University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA's Media Day Quotes
PAC-12 MENโS BASKETBALL MEDIA DAY
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Venue: Park MGM (Las Vegas, Nev.)
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Q-and-A with UCLA head coach Mick Cronin
speaking with Guy Haberman and Don MacLean
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Q: How do you feel about your team this season?
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Mick Cronin: Tyger and Jaime and David aren't walking through that door. So it's time to turn the page. But weโve got talent. We got depth. We're just young, and I know we're an unknown to a lot of people. So it's going to be interesting. Don has seen us practice.
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Q: Tyger and Jaime and that group did so much, itโs worth revisiting, before you move on to this season. How are you coaching differently with this young group versus having all that experience, it seems like, for so long with those other guys?
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Coach Cronin: Well, a lot more teaching. The obvious thing, a lot more teaching. Team bonding, we went to Spain this summer as a group. We gotta get these guys to realize โ I know this sounds weird, but they're a team. They're going to decide whether we win or lose. Tyger is not going to show up and save the day. And Jaime plays for the Heat. So that's a big piece of it. With the young guys, we do have veterans. And like, you know, last year it was different. My approach really failed in the end last year because it was a just get healthy, in all seriousness. Whether you're one or two seed, I thought we can win it all. But you gotta be healthy. Like you're not โย the Clippers got no chance without Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. You can talk all you want about all this other stuff. So we tried to be healthy going into the NCAA Tournament last year and failed miserably, with Jalen and Adem going down. So that really defined the end of our season. But this year, look, we're going to have to get better as we go. We just got to get experience, get better as we go and make adjustments as we go. You have to adjust as a coach.
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Q: Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said that you two talked about maintaining that rivalry. How important would that be to you and how important would it be to maintain other West Coast rivalries?
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Coach Cronin: Well, I think the big key is for college basketball is that we can continue to focus on what's best for college basketball, which has been obviously very hard to do with football and football television money deciding our fate. So I think what concerns me is as I hear talk of even going past 20 league games, you know, it's already tough enough with the rivalry stuff that you lose with these conferences and all the stuff that's gone on. So the question for me, I don't even know where we're headed next year. I don't know โ am I going to be mandated 21 league games plus two more games and challenge. Right now, itโs a lot of not knowing for us, and I'm sure Arizona is in the same position with that. But things that are good for college basketball are big, non-league games. I think there's no doubt about that. And we've all been shown in the past we're willing to do it. We went to Maryland last year. We played Kentucky in New York. So I just think we gotta have opportunity, though. I get concerned about the constraints of the big conferences and where it's all headed, because I think where does it end is the question.
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Q: Let's talk about your schedule, Ohio State, Villanova, Marquette. You'll go to Honolulu as well. What do you think of your nonconference schedule?
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Coach Cronin: If you look at the eight teams in Maui, it's scary. It's good you don't have to play everybody, because it's murderer's row. We're going to practice being in the Big Ten. We gotta go play Ohio State in Atlanta, come home, finals, go back, play Villanova, and then Maryland comes to us. We are going to probably play six really, really tough games amongst โ then you got 20 more. You never know, though. Like when you're scheduling these games out, you used to kind of know who's going to be on what team. With the transfer portal, who knows? I mean you don't even know as you schedule games, the so-called bye games. You schedule a game right now. We talked to somebody yesterday about an opener for next year. That guy could go out and get nine transfers and be awesome. It makes scheduling much more tougher. We all like to know what we're getting into.
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Q: One of the biggest compliments around this league in the last few years was other coaches in the league saying, โI want my point guard to be more like Tyger Campbell.โ The reason I bring that up, Dylan Andrews is now getting into that role. How much did he learn last year playing kind of underneath Tyger, and how much are you having to coach him up to try and get him to play a lot like Tyger?
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Coach Cronin: I think that's what you gotta avoid. I can't ask Dylan to be Tyger. I think Dylan's got different strengths. And I think I gotta make sure that I'm allowing him to be really good at what he's good at, pressuring the ball, using his speed and quickness, being able to create his own shot, probably better off the dribble than Tyger. Obviously, very few guys run a team as well as Tyger Campbell. That's why coaches loved him so much, as you know. So there's things he's gotta get better at as far as running a team. I think I gotta make sure that I try to let him flourish at what he's good at.
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Q: Dylan is different than Tyger, physically. But for him to get that mentality of just, 'I'm not turning it over, basically.'
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Coach Cronin: Yeah, and you've seen us practice quite a bit. So you know how I am with that. The only chart on the wall during practice is the turnover chart. So you just can't win if you don't take care of the ball. You're not going to beat quality opponents if you don't take care of the ball, and you'll never win on the road if you don't take care of the ball. It's not just Dylan, Jan Vide, Sebastian Mack. We have a lot of young guards. Will McClendon is going to surprise a lot of people this year, as you saw in practice. I think the general consensus to all the guys, when you have all these guys that haven't played a lot together is, for us on offense, you have to take care of the ball. Then you get a shot off. It might go in. High probability if it was you, but it might go in. You might get fouled. You might get a rebound. But if you throw it away, you got no chance. And, you know, look, analytics is real. You get 20 more shots than the other team and shoot 10 more free throws, your chances of winning are pretty good. It's not going to happen if you turn it over. And we try to create turnovers. So analytically, we try to win that margin of possession in every game.
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Q: Given how good you've been on defense, how do you get a young team to play defense the way you want them to play defense? Do you have to change your expectations?
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Coach Cronin: Well, you start with Adem Bona, you got a good shot. You can go back to analytics. He was a top-two player, plus-minus guy, efficiency guy in the country last year. We were like plus-30 points or more with him in the game. You know, I like our chances. Jaylen Clark going down was brutal, then Adem went down โ it was over, for us, as far as winning, hanging the 12th banner. I like our chances, if he would have still been healthy, to be honest with you. You start with him you got a pretty good defense, because not only can he anchor the middle, he can defend the perimeter. His energy level was never an issue, never an issue. So Don [MacLean] has been training guys for the NBA Draft since his career, and a lot of guys you have to train them just how to play hard, how to practice hard. You never have that issue with Adem Bona. And his energy is infectious, which helps your defense.
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Q: When you have a younger team, do you feel like youโve got to simplify your defensive game plan?
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Coach Cronin: Yeah, no question about it โ no question about it. We donโt really complicate it too much, other than when we get to the scouting report. That'll be the issue, the basics, things that you are trying to take away from a team. But if you can't take away a team's strengths, they're going to score on you. If you let a team get it to who they want when they want, they're going to probably score. You have got to try to take something away and make a team, to play in a style they're not comfortable playing, or whatever their style is, or you're not going to be a good defensive team. But it's going to be a challenge. I think simple is, for all our young guys, it has been a theme of our fall. Youโve gotta be good at it. Itโs not just simple donโt mistake me. Itโs like you have to build toughness before you have any chance. But you gotta get good at something. If you can't pressure the ball, you gotta stay in front of the ball, or you can't play. You gotta understand, that's not a joke. You will not play, because you donโt score the ball as well as Don MacLean did or Tracy Murray did, or Jaime Jaquez did.
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Q: I know it's hard for coaches because you play zero-sum game, wins and losses, but you and I talked before and after your practice last week. How hard is it going to be for you to be patient? It looks like this team might stumble a little bit early, but by February you're probably going to be pretty good.
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Coach Cronin: We got a chance. We have some guys with some real talent. Just gotta get them experience. You just gotta make sure you're constantly teaching. And I think you're right, as a coach โ the pro coaches got no problem with it. They just go out to eat. They play 82 games. For me, a loss is death. Literally like I can't eat, I can't function. I can't speak to people, you know. Everybody that loves me knows they hide from me. So, you know, I'm going to have to make sure that we understand that there's going to be just a growth process. We went through it last year. We came here to Vegas and lost two. We were starting two freshmen. We weren't a good defensive team early in the season. We came in here, gave 79, gave up 80 lost two games. Then I think we won 14 straight after that. But it does make you better sometimes, because you have to look in the mirror โ at not just players. I'm talking about as a coach and say, okay, we gotta do something here, make a change, somehow and it may be getting more simple, Don.
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Q: Share with us your thoughts on Lazar Stefanovic.
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Coach Cronin: When you have so many freshmen, it's so nice to have somebody that's always in the right spot and is extremely smart, has been really well coached, that can really help the young guys. Now, he's such a good guy, and he's trying to fit in at UCLA, that I'm trying to make sure he understands โ I whisper to him in practice, since Lazar doesn't know, Don, you scored 2,608 points. Youโre the leading scorer ever in the Pac-12, but nobody ever had to do this to Don. But I have to go over every now and then, whisper to him, that yoโuve got to be aggressive. Youโve got to look to score. You canโt worry about being a transfer. You canโt worry about fitting in. We donโt have time for that stuff. I want him to know that I have confidence in him. Heโs got to get comfortable quickly on this team. Obviously, we need his leadership.
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Q-and-A with UCLAโs Adem Bona (sophomore) and Lazar Stefanovic (junior)
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Q: Letโs start here with Adem. How is your shoulder. We saw you swinging a golf club in the game room at the hitting bay, so it looks like youโre doing OK.
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A. Bona: Yeah, I'm doing good. It's been a while working with the team, the UCLA trainers. I think they've been getting me right.
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Q: To Lazar, you hear that coach said about you. How has the transition been, being an older guy on this team and also becoming a leader?
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L. Stefanovic: Yeah, itโs always when you change a team you play for, there's new things that come with it. So it's great to hear what Coach [Cronin] said, and he does, surely tell me sometimes I need to be more aggressive, and I know it, and I know the team needs it. And I know that my leadership role is going to be huge for us this year. I need to step up in that area and help everybody get better.
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Q: Lazar, when you get into conference play on the road, you may be new at UCLA but you are not new within this league. You have been to all those places. This team has got a lot of young players who havenโt played in the conference. How important will that leadership be, as January rolls around and league games pick up?
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L. Stefanovic: Yeah, I think that it starts now, and it already had to start before, because this period right now that we are in, it's a period the players usually don't like because it's a lot, a lot of practice, hard practices, long practices with no games. But it's the period where you get good enough to win games and have some fun in the season.
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Q: Adem, how much were you able to do this summer with that shoulder? Take us through your summer, of what you were able to do. What did you work on and how will you be better this season?
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A. Bona: I would say I had a long, successful summer, you know. I had to do the rehab. I would say like my daily schedule, Iโd wake up in the morning, get with Tyler [Lesher], get my shoulder right and then I get on the court. Weโd work on my form, shooting on my one hand. Thankfully, the injury was on my left shoulder. I was able to get in the gym a lot, work on my right hand and improve on my form. And I think the coaches have done a lot helping me get to where I am right now, and I think we've made a lot of strides.
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Q: One thing that stood out to me about your team last year, Adem, was your improvement throughout the year. You started out, got in a lot of foul trouble early. But you cleaned that up, and not only that, offensively, you seemed as the season went on, you seemed to be more in the right places to like catch and finish, catch and dunk it. What is the next step for you, coming into this season? You are a terrific defensive player, and Coach Cronin mentioned that you can guard the rim, hedge ball screens showing, ball screens get out there. What is the next step for you and where do you look to improve?
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A. Bona: I would say big thanks to the coaches, as they helped me through any improvement for last year, which was a phase for me transition from high school to college, concerning my foul trouble is got better towards the end of the year playing with guys like Jaime and Tyger. They left the offensive burden off me โ not burden, but itโs more on the offensive, they kept the offense. This year, we donโt have those guys. My role is going to be bigtime this year, on the team. I have guys like Lazar on the team to support me. And then young guys, like [Aday] Mara, Berke [Buyuktuncel]. It's going to be huge step up for me offensively, and I think I'm ready to take the step.
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Q: Adem, we know that you are not fully cleared just yet, but have you done any kind of walk-through stuff with Aday? Coach Cronin has said he wants to have two of the bigs on the court this year at the same time. Have you kind of done any preliminary on-the-court work with him and seeing how that would go and how excited are you about that possibility?
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A. Bona: Yeah. If you watch us in practice, you would have seen how excited I am. We have done a lot of walk-through together. We have watched a lot of film together, also. Coach [Darren] Savino is our bigs coach. Heโs talked us through some scenarios where we are going to be on the court at the same time. I think that Aday is a great guy. He can do so much on the basketball court. I think that me and him on the floor at the same time is going to be amazing to see. I canโt wait to have the two of us on the floor at the same time.
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Q: Lazar, you're grinning, listening to Adem talk. What's going through your mind?
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L. Stefanovic: Yeah, I agree with a lot of things he said. And I agree that Aday is going to help us win a lot of games this year, can help us win a lot of games. And I can't wait to see the two of them matched up at practice. But more so I can't wait to see them together on the court, how they play together.
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Q: It's interesting, Adem, you're not an overly tall player, but you play like a taller player because of your activity and your effort. The league got big this year. Iโm not sure how much you have looked at other teams around the Pac-12. But there are many big teams in this league. Does that become more important for you, to be even better defensively, knowing that you have NโFaly Dante at Oregon and Branden Carlson at Utah, that you have these guys who are seven feet tall that can really play?
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A. Bona: What's amazing, the league got big and we got bigger. We got big guys, we got Aday [Mara], [Logan] Cremonesi, weโve got Berke [Buyuktuncel]. We got Jan [Vide], 6-5 point guard. Iโd say we got bigs also. I am always ready for the attacks, you know. I'm ready to step it up when it's needed. And I know I'm going to have to bring the team along with me. So have the same vision with the team as last year and the vision has never changed. We still have the same vision going for what we want and going all the way in.
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Q: Do you feel different going from a young guy on the team who had a big role to being one of the most experienced players now, even though you are just one year older?
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A. Bona: Yeah, it's a huge difference. We had guys like David, Tyger, Jaime. These guys were the leaders of the team. They've been there for a while. They know the ins and outs. And I feel like I'm so blessed. I'm lucky to play with those guys, and I've learned a lot, and I feel like I'm ready to carry on the torch from them to be able to pass it down to the young guys on the team right now.
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Q: For Lazar, how great is it when your practices are over, walking out of that practice facility (warmer weather than in Utah) โ nothing against Salt Lake City?
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L. Stefanovic: Well, itโs a little different when you walk outside it's always sunny, and it's very warm, you're always in your shorts and t-shirts. Yeah, Salt Lake is a beautiful place. I love that place, but L.A., there are reasons why people love California and love Los Angeles, and especially that part where we are on. It feels good.
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Q: Adem, how is Coach Cronin doing, coaching all these young guys to play defense? Is it testing him a little bit, do you think?
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A. Bona: Yeah, I think it's a process. I think I kind of went through that process last year. I do play a lot of defense, but there's the little details, like obviously we spoke about my foul trouble last year. These guys know how to play the little habits. They love to play back when they're playing. I think it's a process coach has been on them trying to like get them to play the right way, the winning way. That's what we call it. I think coach has done a pretty good job getting them to play the right way.
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Q: That's your job, Adem. When they make mistakes, you clean it up, right?
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A. Bona: Yeah. That's my job, but we're going to try and limit the mistakes.
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Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Venue: Park MGM (Las Vegas, Nev.)
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Q-and-A with UCLA head coach Mick Cronin
speaking with Guy Haberman and Don MacLean
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Q: How do you feel about your team this season?
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Mick Cronin: Tyger and Jaime and David aren't walking through that door. So it's time to turn the page. But weโve got talent. We got depth. We're just young, and I know we're an unknown to a lot of people. So it's going to be interesting. Don has seen us practice.
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Q: Tyger and Jaime and that group did so much, itโs worth revisiting, before you move on to this season. How are you coaching differently with this young group versus having all that experience, it seems like, for so long with those other guys?
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Coach Cronin: Well, a lot more teaching. The obvious thing, a lot more teaching. Team bonding, we went to Spain this summer as a group. We gotta get these guys to realize โ I know this sounds weird, but they're a team. They're going to decide whether we win or lose. Tyger is not going to show up and save the day. And Jaime plays for the Heat. So that's a big piece of it. With the young guys, we do have veterans. And like, you know, last year it was different. My approach really failed in the end last year because it was a just get healthy, in all seriousness. Whether you're one or two seed, I thought we can win it all. But you gotta be healthy. Like you're not โย the Clippers got no chance without Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. You can talk all you want about all this other stuff. So we tried to be healthy going into the NCAA Tournament last year and failed miserably, with Jalen and Adem going down. So that really defined the end of our season. But this year, look, we're going to have to get better as we go. We just got to get experience, get better as we go and make adjustments as we go. You have to adjust as a coach.
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Q: Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said that you two talked about maintaining that rivalry. How important would that be to you and how important would it be to maintain other West Coast rivalries?
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Coach Cronin: Well, I think the big key is for college basketball is that we can continue to focus on what's best for college basketball, which has been obviously very hard to do with football and football television money deciding our fate. So I think what concerns me is as I hear talk of even going past 20 league games, you know, it's already tough enough with the rivalry stuff that you lose with these conferences and all the stuff that's gone on. So the question for me, I don't even know where we're headed next year. I don't know โ am I going to be mandated 21 league games plus two more games and challenge. Right now, itโs a lot of not knowing for us, and I'm sure Arizona is in the same position with that. But things that are good for college basketball are big, non-league games. I think there's no doubt about that. And we've all been shown in the past we're willing to do it. We went to Maryland last year. We played Kentucky in New York. So I just think we gotta have opportunity, though. I get concerned about the constraints of the big conferences and where it's all headed, because I think where does it end is the question.
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Q: Let's talk about your schedule, Ohio State, Villanova, Marquette. You'll go to Honolulu as well. What do you think of your nonconference schedule?
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Coach Cronin: If you look at the eight teams in Maui, it's scary. It's good you don't have to play everybody, because it's murderer's row. We're going to practice being in the Big Ten. We gotta go play Ohio State in Atlanta, come home, finals, go back, play Villanova, and then Maryland comes to us. We are going to probably play six really, really tough games amongst โ then you got 20 more. You never know, though. Like when you're scheduling these games out, you used to kind of know who's going to be on what team. With the transfer portal, who knows? I mean you don't even know as you schedule games, the so-called bye games. You schedule a game right now. We talked to somebody yesterday about an opener for next year. That guy could go out and get nine transfers and be awesome. It makes scheduling much more tougher. We all like to know what we're getting into.
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Q: One of the biggest compliments around this league in the last few years was other coaches in the league saying, โI want my point guard to be more like Tyger Campbell.โ The reason I bring that up, Dylan Andrews is now getting into that role. How much did he learn last year playing kind of underneath Tyger, and how much are you having to coach him up to try and get him to play a lot like Tyger?
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Coach Cronin: I think that's what you gotta avoid. I can't ask Dylan to be Tyger. I think Dylan's got different strengths. And I think I gotta make sure that I'm allowing him to be really good at what he's good at, pressuring the ball, using his speed and quickness, being able to create his own shot, probably better off the dribble than Tyger. Obviously, very few guys run a team as well as Tyger Campbell. That's why coaches loved him so much, as you know. So there's things he's gotta get better at as far as running a team. I think I gotta make sure that I try to let him flourish at what he's good at.
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Q: Dylan is different than Tyger, physically. But for him to get that mentality of just, 'I'm not turning it over, basically.'
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Coach Cronin: Yeah, and you've seen us practice quite a bit. So you know how I am with that. The only chart on the wall during practice is the turnover chart. So you just can't win if you don't take care of the ball. You're not going to beat quality opponents if you don't take care of the ball, and you'll never win on the road if you don't take care of the ball. It's not just Dylan, Jan Vide, Sebastian Mack. We have a lot of young guards. Will McClendon is going to surprise a lot of people this year, as you saw in practice. I think the general consensus to all the guys, when you have all these guys that haven't played a lot together is, for us on offense, you have to take care of the ball. Then you get a shot off. It might go in. High probability if it was you, but it might go in. You might get fouled. You might get a rebound. But if you throw it away, you got no chance. And, you know, look, analytics is real. You get 20 more shots than the other team and shoot 10 more free throws, your chances of winning are pretty good. It's not going to happen if you turn it over. And we try to create turnovers. So analytically, we try to win that margin of possession in every game.
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Q: Given how good you've been on defense, how do you get a young team to play defense the way you want them to play defense? Do you have to change your expectations?
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Coach Cronin: Well, you start with Adem Bona, you got a good shot. You can go back to analytics. He was a top-two player, plus-minus guy, efficiency guy in the country last year. We were like plus-30 points or more with him in the game. You know, I like our chances. Jaylen Clark going down was brutal, then Adem went down โ it was over, for us, as far as winning, hanging the 12th banner. I like our chances, if he would have still been healthy, to be honest with you. You start with him you got a pretty good defense, because not only can he anchor the middle, he can defend the perimeter. His energy level was never an issue, never an issue. So Don [MacLean] has been training guys for the NBA Draft since his career, and a lot of guys you have to train them just how to play hard, how to practice hard. You never have that issue with Adem Bona. And his energy is infectious, which helps your defense.
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Q: When you have a younger team, do you feel like youโve got to simplify your defensive game plan?
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Coach Cronin: Yeah, no question about it โ no question about it. We donโt really complicate it too much, other than when we get to the scouting report. That'll be the issue, the basics, things that you are trying to take away from a team. But if you can't take away a team's strengths, they're going to score on you. If you let a team get it to who they want when they want, they're going to probably score. You have got to try to take something away and make a team, to play in a style they're not comfortable playing, or whatever their style is, or you're not going to be a good defensive team. But it's going to be a challenge. I think simple is, for all our young guys, it has been a theme of our fall. Youโve gotta be good at it. Itโs not just simple donโt mistake me. Itโs like you have to build toughness before you have any chance. But you gotta get good at something. If you can't pressure the ball, you gotta stay in front of the ball, or you can't play. You gotta understand, that's not a joke. You will not play, because you donโt score the ball as well as Don MacLean did or Tracy Murray did, or Jaime Jaquez did.
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Q: I know it's hard for coaches because you play zero-sum game, wins and losses, but you and I talked before and after your practice last week. How hard is it going to be for you to be patient? It looks like this team might stumble a little bit early, but by February you're probably going to be pretty good.
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Coach Cronin: We got a chance. We have some guys with some real talent. Just gotta get them experience. You just gotta make sure you're constantly teaching. And I think you're right, as a coach โ the pro coaches got no problem with it. They just go out to eat. They play 82 games. For me, a loss is death. Literally like I can't eat, I can't function. I can't speak to people, you know. Everybody that loves me knows they hide from me. So, you know, I'm going to have to make sure that we understand that there's going to be just a growth process. We went through it last year. We came here to Vegas and lost two. We were starting two freshmen. We weren't a good defensive team early in the season. We came in here, gave 79, gave up 80 lost two games. Then I think we won 14 straight after that. But it does make you better sometimes, because you have to look in the mirror โ at not just players. I'm talking about as a coach and say, okay, we gotta do something here, make a change, somehow and it may be getting more simple, Don.
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Q: Share with us your thoughts on Lazar Stefanovic.
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Coach Cronin: When you have so many freshmen, it's so nice to have somebody that's always in the right spot and is extremely smart, has been really well coached, that can really help the young guys. Now, he's such a good guy, and he's trying to fit in at UCLA, that I'm trying to make sure he understands โ I whisper to him in practice, since Lazar doesn't know, Don, you scored 2,608 points. Youโre the leading scorer ever in the Pac-12, but nobody ever had to do this to Don. But I have to go over every now and then, whisper to him, that yoโuve got to be aggressive. Youโve got to look to score. You canโt worry about being a transfer. You canโt worry about fitting in. We donโt have time for that stuff. I want him to know that I have confidence in him. Heโs got to get comfortable quickly on this team. Obviously, we need his leadership.
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Q-and-A with UCLAโs Adem Bona (sophomore) and Lazar Stefanovic (junior)
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Q: Letโs start here with Adem. How is your shoulder. We saw you swinging a golf club in the game room at the hitting bay, so it looks like youโre doing OK.
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A. Bona: Yeah, I'm doing good. It's been a while working with the team, the UCLA trainers. I think they've been getting me right.
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Q: To Lazar, you hear that coach said about you. How has the transition been, being an older guy on this team and also becoming a leader?
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L. Stefanovic: Yeah, itโs always when you change a team you play for, there's new things that come with it. So it's great to hear what Coach [Cronin] said, and he does, surely tell me sometimes I need to be more aggressive, and I know it, and I know the team needs it. And I know that my leadership role is going to be huge for us this year. I need to step up in that area and help everybody get better.
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Q: Lazar, when you get into conference play on the road, you may be new at UCLA but you are not new within this league. You have been to all those places. This team has got a lot of young players who havenโt played in the conference. How important will that leadership be, as January rolls around and league games pick up?
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L. Stefanovic: Yeah, I think that it starts now, and it already had to start before, because this period right now that we are in, it's a period the players usually don't like because it's a lot, a lot of practice, hard practices, long practices with no games. But it's the period where you get good enough to win games and have some fun in the season.
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Q: Adem, how much were you able to do this summer with that shoulder? Take us through your summer, of what you were able to do. What did you work on and how will you be better this season?
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A. Bona: I would say I had a long, successful summer, you know. I had to do the rehab. I would say like my daily schedule, Iโd wake up in the morning, get with Tyler [Lesher], get my shoulder right and then I get on the court. Weโd work on my form, shooting on my one hand. Thankfully, the injury was on my left shoulder. I was able to get in the gym a lot, work on my right hand and improve on my form. And I think the coaches have done a lot helping me get to where I am right now, and I think we've made a lot of strides.
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Q: One thing that stood out to me about your team last year, Adem, was your improvement throughout the year. You started out, got in a lot of foul trouble early. But you cleaned that up, and not only that, offensively, you seemed as the season went on, you seemed to be more in the right places to like catch and finish, catch and dunk it. What is the next step for you, coming into this season? You are a terrific defensive player, and Coach Cronin mentioned that you can guard the rim, hedge ball screens showing, ball screens get out there. What is the next step for you and where do you look to improve?
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A. Bona: I would say big thanks to the coaches, as they helped me through any improvement for last year, which was a phase for me transition from high school to college, concerning my foul trouble is got better towards the end of the year playing with guys like Jaime and Tyger. They left the offensive burden off me โ not burden, but itโs more on the offensive, they kept the offense. This year, we donโt have those guys. My role is going to be bigtime this year, on the team. I have guys like Lazar on the team to support me. And then young guys, like [Aday] Mara, Berke [Buyuktuncel]. It's going to be huge step up for me offensively, and I think I'm ready to take the step.
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Q: Adem, we know that you are not fully cleared just yet, but have you done any kind of walk-through stuff with Aday? Coach Cronin has said he wants to have two of the bigs on the court this year at the same time. Have you kind of done any preliminary on-the-court work with him and seeing how that would go and how excited are you about that possibility?
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A. Bona: Yeah. If you watch us in practice, you would have seen how excited I am. We have done a lot of walk-through together. We have watched a lot of film together, also. Coach [Darren] Savino is our bigs coach. Heโs talked us through some scenarios where we are going to be on the court at the same time. I think that Aday is a great guy. He can do so much on the basketball court. I think that me and him on the floor at the same time is going to be amazing to see. I canโt wait to have the two of us on the floor at the same time.
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Q: Lazar, you're grinning, listening to Adem talk. What's going through your mind?
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L. Stefanovic: Yeah, I agree with a lot of things he said. And I agree that Aday is going to help us win a lot of games this year, can help us win a lot of games. And I can't wait to see the two of them matched up at practice. But more so I can't wait to see them together on the court, how they play together.
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Q: It's interesting, Adem, you're not an overly tall player, but you play like a taller player because of your activity and your effort. The league got big this year. Iโm not sure how much you have looked at other teams around the Pac-12. But there are many big teams in this league. Does that become more important for you, to be even better defensively, knowing that you have NโFaly Dante at Oregon and Branden Carlson at Utah, that you have these guys who are seven feet tall that can really play?
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A. Bona: What's amazing, the league got big and we got bigger. We got big guys, we got Aday [Mara], [Logan] Cremonesi, weโve got Berke [Buyuktuncel]. We got Jan [Vide], 6-5 point guard. Iโd say we got bigs also. I am always ready for the attacks, you know. I'm ready to step it up when it's needed. And I know I'm going to have to bring the team along with me. So have the same vision with the team as last year and the vision has never changed. We still have the same vision going for what we want and going all the way in.
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Q: Do you feel different going from a young guy on the team who had a big role to being one of the most experienced players now, even though you are just one year older?
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A. Bona: Yeah, it's a huge difference. We had guys like David, Tyger, Jaime. These guys were the leaders of the team. They've been there for a while. They know the ins and outs. And I feel like I'm so blessed. I'm lucky to play with those guys, and I've learned a lot, and I feel like I'm ready to carry on the torch from them to be able to pass it down to the young guys on the team right now.
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Q: For Lazar, how great is it when your practices are over, walking out of that practice facility (warmer weather than in Utah) โ nothing against Salt Lake City?
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L. Stefanovic: Well, itโs a little different when you walk outside it's always sunny, and it's very warm, you're always in your shorts and t-shirts. Yeah, Salt Lake is a beautiful place. I love that place, but L.A., there are reasons why people love California and love Los Angeles, and especially that part where we are on. It feels good.
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Q: Adem, how is Coach Cronin doing, coaching all these young guys to play defense? Is it testing him a little bit, do you think?
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A. Bona: Yeah, I think it's a process. I think I kind of went through that process last year. I do play a lot of defense, but there's the little details, like obviously we spoke about my foul trouble last year. These guys know how to play the little habits. They love to play back when they're playing. I think it's a process coach has been on them trying to like get them to play the right way, the winning way. That's what we call it. I think coach has done a pretty good job getting them to play the right way.
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Q: That's your job, Adem. When they make mistakes, you clean it up, right?
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A. Bona: Yeah. That's my job, but we're going to try and limit the mistakes.
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