UCLA basketball coach Mick Cronin gets 100% real about Indiana HC buzz
02/15/2025 01:53 AM
In its first year in the Big Ten, UCLA is steamrolling towards an NCAA tournament bid after a very successful season. Mick Cronin and company got off to a blazing hot start before a rough stretch in the middle of the year, but they are now building momentum again. The Bruins continued to do so on Friday night with a 72-68 win over Indiana in Bloomington.
Of course, the Hoosiers have had a difficult season and head coach Mike Woodson will be stepping down and retiring at the end of the year. While Indiana continues to slip further away from the NCAA Tournament cut line, the focus has begun to shift to who its next head coach will be and Cronin is a name that has come up repeatedly if he would want to leave UCLA.
After beating Woodson and company, Cronin addressed being a big name on the Indiana coaching hot boards, via Jack Ankony of Sports Illustrated.
“You know what, here's how I look at that stuff,” Cronin said, per Ankony. “I might be on your hot boards. They might want my a** fired on our hot boards. That's how I look at that. So hey, man, I stay off the hot boards. I'm just telling you, man, that's just the way it is. You can go from one board to the other real quick. Hired then fired, you know what I'm saying.”
The Indiana coaching search will be one of the biggest stories of this offseason, but Cronin and the Bruins have plenty of work to do before that buzz hits a fever pitch around the former Cincinnati head man. UCLA is getting close to being an NCAA Tournament lock as a No. 5 or 6 seed at the moment, so Cronin will have his focus entirely on getting his team into the second weekend of March Madness and beyond.
UCLA is also in prime position to get a possible double bye in the Big Ten Tournament next month in Indianapolis. After this big road win, Cronin’s group is 10-5 in conference play, which is right there with Wisconsin (9-4) and Maryland (9-5) for the fourth seed and the final double bye slot.
The Bruins have games against Minnesota, Ohio State, Northwestern and USC with a blockbuster road game against No. 7 Purdue sandwiched in between. If UCLA can go 4-1 in those games, it should be able to secure that double bye and make a push for the conference tournament title.
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