UCLA Basketball: Bill Simmons Offers Succinct Response to Latest Bruins Signing

The Blue and Gold continue to build.

Dec 20, 2011; Los Angeles, CA, USA; General view of seat cushions at the the Sports Arena. / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Mick Cronin's hard pivot towards building out his UCLA Bruins roster via the NCAA transfer portal instead of international true freshmen seems to be earning rave reviews across the board.

The latest believer? The Ringer's Bill Simmons, who took to X to express his excitement about the club's earning a commitment from McDonald's All-American Trent Perry, who inked a National Letter of Intent with the Blue and Gold after de-committing from the USC Trojans earlier this offseason.

I AM NOW A UCLA FAN https://t.co/mzumX3gcFt

— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) May 9, 2024

Perry is a highly-regarded prospect out of L.A.'s Harvard-Westlake School (Simmons, as an L.A. resident, is privy to the prep scene here). The 6-foot-4 guard is considered the No. 27-best prospect among his high school class by ESPN, and the No. 33-best player by Rivals.com, per a UCLA presser.

He was honored as the Los Angeles Daily News Player of the Year for his efforts in 2023-24, during which he averaged 18.6 points (on 47.2 percent shooting from the field and 86 percent shooting from the charity stripe), 6.1 boards and 5.9 dimes per bout. Perry helped guide his club to CIF State Open Division championships in 2023 and '24.

Cronin is having a remarkable recruiting run, between the pickup of Perry and several tantalizing new NCAA transfer portal additions.

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