Again, it’s how do you get there? And with this team, you have different guys in the middle. How do you play defense, what’s your best chance of getting up and being a great defensive team, you know, your coverages—low post, one on one, low-post trap, the way you play the pick and roll, what are your strengths, what do you need to hide, you know, a lot of coaching is being able to hide weaknesses defensively, so we’re learning, we’re not sure on all of it yet, that’s why I think it will be a work in progress. It’s also, development again, our bench, great teams, they sub to strength or a better way of saying it is, the guys that play, there’s no falloff defensively, you don’t have to put a guy in that’s a liability because you’re talking about if you’re a top-10 team beating another top-10. So anyway, if you’re playing inferior opponents, you won’t get exposed.
Any of the freshmen ahead of schedule in that aspect?
It depends. The difference is, the fans’ schedule, your schedule and my schedule are never aligned, right? The society we live in today, everybody’s going to want the schedule that we’re going to go out and look like the ’95 Bruins that played in Seattle on Wednesday night and that's not going to be the case. One thing that I have been trying to talk to the guys that are friends of mine in the business because I haven’t had, I mean Tyger and those guys played—and trying to draw upon Tyger and Jaime when they started as freshmen is, how do you make it simple for them? Because as much as you work on stuff every day with them, it’s not second nature to them, so the two things we try to do is demand that our older guys, they haven’t played with freshmen, Tyger and Jaime haven’t played with freshmen, so that they have to be vocal and help them at all times—it’s a new thing for this team. Secondly, how do I make it easy for freshmen—as easy as possible, I should say, so focus on, ‘Guard the ball the best you can, we’ll cover for you or switch for you if you get lost or run in tricky plays, but don’t get beat off the dribble and box out.’ Now, I know that sounds really simple, but it is not. Because trying to teach them how to guard eight million plays, it’s tough. You know, that’s things that take years before it’s second nature, so take care of the ball and guard the ball and play with some physicality, so it’s on the seniors and it’s on the coaches to make it as easy as plausible as possible.
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