Mick Cronin: What did he really say?
The UCLA coach shared some thoughts about whether or not the home crowd affects the game after their loss to Nebraska
Nebraska fans took to X with some strong opinions after Nebraska’s 66 - 58 win over nationally ranked UCLA because of some post-game comments made by UCLA’s head coach, Mick Cronin.
Now, before I get into his remarks and my take on them, I want to start by saying this about Cronin: I consider Cronin to be one of the nation’s better college basketball coaches. I’ve always respected his emphasis on defense, and the intensity in which his teams play.
Let’s get into what he said during his press conference and what the underlying message was behind his words.
Cronin said in his post-game presser, “I don’t think an environment has anything to do with anything. I think it’s got more to do with Juwan Gary and Brice Williams.”
I have read a variety of different takes on X about his presser. Some I agreed with, and some I severely disagreed with. I will start by saying this: After listening to the entire clip of Cronin, I never once thought that he was taking a “shot” at Nebraska. Actually, I thought he was doing the exact opposite.
He directly complimented two Nebraska players, referencing Nebraska’s top two players, Juwan Gary and Brice Williams. I agree with Cronin about Gary. He impacted the game on the offensive and defensive side of the ball today. He had so many plays throughout the game where I just had to sit back and say, “Wow”.
Why exactly did Cronin say that a game’s environment doesn’t matter? Does he actually believe that? Or was there a motive behind the message he decided on after the game?
After listening to his entire presser, I think it’s the latter. Cronin was sending a message and knows that a home court can affect a team’s psyche tremendously. It’s not by chance that Nebraska has won an impressive 20 games in a row at Pinnacle Bank Arena. The Nebraska athletic department has done a fabulous job of creating a fierce home-court advantage that universities throughout the country are envious of.
Mick Cronin is doing his job as a coach plain and simple. Part of his job is training the mental fortitude of his players. He doesn’t want his players focusing on the crowd noise, Sandstorm blaring in the background during a timeout, or the hilarious memes on the jumbotron.
He wants his team locked in on the task at hand, which is to win a basketball game. Is he going to be able to get his players to block out all external factors? Of course not, but trying to get his players into that mindset is a step in the right direction for his UCLA squad.
UCLA played one other road game this year, which was in Eugene against a quality Oregon team. I might be a little biased but I think Pinnacle Bank Arena has been UCLA’s toughest environment so far. I’m sure Cronin did everything he could do in practice before the game today to get his team mentally ready, but that PBA magic is like none other.
Ultimately, I think UCLA will be a better team because of the message Cronin is communicating to them after a tough loss to Nebraska. They had to endure an extremely challenging home court advantage and they will learn from it.
I’m grateful that Nebraska pulled out the resume-building ranked win, and look forward to many more games at the greatest home-court advantage in the Big Ten.