Mick Cronin on UCLA players: 'It's really hard to coach people that are delusional'

UCLA Bruins head coach Mick Cronin has seen his team drop two games in a row and three out of their last four. The most recent of those came by 19 points to Michigan and led to Cronin sharing some frustrations he has with his team.

After the loss to Michigan, Cronin shared that he feels his players are delusional about what it takes to win in the Big Ten and that his frustrations are becoming an issue for him this season.

“Here’s what you do,” Mick Cronin said. “You play the guys that’ll play hard and do what you tell them. But, right now, I’m searching deeply for some guys that’ll play hard enough to win a Big Ten game… As poor as we shot the ball at Nebraska, our second-half defense was embarrassing once I got to the film and we went over it. It was embarrassing. So, what the truth of it has been, it’s really hard to coach people that are delusional. The hungry dog gets the bone. We got guys that think they’re way better than they are. They’re nice kids. They’re completely delusional about who they are.”

In the second half of the loss to Nebraska, UCLA gave up 42 points as they struggled to get stops. They followed that up by returning home to play Michigan. In that game, the Wolverines shot 61.5 percent from the field and made 15 three-point shots on their way to scoring 94 points. With that, the Bruins dropped to 2-2 in Big Ten play. They had previously beaten Washington and Oregon.

“And the team that’s mind is on the right stuff and hungry to get a win in conference play is the team that’s probably going to win,” Cronin said. “If this wasn’t the humble pie they needed, I don’t know, but why wasn’t the Nebraska game? So, I don’t know… we’ll see.”

Right now, Mick Cronin considers himself the toughest guy in the program. That’s something he also considers to be a major issue.

“Again, and I said this on the radio, right now, I’m frustrated with my players and my staff,” Cronin said. “And it’s been this way all year with this team. They’re good guys. The problem, I told them, I said, the toughest guy in the room can’t be me every day. It can’t. It can’t. It’s just, it can’t. You can only do so much.”

UCLA will have until Friday to figure things out. That’s when the Bruins travel across the country for another Big Ten game. That one will come against Maryland.