After unveiling his starting small-ball lineup, UCLA basketball coach Mick Cronin will soon have to make a decision on when to go big.
Does he go with the team’s biggest man in Aday Mara, a 7-foot-3 sophomore whose intense offseason training should prevent all the panting he did as a freshman?
Or will he choose William Kyle III, a 6-foot-4 junior transfer who is trying to take a giant step forward in the league after spending the past two seasons at South Dakota State?
That choice could come as soon as Friday night, when the Bruins face an opponent that started three players 6-foot-4 or taller.
“I expect we’ll have to play bigger against big teams like New Mexico,” Cronin said Thursday, referring to the game between the No. 22 Bruins (1-0) and Lobos (1-0) during the Las Vegas Hoopfest on Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nev.
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Every great man has his selling points and drawbacks.
Kyle offers the more athletic option and was the first player off the bench in the Bruins’ season-opening win over Rider. He’s a natural jumper who gave a preview of his defensive skills with three blocks to go and five rebounds in 11 minutes against the Broncs.
But Cronin suggested that Kyle needed to develop a nasty streak after the match, noting that he was too nice and needed to think less and be more assertive. The message seemed to have been delivered, as Cronin said Kyle had his best practice in a long time on Wednesday and was dominant with his rebounding.
Mara is a better passer and more refined scorer than Kyle. A consistent lob threat, Mara can thrive in the pick-and-roll and has developed a variety of moves around the basket, including jump hooks and drop steps. He matched Kyle with three blocks in the opener, along with five points and two rebounds in nine minutes.
But even with his new and improved fitness, Mara is far less agile than Kyle and prone to being lost off the dribble by more athletic counterparts.
Both bigs could play a bigger role on Friday.
Unlike Rider, the Lobos have a huge starting lineup, including 6-foot-4 Nelly Junior Joseph alongside 6-foot-4 forwards Mustapha Amzil and Filip Borovicanin. Joseph was a force with 28 points and 16 rebounds during New Mexico’s 91-84 win over Nicholls, in which Amzil added his own double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds.
UCLA’s smaller options at the fifth spot include Tyler Bilodeau, a 6-foot-4 forward whose speed and skill make him a matchup nightmare for traditional big men, and Eric Dailey Jr., a 6-foot-1 forward yards who is more of a winger, but spent a significant amount of time at the five at Oklahoma State last season. Bilodeau and Dailey got the starting nod in the opener, Cronin said, because they were currently better players than Kyle and Mara.
But Cronin said who starts isn’t nearly as important as how his team finishes.
“I see us now because we have at least eight starters,” Cronin said, “so I can choose who I’m going to start, but during the game they’re all going to play.”
Still adjusting
One newcomer who battles for minutes is redshirt senior Dominick Harris, a transfer from Loyola Marymount, who was expected to add long-range shooting but barely played against Rider.
Harris did not enter the game until there were 11 minutes and 59 seconds remaining and his team had a 22-point lead. Harris missed his only shot, but finished with four rebounds and some active defense in 6.5 minutes.
Cronin said Harris’ arrival relatively late in the summer after graduating from Loyola Marymount and the time it took to learn the coach’s demanding defense were factors that contributed to his lack of playing time.
“We are extremely responsible defensively and that has been the biggest adjustment for him,” Cronin said. “But he’s trying.”
Etc.
Cronin said he considered himself part of the family of Richard Pitino, his colleague from New Mexico, because he had known Pitino since Cronin joined his father, Rick’s, staff in Louisville in 2001. Cronin helped Richard Pitino get his first coaching job at St. Andrew’s High outside Providence. RI, while Pitino attended college. Cronin might have done him a greater favor by caring for him together with his father. “I told his father he had a terrible headache,” Cronin said. ‘His father calls doctors and I think [to Richard]“Dude, just be honest and tell your dad you’re hungover. … Your father thinks you have some strange disease, you have a hangover.’ He says, ‘I can’t tell him, I can’t tell him.’ ” … Cronin, on the idea of honoring UCLA legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton with statues next to John Wooden’s outside Pauley Pavilion: “Behind the scenes there is a lot of pressure from their teammates and I’m right with them on all counts That . What you find in public schools is that it is incredibly difficult to get a wall painted, let alone build a statue.”
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
