2024 Big Ten Men's Basketball Media Day (Quotes)

Big Ten Men’s Basketball Media Day
Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024
DES Convention Center – Rosemont, Ill.

Below is a selection of quotes from UCLA’s media availability on Thursday, Oct. 3, at the 2024 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Media Day (hosted at DES Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill., adjacent to Chicago). UCLA’s program was represented by sixth-year head coach Mick Cronin, senior Kobe Johnson and junior Dylan Andrews.

UCLA’s Mick Cronin (The Michael Price Family UCLA Men’s Head Basketball Coach)
on his impressions with a new-look UCLA team
“We’ve got eight new guys, and this is how it’s going to be every year. It’s just the reality of it. The new portal era. This is crazy, how you are adding a senior leader. You ever think that you’d get a guy, where you need a senior leader and you can go get one in Kobe Johnson in the portal? Obviously, we did not shoot the ball well enough [last year], and we didn’t score at the rate that we needed to score last year, hence all of that points per game stuff. And then we needed to address Adem Bona going to the NBA. He did a great job for us and was an all-league player. We addressed that with William Kyle and Tyler Bilodeau.”

on his mindset as a head coach, regarding expectations and goals in a new conference
“When you take the job at UCLA, you have to try to go in knowing that you’re trying to compete for national championships. You have to embrace the expectations. I ran towards that. I continue to do so. It is the honor of my lifetime to have been the coach at my alma mater at Cincinnati, and now at the most storied program ever at UCLA. That is just the reality that we are in at UCLA. For me, being in the Big Ten, I think that I’m like the grim reaper. I was in the Big East and it broke up – whatever league I’m in, it breaks up. Then the Pac-12 breaks up. For coaches, it is just another challenge. You get to coach against these other guys, it’s cool, and obviously it is tough. For some guys like Don MacLean, who is here with FOX, and Kareem and a lot of the guys, it’s hard for them to get their head around it. But times change. We from California, man, and you’ve got to ride the waves.”

on where he believes his team has made the most improvement since last season
“We got older. I feel for Coach Pikiell [from Rutgers] up here. He’s got to try to win with some young guys, but they are lottery picks, so you’ve got a shot. We were just not old enough last year. The reality of college basketball is that we needed to get older. We needed a leader, and Kobe Johnson, and he is a huge addition for us. I’ll be shocked if he’s not an all-league player when it matters in the postseason when the votes are tallied up. He’s a winner. He defends. He’s as good of a defensive player as I’ve coached, and I coached the national player of the year, defensively, two years ago in Jaylen Clark. We needed him right away, and then we added a lot of scoring with Skyy Clark and multiple other guys in the portal, such as Tyler Bilodeau. Now we’ve just got to put it together. It’s like the Yankees. You go out and get a bunch of free agents and figure it out. We’re in the process of that. We need to develop some winning habits, but I like that we are more talented. I like that we are older. Now we just need to become a team that knows how to win.”

on UCLA’s transition to the Big Ten Conference
“I went through it so much with all of the leagues that I have been in. I worry more for our fans, right? For the West Coast basketball fans who love the Pac-12, it’s part of their DNA. Look, I’m a West Coast guy and this is my sixth year at UCLA. It’s hard for Don MacLean, Tyus Edney, guys like that, all of the guys, that there’s no more Pac-12. It’s hard for me to get up here and say, ‘Oh this is exciting.’ Because I know how hard the demise of the Pac-12, and I know that there’s going to be a new one, but our departure is hard for people. It’s tough, especially for the guys who have put on the uniform and the jersey. But for me, it’s just business as usual. I’d love to win the conference. It would help us to get a better seed. But as you guys know, at UCLA you are trying to add to the legacy by hanging banners. And there’s really no room left on the conference championship banners, anyway. We’ve won so many. But yeah, I think that you have got to be positive about everything. You have to be positive about the transition. You have to embrace it. We’ve from L.A. and we ride waves. Don’t ask, no, I can’t surf. I would love to be able to do that. I wish. It’s the coolest thing in the world, man. I’ve got a bad knee and I can’t stay up on that board. And you’ve got to have the hair like Bodhi did, back with Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze [in the movie Point Break]. That would be the coolest thing ever if I could do that. You’ve got to ride the waves, I mean this is college basketball. You’ve got new rules. The rules have changed. The league has changed. It has all changed. It’s changed for you guys. You are trying to figure out what’s going on. You’ve got to try and dissect and analyze how we are running our program differently, and everybody is doing everything differently. It’s just a new world. You fans, I just want them to be excited about our product. I’m very excited about the team that we’re able to put out there this year.”

on his initial perceptions of the team from the most recent fall practices
“Look, we are trying to build winning habits. It’s an adjustment when you play for a different coach. When you’ve got six transfers from six different coaches, and two freshmen from two different high school coaches, it’s an adjustment for them. And to get into the way that we do things, and our coaching staff, we are extremely demanding. It’s just a different era of basketball and raising kids. It’s an adjustment. All that we focus on is building winning habits. The players are adjusting to the fact that they are here to please me, and I’m not there to please them. I pleased you by giving you a UCLA jersey, and the collective pleased you with a pretty good NIL deal. So now it’s time to please me, because I’m the one and my coaching staff, we understand what it takes to win. You have to become a winner and do winning things. That is what we work hard on every day. We take it seriously. Like I’ve said, it’s an adjustment for some more than for others. You really don’t know until you start, and some guys are really well-trained at paying attention, and they have the toughness to practice the way that we want to practice. It’s all-out, with intensity, and it’s an adjustment. But look, your job is to help guys with that adjustment. You’ve got to run to the coaching aspect of it. You can’t just tell a guy, ‘Now this is what I want and this is what I want you to be.’ And he just does it. I think that isn’t reality. I mean, it happens every now and then. It’s a dream in coaching, with a guy who comes in – like a Kobe Johnson. He’s a guy who has unbelievable toughness and he plays hard on every play. He’s always ready to play, but he is a senior. He’s a senior. And I knew that coaching against him, that this guy could play for my team. I knew that for three years, watching that guy. Other guys, it might be a bit more of an adjustment. And then with our team, the competition level in practice is really high. It’s like you are practicing against the second unit. You’ve got Skyy going against Dylan. Sebastian and Dom are going at it, and then Trent Perry has a day where he plays better than all of them. Lazar and Kobe are going at it. It isn’t like you are just playing against a guy who is inferior to you. So that makes our practices highly competitive, which I’m happy with. That gives you a chance to get ready for reality. Everybody loves their team right now. All of your plays work and everybody is rah-rah. But adversity is coming in the form of another team. It’s not going to be easy. You can’t just run through your play and everybody scores. That is all coming, and coming soon. And for us, I think that we have a scrimmage coming up against San Diego State, which I like, because they always give you toughness. That will give us some reality.”

on Bruins’ senior Kobe Johnson (transferred to UCLA from USC)
“I think that Kobe will score more. He’s really worked hard on shooting the ball and he is a very good passer, too. To me, with a guy who is 6-foot-6, he’s the best defender in college basketball. The NBA is growing away from drafting unproven athletes to drafting proven players. It’s the Jaime Jaquez effect in last year’s draft, where I believe there were six [college] seniors that went in the first round. It seems to be pretty real. I know Kobe’s on a lot of people’s radar, and I’ve talked to a lot of NBA people. Obviously, you have a lot of the NBA guy on our campus in August for Rico’s runs and all of that stuff, and all of the hidden training camps that they go on. They are well aware of who Kobe is.”

on Bruins’ junior William Kyle III (transferred to UCLA from South Dakota State)
“Recruiting on film is a dangerous thing because you don’t know who someone is playing against. But the advantage that we had with William Kyle was the Iowa State game in the NCAA Tournament. You’re able to watch him against a top five team, Iowa State was tremendous last year, and I think that he had 16 points and nine rebounds. He was able to physically compete with those guys. That being said, when you get him, you get to see him in person and that helps. Number one, he has put on 15 or so pounds of muscle, at least, in the offseason. His motor and his attitude and his character are all A-plus, and guys like that help you win, period – before we get to the fact that William is an elite rebounder. He can really rebound because he’s got really good hands. I did not know that aspect. You know, until you get a guy in practice and you see that this guy catches everything. You hear me talk about this stuff, some people can’t jump at a level quick enough to grab a ball so they have to reach for the ball with one hand. His athleticism and the way that he jumps, he’s able to get there with two hands. That is what makes him such an effective rebounder and catcher of the ball. So it’s a huge skill in basketball, and some might say, ‘Why is that such a big deal?’ But it is a very big deal in basketball.”

on sophomore center Aday Mara gaining weight and getting stronger
“Yeah, we’ve got Aday having done a great job with [strength and conditioning coach] Dave Andrews since he got back from Spain, playing in the 20-and-under in July. He’s been working with Dave, since Dave got here in May. They started working together, but he has been on a real run since then. It doesn’t matter how tall you are if you can’t hold your ground and make your size a factor. He found that out last year. You also have to develop the endurance and the toughness to compete in college basketball. It’s hard. There was no way for him to know how physical or how hard it would be. He’s working hard. He’s still coming back from the minor foot injury, so he is starting to do stuff on the court. That’s promising. The sooner that we can get him back in there at full speed, the better off he is.”

on if there was a silver lining to the foot injury that he could help develop his upper body
“Well with preseason practice, guys can lose a lot of weight. You’ve got a three-hour practice. College basketball training camps are pretty hard. We don’t just get on the line and run. We just practice hard and play hard. So guys lose weight. Because Aday has not been able to do that, he has been on the side doing curls, and pull-downs, and pull-ups and everything else while we practice, aside from his weight room work. He has been totally committed to his body. Aday’s got a great personality, guys. He’s a funny dude. He flexes for me everyday and tells me that his girlfriend traffic is picking up as they notice his biceps. He says, ‘Trust me Coach, they notice.’ He’s a funny dude, man, but he’s done a great job with it. He’s totally bought into it. And the most important part, it’s the self-awareness. Aday has realized the growth he needs to make with conditioning, strength and as a player – versus players that do not have self-awareness never develop. Coaches don’t develop players – players develop players. You can only develop yourself if you have self-awareness with the areas you need to i and grow as a person and player. That was my concern, that he’s so highly rated and all of that stuff. Is he going to fight it and think, ‘Oh well, naw, you should just play me. I was high rated.’ Or does he have the self-awareness to realize that, ‘No, I was not ready for all this and I have to grow.’ It’s not easy as a young kid to go through that. He’s been great with it, and his attitude has been great. That is why I’m optimistic. Now we’ve got to get him back on the floor first. But as he gets stronger and he gains position on where he can hold people off, at 7-3, he’s a problem. I mean, he’s going to be a good player. Now look, I don’t think that he’s going to be a dominant player this year, but we need him to be a factor. We need him to be a factor for us and at a high level.”

UCLA senior guard Kobe Johnson
on having played in the Pac-12 and now making that transition to the 18-team Big Ten
“Definitely, I’m excited. It’s going to be a huge change for UCLA, for the Big Ten. But I think it’s going to be a fun experience to be able to play new teams and travel and just experience different cities.”

on being at Big Ten media day after having represented USC in Las Vegas at Pac-12 media day last year
“Yeah, it’s quite different. But again, I’m just blessed to be able to be here and to be in this position, to be able to speak for the team, to have been chosen and seen as one of the leaders of this team. You know, it’s definitely different but I am excited for the change.”

on travel in the Big Ten and how the conference schedule has changed
“I think that it’s going to be fun. I think it’s going to be a lot more intense, and I think there’s going to be more wear and tear on the body, but as athletes, we will figure that out. We need to work on our bodies just as much as our game, throughout the season. I think that it’ll be a big adjustment.”

on how the team has looked in summer workouts and recent practices
“We look pretty good from the summer workouts to now. I think that we have a very deep team. We should be able to play a lot of players. I think that with everybody playing 100 percent, while they’re in the game, we should be able to go pretty deep. I think that we’ll be one of the few teams with so much on our roster, so much depth, but again, I think that we’ve got to just work together. At these practices, we are going to keep building the connections and the chemistry.”

on how this team’s depth can be a true advantage for UCLA
“That’s good for us, because I think that any one of us at any given moment can go off and score 20 points, 25 points. I don’t think that is the motto of this team. I don’t think that we have one person that’s solidified as that person. I mean, you saw at the end of last year how D.A. [Dylan Andrews] was going off for 30-plus, multiple times. He’s shown flashes that he can go for 25-plus. Skyy has shown flashes that he can go for 25-plus [points]. Tyler has showed, I mean, we have a bunch of guys who have showed flashes. So, it’s all about putting it together. It’s all about whoever is feeling it one night, we will feed them the ball. Whoever is feeling it another night, we’ve just got to be unselfish. We have to be willing to watch others succeed, and I think that’s why we’ll succeed.”

on whether it even matters who starts a game or who comes off the bench
“I mean, only five guys can play. So we’ve got to play as hard as we can with that five, and then the next five come in, and whoever may come in, they’ve got to be ready to come in and pick up where that first group left off.”

on if he thinks this team will be pressing a bit more on defense
“For sure. That’s the game plan. That’s the motto for this team. We want to set that tone, every game. We want to pressure people right away.”

on which teammates he’s been guarding the most in practices
“Anybody could get it, really. I kind of like guarding everybody. I just like getting everybody’s stuff, every now and then. It’s pretty fun. I like talking [trash]. I’d probably say the most fun to guard, I’d probably say Will [William Kyle III] just because I know I can get in his head little bit and talk a little smack.”

on if he enjoys guarding bigger players, frontcourt guys
“Yeah, I like that. He [William Kyle III] tries to hit me in the post a little hard.”

on comparisons between him and former UCLA guard Jaylen Clark
“Our defensive styles are pretty similar. But I think that they’re totally unique to one another. Jaylen Clark, he’s very handsy off the ball. He’s aggressive. He is a little pest on defense. Just from playing against him and watching him from when I played against him, he’s a great defender. You can always learn from other people. I like to take advantage of other people’s games. Just to learn from him, because he won the national defensive player of the year, so just trying to do what he did, trying to add my own little twist to it.”

on what it’s been like to guard Tyler Bilodeau in the post
“Man, once he gets that ball in the post, it’s kind of hard to stop him. He gets to his spot. He just rises up. It’s hard to contest that. Tyler, he’s been working ever since he got here. It should be fun to be on his team for once, instead of playing against him. It should be fun.”

on Bruins’ freshman guard Trent Perry
“Trent has come in with a whole bunch of confidence, that I’d never personally seen from a freshman, from my experience. I mean, he’s been playing with a swagger. He’s been knocking down open shots. He has just been playing the right way. He hasn’t forced anything. He hasn’t tried to do anything that’s out of character. So if he just continues to do that, he should be a in a really good spot.”

UCLA junior guard Dylan Andrews
on having played in the Pac-12 and now making that transition to the 18-team Big Ten
“I mean, it’s dope. We are UCLA and we’re ready to compete against any team, no matter the conference. Being able to move to the Big Ten is great. I can say for myself, that watching these teams growing up, like Michigan State, Michigan, Ohio [State], all the Big Ten teams, to be able to go to those environments and play there, I’m excited.”

on UCLA’s travel in the Big Ten and how the conference schedule has changed
“I think that Kobe hit it right on the money, as far as it being intense, and wear and tear on the body, but at the end of the day, we have to come out and compete. We are excited about it.”

on UCLA’s practices under Mick Cronin being challenging
“Most definitely, I mean, his practices are intense. It’s fun, but at the same time it’s knowledgeable. We gain a lot of information in just one practice – just imagine all the way into March. So when you have a coach like that, you can’t get that anywhere else.”

on playing with more confidence and his expectations this season
“I’m not a freshman anymore. I’m going into my third year here at UCLA. I feel like every year has to be something different, just growing in any aspect. I’m just trying to figure out with this year especially, being one of the leaders on this team, I am trying to show our younger guys and our transfers, the freshmen as well, just trying to show them the ropes of how things are done here.”

on how his role might change with some other talented ball-handlers on this team
“I wouldn’t say it would change my role, but I think it could help me grow as a leader, most definitely. These guys have not been here. I’ve been under Coach Cronin for three years. I just feel like with what I’ve learned from Coach Cronin, I try to put it to the other guys and show them that there are different ways that we can go about winning. It’s a culture here, it’s a tradition, it’s a standard that when you wear these four letters on your chest, you have to come different every day. That is what I’ve been trying to put into these guys.”

on who he has enjoyed going up against in practice, on defense
“I mean, like Kobe has said, anybody can get it. Just in practice, I’m usually pretty much guarding our guards. So that’s Skyy Clark, Sebastian Mack, Trent Perry. Usually those are my three matchups in practice.”

on UCLA having a deeper team, and if he might be able to be more tenacious on defense
“Most definitely. I’d say that last year I was a pest on defense, but this year with the depth that we have and so much talent in the room, there will be times where I will be able to get more breaks. You can sub in someone else who isn’t as tired, and they will be able to do the same things that I was doing. I feel like the energy level will not drop at all with this team.”

on whether it even matters who starts a game or who comes off the bench
“Our main goal, it’s about those five players on the court already, bring your most energy. Bring everything that you can. Don’t leave nothing out, or we have to sub for you, and that is the main thing for this team. I feel like we have so much talent in the room that there shouldn’t be any type of drop in our play.”

on what’s the main thing that he worked on during the offseason
“The main thing that I worked on was my 3-ball. The main term that I was calling it was the 3-ball summer. And so I’ve just been working on my percentages. I want to be a 50-40-90 type of guy, but just knowing and watching film, seeing where I am getting my shots from, really studying film a lot. I’m seeing what shots I took a lot of during conference play, what shots I took and just rep’ing those shots out. It’s about more reps, more reps. I feel like my jump shot is looking pretty good, but I’ve got to keep that sustainable going into the season.”

on what it’s like to have Kobe Johnson guarding him
“The word for it is annoying. Kobe is just a great defender, on ball and off ball. So when I have the ball in my hand, and he’s not even guarding me, I have to figure out where Kobe Johnson is on the court. I can’t just throw a pass because he’s going to go in that lane and steal it. But just to have a player like Kobe actually on our side and not on the opposing team’s side is wonderful.”

on if Kobe Johnson reminds him of Jaylen Clark
“Yes. I mean defensively, I’d say that they are the same player but they’re unique in their own way. J-Rock and Kobe both are great defensively, when it comes to getting steals, when it comes to being in the right spot. He’s a vet, he’s a senior.”

on if this year’s team can become a better shooting team than last season
“Most definitely. I feel like that’s what [Coach] Cronin went to look for this year when he went to go recruit, just to look for shooters. That is what we struggled in last year, scoring. I feel like with this year, our percentages should be up. We will be flying down the court more.”

on Bruins’ freshman guard Trent Perry
“Trent is confident. I’d say that he is willing to learn. That’s the main thing right there. That’s really helped him out, especially as a freshman. He’s learning how to get to the right spots and he’s coachable. That’s the main thing.”

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2024 Big Ten Men's Basketball Media Day (Quotes)

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2024 Big Ten Men's Basketball Media Day (Quotes)