(02-22-2021 03:35 PM)rath v2.0 Wrote: I know, right? UCLA fans are going to hate how Cronin recruits.
Who said that? How he does at UCLA is not really relevant. I liked him as a coach when he was here. I defended him many times on this board (and his style of play, and his defense first mentality). His first couple recruiting classes were really tough circumstances with too many holes to fill so I never held it against him.
His 2008, 2009 and 2010 classes were damn good. Despite that it took a couple years to really see the results of those classes, but ultimately we started our tournament run and even made a sweet 16.
2011 2012 and 2013 ended up being just ok classes (though 2012 and 2013 looked better initially, Thomas didn't become what we hoped and Lawrence was a disaster), but had enough to keep the streak alive, a lot of that on the strength of SK and Justin from the 2010 class.
He nailed three straight classes delivering a star type player in 2014, 2015 and 2016. It's no surprise when the 2014 class were seniors was his best team by a wide margin. They were loaded because he had nailed stars and found good role guys.
Recruiting at UC took a nosedive after the 2016 class, but notably that was after the UNLV interview and maybe he just was waning on UC as a long term job.
I don't care one way or the other whether he succeeds at UCLA but if he recruits at the level he did here in 2014,2015 and 2016 (or hell, higher...it's UCLA) I have no reason to believe he won't win at a high level there. He was a damn good coach.