The Michigan Wolverines basketball team made headlines on Tuesday night/Wednesday morning by defeating the UCLA Bruins at Pauley Pavilion, 94-75, taking down both their opponents on the two-game Los Angeles road trip.

On Wednesday morning, the Bruins also made headlines, but not for the reasons you would expect. UCLA head coach Mick Cronin has been coaching the Bruins since 2019 where he has made the NCAA Tournament three times in his five seasons, including a Final Four appearance in 2020-21.

However, it appeared Cronin reached a breaking point after his squad’s third loss in four games, calling some of his players “completely delusional about who they are,” and labeling his program as “soft.”

The Wolverines had two massive leads against the Bruins, first getting out to an 18-point lead in the first half, and then taking a 19-point lead to the final buzzer after UCLA attempted to get back into the game. With a strong shooting performance by multiple Michigan starters, Cronin blamed his team’s work ethic.

“Obviously they shot the ball well. But we’re soft. We’re too soft to play hard enough,” Cronin said to an opening question about the Bruins’ defensive breakdowns. “Even in the crucials, you can’t get an offensive rebound. It’s like a five-point game and Kobe Johnson just has a guy take the ball from him. Same thing with Sebastian Mack. Okay, we finally do get a stop — can’t get a defensive rebound. They didn’t have a million of them because they didn’t miss that many shots. But there was a few in particular — Kobe, Sebastian — huge, back-breaking. And you get inside position. You get inside position.

“So don’t tell me you want to win. Don’t tell me you want to win. To start the game, Tyler Bilodeau gave up 12 points. Two screens — he didn’t say a word — threes, and then he got dunked on three times. So don’t tell me you want to win. We’re soft. Aside from — obviously they have unique skillset, the way they shoot the ball, but we’re soft.”

After calling out his two starting guards, Cronin turned his attention to Michigan’s strong shooting, particularly from point guard Tre Donaldson who shot 6-for-10 from three-point range for a career-high 20 points.

“Dylan Andrews, in the time out, ‘Number three (Donaldson) is hot. He’s 4-for-7 from three,” Cronin fired off. “You cannot let him shoot. He’s gonna back up. Next two plays, he made two. Will Kyle let him shoot? Just stood there. He just looked at him, said, ‘Well, you’re gonna let me shoot?’ Bang. Next play, Dylan Andrews, ‘You’re gonna let me shoot?’ Bang.”

Cronin has a coaching record of 491-228 throughout his 22 year coaching career with Murray State, Cincinnati and UCLA. It takes hard work to get to where he’s at today, and to take it a step further, Cronin believes he is putting in more energy and pride than anybody.

“I have to run on the court to get guys to play hard,” Cronin said. “It’s crazy. And it’s every day. I’m tired of it. It’s every day. I have the most energy of anybody at practice every day. I’m upset with everybody in that locker room — my assistant coaches and my players. I don’t need to do anything else. I almost got 500 wins. I’m only 53. You’d think I’m coaching the Lakers. I mean, it’s a joke. It’s a joke. But yet, I come in and I have more passion and energy and pride than everybody. That’s the problem. I mean, that is the truth right now.”

Very rarely does a teammate question effort from their peers. Even more rarely does a head coach question the effort of his players, especially publicly for the entire world to hear. Maybe it was to light a fire in his guys, maybe he was just really pissed off, but calling out his players individually by name, giving examples of times where he was unhappy with effort and putting them on blast is a choice that can have unforeseen consequences.

“The truth of it has been, it’s really hard to coach people that are delusional,” Cronin concluded. “The hungry dog gets the bone. We got guys that think they’re way better than they are. They’re nice kids. They’re completely delusional about who they are…What I’m trying to say to you guys: I think that our guys are delusional about what it’s gonna take to win games.

“…I think it’s pretty clear we’re not winning a three-point shooting contest with Michigan. I mean, if it’s a game of horse, they got guys five feet behind the line not missing. We’ve got guys 2-for-20. But I just question our toughness. I don’t question it. The reality is the reality.”

UCLA will hit the east coast this weekend to face the Maryland Terrapins and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Sitting at 2-2 in conference play, there is still plenty of time to turn the ship around. The question will become, however, did Cronin’s rant bring the team together, or did he lose the locker room after losing to Dusty May and the Wolverines?