In Reply to: Re: Ignorant response posted by BruinsFTW on October 01, 2026 at 12:56:34
If you actually watched that season, you know that injuries killed our chances and the Bruins still, miraculously, without the National Defensive Player of the year and our insanely good rim protector, took Gonzaga to the last second.
If you were a real fan, you likely would have found it incredibly disappointing and you would have been extremely proud of a shorthanded team that fought all the way and never gave up. Great coaching put them in a position to win with all the cards stacked against them.
Your ridiculous anti-Cronin derangement ignores the basic facts of that season, and rather than a black mark, its a "what could have been" because of injuries. That's what people with an agenda do - they try to bend the facts to their desired outcome.
And I'm not saying Mick is the end-all be-all! I'm not an ostrich here. Cronin has warts, sure. Nobody on this board is saying CMC is the best, even though he's regarded by his peers as certainly a top 20 coach in the nation. But he's not at all what a "happily married woman" who checks the board 20 times a day to bash her arch-nemesis would like us to believe. Weirdo.
Says Google:
UCLA's 202223 season ending in the Sweet 16 is widely seen as a case of catastrophic injury timing rather than a failure of Mick Cronin's coaching or roster management.
While it is true that the Bruins won 31 games, secured the Pac-12 regular season title by four games, and boasted arguably the best roster in the conference, their tournament run was completely derailed by health issues.
The structural breakdown of that team's postseason run highlights how close they came despite the odds:
The Jaylen Clark Blowout: Jaylen Clark, the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and the literal engine of UCLA's elite defense, tore his Achilles in the final game of the regular season. Losing a projected NBA draft pick right before March Madness severely compromised their defensive identity.
Adem Bonas Shoulder: Starting center Adem Bona suffered a severe shoulder injury in the Pac-12 Tournament. He missed the conference final and the opening rounds of the NCAA tournament, leaving UCLA incredibly thin in the paint.
The Mid-Game Heartbreak: During the second-round win against Northwestern, veteran senior guard David Singleton suffered a severe ankle sprain. Though he tried to play through injuries later on, the team was essentially playing on fumes.
The Gonzaga Heartbreaker: Despite missing Clark entirely and being forced to play without Bona, a severely undermanned UCLA roster still managed to build a 13-point halftime lead against Gonzaga in the Sweet 16. They ultimately fell 79-76 only after Drew Timme went off for 36 points and Julian Strawther hit a miraculous, deep 3-pointer with just six seconds left on the clock.
Evaluating that 31-6 season as a disappointment ignores that Cronin had his team playing at a national championship level before injuries gutted his rotation right at the finish line.