Cronin got up front to secure his backcourt star

Bruins coach let Dent know point guard will be held accountable, starting with defense.

- By BEN BoLcH

DONOVAN DENT has already wowed his UCLA teammates with an ability to break down defenses.

(GREGORY BULL Associated Press)

Here he was, the top point guard in the transfer portal, and Donovan Dent was being told what he couldn’t do.

Pleasantries weren’t the point of the conference call with Mick Cronin. The UCLA basketball coach asked the player who could help his team contend for a national title about his plans after college.

That was easy enough. Dent told Cronin that he wanted to play in the NBA.

OK, Cronin responded, let’s say youre playing the Lakers tomorrow. Who would you guard?

It couldn't be their primary ballhandlers, Luka Doncic and LeBron James, because they're 6 feet 6 and 6-9, respectively, while Dent is only 6-2. So who do you guard next?

Continuing down the roster, Cronin got to Austin Reaves, the 6-5 dynamo.

“Cronin’s like, well, you're not a good enough defender to guard him,” said Josh Giles, who was on the call last spring as an advisor to Dent after having coached him at Corona Centennial High. “And so he’s like, that’s your biggest issue is you've got to be a better defender.”

Cronin went on to tell Dent that if he hollered at him about defense in practice, he would be doing his job to help him play in the NBA.

This was a different approach than that of most coaches pursuing the honorable mention All-Ameri-can from New Mexico. They were known for being positive and taking it easy on their star players, rarely challenging them.

Having already coached five high-level prospects who went on to play for Cronin, Giles was something of an expert on his UCLA counterpart. Giles cursed and yelled but was probably closer in temperament to the agreeable coaches than he was to Cronin.