Cronin puts UCLA back on the map

Cougar Basketball
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For my money, he’s as good a coach as Sampson. Coaches his kids to be tough as nails and it looks like he has elite talent coming in.
https://247sports.com/college/ucla/Season/2022-Basketball/Commits/

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Cronin is a good coach. But I will take Sampson over anyone.

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Not interested in a Sampson-Cronin debate but I’ll fully acknowledge that Mick is in the upper echelon of college coaches. His biggest weakness at Cincy seemed to be his recruiting. UCLA recruits itself, so in a lot of ways his move there seems like match made in heaven. Only question I have is will the fanbase have realistic expectations this time around. If they do I think Mick has a chance to be really successful in his stint.

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Cronin is obviously an elite coach and Lord knows he will be getting the talent at UCLA…

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If they get Juzang back and they should be preseason #1.

UCLA
Gonzaga
Michigan
Alabama

Are my Final Four teams as of right now.

Hoping for UK and Duke to bounce back.

UH should be really good. A lot will depend on how well Mark and Shead develop over the Summer.

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Consider how good UCLA was and how bad Cincy was. One common denominator.

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I don’t know why Houston and UCLA don’t play every year. We put college basketball on the map.

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Honestly an annual game to celebrate the game of the century seems like a no brainer

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Now that we are both powers again, it would be must see TV.

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Absolutely, to speak nothing of the fact that CKS has a good relationship with Cronin. Maybe the board can speak this into existence lol

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I dunno. Watched a fair amount of UCLA games this past season and they were, at best, slightly above average. They hit a nice stride during the tournament (similar to Baylor)…but other than that, they looked very SMU-esque throughout the year. I know having a great coach and an influx of additional talent will help…not sure I’d be ready to anoint them as a Top 10 team yet.

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When they were both in the AAC, CKS out performed Cronin based on what he did in the NCAA tournament!

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If you are ever out there take a look at their facilities. They are so opulent you feel like you are at a Four Seasons Hotel with $1,000 rooms.

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I watched several BU games on TV last season and thought they were better than any other team I had seen in that season. As much as I hate to say it, I thought there was no way we would beat them.

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Oregon state was better than ucla imo

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Yeah Ben Howland had UCLA in three straight final fours and a final game from 2005 - 2008. He also coached some actual NBA HOFs on those teams (Love and Westbrook).

That was the hey day. To me, this season was a fluke and it is likely UCLA won’t get back to where it was. I just don’t think UCLA has the cache that people think it does. We are looking at it from the standpoint of John Wooden, Lee Alcindor, Bill Walton, Jamal Wilkes, Gail Goodrich, etc. But many younger AAU players think of UCLA and immediately think of Lonzo Ball! That is not good.