UCLA head coach Mick Cronin knows how much recruiting has changed in college basketball in the last five years. To adjust to his new job description, Cronin hired Nemanja Jovanovic as the Bruins' Director of International Recruiting in 2023 and has given him a unique task for his 2026-2027 team.

With the NBA All-Star game bringing different clientele to Los Angeles, Cronin told reporters he tasked Jovanovic with finding the “nastiest, vodka-drinking Eastern European” from the group to recruit to UCLA in 2026-2027. To combat the Big Ten's physicality, Cronin jokingly said he wants Jovanovic to find someone who “used to wrestle bears” to give his team an edge.

“Find me the biggest, nastiest, vodka-drinking Eastern European you can,” Cronin said, via UCLA reporter Aaron Heisen. “That's what I told Yogi [Nemanja Jovanovic] as he's meeting with all these agents from all over the world. Just find some guy that used to wrestle bears in Lithuania or something. The Big Ten is no joke. Everybody's big, everybody's strong.”

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UCLA has been adept at recruiting international talent since hiring Jovanovic. The Bruins have added top international talents Adem Bona, Berke Buyuktuncel, Aday Mara and Lazar Stefanovic in the last three years with Jovanovic on their staff.

However, if there is one Achilles heel to Cronin's 2025-2026 UCLA team, it is its struggles in the paint. The Bruins rank 274th in rebounding, 199th in opponent offensive rebounding and sub-100 in points in the paint.

UCLA's issues down low will be tested in its next outing against No. 2 Michigan. The Wolverines boast arguably the best frontcourt in the country, led by Mara, Yaxel Lendeborg and Morez Johnson Jr. If the Bruins' lack of physicality cost them that game, perhaps Cronin will find the vodka-drinking, bear-wrestling European big man he desires next season.