Cronin Gives Blunt Take on UCLA, Big Ten Travel Challenges

UCLA men's basketball coach Mick Cronin has been outspoken in the past about the difficulties that came with conference realignment and travel in his first season in the Big Ten. But recently, he's changed his attitude on the matter.

In a sit-down interview with CBS Sports college basketball insider Jon Rothstein, Cronin gave a blunt answer to how he handles the dynamics of travel in this new conference.

"Get a better team," Cronin said half-jokingly. "At the end of the day, the Lakers and Celtics in the '80s used to have to fly back and forth to play those seven-game great NBA Finals. It just is what it is. And, I really mean it, it sounds funny, get a better team. Look, our women's team was excellent last year. Our women's team was No. 1 in the country a long time and went to the Final Four. That's the answer. The answer is get the best team."

Obviously, every coach strives to bring the best players to their program, but there's another wrinkle in the traveling difficulties that applies to a few universities, with UCLA being one of them.

"Our kids go to school, they do," Cronin said on what adds to the totality of the travel that differs from professional sports. "Especially, we're at UCLA, the No. 1 public institution in America. So, the people that your star guys are sitting in class with are the best of the best. Academics is part of it. That's what separates us from the pros. That concerns you with the travel. Missed class at UCLA is probably a bigger deal than a missed class at some other schools."

Despite the travel, conference realignment, the NIL and transfer portal eras, Cronin was able to improve his roster through the portal, highlighted by the addition of reigning Mountain West Player of the Year, New Mexico point guard Donovan Dent.

Dent A Player Cronin Has Never Had

Not only did he raise Mick Cronin's squad's ceiling, he impressed a ton of national media pundits, including Rothstein, who came away from his Westwood visit thoroughly impressed and lamented Dent as one of Cronin's best point guards ever.

"Mick Cronin has been coaching a long time, but he has never had a point guard as a head coach with the ceiling and passing capabilities of New Mexico transfer, Donovan Dent," Rothstein said in his reaction to UCLAon X (formerly Twitter). "[Dent] might be pound-for-pound, inch-for-inch, a top two point guard in college basketball in 25-26, along with Purdue's Braden Smith."

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Read more on UCLA football and their momentous second season in the Big Ten and under DeShaun Foster here. While you're here, check out all things UCLA basketball and Mick Cronin improving the Bruins through the transfer portal here.

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