Mick Cronin shares how he prepares UCLA with a full week off

While it’s not full blown rest and relaxation, UCLA head men’s basketball coach Mick Cronin did want to give his players an extended break from the grind with an extended gap between games this week. After playing Utah on Feb. 18, UCLA’s next game is on Feb. 24.

And ahead of that game — a home rivalry matchup with crosstown USC — Cronin is trying to not overload his players with much on the mental side. A break from the onslaught of game plans, he said, is something he’s happy to provide his players.

“I think it’s really important not to just — if you look at everything from a coaches perspective, it’s OK for me, because that’s what I do. I’m an adult,” Cronin said. “I’m just watching film. I’m absorbing reports. I’m game planning. I’m going over what I should’ve done last game. But I’m an adult. They’re kids, they’re going to college. So the point I’m trying to get to is, I think you’ve gotta be in tune on where the guys need a mental break.”

With 26 games already played this season, Cronin is well aware that the continuous stream of basketball information being thrown at his players can start to wear them down.

While he and his staff will surely hit the tape from recent games and reassess, Cronin and Co. waited until closer to tipoff to dive in.

“And you’ve got game after game after game and you’ve gotta get them to where they all know the game plan and they’re in tune with the strengths and weaknesses of the other team, individual and team strengths. It’s a lot,” Cronin said. “So I think it’s good to not have any film for a few days. As much as my staff — we’re off Monday, come in Tuesday want to ‘Let’s go over the Utah game.’ And sure there’s things that we need to do better, there are certainly some things that I need to do better. And just, ‘No, we’re just going to shoot.’ It’s all we did on Tuesday. That’s it.”

And unlike the NBA, where teams sometimes play games on back-to-back nights, Cronin doesn’t think the overall depth of basketball knowledge, feel and understanding is to the level where scouting reports aren’t as in depth.

So when a chance to let his players just play basketball for a few days arises, as it did this week, Cronin is happy to make the most of it.