Mick Cronin explains how UCLA is a 'fragile' team this season

The UCLA basketball team has had a rough season, struggling to replace some elite talent off last year’s squad. For coach Mick Cronin, the season has been a work in progress.

And that progress hasn’t always come as quickly as he’d like. But he’s taken ownership of the team’s issues and isn’t pointing the finger anywhere but right back at himself.

“I told you this when you asked who is the problem and who is responsible, it’s me,” Mick Cronin said. “They’re good kids. I’m trying to get stuff out of guys that they’re probably not ready to give me yet, which is hard. It’s not their fault. It hasn’t been their effort, it hasn’t been their issue.”

It shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that UCLA has struggled so far this season. The team had to replace its top five scorers from a year ago, including first-round NBA Draft pick Jaime Jaquez Jr.

UCLA hasn’t caught many breaks, whether it might be with a key returning player or otherwise.

“They’re inexperienced, and we don’t have a junior/senior anchor,” Mick Cronin said. “Like if Jaylen Clark wouldn’t have got hurt and say he would have came back this year, somebody like that. … We just, we’ve been battling that all year. It’s just fragile team.”

UCLA’s inexperience has shown up in some really inopportune moments this season. Even in the team’s latest game, a 59-47 win over Arizona State that snapped a five-game losing streak, there were some obvious issues.

Cronin touched on those, which could have cost his team the win late in the second half.

“Obviously I’d have liked to have got up 10 and Will (McClendon) not taken a bad three and Berke (Buyuktuncel) shoot the open three, he passed one up,” Mick Cronin said. “Will took a bad one when Adem (Bona) was wide open and he’s just on a dunk-a-thon. But we’re still learning, man.”

At 15-16 on the season and 10-10 in Pac-12 play, UCLA will need a magical run through the Pac-12 tournament if it hopes to earn a spot in the Big Dance.

It’s unlikely, but a young UCLA team would have a chance to make a real statement in doing so. Cronin and company will begin Pac-12 Tournament play against Oregon State on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. ET.