LOS ANGELES — Mick Cronin will earn his 500th career win with his next victory, an achievement the UCLA men’s basketball head coach said he never thought about when he first started back at Murray State in 2003.
“It was just, ‘How do I survive?’” Cronin said. “You’re either getting extended or extinguished.”
Cronin maintains that mindset, even now. In fact, he didn’t know of the imminent milestone before his dad, Hep, told him he was planning on flying in for the game.
Rather, Cronin has gotten this far because of his ability to focus on success in the present, to approach each game, each season in the same way.
“Win or lose,” he explains, “you just gotta get better.”
Expectations, though, have altered Cronin’s outlook. At Murray State, regular-season wins and recruiting classes determined his job status. At UCLA, there’s a different standard.
“For us, it’s about the NCAA Tournament, that’s just the way it is,” Cronin said after the Bruins’ 72-70 win over Indiana on Saturday. “I know everybody thinks they know who’s going to win it and that we have no chance, but that’s not the way we approach it.
Cronin, too, was quick to offer a reminder that he has led UCLA to a 9-3 record in the NCAA Tournament on the back of his ideology — learning from each game regardless of the result; then taking those lessons and applying them when it matters most.
The Bruins will use their upcoming homestand as further fuel and study material for the NCAA Tournament. They host Minnesota (13-12 overall, 5-9 Big Ten) on Tuesday at 7:30 pm and Ohio State (15-10, 7-7) on Sunday at 12:45 pm, when they’ll honor the late Bill Walton.
Both opponents are coming off wins in their last games and are fighting for spots in the Big Ten Tournament. The Golden Gophers have the oldest starting lineup of anyone in college basketball and Cronin complimented their coaching, referencing how well Minnesota plays help defense.
With five games remaining on its schedule, UCLA has positioned itself for a spot in the NCAA Tournament. The Bruins sport a resume, with seven wins against Quad 1 opponents (last season 22 of 23 teams that won six Quad 1 games made the Tournament); in addition to wins against three teams currently ranked 20th or better in the Associated Press poll. And, according to ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s most recent prediction, the Bruins (19-7, 10-5) would be a No. 6 seed.
Because of his impressive record in the Tournament, Cronin isn’t all that concerned with the exact seed the Bruins land, just that they’ve traversed a treacherous Big Ten schedule and positioned themselves for a postseason run.
They do, however, have an opportunity to improve their seeding as they should be strong favorites in all but one of their remaining games. But again, Cronin’s mind is on a bigger picture question, which he re-emphasized Monday saying, “Win or lose, how do we improve?”
For example, he felt UCLA’s 83-78 loss to Illinois on Tuesday was a chance for his players to learn that it takes precise and consistent execution to mount a late comeback. And, from the Indiana game, in which the Bruins let the Hoosiers erase a 10-point advantage in the final six minutes, they could learn how to better protect a lead.
Freshman Trent Perry’s season can serve as an analogy for Cronin’s mindset, as he’s gradually improved regardless of his statistical output.
“His off-ball defense and his intelligence is great,” Cronin said of Perry. “Could really help us in March.”
Along with those instinctual qualities, Cronin feels Perry’s on-ball shot creation has steadily adapted to the speed of the college game. And, if he can work on his ball-handling, Cronin said, he’ll be even more of a weapon late in games as he’s a knockdown free-throw shooter.
“In the minutes he got,” Eric Dailey Jr. said of Perry, “he played hard, and he played with a lot of energy.”
Dailey, too, expressed excitement for his first potential trip to the NCAA Tournament after enduring a disappointing season at Oklahoma State last year. Seeing a freshman like Perry maximize his minutes and earn more playing time can, come March, ignite a team and motivate starters.