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No stars, just talent? UCLA basketball hopes an ensemble cast can put it back on top
One of the lead architects of four NBA championship teams wanted to see the modern blueprint for building a winner in the college game.
While coaching the U.S. men’s basketball team inside UCLA’s practice facility in the leadup to the Paris Olympics, Steve Kerr spotted something curious in Bruins counterpart Mick Cronin’s hands and called him over for an unveiling.
It was a color-coded list of Cronin’s free-agent targets and the team’s name, image and likeness budget.
“He was blown away,” Cronin said of Kerr, the Golden State Warriors coach who won titles in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2022. “He goes, ‘What is going on? What are you doing?’”
UCLA’s coach was in the midst of securing enough high-end talent to vault his team back into national title contention for the 30th anniversary of the Bruins’ last championship. The quest started with a flurry of expletives, Cronin telling his staff with some not-so-nice words that they needed to get better players after a rare losing season.
Six months later, the No. 22 Bruins will reveal the results of their free-agency haul Monday at Pauley Pavilion when they face Rider in their season opener.
Read more: Losing scrimmage means little as UCLA players attempt to win over coach Mick Cronin
A roster without one player on the preseason All-Big Ten team easily should be the deepest of Cronin’s six seasons in Westwood. What UCLA lacks in star power it might make up for with an ensemble cast that includes six transfers and three freshmen who addressed the Bruins’ needs for shooting, rebounding and veteran savvy.
In a throwback to the delightful days of John Wooden, UCLA’s practices could be tougher than some of the games.
Dylan Andrews, UCLA’s presumed starting point guard, goes up every day against transfer Skyy Clark, who led Louisville in scoring last season.
It’s a similar story for Sebastian Mack. The sophomore guard must face transfer Dominick Harris, who ranked third in the nation in three-point accuracy at Loyola Marymount a year ago.
Amid the lively competition, there are days when freshman Trent Perry makes a case as the team’s best player in the backcourt, adding to the intrigue over rotations and minutes allocation.
“It’s not like,” Cronin said of his practices, “you’re just playing against a guy who’s inferior to you.”
A surplus of scorers — five transfers averaged double figures in points at their previous stops — has led Cronin to predict that his team could have seven or eight different leading scorers in games this season. UCLA’s newfound depth also will free its coach to get creative with lineups and employ liberal substitution patterns, allowing his team to apply relentless pressure.
“In my heart of hearts, my DNA,” Cronin said, “I’m liking to dictate the tempo of the game with my defense.”
A year after the Bruins failed to make a three-pointer in a game for the first time since February 2000 and finished the season shooting only 33.2% from long range, they will have plenty of options from beyond the arc.
The leading sharpshooter is likely to be Harris, who made 44.8% of his three-pointers last season, when Clark (35.3% at Louisville), forward Tyler Bilodeau (34.5% at Oregon State) and Perry (47.1% at Harvard-Westlake High) also showed they can go on scoring binges from the perimeter.
“At any given moment,” said forward Kobe Johnson, a transfer from USC who likely will take Lazar Stefanovic’s place in the starting lineup, “any one of us can go off and score 20 points, 25 points. Whoever’s feeling it one night, we’re going to feed them the ball. We’ve just got to be unselfish and watch others succeed.”
Roles will change for many of the returning players. Sophomore forward Brandon Williams, who started 13 of the final 14 games last season, offered to redshirt. Stefanovic, who started every game last season, could become the sixth man. Mack showed with his playmaking and relentlessness in an intrasquad scrimmage that he’s going to fight to remain a regular part of the rotation.
Yet there are only so many minutes to go around. What might those spending more time on the bench than they would like be thinking?
“Win,” forward Eric Dailey Jr., a transfer from Oklahoma State, said of his mindset in that situation. “That’s it.”
Read more: Tyler Bilodeau stars as slew of transfers lead UCLA to blowout exhibition victory
That’s not something many of the transfers did last season. Five came from teams that posted losing records, leading to bad tendencies that need to be eradicated as quickly as possible. Cronin said he wanted to purge dumb fouls, risky passes, poor shot selection and getting beat on defense because of fatigue.
“All we focus on is building winning habits and players adjusting to the fact that they’re there to please me, I’m not there to please them,” Cronin said. “I please you by giving you the UCLA jersey and the collective pleases you with pretty good NIL money, so now it’s time to please me because me and my coaching staff, we understand what it takes to win, so you have to become a winner and do winning things.”
As part of their instant bonding efforts, the Bruins held get-to-know-you events at Dodger Stadium, SoFi Stadium, the beach and their coach’s house, where “Chef Cronin” piled freshly grilled burgers and hot dogs high on a plate.
The payoff could come during a schedule that includes nonconference games against No. 6 Gonzaga, No. 9 North Carolina and No. 10 Arizona. Cronin said it feels like the whole season is one long nonconference schedule because the Bruins will play 14 of their 17 Big Ten opponents only one time, complicating their scouting efforts.
After last year’s experiment with eight freshmen failed, Cronin told his transfers they needed to adopt a professional mentality so his team would be stocked with leaders. Cronin said he’s slept better thanks to a roster that now includes three seniors, four juniors and five sophomores.
The only players who will run out of eligibility after this season are Johnson and Stefanovic, though Cronin knows he’ll have to re-recruit everyone else on the roster next spring. Does Cronin need a general manager to help with the ceaseless cycle of turnover that has overtaken the college game?
“You’re looking at him,” he said. “I need help fundraising but as far as picking players, you’re looking at him, as long as I’m coaching.”
If all goes well, the endeavor will be doubly satisfying.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
