UCLA Basketball: Mick Cronin Tries To Rationalize Bruins Freshmen's Inconsistency

It's been a rough road for UCLA thus far.

A 6-8 start to the season for the revamped UCLA Bruins wasn't on anyone's bingo card. Coming off of yet another inexplicable loss, this time at home to the Stanford Cardinal, the Bruins are in purgatory heading into the rest of conference play. 

UCLA's fairly unrecognizable squad 2023-2024 squad is without former cornerstones of the team including Jaime Jaquez Jr., Tyger Campbell, and more. 

Instead of the former multi-time All-Pac-12 studs, UCLA is loaded up with freshmen – many of whom have disappointed tremendously out of the gate. 

Here's what head coach Mick Cronin had to say about his freshmen in general: 

Mick Cronin: "The fallacy is that freshmen get better as the year goes on. It’s a fallacy because forget the one percentile. For the rest of ‘em, it’s harder as the year goes on, ‘cause it gets harder to win, ‘cause there’s scouting reports, games mean more and it’s more physical

— Ben Bolch (@latbbolch) January 4, 2024

Given how the team has performed of late, it seems safe to say that the group – and the freshmen in particular – hit a rough patch as it pertains to adjusting to college basketball.

The talent is definitely there, and players like guard Sebastian Mack and center Aday Mara have flashed it in the past, but in terms of putting forth a high-end product on a game-to-game basis, college is a completely different animal than what the freshmen were a part of less than a year ago. 

As opponents learn the tendencies of players like Mack, who, in particular, has had three bad games in a row, the freshmen are forced to adapt, which isn't something that they've had to do to this degree in the past. 

Physicality is another issue to consider, as conference play is historically – and across all conferences – far more physical, competitive, and intense. Playing a team twice in a 2-month span often leads to top-tier scouting of both coaches and players alike. Being put in this situation right out of high school can pose a significant challenge, and while every player responds differently, Mack, among others, is clearly struggling a bit.