WATCH: Mick Cronin on UCLA's Home Court Advantage, Coach K's Impact on College Hoops
UCLA men's basketball coach Mick Cronin spoke to the media ahead of the regular season finale versus USC on Saturday. Cronin shared some updates on his team's injuries and previewed what Senior Night could look like, while also talking about the Bruins' home court advantage over the past two years and the bigger picture of Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski leaving college basketball.
MICK CRONIN
Plan for Senior Night? Are those who do walk still debating their futures or have they made commitments?
No commitments, David is most likely [to come back] but he’s still not sure what he’s going to do, but he’s going forward, we’re working with him on his grad school admission, but he will walk, Cody will walk, Jules and the best managerial staff in the country, it’s not even close. First of all, imagine how smart they are to get into school here, then tack on the fact that on top of the impossible studies that they have, what they do every day for our program. I know people don’t really pay attention when those guys come out but it’s a big, big problem for us because we have five of them. You’re concern is the guys, no decisions, Myles walked last year at Rutgers, his program is one that he’ll have to finish next year, so we don’t even talk about it right now, obviously, my hope is he’ll play again next year, but he did a senior day so it’s really not on his mind. Cody doesn’t like the limelight, I might have to push him out there.
Emotional night given how much fans love this team?
I would hope so. Obviously, it was terrible Chris Smith didn’t get to have one with COVID—empty stands, so it’s been a while. These guys are obviously a big part of restoring UCLA to an elite program, obviously all three of them, monstrous parts of it and so I’m sure it will be emotional for them, a big night and I hope they enjoy it. You obviously want to win the game so you have great memories of your senior night, so it all kind of ties back to that, so you’ve got to find a way to win the game. Nights like that are what make college basketball special.
Jaime adapted his game to be more of an old-school power forward after ankle injuries?
Yeah, Jaime, I would agree with you, he’s definitely had to made some adjustments because of what he’s dealt with with his body and still find a way to impact the game, right? So first of all, he can just score, whether it’s inside or out, I don’t know if he got to 3,000 points, I think he had 2,400, although his sister’s probably going to get more, I like to rib him on that, that being said, it speaks to the level of talent he has. And he’s just a relentless competitor and I couldn’t have imagined what we’ve done in our three years here as a new coaching staff if we didn’t have him to help us get it done, I shudder to think where we would have been.
Jaime 86% on free throws over the past few weeks but was around 70% before that – just variance or does it have to do with him taking more free throws while sitting out live practices?
I have the best staff in the country, so Rod, coach Palmer works with him every day after practice, Jaime’s a guy that works on his shooting form and his commitment to his game is why he’s been able to play through the injuries he’s dealt with, but he and coach P have done a really good job, they’ve put in the time, so it’s never luck when a guy improves, you know there are ups and downs and peaks and valleys, but usually there’s stuff that you don’t see, so I’m sure you smelled that one out, he’s put a lot of time in that area because he struggled last year from the foul line, so I give him and coach Palmer a lot of credit.
Having Darren Savino around during a turbulent season with injuries, COVID?
Well, in general it’s great to have you best friend on the staff, that helps, it keeps your sanity. I think it was no secret when he got back together with me, we were together at Murray State and he got back with me at Cincinnati, his arrival, we went to nine straight tournaments, so here would be three for three, so at Murray State we were one for two, so we’d be 13 for 14 together, so it helps my mental state. The truth about Darren is, he should have been a head coach a while ago but things happen for different reasons in our business, guys get hot, you’ve got a name because you played somewhere, but everybody’s time comes and I think Darren’s time is coming, it will be tough for me to replace that, not just for my mental state but Darren’s a guy that every day he comes in with a new idea and he knows what I’m thinking so he’s always trying to give me something he thinks I’m not thinking about knowing that I may or may not use it, and it’s just a mentality we have of he understands what my mentality is, it doesn’t do any good to complain about Jaime missing free throws, the answer is, how are we going to get better with Jaime’s free throws, how are we going to improve them, or our team, how are we going to improve our team instead of talking about what our team can’t do, so we just believe there’s a way to win. It might be harder than most people are willing to pay the price of what we’ve got to do to win a game whether it’s not sleep or figure it out, but for me it will be tough but I’m hoping that day comes soon that he’s a head coach because he’s been more than ready for a long time. I think some people are not maybe suited to it but Darren is because he’s focused, he doesn’t have outside distractions, his one through 10 every day is our program, what we need to do, how can we get better. I don’t have to tell him after a game if we struggled to finish around the rim, I don’t have to tell him, ‘Hey, we’ve got to show this film to the big guys’—he’s already going to do it, he’s got them after practice down there talking to them, showing them the film, what we’ve got to do to be stronger around the rim, whatever it may be, so it’s nice to have somebody on your staff that’s as committed as you are and he understands that his impact on our program matters, he doesn’t just sit around and wait for me to tell him to do something, so it’s a luxury for me to have him.
Savino lived in your basement at Cincinnati?
That's true, that's true. That is true, Sammi was 3, so he got – I hired him. That summer, Tony Subblefield – one of my best friends, he's doing a great job at DePaul – left and so I wasn't able to hire Darren until the summer. And I had been recently divorced in a big house so he just moved in. I needed help anyway with a 3-year-old daughter, so it was two men and a baby. So he didn't realize – when you interview him, you ask him, he had a job. Every night, he had to eat peanuts with Sammi at 8 o'clock. She was not happy if he wasn't there. That's a true story. And she was not happy when he moved out.
Only home losses have been with no fans, won 18 in a row with fans – expectations for the sold out environment Saturday?
It matters, Sam. It's no excuse for our two losses, though. It matters in recruiting, it matters with our players, anybody can tell you. But you still gotta play the game, I think that that's the most important thing. But having a tremendous homecourt advantage, all you gotta do is look at Kansas, for an example, probably their home record over the past 20, 30 years, under Roy Williams and Bill Self, just for an example of a place, places that have just an unbelievable environment. I saw one last night on TV, I was eating dinner but it was Arkansas that had a crazy environment last night and they just willed them to victory, they didn't lead until the last 10 seconds, wouldn't let them give in. But anyway, it matters, Sam, it'll be nice, but that being said, you gotta show up and play, so we better make sure we're ready.
Have to prepare for home environment, not getting too involved with the crowd or distracted?
Yeah, I don't – nah, we kinda focus between the lines. Obviously I was upset earlier, I felt like as a staff we failed having young Mac prepared for what was going on at Arizona and that's why I'm just as disappointed in myself and my staff and the people around him for not helping that situation and being prepared for that. But not at home, you know. I think you can feed off the crowd's energy. I think the crowd helped us beat Villanova cause we did not play great that night but we still found a way to win and I think our crowd helped us in that game.
Doing a story on coach K, coaches who have had auras that dominate the sport...
I'm looking up, there's someone towering over, he's still there.
Will anyone ever be able to replicate Wooden and coach K in looming large over college basketball for so long now that transfer portal, one-and-done, NIL are here?
Well I would throw coach Boeheim in, Roy Williams retired last year, coach Huggins has gotta be close at some point. I think what you're asking is I don't know, is the question. I don't think anybody, I don't see anybody lasting that long because of the things you alluded to, the job. The money's gone up, which is awesome, but the job's become 24/7, 365 days a year. Coach Wooden used to write guys letters. In fact, I just pulled a quote out of one of his letters that he wrote that I'm putting up in our locker room. He'd write a letter to guys and then he saw them again in September. He wrote a letter to them after the season about what he expected to see next September. Dean Smith's books, he talked about how he lived in the Outer Banks in the summer. The only time he went back to Chapel Hill was to run his camps. Right now, my daughter's asking me about vacation and I'm looking at the AAU weekends in April and the high school tournaments that they've now cleared in June, two weekends, and the July recruiting calendar, you got summer workouts, then you gotta bring guys in on visits and you don't know who's going pro. You can't plan a vacation so you just don't know. And nobody feels sorry for us – nor should they – because of the money, but it all leads to some people just throwing up the white flag in some form, that's just the way it is. So if you don't love it all and lean into it all, you're not gonna be able to tower over the sport like coach K has. So I would contend that that's part of his walkaway, whether he says it or not, same with coach Williams when he said 'I'm not the guy anymore.' I know what he meant, cause he's not the guy who wants to do that stuff non-stop, and I don't blame them at their age after what they've accomplished.
What is it about coach K beyond winning that made him such a cultural figure?
Well it's tough cause I don't have a relationship with him, but I have respect for him, so it's really hard for me to answer that. I could maybe say it surely helped when they gave him the Olympic coaching job. I think that probably transcended outside of a college coach.
Johnny good for Saturday?
We'll know on Saturday, buddy. We'll see where he is today. I'd say 50/50, Ben.
Jaylen and Myles looks like it's your best defensive lineup? Do you agree and what do you think they give you?
Look, Jaylen Clark's one of the best defensive players in America. Myles gives us size, now there's times, I would say it would depend on who we're playing. Cause if we need to switch, Cody would be more apt to switch onto smaller guys. But to your point, obviously with Myles, adding his size. And I would trust your palate test on a pinot noir better than your eye test.
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