UCLA basketball coach Mick Cronin knows that his team will be much better this season. Cronin is issuing a take that he hopes will light a fire under Bruins fans.
“Night and day,” Cronin said on the College Hoops Today program, per Sports Illustrated. “Our NIL program just wasn’t what it needed to be. There’s no crying over spilled milk, it’s a waste of time talking about it. But it wasn’t a reality for us to be competitive in the portal so we ended up with a lot of freshmen. But now it is. (Of) course now they are announcing that the rules are changing again.”
UCLA suffered a rare losing season in 2023-24. That is unacceptable to Bruins fans, who are used to competing for national championships. Just a few years ago, Cronin guided the Bruins to a Final Four, despite being one of the First Four.
“The bottom line is we're able to be really successful in the portal and if you were to come watch us practice now, you’d be pretty impressed with the veterans we have out there and our talent level and our level of maturity, versatility of our team,” Cronin added.
UCLA basketball's season outlook for 2024-25
There's definitely pressure on Cronin to start winning again at UCLA. The program is a blue blood, with 11 total national championships in college basketball. Ten of them were won under the legendary John Wooden. The Bruins finished the 2023-24 campaign with a disappointing 16-17 record.
UCLA basketball went into the transfer portal to rebuild the roster. The Bruins grabbed several talented guys, including forward Kobe Johnson who played at USC. The Bruins also have a dynamic point guard in Louisville transfer Skyy Clark, who will compete right away for the starting job.
It won't be easy for the Bruins. The program is now a member of the Big Ten Conference, and will have to get used to playing a slate of new conference teams. UCLA joins USC, Oregon and Washington in the new league. The team will now have to travel thousands of miles to road games, when they play at Penn State or Rutgers.
Cronin is used to coaching in difficult conferences. He guided Cincinnati in the days of the powerful Big East, and won a lot of games in the Pac-12. He also coached at Murray State. The coach has 480 total victories as a head coach.
UCLA basketball fans are ready to see what Cronin has in store for the upcoming season.
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