Mick Cronin On UCLA's NLI Day
The Michael Price Family UCLA Men's Head Basketball Coach, Mick Cronin, had a teleconference to discuss the signings of Jaylen Clark and Johnny Juzang. Cronin was thrilled with his haul. This is part one of a multiple part series. The following is the opening statement.
Cronin: "Obviously, a big day for us. I think back to early November, early December, we were trying to build the program, and we needed to add a few guys in the late period.
"At that time, Jaylen [Clark] was sitting out because he transferred from Corona (Calif.) Centennial to Etiwanda and Johnny [Juzang] was playing for Kentucky.
"We needed to add some quality talent with guys that fit our program. We feel very fortunate that we were able to find and identify these guys and that they wanted to be Bruins.
"Jaylen started playing at the end of December after sitting out due to his transfer and the California transfer rules. I was at one of his early games at a tournament, I believe, and then went to some of his games.
"It was clear to me that I should have signed Jaylen early. Fortunately for us, he did not sign early, and he opted to wait for the late period.
"It's not fair to compare anybody to Russell Westbrook, but you guys who have been around know that Russell signed late, so sometimes as a coach, you are fortunate that somebody is available.
We were fortunate that Jaylen was available. That he wanted to stay home and that he wanted to be a Bruin. I think he's a perfect fit for me. He's a tough guy, hard worker, he's a winner, he can play all over the floor, and I have watched him at Etiwanda do everything at the games I was able to see him.
Jaylen played for two great high school coaches. He played at an elite program, and he's been a winner everywhere he's been. I think that's a big factor.
"An overlooked factor in recruiting is a guy that makes their team win. Jaylen was always the guy that made the team win, and I saw him do it last summer with Compton Magic, but at that time, we were concerned with what we needed, and that was the point guard.
"We are very fortunate that it all worked out with Jaylen because I think he and I are made for each other as coach and player.
"Johnny's situation, he was the first recruit I met with when I first got the [UCLA] job. I had to get Chris Carlson to take the recruiting test. I had no staff, and he drove me over to Harvard-Westlake, Coach [David] Rebibo set up the meeting right away, and I was looking at Harvard-Westlake as a possible school for my daughter that was my first week on the job. He [Juzang] was literally the first person I met with.
"We didn't have time to build a relationship because he immediately after that decided to go out early so that kind of ended our opportunity of getting to know one another with just one sit down.
"I kept an eye on him and was able to see a couple of his games because Kentucky is on TV a lot. When I heard Johnny was headed for the transfer portal. We all had time, so it gave me something to do to watch some Kentucky games, and the games that he played in he was extremely impressive.
"Especially their last regular-season game. He helped them to a tremendous road win at Florida when he played 30-plus minutes.
"The way I look at it is, Johnny played his senior year of high school at Kentucky against NBA players, getting coached, getting the reality of how hard it can be in college basketball.
"Some things that usually happen with freshmen have already happened with Johnny. We're hoping that he can get a waiver, whether they change the transfer rule or not, we will find that out in May, but Johnny has a solid case with some things that he and his family have already submitted to our compliance department.
"It will be better for him and his family to be closer to home. We're obviously excited to have him. It is funny because I live in Encino and Johnny lives in Tarzana. We were on FaceTime, and we sent each other our addresses, and we are 3.2 miles away from each other, and we're talking on the phone every day, and we could have walked and met in the middle. I have been walking two-hour walks. I could have as easily walked over to his house.
"This whole pandemic thing is pretty surreal. Here's a guy that is three miles away from door-to-door, but we have to talk on the phone every day with Johnny and his father, Max.
"They expressed a great interest in him being back home with his family, and I love the fact that Johnny grew up a Bruin fan, and went to a lot of UCLA games. He always saw himself as a Bruin and leaving school early. The turmoil of the coaching change at UCLA. The perfect storm led him to go away to kind of give you his thoughts on what happened.
"I totally understood it, and I wished him well when it all happened, but as fate has it, he's going to get to put on a UCLA jersey, and as he said, being able to that means a lot to him. That is something he had always hoped he was going to be able to do.
"You guys know, Johnny is a shooter. He's a scorer. He was a top 25 player in his class, and we are really fortunate to get two guys who are winners. Johnny, obviously won big at Harvard-Westlake, as well at Compton Magic.
"They [Clark and Juzang] are local guys who want to be a part of our program. That is something that means a lot to me. I think it is really important that guys believe in the way you do things.
"Both those guys got a chance to watch UCLA play this year. They were able to make an informed decision by watching games and seeing it first hand.
"Daishen Nix had to take a leap of faith for me. I was fortunate that his coach [Gale Kersenbrock] was a guy who had followed me at Cincinnati, so we knew each other. He was pretty well versed in my coaching, style of play, and what I'm about.
"I liked that these two guys saw what we went through this year and had the chance to get a feel for it and did want to sign up. I just think it was really' really important you get guys that believe in the way you do things, plus they have talent. It was a great day for us."