Men’s basketball nets increased depth with additions to 2020 recruiting class

Mick Cronin’s first recruiting cycle ended in the same place it started – with Johnny Juzang.

The newly hired coach met with the then-high school junior guard in April 2019 before he reclassified and committed to Kentucky. But after a 28-game stint with the Wildcats, Juzang announced his intentions to transfer, and Cronin pounced.

“When I heard he was headed for the transfer portal, we all had time, so it gave me some time to watch some Kentucky games,” Cronin said. “The way I look at it is he had his senior year of high school at Kentucky against NBA players.”

Cronin and UCLA men’s basketball made their last two additions to their 2020 recruiting class official when Juzang and guard Jaylen Clark signed their national letters of intent on Wednesday. The two join five-star guard Daishen Nix, who signed with the Bruins on Nov. 13, to make up the Pac-12’s fourth-ranked unit.

While the trio only come in at the No. 41 spot nationally, Cronin still managed to haul in three four- or- five-star recruits – something he did just once in his 13 years at Cincinnati. Cronin said recruiting will always be the toughest part of his job no matter where he is, but the academic and on-court prestige at his disposal at UCLA certainly gives him a new advantage.

“At UCLA, our reputation precedes itself academically – that is a plus,” Cronin said. “That, obviously, and our tremendous tradition, and then Westwood’s probably – I would say – arguably the best college campus in the world.”

Another advantage Cronin didn’t have with the Bearcats was boasting one of the country’s top basketball hotbeds in his backyard.

Both Clark and Juzang are local products, with Clark playing his high school ball at Etiwanda High School in Rancho Cucamonga, California, and Juzang suiting up for Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles.

When Cronin was recruiting Juzang over FaceTime last week, the two discovered they lived just 3.2 miles away from each other.

“We could’ve walked and met in the middle,” Cronin said. “I’ve been going for two-hour walks every day. I could’ve easily just walked over to his house.”

Juzang averaged 2.9 points per game with Kentucky, but he scored in double-digits twice in his final nine contests. In his third and final year of high school competition, Juzang averaged 23 points per game en route to winning Mission League MVP.

Clark – the No. 21 shooting guard in the country and No. 14 recruit in California – averaged 17-plus points per game in each of his last three seasons.

“I think he’s a perfect fit for me – he’s a tough guy, he’s a hard worker, he’s a winner, he can play all over the floor,” Cronin said. “Just very fortunate it all worked out with (Clark) because I think he and I were made for each other as coach and player.”

Cronin’s wing rotation will lose redshirt senior guard Prince Ali to graduation and could lose junior guard Chris Smith to the NBA Draft. However, the Bruins are projected to return nearly 70% of their scoring next year after only retaining 47.6% of their scoring last offseason.

Despite the bulk of their offensive production coming back, Cronin said there’s no harm in adding some more.

“We went on a magical run, but let’s not call us an offensive juggernaut by any means,” Cronin said. “There’s nothing better – as a coach – than having options and being able to press, being able to have depth, being able to have multiple guys who can put the ball in the basket.”