UCLA’s Mick Cronin sounds off on late tip time against Gonzaga: ‘I mean what are we doing?’

UCLA’s Mick Cronin is nothing if not opinionated.

The coach’s latest gripe? An 8:30 p.m. tipoff time between his 25th-ranked Bruins and No. 8 Gonzaga on Saturday at Climate Pledge Arena.

Three days before the West Coast college hoops powers battle it out in a nonconference game televised on ESPN, Cronin expressed his frustrations with the unusually late start time during a media availability session Wednesday afternoon in Westwood, Calif.

“Don’t get me started, trying to stay positive,” Cronin opened. “If I would’ve known that – I don’t know what I could’ve done. I mean, it’s ridiculous. Why don’t we just play at midnight?”

A reporter followed up with Cronin, asking if the late start time alters UCLA’s game-day prep.

“No, it’s just like a weekday,” he said. “But on a Saturday, I mean what are we doing? It’s so disappointing, it’s so crazy. Make these kids get back at that time of day. … Let’s tip it off at 11:30 (p.m.). My dad’s real happy about it. He’s 84, he’s going to have to take two naps on Saturday to be able to watch us play Saturday night. I mean what are we doing? No words, I’ve got no words. It just makes no sense. How is that good for anybody?”

A reporter responded to Cronin: “TV executives.”

“How does that help their programming?” the coach continued.

“It fills a window,” the reporter offered.

“A window everybody’s sleeping,” Cronin said. “I mean, you can put re-runs on of the PBA King of Bowling. Everybody’s sleeping, they’re sleeping.”

The scheduled tipoff for GU-UCLA is 8:30, but could be pushed back 10-15 minutes, and/or shifted to ESPN News, if previous games don’t fit into a two-hour time window.

ESPN’s flagship channel is televising a 6:30 p.m. game between Tommy Lloyd’s top-ranked Arizona and the 12th-ranked Alabama team GU beat last month at the Players Era Festival. That game may also be at risk of starting late. ESPN is showcasing a nonconference, blue-blood matchup between Indiana and Kentucky at 4:30 p.m., which airs immediately after a 2:30 p.m. game between No. 19 Kansas and North Carolina State.

Saturday’s game won’t even signify the latest local tipoff time Gonzaga’s experienced this season. In their first true road game, the Zags tipped off at 9 p.m. MT against Arizona State. Mark Few, Graham Ike and Tyon Grant-Foster didn’t arrive to a postgame press conference in Tempe until roughly 11:50 p.m. local time.

Gonzaga will have one more 8:30 p.m. game, on Jan. 8 against Santa Clara at McCarthey Athletic Center, as well as 8 p.m. tipoffs on Feb. 10 at home against Washington State and Feb. 18 against San Francisco at the Chase Center.

Saturday’s game will be the sixth meeting in as many years between the Zags and Bruins. UCLA and Gonzaga have met in one-off neutral-site games, the NCAA Tournament, Thanksgiving-week multi-team events and, most recently, a two-year neutral-neutral series that began last year in Inglewood, Calif.

Cronin was asked about UCLA’s scheduling philosophy – specifically if the Bruins would ever consider an invitation to the Players Era Festival, which hosted Gonzaga and 17 other marquee college programs last month in Las Vegas, paying out $1 million to every participant and additional cash prizes for the top four finishers.

“We look at everything to raise money,” Cronin said. “But our three games, we raised more money than we would have playing in (Players Era). Gonzaga, Arizona and Cal.”