WATCH: Mick Cronin on UCLA Dealing With UNC's Bigs, Specialness of Team Core

The same group of Bruins who made the Final Four in 2021 have guided them to the Sweet 16, where they will meet the Tar Heels.

PHILADELPHIA — UCLA men's basketball coach Mick Cronin spoke to the press Thursday before his team's practice at Wells Fargo Center.

Cronin touched on a variety of topics, from the health of guard/forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. to how he expects the Tar Heels to both stretch the floor and use their size and how far North Carollina has come since the canceled matchup back in December. Cronin also talked about the importance of the current core for the Bruins, who were largely all present for his hiring back in 2019 in addition to 2021's Final Four run and now 2022.

MICK CRONIN

MICK CRONIN: It's great to be here. Got a cheesesteak today, so I'm happy. (Laughter).

Q. Mick, where was the cheesesteak from?

MICK CRONIN: They catered it for lunch. But it wasn't Dalessandro's. But it was good. I don't know if they make a bad one here.

Q. What's the update with Jaime? Is he practicing? Is he going to play?

MICK CRONIN: We're going to try to have him do some stuff today. Obviously have been treating him with kid gloves all week. Hopefully he can get some things done. He's going to want to try to play. The question is can he be effective. Playing is one thing. Can he play well. I will know more -- as you guys know our practice time is in 30 minutes so we'll see how he looks today.

Q. Do you think he can be effective?

MICK CRONIN: He hasn't done anything all week, so I don't know. I haven't let him do anything but shoot, so we'll see.

Q. I was curious, you guys were supposed to play Carolina back in December. If you guys already had scouting reports and everything prepared, I was just wondering what is the biggest difference between Carolina back then and what you've seen now.

MICK CRONIN: That's probably a good one for my associate head coach Darren Savino because he was on them. We were preparing to play Alabama State and I got COVID. I had the shakes, man. I wasn't one of those asymptomatic dudes.

He was preparing to coach the game actually. But then everybody just started falling like dominos for us. But I think -- look, I guess I'll just take it further for you. Hubert is a great guy, one of the nicest guys I've ever met. But he's a coach. Coach Davis has done a tremendous job. Big change, big shoes to fill, obviously, tough -- I did it at Cincinnati following Coach Huggins. He made a lot of changes to their offensive style of play. Maybe just probably took him some time.

When you're changing the passing game, the secondary, and you're going to a more modern NBA spread pick-and-roll, it probably just took him some time, some adjusting to find their stride. Maybe Coach Davis, as well.

But obviously they're playing extremely well right now, so it's a credit to the job that he's done and his talents. I think obviously they picked the right guy.

Q. Recognizing every game of the tournament is huge, but when you see and you say UCLA and North Carolina, it's got a different meaning. As someone who just has a great appreciation for the history of the game, what is it like to play in a game of this magnitude of the tournament against a team like that?

MICK CRONIN: Yeah, growing up in my household, it was Dean Smith and Bob Knight, for my dad who was a high school coach and having read all Coach Smith's books. But I know all about the Carolina way. So I have great reference for their program and the history of their program.

But again, every time I turn left on Sunset, I pinch myself every day. I was fortunate enough to get a contract extension, thanking Chancellor Block and Martin, and I told Chancellor Block when I take that left every day, it's hard to believe.

Obviously I think it's important the older you get to be thankful for stuff like this, just to be a part of it. I didn't grow up on third base, so for a guy like me to get here to the point where you're coaching at UCLA and then you're coaching in a game like this, it's pretty cool, man.

Q. I'm wondering if you can talk about the differences in mentality and preparation, where you guys are this year and the season you've had versus how you were in the tournament last year, and if you see some similarities in where you guys were in the tournament last year with this Carolina team playing really well, talented, but took a little while to figure things out.

MICK CRONIN: I mean, there could be -- you know, you're comparing them this year to us last year, because we weren't as deep as we are this year. Let's assume we're healthy. They play their starters. I heard some of their people referring to their starters as the iron five. We did a lot of that late in the year last year after Chris Smith and Jalen Hill went down for us. So I think there's a lot of similarities. They're playing really well and right now and they're confident.

A newer coach, similar to our guys, so a lot of similarities in that regard.

Hopefully they won't be similar that they make the Final Four.

Q. Cody Riley and Myles Johnson, their size, just how important that is in this game, and maybe it's not, your take on that?

MICK CRONIN: Well, it's important in every game, but I think you're referring to Bacot. I think to me Bacot is the poster child for staying in school. You get better. Guys just get better. Everybody that's a McDonald's All-American doesn't turn out in year one. I don't care -- the so-called geniuses that don't have him on the draft board, in my opinion they're missing out. Everybody, whether it was Paul Millsap or Montrezl Harrell, everybody that averages 11, 12, almost 13 rebounds makes it in the NBA. He'll make it, period.

My respect for him is off the charts because he stayed in school and he's learned how to impose his physicality on a game for the entire game. It makes them such -- he imposes physicality on Mark Williams. That's hard to do now. Mark is a great player and another pro.

Our big guys are going to -- they've got their hands full, man. We've been working on it all week and they've got their hands full. It's hard to simulate his presence around the rim on offense and then he goes after every rebound. He's impressive.

To me he's like Montrezl Harrell in that he's taller.

Q. You had some kind of quips this week about Jaime's ankle and you said he couldn't sprain them any more. I was wondering a player who's as tough as he is and your emotional heartbeat what's it been like to watch him go through this journey and watch him deal with this stuff and what that's been like for him?

MICK CRONIN: Yeah, it's been a weird year. Had to watch Cody not play for two months. Jaime -- I'm going to say in the last two months, he was -- when he was able to start practicing -- he was playing without practicing for a while just to get him back on the court. But then once he started practicing, that's when he started dominating; he got his rhythm back.

For these kids, they work their whole life to be on this stage. We went through it last year when Jules Bernard got food poisoning the night before the Gonzaga game. And as a coach if you're lucky enough you get other chances. These guys, they only get so many shots at this.

It's obviously extremely unfortunate that Jaime is dealing with this, but I will tell you if anybody can deal with it, it's him. He is the epitome of physical and mental toughness.

Q. I know you expect to be at UCLA a long time and do a lot of great things, but this team will always be the first that went to the Final Four with you. How special is this team to you and all these guys who came back to try to do it again?

MICK CRONIN: Oh, extremely. It's a great question because like my message to those guys is -- we'll have a meeting tonight, everybody knows obviously it's win or go home. But for me -- again, if you're fortunate to coach at UCLA with -- it would just be fortunate to coach out my whole contract. But I'm not going to get to coach Jules Bernard again. I'm the type of guy, I'm well aware of -- I'm very cognizant and well aware of you are where you are because of the people that helped you, and it starts with the players.

As you know covering us, it was not a mass exodus when I got the job. Now there's a mass exodus even though it's the same coach. But now could you imagine the portal, take a job now? By the time you get on the plane to go to your press conference, half the team is probably in the portal.

We had nobody in the portal. They all embraced us as a new coaching staff and we got to work on rebuilding UCLA basketball to amongst the nation's best programs, and we would not have done that if they wouldn't have stayed.

So obviously in particular the three seniors, but we've got some guys who could get drafted, so we could lose more than three.

So I'm very, very cognizant of the fact that this could be our last ride together as a group. It's been awesome, though. Hope we got 10 or 11 more days left in us.

Q. I heard Shaheen Holloway say earlier in the day that he likes to have kids who have a chip on their shoulder who may not be the most recruited guy in the world. Looking at how this UCLA team developed in the last year, is that what you would ideally like for a team?

MICK CRONIN: I think it helps. I think young people -- we could go on for a while about this, but I'll try to be quick. It's a burden when you're ranked high to live up to the hype. To me it helps you if you're underrated because you have your hunger and your ambition, instead of having it given to you or theoretically given to you by somebody -- some guy in the basement that ranks you seventh in the country.

So what happens -- what Shah would tell you -- what he's done by the way is unbelievable. I love him, man. We're friends. Where he comes from, it's a miracle, Shaheen Holloway's story. They need to do a -- what he comes from, what he's accomplished in his career and his life. And St. Peter's to me is the greatest story -- if you've been there and you know him -- from high school. So he's going to say that. I'm the same way. My life wasn't nearly as tough, but I'm the son of a high school coach from Cincinnati.

I think we probably lean towards guys like that. But I think it also -- it's hard for young kids that are rated high. In this day and age, in our game, kids start getting told they're a pro in ninth grade. They haven't accomplished anything.

It's tough for those guys. I feel for those guys. It's easier for the underrated guy because he stays hungry.

Q. As you said previously just a few minutes ago, sometimes you have to pinch yourself taking a left. As you come and you play two UNC, two bluebloods who have so much history in college basketball, is it hard to manage the team's emotions and keep them in check throughout the week? How do you prepare them to play 40 full minutes of basketball and get to the Elite 8?

MICK CRONIN: Yeah, I think our experience having been through the tournament last year is a factor. We're just focused on North Carolina. We know we have to beat -- these guys know they have to beat Carolina or we're going home, man; it's all over.

I say the time change -- we left Tuesday just to get out of LA, get away from everybody telling us how great we are. That's a concern of mine. I think it helped us being in the bubble last year because everybody -- it's a lot easier to stay hungry when everybody is not telling you how great you are. We tried to get the heck out of town as fast as I could, get these guys back in our little bubble.

But our guys know, like they get it. For you guys, the blueblood thing and all that; for them, they know they've got to play well. We play good teams all the time, and these guys have a played in a lot of big games, so they get it.

If we were playing St. Peter's, it would be the same way. Got to win or we're going home.

Q. Manek, obviously a talented stretch 4, how do you anticipate what he's going to do and how you defend him, and do you have to draw up multiple defensive game plans when you don't know if Jaime is going to be able to be out there or not?

MICK CRONIN: Yes. Yeah, you have to -- Jaime is going to try, guys. I can tell you. Unless something goes bad today, I would think he's going to try. The question is can he be effective.

More importantly with Manek, he just kills your defense because he can -- the way he's been shooting it, the confidence he's been playing with, he just stretches you to death. It makes them like a pro team offensively. Like pro guys always -- my pro friends will say, well, you guys don't know how to space the floor in college when you talk to them. I say, no, we know how to space the floor, we just all don't shoot it the way pro teams shoot it.

It's easy -- all their stuff works because you've got guys like Bogdanovic or Manek standing there at 6'10" and he can catch it and let it fly in a half a second. Anybody can space the floor but you're not going to stretch my defense. He stretches your defense. That's the problem, which now you've got Bacot rolling, you've got RJ and Caleb Love driving. The roll he's on is a big problem because he stretches your defense.

Then what happens is you start giving up the three and the lay-up. You can't give up both. You've got to take something away. You start trying to take everything away, then you start giving up everything.

Q. You mentioned before kind of the bubble situation last year and how it helps you keep a little more focused, but also making a run to the Sweet 16 this year with a little more of that traditional excitement, the crowds back in the stadiums, what's it been like for you guys?

MICK CRONIN: Well, I think it's great for the guys. Again, they had no idea what was going on. We came in to go to Portland and Peyton Watson, he had more luggage than a guy going on a trip around the world. I said, what are you doing. He goes, well, Coach, we're going to win. We ain't going to be back for three weeks. I said, no, my man, we win two in Portland we're coming home.

But he knew last year because last year I'm FaceTiming him from Indy the whole time while he was back in Long Beach. He didn't know. He didn't know.

That's a funny one for you. But anyway, no, it's great for the guys. All these kids in college -- again, one thing that Coach Krzyzewski said that I remember retirement-wise, he said, the older you get, the more you can make it about the kids, make everything you do about the players, then your job gets easier. The pressure goes away a little bit because it isn't about you and keeping your job. You're trying to help them win so they can chase their dreams.

So this is great for them because last year was obviously -- it was a great run for us, but there's 1,500 people at games. It was a little unusual to say the least.

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