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ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) — Of all the concerns he has about UCLA’s move from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten, there was one that clearly topped coach Mick Cronin’s list.
The Bruins play at Indiana on Feb. 14, and friends and family back home keep asking for tickets. Cronin has bad news for them.
“I don’t have any tickets,” he said with a smile Thursday at Big Ten media day. “But I want you to make sure you can somehow get this out. I don’t have any tickets. Everybody in Cincinnati has asked me for tickets to the game at Indiana. I don’t have any.”
Cronin grew up in the city and coached at Cincinnati for 13 years before taking over at UCLA in 2019 after Steve Alford was fired. Now, as he begins his sixth season, the Bruins are entering unfamiliar territory.
UCLA, Southern California, Oregon and Washington start their first year in the Big Ten in a few weeks. And along with the added revenue streams and recruiting avenues and potential travel headaches and everything else that comes with expansion, it’s also created some intriguing matchups.
UCLA and Indiana will be playing for just the second time since 1992 when the storied programs meet at Assembly Hall. Their most recent game was in the 2007 NCAA Tournament, when the Bruins knocked out the Hoosiers in the second round on the way to the Final Four.
The two schools have played 12 times, with the past seven meetings on neutral sites. The most recent home game for either team was at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in 1960. They haven’t played in Bloomington, Indiana, since 1956 — 15 years before Assembly Hall opened.
“There are gonna be a lot of cool games happening,” Cronin said. “But it’s gonna go on every year now.”
Michigan State coach Tom Izzo was looking forward to bringing the Spartans to Pauley Pavilion on Feb. 4. They haven’t played there since 2003.
“It’s just one of those iconic places that will be incredible for a player to play in or a coach to coach in,” Izzo said. “The ghost of John Wooden is…
Source link : https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/conference-expansion-creates-intriguing-matchups-215157569.html
Author : The Canadian Press
Publish date : 2024-10-03 23:17:06
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