The UCLA basketball team is off to a poor start this season as the Bruins are currently 8-10 overall and 3-4 in Pac-12 play. UCLA has to start turning things around quickly if they want any chance of making the NCAA Tournament, and their last game against Arizona State was a good start. The Bruins were down by 15 points in the second half, but they stormed back to earn the road win. That was big, but there is still a lot of work to do.

One thing that has been hard for head coach Mick Cronin and his UCLA basketball team is their youth. Young teams tend to struggle in college basketball, and that is the case with the Bruins. Cronin believes that if they had a veteran guy at the right position, it would be a complete game changer.

“If we had one veteran guard, we might be top 10 in the country,” Mick Cronin said, according to an article from The Messenger.

Unfortunately for UCLA, they don't have that guy, and they will have make it work with the players they do have. Cronin is working hard to get this team better, and there is a lot of fight in the group.

“There’s no give-up. I’m not allowing that,” Cronin said. “I’ve been working with these guys on having fortitude and a bounce in their step and not worrying about missed shots, and not worrying about the result. I’m happy with the result, but my job is to help these guys all get better. They’re super young, so they’ve got to get better.”

Cronin knows that the game is changing, and in the future, maybe the Bruins will try to go to the transfer portal to find that veteran guy.

“College basketball has changed,” Cronin said. “You’ve got to be able to get who you’re allowed to get. The rules are the rules. Everybody’s got a different situation.”

UCLA basketball will be back in action on Saturday on the road against Arizona. If they can win that one, then they will have some momentum.