LOS ANGELES — UCLA men’s basketball coach Mick Cronin knows his defending Pac-12 championship team, which features eight newcomers, including seven freshmen, has a lot to learn about what it truly means to be a Bruin.
“Trying to get these guys to understand what we’re all about here at UCLA, which is play defense and have your mind on defense,” Cronin said, who is entering his fifth season in Westwood. “If you have your mind on the right things, results will follow.”
The results might follow, but for now one year removed from a 31-6 season, here some are the top questions for the Bruins before their season begins against Saint Francis on Monday night at Pauley Pavilion.
How good are Aday Mara and Berke Buyuktuncel?
What will 7-foot-3, 240-pound freshman center Aday Mara and 6-foot-9, 245-pound freshman forward Berke Buyuktuncel look like in Cronin’s system? Neither Buyuktuncel (Turkey) nor Mara (Spain) was cleared yet to play in the team’s 97-56 exhibition win against Cal State Dominguez Hills on Tuesday.
However, it was announced Friday that Mara has been cleared for competition by the NCAA.
“We don’t even know who we are,” Cronin said. “We still haven’t played a scrimmage, a game, with Aday and Berke. It’s the way the cards have fallen on the table and we have to play them, so hopefully, they’re playing Monday. But we’re incorporating so many new guys, the coaching staff is going to have to do a great job trying to figure out who we’re going to be and how we need to play to win.”
Is Adem Bona healthy?
How will last season’s Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and the Bruins’ leading returning scorer, at 7.6 points per game, look this season after not playing a college basketball game since March 18? The 6-foot-10, 245-pound power forward withdrew from the 2023 NBA draft and spent the offseason working his way back from a left shoulder injury suffered in the Pac-12 tournament. The defensive stalwart, who will be expected…
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