UCLA basketball tries to pop NCAA Tournament bubble down stretch

Mick Cronin considers it madness to think about where his team might be in March.

The UCLA basketball coach said Friday he doesn’t waste time mulling the Bruins’ NCAA Tournament status.

“If I focused on Joe Lunardi’s hair,” Cronin cracked, referencing the ESPN basketball analyst, “that would be tough. No, the guy’s made a hell of a lot of money, so good for Joe.”

Seeing Cronin’s comments on X, Lunardi added his own cheeky retort, complete with a winking emoji: “Would rather have my hair and Mick’s money.”

Lunardi’s latest “Bracketology” has UCLA as a No. 10 seed, playing North Carolina State in the first round in Oklahoma City as part of the South Region.

That aligns with most prognosticators. Bracketmatrix.com, which aggregates mock NCAA Tournament brackets, also projected UCLA as a No. 10 seed, alongside rival USC. The Bruins made the cut in 104 of 108 brackets. 

That’s not a great spot for a college blue blood that’s supposed to be fighting for a No. 1 seed, not simply inclusion in the tournament. Unless they put together a strong finish to the regular season, the Bruins could be in jeopardy of missing the tournament for a second time in three years.

UCLA’s NET ranking of No. 41 is firmly in bubble territory, especially given a 2-5 record in the all-important Quad 1 games. The Bruins will have several more chances to improve that record, starting with a critical road trip later this month to face Michigan and Michigan State.

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Fortunately, the trends are pointed in the right direction for UCLA (16-7, 8-4 Big Ten) heading into a game against Washington (12-11, 4-8) on Saturday night at Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins have won four of their last five games, the lone setback a double-overtime loss to Indiana.

As it navigates an increasingly narrow path to the NCAA Tournament, UCLA has two types of games left on its schedule.

There’s the ones the Bruins would like to win to enhance their standing. Then there’s the ones they must win.

Washington qualifies as win-or-you-might-as-well-pack-it-in.

The Huskies have cratered recently, losing five of their last seven, and are only 2-4 on the road in conference play. Having star forward Hannes Steinbach, the only player in the Big Ten averaging a double-double in points and rebounds, hasn’t been enough to vault this team into NCAA Tournament contention.

Asked about checking out where his team stood on bracketmatrix.com, Cronin said he preferred another website.

“I log onto baselineoutofbounds.com,” Cronin said, “try to figure out a way to score a basket. I’m not a fan, I’m a coach.”

Cronin went on to talk about striving for improvement and developing players, his sole focus. He said he’s even able to ignore outside influences who might mention his team’s NCAA Tournament standing.

“My outside influences are coaching friends of mine talking about coaching, player development,” Cronin said. “If you focus on that, then you develop Jaime Jaquez Jr., you develop Tyler Bilodeau. … Focus on player development, that’s what we do. That’s what I would want if I was a player, a coach that focused on trying to make me a better player.”