UCLA coach Mick Cronin expects his team to embrace lofty expectations that follow the Bruins any time they take the floor during the NCAA tournament.
The program has won an NCAA record 11 national titles and made 19 Final Four appearances.
No. 7-seed UCLA’s (22-11) push for another deep NCAA tournament run begins Friday against No. 10-seed Central Florida (21-11) in Philadelphia in the East Regional. If the Bruins win, they will face the winner of No. 2 Connecticut (29-5) versus No. 15 Furman (22-12).
Cronin was hoping the Bruins, who flew home from the Big Ten tournament in Chicago on Sunday morning, would get a break and open postseason play Friday rather than Thursday. He recalled playing in the American Athletic Conference tournament championship on Sundays and still getting assigned Thursday NCAA tournament games, but Purdue coach Matt Painter told Cronin on Saturday night that he should be in line for a Friday NCAA tournament opener and the forecast proved accurate.
Cronin said the universal UCLA program focus on NCAA tournament success drove his decision to hold forward Tyler Bilodeau and guard Donovan Dent out of a 73-66 Big Ten semifinal loss to Purdue on Saturday night at the United Center. Bilodeau’s injury was a minor knee sprain suffered in the win over Michigan State on Friday, while Dent suffered a minor calf strain early in the game against the Boilermakers. Both are expected to be ready to play Friday.
“Tyler could have played [against Purdue.] You know, Donny could have played. They would have been playing hurt,” Cronin said after the loss to the Boilermakers. “I wouldn’t have played them in a regular season game. I just try to take care of guys.”
The coach said the extra minutes played by Eric Freeny, Xavier Booker, Steven Jamerson II and Brandon Williams will help the Bruins when the full lineup is in place for NCAA tournament games.
He called the team’s effort to push eventual Big Ten champion Purdue valiant, but the games ahead in March simply mean more to the Bruins.
“With all due respect to the Big Ten, you could see how hard our guys are trying to win,” Cronin said. “But our guy are well aware, because they practice under 11 banners that say national championship every day. They warm up under another banner with 19 Final Fours on it. We don’t even have one with conference championships cause there’s 36 or something. There’s so many. So [this] week is what it’s about for us.”
UCLA enters the tournament on a 4-1 streak, looking especially strong since the calendar hit March.
“I was happy with the way we competed,” Cronin said when asked whether he learned anything about his players during a spirited Big Ten tournament run. “… We got talent, we just haven’t always had our mind on defense, which is very rare for teams that I coach. We got great guys. Since March 1 or whenever the heck we played Nebraska, it’s been a noted change in our team, we’ve just got to keep it up. And we’ve got to get some rebounds out of the five spot.
”… We’re at UCLA, no matter who we take the floor against in the NCAA tournament, we’re going to be the ones wearing the baby blues and four letters. So we believe in ourselves.”
UCF is coached by former Duke star Johnny Dawkins. Point guard Themus Fulks is a key leader for the Knights, earning third team All-Big 12 honors after averaging 14.1 points and 6.7 assists per contest during the regular season.
UCF posted top-25 wins over Kansas, Texas Tech and Brigham Young.
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