UCLA Basketball: Bruins' Passing Issues Vs Saint Francis Annoy Mick Cronin

The UCLA Bruins men’s basketball team opened the new season with an impressive victory over Saint Francis by a score of 75-44. It wasn’t a perfect game for UCLA, and they do have some things that they need to clean up.

One of those is in their passing issues, and head coach Mick Cronin wants his guys to be less selfish on offense. He wasn’t happy with the effort from the team in that regard and wants them to correct it moving forward.

“It’s hard to turn it over when you got guys playing selfish, taking bad shots. We’re going to get right to the point early with this team. I’m not sugar coating it. I ain’t messing around. We got 12 guys once Berke (Buyuktuncel) is cleared, hopefully. It’s going to be real simple. Around here. Don’t come here and don’t send your player here if you don’t want to play team basketball. Okay? Be smart enough to know it. A game of quiz, they couldn’t get it. What’s the highest draft choice of a guard in the history of UCLA? I know the answer. Who was it? Lonzo Ball. What was the best thing he did? (Reporter answers ‘Pass the ball.). Damn right. … The problem is today’s kids have people telling them they got to get points. They listen to those types of people instead of somebody like me that would be a so-called expert in my field. So-called.”

Per Mick Cronin via UCLABruins.com

UCLA has some very talented players on the roster, but they are a very young team this season. Most of their players are new to the college game, and they want to make their marks, thus taking some bad shots.

But for UCLA to go as far as they’d like to go this year, they will need to share the ball more with their teammates. Cronin understands this, and he wants to get it through to the players early in the season so that it doesn’t become an issue down the line.

“I am the coach at UCLA and I didn’t win a scratch off to get the job. Or stay at a Holiday Inn last night. So I’m frustrated when kids do that stuff because they make themselves look bad and it makes me look back because I got pride. Some people don’t, (but) I do. I blame myself. I’m mad because when my team does that, it’s a reflection on me. To me, when you watch great coaches, their teams don’t take bad shots. Their teams play for each other.”

Per Mick Cronin via UCLABruins.com

The good news for the Bruins is that they only had seven turnovers the entire game, so they did well in that aspect. But going forward, Cronin wants his guys to move the ball around more to open the offense up.

If they can do this, they will be in great shape. The Bruins have high hopes for this team, and Cronin just wants his players to understand how special they can be this year.

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