There are not many veterans in the UCLA basketball program which means the team will be prone to a lot of mistakes. This expands Coach Mick Cronin's head coaching duties by a lot as he hopes to guide this team to stellar runs in the Pac-12 tournament and, maybe, March Madness. Those woes seem to have evaporated with Adem Bona and Lazar Stefanovic playing big roles in a six-game winning streak. But, the collapse continued after as the Bruins lost four straight games.

The hopes of making it to the NCAA tournament and banking on the magic of March Madness are looking bleak for the UCLA basketball program. They are currently sixth in the Pac-12 conference standings with an opportunity to rise up to at most third. But, fans have not been pleased with the performance of the Bruins at all. Coach Mick Cronin took all the blame in his presser, via the UCLA Bruins' account on X.

“100%.  Who else would it be? They did the best they could,” the UCLA basketball head honcho said when asked about his level of responsibility for the team's slump.

UCLA basketball backslides

UCLA Bruins head coach Mick Cronin reacts towards UCLA Bruins guard Lazar Stefanovic (10) during the first half against the Stanford Cardinal at Maples Pavilion
© Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

After narrowly escaping Colorado by four points, tragedy struck the Bruins. They got edged out by Utah, beaten by in-state rivals USC, demolished by Washington, and trampled over by Washington State. The UCLA basketball squad can still salvage their season. They have two more games which will feature them going up against Arizona and Arizona State. After that, they have a shot at keeping their March Madness hopes alive by winning the Pac-12 conference tournament.

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The road will be tough but leaders of the team have a lot of belief that they can bounce back. Even Adem Bona outlined his hopes for the team.

“As a team, I believe that we have an identity of playing hard, of playing tough and playing together. I do want to show our identity as a team. We want to play hard for this team, for UCLA,” he said.

Bona is doing his best to keep the team afloat. He is averaging 12.2 points on a 59.2% field goal clip along with 5.8 rebounds per contest. Another key member of the UCLA basketball squad is Lazar Stefanovic. The Serbian is getting 11.4 points and 6.2 rebounds this season. Talented individuals like Dylan Andrews and Sebastian Mack have also gotten better.