Mick Cronin didn’t mince words after UCLA’s 94-75 loss to Michigan.
In a nearly 10-minute press conference, he called his team “soft” and “delusional,” sparing only himself and the athletic trainers.
With his arms folded and a scowl on his face, the 53-year-old Cronin gave brutally honest assessments throughout his postgame press conference with reporters.
Cronin wanted to give a fair answer to the first question posed to him: When you give up that many points (94), how much of that is a hat tip to their unique skillset with the size and outside shooting they have versus maybe some breakdowns on your end?
“I’d say a combination, to be fair to question,” an exasperated Cronin replied. “Obviously, they shot the ball well. Um, but we don’t play — we’re soft. We’re too soft to play hard enough. Even in the crucial’s, you can’t get an offensive rebound. It’s like a five-point game, and [senior guard] Kobe Johnson just has a guy take the ball from him; the same thing with [sophomore guard] Sebastian Mack.
“We finally do get a stop — can’t get a defensive rebound. They didn’t have a million of them because they didn’t miss that many shots, but there was a few, in partciular, Kobe, Sebastian — huge, back-breaking. And you got inside position. So don’t tell me you want to win. Like, just don’t tell me you want to win. To start the game, [junior forward] Tyler Bilodeau gave up 12 points… just don’t tell me you want to win. We’re soft.”
It wasn’t just his players. Cronin reluctantly credited Michigan for their skillset but couldn’t resist returning to the theme of softness.
Sensing a common theme?
When asked about his team’s fight to come back from an 18-point deficit (37-19) in the first half, Cronin cut the reporter off, launching into another thinly veiled rant about his team’s effort.
“I have to run on the court to get guys to play hard,” he said. “It’s crazy. And it’s every day. I’m tired of it. It’s every day. I have the most energy of everybody at practice every day. I’m upset with everybody in that locker room — my assistant coaches and my players. I mean, I don’t need to do anything else. I almost got 500 wins. I’m only 53. You’d think I’m coaching the Lakers. I mean, it’s a joke.
“I come in and I have more passion and energy and pride than everybody in [the locker room] — that’s the problem. That is the truth right now… In the timeout, No. 3’s [Tre Donaldson] is hot; he’s 4-for-7 from 3. You cannot let him shoot. He’s gonna back up. Next two plays, he made two shots. [Junior forward] Will Kyle let him shoot; he just stood there. He just looked at him and said, ‘What are you gonna do, let me shoot?’ Bang. Next play, [junior guard] Dylan Andrews, ‘Are you gonna let me shoot?’ Bang.”
That’s five of his players now for those keeping score at home.
What can Cronin do going forward to get his players in the right mindset?
“Here’s what you do: you play the guys that’ll play hard and do what you tell them,” he said. “But right now, I’m searching deeply for some guys that’ll play hard enough to win a Big Ten game… As poor as we shot the ball at Nebraska, our second-half defense was embarrassing — once I got to the film and we went over it — embarrassing. So, what the truth of it has been, it’s really hard to coach people that are delusional.
“The hungry dog gets the bone. We’ve got guys who think they’re way better than they are. They’re nice kids. They’re completely delusional about who they are. And a team that’s mind is on the right stuff and hungry to get a win in conference play is the team that’s probably gonna win… If this wasn’t the humble pie they needed, then I don’t know. But why wasn’t the Nebraska game?”
UCLA lost 66-58 in Lincoln last Saturday, Jan. 4.
“Again, the problem is, right now, I’m frustrated with my players and my staff, and it’s been this way all year with this team — they’re good guys,” explained Cronin. “The problem, I told them, I said the toughest guy in the room can’t be me every day. It can’t. It just can’t. You can only do so much.”
“What I’m trying to say to you guys is that our guys are delusional about what it’s going to take to win games,” he added.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.