UCLA’s Mick Cronin ‘bells out’ after dishonesty in Sweet 16 victory vs. Alabama

INDIANAPOLIS – Twitter waits for no one, and nothing, not even five minutes of basketball overtime. And it shows that UCLA coach Mick Cronin was criticized for the most resultant win of his two-decade career, losing as many games as he could.

4.1 seconds were left when Bruce Junior reserve David Singleton, who scored just 10 points combined in three NCAA tournament games, threw consecutive free throws in the NCAA Eastern Region semifinals to put his team ahead of Alabama by three points. The only thing that could keep the Bruins from the Elite Eight would be a buzzer-beating 3-pointer and a catastrophic overtime.

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The apparent move, however, instructs the Bruins to purposefully foul and prevent any Alabama player from attempting a 3-point shot.

Right, people?

Here’s what is really strange about what happened late Sunday evening at the Hinckel Fieldhouse: Cronin agrees.

“I’m a crappy guy,” he said after the Bruins dominated overtime to run into the next round of March Madness – their first Elite Eight since 2008 – with an 88-78 win over the Crimson Tide.

What he meant by this was that he wanted to instruct his players, in that case, to purposefully dishonor and send the opposing team to the free throw line to avoid an opponent’s attempts at a three-pointer.

In this instance, he knew that Alabama coach Nat Oates saw him calling his players dishonestly. And when Oates later called a timeout, he feared that Oates would use that break to call his players, who could immediately fire the ball toward the goal if Brough approached the foul, which led to the act. There could be three free throws for a foul. Shooting 3.

“NBA, they don’t cheat for that reason,” Cronin said. “The pro guys are really clever. So we think with four seconds. If we just take a round and choke on that side of the floor, we steal that pass and they don’t even close that shot. We do.

“Obviously, the kids freaked me out. They played very well in overtime.”

Cronin later stated that Bruce played as a team and can play in OT, and although it sounds exaggerated, it’s hard to dispute. He scored 23 points in five minutes. Carried to its absurd but mathematically correct conclusion, it is a 184-point pace for a regulation college basketball game.

And yet it was mainly the defense that won the game. It has not been a prototype Mick Cronin D in Cincinnati, he trained six consecutive top 20 strongholds. This UCLA squad ranks 56th. But before that it is a massive improvement in the coming years, when four successive Bruins squads ranked 85th or worse.

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“I think that’s a big part of who he is,” UCLA wing Jaime Jacquez told reporters. “He affects us all in this way. He brings out the best in all of us. So when we go out there and play, he’s screaming and shouting with us. He’s doing everything with us. Has been. I can’t ask for better than that. Coach in college basketball. “

Cruelty has become an integral part of UCLA culture. It was non-negotiable for Cronin, and the game was unavoidable without it. Notably without wing Chris Smith, who injured his knee in December, and forward Jalan Hill, who left for personal reasons, this is not a dynamic bunch. There was still an insistence among the Bruises that Alabama, never mind its electric quickness, could not rest in its attack, especially along the 3-point line. The Tides get a higher percentage of their points on 3-pointers than 15 other Division I teams. On this night, they were 7 of 28.

“You can game-plan to defend 3,” Cronin said, “but when that ball comes out of the rim and it’s on the air and on the floor, you don’t want to let the other team win more than you . ” Our people did. “

Gifted Alabama point guard Jahawn Queenerly scored 20 points, but needed 22 shots to get there. Especially in the late game, UCLA center Cody Riley excelled at the swatches to handle Quernley and blocked his shot as he attempted to sweep in left-handed laps. Jacquez stood firmly against All-America forward Herbert Jones, who came away with just half a dozen shots for eight points and was just 2 of 7 on free throws.

“We weren’t good enough to beat them tonight. They were better,” Oates said. “They hit some hard shots.” , Punched in the mouth to start prematurely. “

He was a taste of Singleton’s right hand. He had tried hard to win the game in regulation for the Bruins, but when he could not fly, he went ahead and started them in OT. He used a 3-pointer for just 3 seconds into the extra period and his baseline jumper nearly two minutes later gave it a seven-point lead. Singleton is a 17-minute player, but shooting 47 percent on 3-pointers. With high-scoring wing Johnny Jujang dishonestly disqualified, Singleton played 20 minutes and tied his career with 15 points.

“Dave works so hard every day in practice,” Jacquez told Sporting News. “We know what he is capable of, and when he was called today, he showed everyone what he is, and is a big-time player.”

It was UCLA’s third overtime game in the last six, but it was not like the others. Cronin told SN that even after the decision not to return the Tide, Judd Bernard missed out on a free throw as he huddled what he saw as the team’s Pack-12 tournament opener against Oregon State. There was a difference in

“It was tough. When you’re in this situation, the man, and the one who is with you at the buzzer, you’ve got every reason to fold. Every reason to fold,” Cronin said. “These people just refused to give.

“You know me. You know how much willpower I’m trying to instill in them, where you just refuse to give in. Someone can beat you, but you never give up and you never give up. . So I give. All credit to the children, man. “

He shouldn’t expect March Madness Twitter for this controversy, but he certainly won’t investigate. He has a lot to prepare for the Elite Eight.