UCLA Basketball: Mick Cronin Has Hilarious Response to Trent Perry's All-American Award

James Brizuela | Oct 29, 2024

Apr 2, 2024; Houston, TX, USA; McDonald's All American West guard Trent Perry (0) controls the ball during the second half against the McDonald's All American East at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images / Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

The UCLA Bruins are entering the Big Ten for the first time this season, and there is plenty of hype behind the men's basketball team being able to make some noise in the conference. On top of being able to secure some great transfers, the team also secured Trent Perry, an incoming freshman who flipped his commitment from USC to UCLA.

Perry was named a McDonald's All-American, which sounds a bit ridiculous. Despite the award being given out by the fast food chain, they simply recognized how good Perry is. The young

The young Perry averaged 18.7 points, 6.2 rebounds, 6.0 assists, and 1.8 steals per game in his final season in high school. He is also a two-time Mission League MVP.

Perry is as advertised, and Mick Cronin knows that. While speaking about the young guard, Cronin also revealed how silly his "burger" achievement is compared to his actual skillset.

Cronin was asked about the importance of the 13th man in relation to Perry, who the Bruins coach spoke about.

"My thing with a guy like Trent is somebody labeled him. He didn't label himself, ok. They gave him a burger acknowledgment, and that's about all it's worth — a quarter pounder, which likely has E.coli."

The E.coli comment had reporters laughing, but Cronin was simply not mincing words about the award given to Perry. The award itself does not hold much water with the coach, as he speaks more to Perry's character and hard work on the court.

"First of all, one thing, he is extremely intelligent. Trent came in here with credits, college credits, and he has the best transcript I've ever seen. So you can talk to him and see how mature and intelligent he is."

Cronin then goes into the idea that ranking a young player in the way that Perry has been ranked can become an internal issue, one that breeds pressure for players to do things in a "perfect" way.

Cronin then explains what is inherent to most people is that if you possess talent, you must put in the hard work, but that will eventually get you to where you want to be. Perry does have the benefit of learning from one of the best basketball coaches in college. He can become elite under the tutelage of the Bruins program.

Perry has a chance to help UCLA also rebound and challenge the Big Ten for a national championship title.

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