WATCH: Mick Cronin on Early Pac-12 Play, UCLA's Developing Freshmen
UCLA men's basketball coach Mick Cronin spoke with reporters ahead of Tuesday morning's practice session at the Mo Ostin Basketball Center. Cronin talked about the state of AAU basketball, Adem Bona's rebounding, the ever-changing schedule of college basketball, Jaylen Clark's status, the development of Abramo Canka and what he expects to see out of Stanford on Thursday.
Mentioned AAU the other night – why can't that system be fixed to make it more like real basketball?
Well the biggest problem in our country, when it comes to basketball, is that basketball's tied to scholastics. Where everywhere else, it's not, you play for your clubs which don't limit your time and access. So if you were to ask an international guy, he's never played a pickup game without coaches. He's never played, you know, AAU basketball, everything is organized and taught and coached. Where here, we limit the access of our coaches. You know, the problem is that the Reggie Moores and Dave Robibo, Josh Chiles – you know, all the good coaches – Harvey Katani, these guys, they get five months, and that's limited. That's the problem in our country with basketball. But the problem is it's being played 12 months a year. You know, so, our guys, they play more unorganized basketball in America than you played organized basketball.
Would you say there's limited coaching in AAU?
No, I think there's a lot of guys that know the game in AAU. The problem is they're all-star games. You got guys from all over the state of California, multiple states, you gotta meet on Friday and you've got 48 hours to play four games, as you and I both sit there. How are they gonna practice? It's not like everybody's from the Valley, you know? There's no Valley all-stars, you know what I mean? Where Amari and KJ Simpson and all these guys were on the same team, these guys are from all over, how are you gonna practice? I mean, you've got no chance. So even in that setting, what chance do they have? You know, it'd be different if they, you know, there was a Valley all-stars, a South LA team, an Inland Empire team and they could all – and they all actually had practice time. But again, where are you gonna get a gym? You're not part of the scholastic environment, even if you could. So, you know, our youth system is just broken. So there's plenty of guys in AAU that know basketball, plenty of them. But sometimes they're meeting at – they don't even fly together. They're meeting at the event cause they're not from the same parts of California or the same parts of Florida or New York or whatever it ay be. So it becomes just an all-star game, it just is what it is. It's just a terribly broken system, which affects basketball.
What has led to Adem Bona being limited in his rebounding?
Um, I would say a little bit of fatigue, not used to be blocked out, you know, at the level you get blocked out. But it's definitely an area, I would agree, that he can improve on.
First time you're actually playing your one-off December Pac-12 road game since the last two were canceled due to COVID?
Yeah. And then I just – you guys notice the Big Ten-ACC Challenge is no more, I guess due to television contracts moving forward once we join the league? Um, so, I was factoring that into our scheduling in 2023-24, thinking you're gonna be a part of that or the Gavitt and, you know. So yeah, just the whole conference games early is a weird thing. I don't know if it's good or bad, but, you know, I think good or bad has sailed, that ship sailed in college basketball and college athletics, it is what it is, so. You know, it would be a lot easier – for all of us, I think – if we could just pay players and go back to the way it was with paying players. Conference games after Christmas, regional rivalries, all that stuff. But so yeah, Ben, I just hope we get through playing games. It'd be good, have a normal season, so. But my focus is on Stanford. It's good to get – our guys needed a day off, we can evaluate where we're at. I haven't had a team – it's funny, my 20th year coaching as a head coach – my first team at Murray State shot a very high – if you look us up – I believe we shot over 50% for the season, maybe, or close to it. So we're at 50% right now, so um, and I thought we could do that this year. I thought we'd get more layups with Amari slashing, passing, Jaylen Clark slashing, passing, added to our lineup. So I think that's the kinda team that we can potentially be.
How much do you talk about that with the team?
Oh, you know, coaches talk about a lot with the team. Your job's to get things implemented, so we get – you know, our passing, if we had just kept shooting 3s the other night, we'd have been in deep trouble. We had 26 layups against Bellarmine, who's a gap, no paint team, which means you have to throw multiple passes and move the ball and move people to get layups. I thought, obviously, the best job we've done as far as getting Adem the ball above the rim. That's been a –it needs to continue to be a staple for us. I thought we had Kenny on a lob, we missed him, threw a bad pass.
How is Jaylen Clark feeling?
I think he’s fine, yeah.
Expected to practice today?
Yeah.
Adem in the post to Singleton to Andrews to Canka in the corner for an open 3?
People talk about ball movement – there’s two types of passes: ones I want to throw and ones I have to throw; a big difference, a big difference. You know, teams that understand that ball movement equals easy baskets and better opportunities for you as an offensive player and your job as a coach is to get that. Now, look, you’ve got to have skill level, guys that can pass, can shoot in college but then there’s the unwilling passer that exhausts all possibilities and passes as a last resort. So there’s two types of passers, so even Amari’s last layup of the game, Dave caught it and it barely hit his hands and he threw it to Amari, which allowed Amari to attack and close out. If Dave holds that ball for a half a second, the kid closes out, Amari can’t blow by his guy. So it’s why it’s why it’s fun watching Bellarmine play because they totally understand the concept of moving the ball but they understand why they’re doing it—to get people to run at them so they can drive by them.
Stanford scouting report?
Similar. They’re always big. You know, since I’ve been here, I go back to, in my late nights watching UCLA basketball—the Lopez twins, the Collins twins, they seem to always have big teams, big guards, they’re offensive rebounding is a big concern for us and it’s our first road game with a lot of freshmen and you have to understand how big of a game this is for us, it’s a huge game. At this point in the game, it’s just a huge game for us to be able to go on the road and get a conference win and you can’t expect to win unless you go in there and outplay them and it’s hard to do that on the road, so our veterans, we’ve got to make sure that they’re giving us great leadership. You know, we addressed it right away after the Bellarmine game, how hard it is to win on the road, especially in conference in any league in college basketball.
Adem still trying to learn how to play without fouling?
Adem, but so are NBA players, in fairness. I mean, when you’re a big guy and you’re aggressive, you’re going to foul. He hasn’t been egregious with it and wild with his fouls—he hasn’t fouled out of a game yet, but it would be better for us if he didn’t get one in the first minute because then I have to get him out right away because if he gets two he’s sitting forever. But we’ve got other guys; Mac had a sore foot the other night, was dealing with a little plantar fasciitis and had to get Kenny in. But look, all big guys have to deal with that. But yeah, it would be nice not to get one in the first minute.
Update on Will McClendon?
Yeah, he’s close. Will’s very close. We were hoping for December, I don’t know what the date is, I just know we play Stanford Thursday but we’re closing in on December; he’s pretty close. I know he’s chomping at the bit; he asked me. I got a pretty high ACT score, one my sister was a little upset about since she went to Northwestern on an academic scholarship, but I’m not a doctor.
What do you think about the development of Abramo Canka?
It’s important for our program, but as you know, there’s two kinds of freshmen—there’s Amari Bailey and there’s Abramo Canka. You know, Abramo Canka’s like a lot of guys I had at Cincinnati; he’s going to be a really good player, a four-year player, it just takes time. You know, I think his development from his defense and his strength are going to be huge for his career because he’s a slasher, he hasn’t played a lot but he’s a great offensive rebounder, really has a nose for the ball on the offensive glass, so when you have a 6-6 guy with long arms, he has got to be a good defender and he has got to be a good rebounder, so he’s got to get a little stronger but he’s coming with baby steps building his confidence—a huge adjustment for Abramo. I mean, he missed most of the summer, he’s showing up in August, you know, he was put in a tough spot, so just trying to bring him along slow, keep his confidence up. His plan is to be here for four years, so as you know I believe you’ve got to have guys like that.
Ever talk Italian wine with him?
Um, yeah, he gave us all a gift, he went to some Italian consulate thing or something. You know, I guess the Italian community here I guess through social media has embraced him. No, I like free wine whether it’s Italian or whatever.
Savino knows a lot about Italian wine?
No, Savino’s from Jersey City; he knows about Boone’s Farm.
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