LOS ANGELES — The UCLA men’s basketball team was not voted as the preseason favorite to win the Pac-12. The Bruins were not ranked in the preseason Associated Press Top 25 poll. However, coach Mick Cronin believes his roster of relatively domestically unknown players, is full of potential.
“We have a chance,” Cronin said. “We have some guys with some real talent. We just have to get them experience.”
For the first time in Cronin’s career in Westwood, he will not be coaching program stalwarts like Tyger Campbell, Jaime Jaquez Jr., and David Singleton.
“So it’s time to turn the page, but we’ve got talent,” said Cronin, who is entering his fifth and final season in the Pac-12 before moving to the Big Ten Conference for the 2024-25 season. “We’ve got depth, we’re just young. I know we’re an unknown to a lot of people so it’s going to be interesting.”
Adem Bona, a 6-foot-10 245-pound forward/center, shot 67.5% from the field and averaged 7.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game last season. For that instant impact, he was named the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and received a Pac-12 All-Defensive team selection.
“This year we don’t have those guys (Tyger Campbell and Jaime Jaquez Jr.) so I think my role is going to be big time this year on the team,” said Bona, who was named to the Karl Malone Award preseason watch list, as one of college basketball’s top 20 power forwards. “I have guys like Lazar (Stefanovic) on the team to support me, young guys like (Aday) Mara, Berke (Buyuktuncel), so it’s going to be a huge step up for me offensively and I think I’m ready to take the step.”
Stefanovic, a 6-foot-7 guard who transferred from Utah, shot 35.9% from beyond the arc last season. He averaged 10.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game. He will be relied upon for defensive and offensive leadership, as one of the most experienced players because seven of the team’s 15 players are incoming freshmen, including four international recruits from France, Turkey, Spain, and Slovenia.
“When you have so many freshmen, it’s so nice to have somebody that’s always in the right spot and is extremely smart and is really well coached and can help the young guys,” Cronin said when asked about Stefanovic.
Cronin explained there’s a glaring difference between this year’s team and last year’s 31-6 overall team, which won the Pac-12 regular season title last season for the first time since 2013, before advancing to the Sweet 16.
“It’s a lot more teaching,” Cronin said, before sharing that he’s going to simplify his team’s defensive gameplan for his newcomers. “Team bonding. We went to Spain this summer as a group. We’ve got to get these guys to realize that I know this sounds weird, but they’re a team and they’re going to decide whether we win or lose.”
Sophomore Dylan Andrews will likely be tasked with an expanded role this season. The 6-foot-2 point guard from Gardena averaged 3.3 points in 10.8 minutes per game as a freshman.
“I can’t ask Dylan to be Tyger,” Cronin said. “I think Dylan has different strengths. I think I have to make sure I’m allowing him to be really good at what he’s good at, pressuring the ball, using his speed and quickness, and being able to create his own shot. He’s better off the dribble than Tyger.
“Obviously, very few guys run a team as well as Tyger can and that’s why coaches loved him so much as you know, so there are things (Dylan’s) got to get better at as far as running a team, but again, I think I have to make sure that I try to let him flourish at what he’s good at.”
Cronin said in addition to Andrews, sophomore Will McClendon and freshmen Sebastian Mack and Jan Vide could all see ball-handling duties in the UCLA backcourt.
Bona, who spent the summer rehabbing a left shoulder injury he suffered in the Pac-12 tournament in March, was UCLA’s only preseason first-team All-Pac-12 selection. He said he’s looking forward to playing in a two-big lineup alongside Aday Mara, a 7-foot-3 240-pound center from Spain who received a preseason all-conference honorable mention selection.
“If you would have watched us in practice, you would have seen how excited I am,” Bona said.
However, freshman forward Berke Buyuktuncel has not yet been cleared to play by the NCAA and did not play in UCLA’s 97-56 exhibition win against Cal State Dominguez Hills on Oct. 31.
Meanwhile, UCLA announced Mara was cleared on Friday and he is expected to play in the team’s season opener.
“UCLA Athletics, Aday Mara and his family would like to thank the NCAA, his attorney Stu Brown and UCLA Senior Associate Athletic Director Erin Adkins for their work and cooperation during this process,” Cronin said via a press release.
The Bruins will tip off their regular season against Saint Francis University (Pennsylvania) at Pauley Pavilion on Monday, Nov. 6. The game is a part of a UCLA basketball doubleheader. The UCLA women’s basketball team will host Purdue before the men’s basketball game.
SAINT FRANCIS (PA) AT UCLA
When: Monday, 8:30 p.m.
Where: Pauley Pavilion
TV: PAC-12 NETWORKS
UCLA Bruins notes and notable quotes
UCLA will face at least two future Big Ten opponents this season vs. Ohio State in Atlanta on Dec. 16 and at home against Maryland on Dec. 22.
The Bruins were selected third in the annual Pac-12 men’s basketball preseason media poll, behind No. 1 Arizona and No. 2 USC. The Bruins received four of 26 first-place votes. The preseason poll ranked Oregon fourth, followed by Colorado (fifth), Arizona State (sixth), Utah (seventh), Stanford (eighth), Washington (ninth), Washington State (10th), California (11th) and Oregon State (12th).
Bona on playing with 7-foot-3 freshman center Aday Mara: “We’ve done a lot of walkthroughs together. We’ve watched a lot of film together. Coach (Darren) Savino is our big coach. He’s taken us through so many scenarios where we’re going to be on the court at the same time. I think Aday is a great guy. He can do so much on the basketball court and I think me and him on the floor at the same time is going to be amazing to see and I can’t wait to go out there on the floor at the same time.”
Stefanovic on Mara’s potential: “I agree that Aday is going to help us win a lot of games this year, can help us win a lot of games. I can’t wait to see the two of them (Bona and Mara) matched up at practice but more so I can’t wait to see them together on the court, how they play together.”