Mick Cronin walked into the press room Friday seething with visible humiliation and rage.

The coach had marinated in UCLA men’s basketball’s 86-70 defeat in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals for more than half an hour already.

“You know the game ended 32 minutes ago,” Cronin snapped at Bill Benner, Friday’s press conference moderator. “The game ended 32 minutes ago. 32 minutes ago, the game ended. You couldn’t expedite this a little better?”

Disappointment was understandable. A lack of professionalism was not.

The Badgers sunk 19 3-pointers – tying the Big Ten Tournament record for most 3s in a game and most by a Bruin adversary in regulation.

“The message was, ‘We know we can’t try to win a 3-point shooting contest,’” Cronin said. “So if they get hot, we can’t just grab it and shoot it and try to match them. And that’s what we did. That was hammered into them from the minute we found out we were playing them. … We took the bait miserably.”

Cronin can know what went wrong. He can have the perfect game plan. But if he can’t get his players to listen and adjust – if he can’t coach – what makes him deserving of his $6.1 million salary, the fifth highest among collegiate basketball coaches?

There are plenty of jobs in sports that pay for someone to complain into a microphone. UCLA’s head coach shouldn’t be one of them.

“I’m not leaving UCLA till they make me leave,” Cronin said.

Maybe the school should.

“Losers blame the officials,” Cronin said. “Winners know why they win, and winners know why they lose too.”

The coach struck a different tune after UCLA was stomped 79-61 at Maryland on Jan. 10.

“I didn’t think we were given a chance to win the second half. I let (referee) Jeff Anderson know. I hit the showers,” Cronin said after being ejected. “I told him that, ‘You’ve got to give us a chance. You are not giving us a chance to win. You’ve got to give us a chance to win.’ … We needed some stronger officials on the game.”

On Friday, the coach said he never complained about Big Ten travel.

But he has.

“In defense of my players, we only had one day to prepare,” Cronin said after the Maryland loss. “We had to travel (a) five-hour, 50-minute flight. They (Maryland) got home Sunday and had two extra days. And now Rutgers is sitting at home, and they have one extra day. I have not mapped this out, but I sure hope it swings our way at some point.”

Speaking to reporters in late January, Cronin called the Pac-12 schedule a “layup” and said the Big Ten is “night and day.” And after a win over Washington on Jan. 24, he said even traveling to Seattle can be a challenge.

After UCLA’s victory over Iowa on Jan. 17, Cronin flipped out at a reporter who asked if East Coast teams experienced similar troubles making the trip out west.

“Wear and tear on them (the Hawkeyes)?” Cronin said, sarcastically. “Is that a joke? Please tell me that’s a joke. … We have to go back four times. Oh, but the Big Ten teams get to come to Los Angeles where it’s 70 degrees one time a year. … Are you kidding me?”

Cronin took offense to some of the questions he received after Friday’s blowout, accusing reporters of trying to get him to make excuses and spew quotes fit for sensational headlines. But if he contradicts himself each week, what can he expect?

The coach took issue with his team’s 30 attempts from deep, saying they don’t have the personnel for that. But he didn’t get them to stop trying – or even worse, he couldn’t.

After UCLA made just 4 of 14 shots from deep, Cronin’s halftime pep talk was of little value – the Bruins attempted 16 more triples in the second half.

The coach said Wisconsin was just a “bad matchup” from the jump – the Badgers shoot well from all five positions, and the Bruins just aren’t well equipped to defend that. Cronin added that UCLA would have to beat Wisconsin with offense – while also saying getting into a 3-point shooting contest with them was a mistake. I’m not sure how that makes sense.

Regardless, the Bruins have no offense.

Cronin’s top two leading scorers this season – junior forward Tyler Bilodeau and sophomore guard/forward Eric Dailey Jr. – combined for just two points Friday off 1-for-13 shooting.

Yes, the Bruins’ defense was atrocious Friday. But UCLA took 10 more shots than Wisconsin from the field while recording the same number of rebounds and fewer turnovers – the difference was an inability to make baskets. The Bruins shot nearly 20% worse than the Badgers.

What will Cronin do if the Bruins find themselves in another “bad matchup” come March Madness?

Junior guard Skyy Clark said UCLA failed miserably at following the game plan against Wisconsin. When UCLA fell to Purdue 76-66 on Feb. 28, Bilodeau said the team needed to pay more attention to the scouting report.

After blowing a 17-point lead to Minnesota on Feb. 18, senior guard Kobe Johnson said UCLA needed to get better at following the game plan and added that the team failed to follow the scouting report against forward Dawson Garcia, who scored 27 points in the second half.

I could go on, but the point is, it’s Cronin’s job to get his players to execute. Following the scouting report shouldn’t be a consistent problem for a Power Four men’s basketball team.

Banners don’t hang in Pauley Pavilion for conference championships. So fortunately for Cronin, no one will remember his team’s embarrassing Big Ten Tournament run if it puts on a show come the NCAA Tournament.

Make a deep run and the story will no longer be about how Cronin brought in six transfers to Westwood just to be early exits in the playoffs.

But if he still can’t get his own team to listen to him – and instead has to ramble to the media just to find someone who will – then UCLA’s money might as well be better spent on a different head coach.