UCLA Basketball: Mick Cronin Hints At Transferring Students If Losing Continues This Season
Your UCLA Bruins men's basketball program could look very different in 2024-25.
That was at least the substance of the challenge laid out by head coach Mick Cronin after a second straight defeat in Pac-12 play, this time an utterly uncompetitive 94-77 blowout loss to the Washington Huskies on the road Thursday.
Per Ben Bolch of The Los Angeles Times, Cronin after the game explained that he's exploring his options with regard which players he'd like on the club long-term. UCLA is fielding a roster with eight newbies, including seven freshmen.
“I’m trying to figure out who I can build a program with — that’s what I told them,” Cronin said. “You can’t build a program with guys that won’t fight.”
When Bolch responded by asking Cronin to clarify if he was alluding to the future status of those players, Cronin did not hold back.
"Yeah, absolutely, 100%."
With the NCAA's transfer portal set to open on March 18th, it appears the Bruins may utilize it liberally if things don't turn around.
“All we talked about was, don’t look at the scoreboard — I don’t care about the scoreboard,” Cronin said when asked what he told players during the game. “That’s not how winners build programs; you care about things you can control — your effort, your attitude, your focus on the game plan and being tough and being physical.
“If the ball doesn’t go in, the ball doesn’t go in; nobody’s trying to miss shots, OK? But right now, you’ve got to be able to do hard things and you’ve got to get guys that want to do hard things and it’s kind of their nature.”
