Watch: Mick Cronin Talks Gonzaga Rematch, UCLA's Defensive Efforts

COACH CRONIN: Great to be back. Obviously we're happy to be here. Not easy to get here. There's only 16 of us left. So we take the opportunity very seriously. So we're not here for vacation.

Everything we work for is hopefully to win four more games. Gotta find a way to win tomorrow night. I have great respect for our opponent. Obviously we've played them the last couple of years. Everybody knows about the Final Four game. So have great respect for them.

Q. The way college basketball is now, it's pretty rare to have multiple players from a Final Four game two years ago that are still in college and playing in this one. How do you think that plays with your guys, just in terms of understanding what they're up against tomorrow?

COACH CRONIN: I think they definitely do understand, which would be, I agree, rare this day and age in college basketball. But just like Watson and Timme understand. So they got the same kind of guys, which is why both teams probably have -- I don't know their record, but I'm sure they've got over 30 wins. We've got 31. There's a reason why we've got a lot of wins, over 60 combined, probably, between us.

I think I'm sure people in this room, like yourself, wish it was more like that. We're all getting older. And we think about how college basketball was great when Laettner and Hurley played together for a long time. I know I'd like to coach Kareem and Bill for six years, three and three. That would be really nice.

Q. Before the season, somebody asked you if this could be your best defensive team at UCLA, and you kind of chuckled and said, no, too many freshmen. But it's funny how it played out. Looking at those freshmen, now you almost want more of those guys, they've been so good. What's gone into making this your best defensive team with guys like Adem, Amari, Will, Dylan making such big defensive contributions?

COACH CRONIN: You said this, actually, to me early. If I remember, you said this is the most athletic team you've had. And I learned from Coach Huggins 20 years ago -- or more than that now, 23 years ago since I worked for him -- you've got to be able to erase mistakes.

You can't just be good -- you're not always going to be perfect. So defense, the great teams can erase mistakes. And you do that with the athletes -- the better athletes you have, you have a much better chance to erase a mistake.

So there's times where there might be a guy open but Amari Bailey is such a great athlete that he deflects the pass, or Adem Bona changes the shot, Kenneth Nwuba blocks the shot.

And combine that with the seniors that we have, back to the experience, they're in the right place 99 percent of the time. But the freshmen are so athletic, their athleticism supersedes their inexperience at times and their toughness. As you know I'm a big believer in that.

So the two that have started for us all year, unbelievably tough, athletic kids. Amari Bailey is an unbelievably tough, athletic kid, and so is Adem Bona.

We've been able to keep it going without the best perimeter defender I've ever coached in the Pac-12, defensive player of the year Jaylen Clark. We just had the makings of a team that could be great defensively.

Q. You've been around the game a long time. Do you remember when Las Vegas was not seen in a good -- by the NCAA?

COACH CRONIN: I read that article.

Q. In a good light. You are here playing in an NCAA Regional. How does that wash with you as a guy who comes here every year with his team and has had no problems in terms of dealing with Vegas?

COACH CRONIN: Long overdue. Long overdue. So I'll just try to be pointed. You guys know me; I'm always honest. Long overdue. Great city. Probably the best city in our country to host an event. The Final Four, it was just a matter of time once Allegiant was built.

But we all know that the NFL -- once the NFL came here, it was going to open it up for everything else. I mean that's just the facts.

And once state legislators started passing and allowing FanDuel and DraftKings and all that stuff, then it was okay.

Somebody's always got to make a move first. The NFL made the move here first to Vegas. I think that probably opened it up. Obviously you need the arena. But Thomas & Mack is an unbelievable building. Could have hosted a lot of tournaments, as I'm sure that's what you're thinking.

Just happy for the city. Well-deserved. Long, long overdue.

Q. 3-point shooting percentage is down this year compared to previous tournaments. Any explanation for that?

COACH CRONIN: You'd have to give me the numbers.

Q. Percent it's generally been over 32?

COACH CRONIN: So, we're talking about 1 percent? If we're not talking about my portfolio, I'm not interested (laughter). Are you serious, we're talking about 1 percent?

Q. (Off microphone) 32, it's a little bit of a dip.

COACH CRONIN: We got rid of the teams that can't shoot. Now let's play.

Q. Will's played a lot of big games here in Vegas, none bigger than the one tomorrow. How would you contextualize his journey through the program to the point when you met him in recruiting to going through the injury and adversity and where he is now?

COACH CRONIN: Grant Rice is a good friend of mine. He could easily be a college coach, but he's smart enough to have a normal life and a great family. Brooke probably wouldn't let him do it even if he wanted to.

But he told me right away -- I called him when I got the job -- who should I recruit on your team? And he immediately -- he said that Will McClendon, he's good enough and he's a UCLA kid. Grant obviously is from Southern California. So he knows the tradition and history, what academics are about.

And he was right on all accounts. Will just had a traumatic, traumatic ACL injury. It was scary. He was in pain. Tough recovery. But he's back to normal now.

And right now, look, in this team, he's just playing a role for us. He's trying to be Jaylen Clark while Jaylen Clark's out.

I know Will as you know was a big shot-maker at Gorman. He was known as Big Shot Will. And I know he still has that in him. We work with him every day on it, just trying to keep his confidence up. Obviously his numbers show.

If you didn't know him, you'd think he's not a shooter. But if you watch high school basketball in Las Vegas, you know that's what he was.

But he's just a winner. And I believe in winners. So Grant knows me. He knows what I'm looking for. This kid's a winner. He's your type of guy. Guys help you win in a lot of ways.

Right now in his career he's helping us win with intangibles and toughness and defense. But I know the day is coming, he's going to help us win with shots, too.

Q. Gonzaga played here a year ago against you. You played three games here in this building two weeks ago. The fact that you both are familiar with this facility, is that going to make for a better game, do you think, tomorrow? Because there's the newness is not here?

COACH CRONIN: Again, maybe. I think that's media stuff. I think that's media stuff. I don't know about all that stuff. I don't care where the game is, what ball you're using. Players play.

I mean, I never heard -- I grew up in the Michael Jordan era, when I was young he was the best player ever. Kareem was older, a little bit. So I just never heard guys like that talk about stuff like that.

I was raised on the great Oscar Robertson. My dad talked about him all the time. I never heard them guys talking about the gym and the ball and just, I don't believe in all that stuff. To me it's all soft. It's how I look at it.

Them guys back then, man, they drank beer while you were interviewing them, got on a commercial flight and Larry Bird got 50 the next night. And I don't know what the hell kind of ball they were using or what gym they were even in.

Q. What makes Gonzaga such a difficult team to play against?

COACH CRONIN: They have three things: Coaching; plus, plus; Drew Timme; and shooting. How is that for you?

And not just shooting from one guy. They've got multiple shooters; a great, great go-to player that has over 100 assists -- very rare for a big guy; and triple-A coaching.

Q. This is probably media stuff too, but tomorrow's the 17-year anniversary of the UCLA-Gonzaga game where UCLA had the come back. Obviously you guys have the recent games --

COACH CRONIN: You know 17 years ago I wasn't at UCLA. Who was in that game?

Q. That was the Adam Morrison on the court, where UCLA had the big comeback in that game. I'm not asking about that game in particular, but the rivalry has developed over this time. You guys played the last two years. Two of the premier programs on the West Coast; probably the two premier programs. What makes this rivalry so special now? And is that a good thing for the sport of college basketball?

COACH CRONIN: Look, all that stuff's good for college basketball. Playing in big games, that's why Coach Few tried to get that game going last year. We played terrible, but give them -- because of them.

But all good for college basketball. Anything that generates interest is good for college basketball. So I think as a coach you've got to be willing to schedule those kind of games.

Q. I'm curious, how do you address it or approach it with your team when you lose a player important to you like Jaylen Clark late in the season, and your guys are smart; they understand what it means? But it doesn't seem like from a mental standpoint that it's rattled them at all.

COACH CRONIN: It's because the way we operate all year. Our other guys, you got a scholarship for a reason. And we operate under it's never okay to lose. So doesn't matter who's playing.

Now, maybe a little bit harder to win. Might have to make some adjustments. But we're going to tell you how to win and we've got to be tough enough to figure it out. That's just what it boils down to. You've got to be tough enough to do whatever you've got to do to win the game.

So somehow we've got to find a way to contain Drew Timme and not give up a lot of 3s regardless who plays for us because we've got some guys day to day.

If it doesn't go our way, I'm not going to come in here and say we lost because these two guys weren't playing or these three guys weren't playing. We're still going to get to play 5-on-5. You've got to be tough enough to figure it out if you want to win.

Q. Specifically Dylan Andrews, everything about him has elevated. You mentioned --

COACH CRONIN: It's all coaching. Look --

Q. His ability to evolve and help the team on such a big stage in more minutes and more shots, can you just talk about --

COACH CRONIN: He was plus-10 the other day against Northwestern. You saw, if you really watched that Northwestern game, how good he is defensively on the ball. And look, comfort zone offensively is really hard for a young player if they don't get -- for any player if you don't get extended minutes. It's just hard to get in any type of rhythm offensively.

But, again, he's young. He's playing on a team with some great talent. And he's embraced his role, which is again -- there's a reason why you have a bunch of wins. It's not the four letters. It's not the coaching. The guys buying into what they need to be a 31-win team. And he's a great example of it.

You could look at his numbers and say, well, he hasn't had a great freshman year. And I couldn't disagree with you more. In what we've needed him to be this year, he's done a great job.

Q. Can you quickly, I'm sure you mentioned this before, you talked about what's good for college basketball. What about the transfer portal, the NIL -- that wild, wild west? And your thoughts on that and how it's kind of changing the game of college basketball?

COACH CRONIN: I think it's just different. You've got to look at it as different. The dying words of every successful business is somebody sitting there saying, well, this is how we've always done things.

And I would remind that to the new head of the NCAA. They better heed those words if they want the NCAA to exist and continue. They better heed those words.

I'm glad you asked that question because players getting paid is coming. The government in our country got to a point where they're interceding to force NIL and the Alston case, Supreme Court. I mean it's just a matter of time.

And we better figure it out if we want to continue. And lobbying to stop it, or hoping the ship's coming back to port is not the answer. We have to figure it out.