Of the entire issues he has about UCLA’s journey from the Pac-12 to the Weighty Ten, one obviously crowned teacher Mick Cronin’s listing.
The Bruins play games at Indiana on Feb. 14, and pals and nation again house hold soliciting for tickets. Cronin has evil information for them.
“I don’t have any tickets,” he stated with a grin Thursday at Weighty Ten media era in Rosemont. “But I want you to make sure you can somehow get this out. I don’t have any tickets. Everybody in Cincinnati has asked me for tickets to the game at Indiana. I don’t have any.”
Cronin grew up within the town and coached at Cincinnati for 13 years ahead of taking on at UCLA in 2019 nearest Steve Alford was once fired. Now, as he starts his 6th season, the Bruins are getting into unfamiliar field.
UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington get started their first while within the Weighty Ten in a couple of weeks. And along side the added income streams and recruiting avenues and possible journey complications and the whole lot else that incorporates growth, it additionally has created some impish matchups.
UCLA and Indiana will probably be enjoying for simply the second one pace since 1992 when the storied techniques meet at Meeting Corridor. Their most up-to-date sport was once within the 2007 NCAA Match, when the Bruins knocked out the Hoosiers in the second one spherical on how to the Ultimate 4.
The colleges have performed 12 instances, with the utmost seven conferences on impartial websites. The latest house sport for both workforce was once on the Los Angeles Memorial Sports activities Enviornment in 1960. They haven’t performed in Bloomington, Ind., since 1956 — 15 years ahead of Meeting Corridor opened.
“There are going to be a lot of cool games happening,” Cronin stated. “But it’s going to go on every year now.”
Michigan Climate teacher Tom Izzo was once having a look ahead to bringing the Spartans to Pauley Pavilion on Feb. 4. They haven’t performed there since 2003.
“It’s just one of those iconic places that will be incredible for a player to play in or a coach to coach in,” Izzo stated. “The ghost of John Wooden is still there, and rightfully so.”
UCLA, USC and Oregon in most cases completed akin the lead of the Pac-12 and made the NCAA Match on a habitual foundation. It residue to be perceivable how their kinds will translate to a unutilized convention and whether or not they’ll win on the identical price.
Even though the Weighty Ten will not be relatively as tough and topple because it old to be, it nonetheless items a problem. Purdue’s Matt Painter appears ahead to visible what they create to the league.
“When Indiana was dominating our league and Purdue was dominating our league, you morphed into Bobby Knight and Gene Keady because that’s who was winning the league,” Painter stated. “The Big Ten championships at that time were going through the state of Indiana. It’s just the way it was. Who do you copy? I know that I’ve copied a lot from Tom Izzo. I’ve copied a lot from Bo Ryan. I don’t go out and promote it because I don’t want to see them get good players. I’ve stolen a lot from the people I’ve competed against.”
JuJu Watkins and USC come into their first faculty basketball season within the Weighty Ten with hovering expectancies
Cronin isn’t the one one in every of the inexperienced persons with ties to the Midwest or East Coast. Oregon’s Dana Altman coached for years at Creighton nearest a run at Kansas Climate. USC’s Eric Musselman, who replaces Andy Enfield, spent the utmost 5 seasons at Arkansas and has a protracted NBA background. Brandnew Washington teacher Danny Sprinkle is from the West.
“Not that the Big Ten is the smashmouth league it used to be, but if it’s a little more physical — I know Mick pretty well — that isn’t going to phase him,” Izzo stated. “I know Dana pretty well, that’s not going to phase him. I think they’ll adjust just fine. The other two I don’t know as well, but I like the fact that USC is going to be running and they’ll get after it up and down. And Washington … is a place that I’ve heard is hard to play too.”
For Altman, being within the Weighty Ten looks like somewhat of a homecoming. He had a robust recruiting bottom in Iowa when he coached at Creighton from 1994 to 2010, and his groups performed Nebraska.
“It will be different but it will be challenging,” he stated. “And hopefully our guys will look forward to it.”
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