UCLA’s Mick Cronin Criticized for Underutilizing Michigan Star
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With Michigan’s 69-63 win over UConn in the national championship Monday night, fans of the UCLA Bruins are left wondering what could have been.
Sure, that UConn squad dominated the Bruins 73-57 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, but the team that toppled the Huskies heavily featured a former UCLA player.
UCLA coach Mick Cronin only played Spanish center Aday Mara 13 minutes per game last season, but he played 30 minutes — second most on his team — in the championship game.
“In Michigan’s overpowering run in this tournament, Mara was everywhere,” wrote Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times. “Playing the previous two seasons at UCLA, Mara was nowhere.”
Plaschke added that Mara is “a 7-foot-3 indictment of [Cronin’s] embattled program.”
“But Mara was more than a transfer, he was transformative, and everyone who had watched him roaming the Pauley floor during his sporadic appearances knew it,” Plaschke explained. “If Mara had stayed with the Bruins this season, they could have been at least a Sweet 16 team, maybe advancing to the Elite Eight, and who knows how much further, his presence alone changing so many things about the team in so many different ways.”
Mick Cronin Has Faced Heat this Season
Plaschke’s column isn’t the first time Cronin has faced heat this year.
Plaschke made the case that the Cronin’s tough attitude could be the cause of Mara’s departure and the program’s relative struggles.
Cronin previously faced criticism earlier this year for ejecting his own player, then snapping at a reporter for asking a question.
And this comes as UCLA, the program with the most men’s championships in NCAA history, celebrates their first NCAA title for the women’s team in program history.
