The University of Los Angeles Men’s basketball team looks to massively improve in season two under head coach Mick Cronin after the Bruins finished under .500 a season ago missing the 2024 March Madness Tournament.
Bruins on SI writer Eva Geitheim had the opportunity to speak with Cronin about his outlook towards this upcoming college basketball season and his game plan when dealing with players who are inside the transfer portal.
Cronin on recruiting through the transfer portal:
“I’ll just say what we don’t look for, guys who just want to get paid.”— Eva Geitheim (@EGeitheim) September 25, 2024
“I’m a honest guy so I’ll just say what we don’t look for, guys who just want to get paid. And I’m all for that, because I’d be first in line for a raise if they’re giving them out. I think you’ve got to try to get some guys that actually are going to run to a place where there’s high expectations of winning, and they actually have the humility and self-awareness to know they need to get better to get to where they want to go. We try to attract those kinds of guys and try to repel guys — this isn’t the place where you’re going to get your money and you’re going to cause problems and not give effort.”
The collegiate athletics landscape has changed a lot since the addition of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) as players are able to financially benefit from their popularity.
Due to the transfer portal allowing athletes the ability to test their own market after a season without penalty has truly altered how coaches have to view recruiting. Every college player is not going to end up having a decade-long professional career so now their college years become more important as they try to maximize this window of financial gain.
The issue for coaches is deciding which players are motivated solely by money or the desire to win in their respective sports. Now that college sports are filled with millionaires before the age of 23 its going to be hard to gauge an athlete’s motivation for success as complacency will be a real factor to consider in recruiting.
Last season coach Cronin had one of the youngest teams in college basketball which translated in their win-loss column as they went through a lot of growing pains. Heading into year two, Cronin and this Bruins’ basketball team are expected to be much improved in 2024, as they plan to have a balanced blend of youth, talent, and experience.
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