Busting Brackets
Fansided

Bracketology 2020: North Carolina, Michigan headline this week’s losers

By Andrew Dieckhoff

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - DECEMBER 07: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts to a play in the second half during a game against the Virginia Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena on December 7, 2019 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - DECEMBER 07: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts to a play in the second half during a game against the Virginia Cavaliers at John Paul Jones Arena on December 7, 2019 in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Photo by Ryan M. Kelly/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 7
Next
LAHAINA, HI – NOVEMBER 25: Head coach Mick Cronin of the UCLA Bruins gestures to his players as he gives direction during the first half against the BYU Cougars at the Lahaina Civic Center on November 25, 2019 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images)
LAHAINA, HI – NOVEMBER 25: Head coach Mick Cronin of the UCLA Bruins gestures to his players as he gives direction during the first half against the BYU Cougars at the Lahaina Civic Center on November 25, 2019 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images) /

UCLA

The Mick Cronin Experiment is not off to a great start for the Bruins.

UCLA tried to paper over their three-game skid in late November with some walkovers against San Jose State and Denver in early December. But the Bruins’ first formidable opponent since Thanksgiving was Notre Dame, and UCLA crumbled under the spotlight once again.

For all the issues that the Irish have had—they were featured in this series last week, after all—a win over Notre Dame would’ve been UCLA’s best of the early season. As it stands, the best wins that they’ve gathered so far are UC Santa Barbara, UNLV, and Southern Utah. Meanwhile, the Bruins lost at home to Hofstra and failed their three biggest tests against Michigan State, BYU, and now Notre Dame.

The Bruins have one last chance to get a meaningful win for their resume ahead of Pac-12 play, when they go head-to-head with North Carolina in Las Vegas on December 21. Even if they manage to win that game, UCLA has given itself a very tall order with regard to how the team must perform in league play. But there are no fewer than a half-dozen dangerous teams in the Pac-12 and maybe only two or three that would be underdogs against the Bruins at this point.

Those wins will be hard to come by.

The ship is sailing on an at-large bid for UCLA unless they can get things right.

It’s not a massive shock that Cronin is experiencing some struggles in his first year with the program. There’s a good chance that he will be able to bring the Bruins back to legitimacy as he is able to build his rosters around his style of play. But the current setup isn’t bringing promising results.

Speaking of Cronin, things haven’t been going so well back in his old stomping grounds, either.

Home/Bracketology