UCLA Head Coach Mick Cronin Reveals Major Struggle From Last Season

There were plenty of issues for the UCLA Bruins men's basketball team in the 2023-24 season, but Mick Cronin believes one trumped all.

Mar 14, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; UCLA Bruins head coach Mick Cronin reacts against the Oregon Ducks in the first half at T-Mobile Arena. / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The UCLA Bruins men’s basketball program has experienced a lot of success under head coach Mick Cronin. After a difficult first season that was cut short by COVID-19, the Bruins had three very successful campaigns.

In 2021, Cronin helped lead the team to the Final Four, where they lost to Gonzaga 93-90. The following season, they were defeated by North Carolina in the Sweet 16. Another Sweet 16 defeat occurred in 2023, again being beaten by Gonzaga.

Alas, the Bruins’ streak of NCAA Tournament appearances ended at three as the 2023-24 campaign was a major struggle. UCLA went 16-17, having their first losing season since 2015-16.

There was plenty that went wrong last season that led to such poor results on the court. There was a lot of changes to the roster with Jamie Jaquez Jr., Jaylen Clark and Amari Bailey heading to the NBA. Tyger Campbell and David Singleton’s college careers also finished.

That was a ton of production heading out the door for Cronin to replace. Those players were the top five in scoring, five out of the top six in rebounds and the top five in assists.

Replacing that much in one offseason isn’t ideal, especially because of the NIL program issues UCLA faced. That, in the opinion of Cronin, was the biggest struggle UCLA faced last season. 

But, that struggle is no more. Cronin recently spoke about how things have changed from last season to this season and why the Bruins are in such a better spot.

“Night and day,” Cronin said on College Hoops Today. “Our NIL program just wasn’t what it needed to be. There’s no crying over spilled milk, it’s a waste of time talking about it. But it wasn’t a reality for us to be competitive in the portal so we ended up with a lot of freshmen. But now it is. (Of) course now they are announcing that the rules are changing again.

“We’ll see how that shakes out. But the bottom line is were able to be really successful in the portal and if you were to come watch us practice now, you’d be pretty impressed with the veterans we have out there and our talent level and our level of maturity, versatility of our team.” (H/T On3)

The fixes for the NIL program worked wonders for UCLA. They restocked their roster with solid transfers such as Skyy Clark, Tyler Bilodeau, Eric Dailey Jr., William Kyle III, Dominick Harris and Kobe Johnson to help get the program back on track.