Cronin has stated he wants 13 players for next season's roster.


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Follow Up ] [ UCLA Basketball Forum ]

Posted by ej on May 04, 2026 at 09:31:18

Right now he's got 11. IMO he needs to bring in a small forward and a big. I'm not sure if he's waiting to see if Tounde remains in the draft or withdraws his name and then becomes available in the portal.

There are still a few guys left in the portal. Here are a few that I believe, on the face of things, could serve the Bruins well. All I know is their statistics and what I've seen in videos.

Jordan Burks is out of UCF. He's a senior. He's listed as a 6'9" 205 lb. small forward. He average 13 and 5 hitting 44%, 38%, and 73%. Against the Bruins in the tourney he hit for 22 with 6 boards, hitting 8-15 overall and 6-11 from three. In his video he appears to have good speed and quickness and moves well. He prepped in Arizona.

Abdi Bashir is a 6'7" 175 lb. small forward out of Kansas State. He averaged 14 and 2 hitting 38%, 37%, and 83% in 28ppg. He too is a senior and also prepped in Arizona.

Bashir appears fast and quick and Burks appears to be above average in speed and quickness. I don't know anything about their defensive abilities or their character or their academics, but from appearances they both look like they could come in and start and ably fill the wing slot for the Bruins.

Austin Maruer is 7' 235lb. from Seattle. He is originally from Oregon so he too has Western connections. He averaged 7 and 5 hitting 50%, 27%, and 81% in 19 mpg. He'll be a junior having played one other season at Grand Canyon where he averaged 1 and 1 in 81 total season minutes.

I believe he would be a project, but could still come in and give Cronin perhaps 5 to 10 minutes of steady play. The Bruins do need another big IMO.

The other big still available is Devin Williams. We all know him and he averaged 7 and 5 hitting 51%, 22%, and 71% for Florida Atlantic last season in 25 mpg. He's listed as 6'10" 210. He'll also be a junior. IMO he may not be the complete answer for a big, but he's quick, fast and mobile for a big man and could give Cronin 5-10 serviceable minutes and can at times get hot as we saw in his one season with the Bruins.

Now perhaps Cronin is waiting on Tounde to see what he does, but that's a huge gamble and then there's no guarantee that he would sign with the Bruins anyway unless there's already an understanding. We just don't know. But these guys are available right now. There's a lot of things to consider here and lots of contingencies and, of course, we don't know the money situation. We are really quite in the dark so we are just left with speculating and playing "what if's". I'm guessing that eventually there will suddenly be an announcement or two and we will probably be surprised.




Follow Ups:



Post a Followup

Name:
Email:
Password:

Subject:

Comments:

Optional Link URL:
Link Title:
Optional Image URL:


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Follow Up ] [ UCLA Basketball Forum ]