UCLA Basketball Presser: The Chris Smith Show

The Chris Smith Show

Sometimes I wonder if the players and coaches read Bruins Nation. I don’t wonder about the reporters. They definitely do. The theme of this week’s press conference was Chris Smith and, seemingly, a follow up to the comments in this post.

For Coach Cronin it was dealing with questions on whether Chris Smith is ready and/or should go pro. Cronin is always relatively candid, but on this question he danced between Smith is playing well and still has a ways to go. He praised Smith’s “humility” which makes him “coachable.”

He also pointed out the Jekyl and Hyde nature of Utah, this week’s Pac-12 road trip. Utah is 1-8 on the road but 10-1 at home. At home, they have a good win over BYU and the only loss, a narrow one, to Oregon.

Cody Riley was also asked about Smith. Even though Smith and Riley are veterans, it is easy to forgot how young they really are. Riley points out that Smith left high school early in response to an unintentionally hilarious question about Smith being “young for his age.” He discusses video games and how he likes to “mix up” which video games he plays for fun.

Tyger Campbell could do a master class on Crash Davis’ cliches. In fairness, Campbell had a great game last time against Utah, but he seems to reluctant to be in the spotlight. But even on the Smith question, he seems to be sprouting cliches.

Jaime Jaquez Jr. was celebrating his birthday yesterday with practice and extra shooting. Jaime seems unfazed by altitude or anything else.

Here is a link to the Coach Cronin interview, courtesy of UCLA Athletics.

Here are the player interviews.

Go Bruins!