Who remembers Mick Cronin’s first season at UCLA in 2019-2020? For those of us who do, the team looked just as lost and mentally deficient as this year’s team (if not worse). The team meandered through the first few months to a mediocre 12-11 record before things finally clicked. The team went on a 7 game winning streak and was playing solid basketball before COVID cut the season short. The nucleus of the team returned, however, and in 2020-2021 made it all the way to the Final Four and gave #1 Gonzaga all they could handle. Just two years later, Cronin put together arguably UCLA’s best shot at a National Championship since the Howland years, but came short largely as a result of unfortunate injuries to UCLA’s best two defenders (Clark and Bona).
This is a new group of players who actually look better than Cronin’s initial group of players did in 2019-2020 at the same stage of the season. I still have hope that things will click in time. I was encouraged by the improved defensive effort and intensity against Maryland (although rebounding left a lot to be desired). Hopefully UCLA can continue to improve, get at least a split on the upcoming road trip and really turn the heat up when Purdue comes to town.
Keep the faith.
GO BRUINS!