UCLA Basketball: Mick Cronin Unpacks Resurgent Bruins' Season Rebound

The club has quietly gone 3-1 in its last four.

Your UCLA Bruins have risen to a still-meh 9-11 record on the ongoing 2023-24 NCAA season, with their most recent win having come along last night against the host USC Trojans, in a 145-144 double-overtime thriller.

Per Luca Evans of The Orange County Register, head coach Mick Cronin weighed in on the club's resounding W and recent turnaround. UCLA has gone 3-1 across its last four contests, and the one loss, a 77-71 bummer against the Arizona Wildcats, was the result of the Bruins coughing up a 19-point lead. 

“Look, the world’s predictable — somebody makes a mistake nowadays, they want to ruin your life,” Cronin said. “You lose a game, you... struggle a little bit, everyone wants to say, your team stinks. And you know, I’m worried about their development. Not just teaching them to win.”

Cronin's long-term approach to improving the play of a new young, raw core is intriguing. He's fielding a roster that includes seven freshmen, plus one transfer in Lazar Stefanovic. Before this recent run, UCLA was 6-10, and seemingly dead in the water as far as its postseason hopes were concerned. Now, there are at least signs of lie for the program as it heads into the regular season's home stretch.