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A weekly newsletter offering big game takeaways, recruiting buzz and everything you need to know about UCLA sports.<\/p>\n
By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service<\/a>, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy<\/a> such as personalizing your experience and ads. <\/p>\n The Times spoke to Savage about the expectations the Bruins set for themselves and his longevity with UCLA. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n Your team entered the year ranked No. 1 nationally and has gotten off to a strong start. How have you managed expectations?<\/p>\n Savage: It\u2019s really about the people you have in the clubhouse. They\u2019ve been born and raised through our program. Now it\u2019s their junior years. They went to Omaha their sophomore year. They had a difficult year their freshman year. It\u2019s been a work in progress, and I think the expectations are probably the heaviest inside our room. Everybody\u2019s held to a very high standard and they believe in one another, they believe in the program. It\u2019s refreshing to coach people that want to be coached, and to have people that love UCLA, and want to stay at UCLA.<\/p>\n After returning a large percentage of last year\u2019s production, what differences have you noticed in this roster compared to previous teams?<\/p>\n UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky.<\/p>\n (Kyusung Gong \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n Savage: I think the leadership is fantastic. Roch Cholowsky<\/a>, Cashel Dugger, Michael Barnett, Jack O\u2019Connor \u2014 our captains, they do a wonderful job of making sure guys are accountable. Everybody\u2019s a year older. Everybody\u2019s a little stronger. Everybody\u2019s a little faster. A lot of guys that work extremely hard to upgrade their physicality, and then certainly it\u2019s a mental game. We\u2019ve worked really hard on the mental side of things to make sure that we\u2019re combining both phases.<\/p>\n What has allowed your program to retain so much of its core talent year to year?<\/p>\n Savage: I would say loyalty, personal relationships, wanting to be at UCLA, to get a degree from UCLA, coaching staff, facilities, location. But, I would say most importantly, relationships. We didn\u2019t win a national championship last year and these guys seem to be on that sort of mission.<\/p>\n Last season\u2019s run to Omaha ended just short of the championship series. How much has that experience motivated this year\u2019s group early in the season?<\/p>\n Savage: You see where you\u2019re going. People always talk about Omaha, but if you never go, it\u2019s hard to really envision what it looks like. It\u2019s something that if you experience, you want to go back. It\u2019s the mecca of college baseball and the city of Omaha has done a wonderful job of developing this tournament over 75 years. It\u2019s an experience that you go and you definitely want to go back as a player and certainly as a coach.<\/p>\n How has recruiting or roster construction changed, if at all, now that UCLA is competing in the Big Ten instead of the Pac-12?<\/p>\n Savage: It\u2019s still UCLA. I\u2019ve been here 22 years, we\u2019ve produced 30 major leaguers. It\u2019s a place that you certainly could go and enjoy your college life and go play in the major leagues. The Big Ten is getting better in baseball, with the addition of UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington. Obviously, it has helped the baseball side of things quite a bit. But there\u2019s a lot of programs that are investing throughout the Big Ten in baseball and it\u2019s only going to get better. Baseball is baseball. You gotta go play any time, anywhere.<\/p>\n With the travel demands that come with a conference like the Big Ten, what adjustments have you made to keep players fresh and focused?<\/p>\n Savage: We don\u2019t charter. We\u2019re all commercial. We fly out of LAX on Wednesday morning and we get back late Sunday night. It\u2019s a challenge and it\u2019s certainly one that it\u2019s a daily and weekly operation. In terms of managing school, they all go to class. Not a lot of remote classes, really, so we love the challenge and the opportunity to grow as a young player and a young person.<\/p>\n You\u2019re now in your 22nd season leading the Bruins. What has kept you motivated to continue evolving as a coach after more than two decades in Westwood?<\/p>\n Savage: I love being at UCLA. I love what it stands for. It\u2019s a combination that I\u2019m really looking for in terms of baseball, schedule, league, school \u2014 it\u2019s just an elite combination. You have to make sure you\u2019re grounded. You have to make sure you\u2019re very consistent. You have to make sure that you have true values that are consistent with the university and that equates to winning. Winning is really, really difficult, especially now at the Power 4 level.<\/p>\n When players leave UCLA after their careers \u2014 whether they go to pro baseball or move on to other careers \u2014 what do you hope they carry with them from their time in your program?<\/p>\n Savage: That they understand how to be a contributor to an organization, to a business, how to lead a family, how to lead a group in work. Just be a person that people like to be around and a person that has a vision, that they want to get better and they want to do well in their lives and they want to have impact on other lives. That\u2019s ultimately what we\u2019re looking for, that they can handle themselves in any phase of life.<\/p>\n UCLA men are out, UCLA women stay strong UConn\u2019s Tarris Reed Jr. tries to get through UCLA\u2019s Trent Perry, from left, Donovan Dent and Eric Dailey Jr. in the first half Monday.<\/p>\n (Matt Rourke \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n UCLA coach Mick Cronin never wavered. <\/p>\n If senior forward Tyler Bilodeau felt any pain, he was not playing the NCAA tournament. <\/p>\n The No. 7 seed Bruins could not overcome No. 2 seed UConn\u2019s interior game and suffered a 73-57 loss<\/a>. The Bruins kept it close early, trailing by just five at halftime.<\/p>\n Cronin will help UCLA cope with the sudden end to its season and then immediately work on sorting out next season\u2019s roster.<\/p>\n While fans questioned Cronin\u2019s aggressive coaching style, the Bruins did play significantly improved defense through the final four weeks of their season and his players never wavered in their support of him.<\/p>\n Now Cronin will start over, working to forge comparable buy-in from the next wave of players. <\/p>\n The UCLA women walk to the bench during a time out against Cal Baptist.<\/p>\n (Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n It\u2019s rare for a No. 1 seed in the women\u2019s NCAA tournament to miss the Sweet 16, but the Bruins (32-1) say they expect a big test when they face No. 8 seed Oklahoma State (24-9) at 7 p.m. Monday night at Pauley Pavilion.<\/p>\n It will be the final game the Bruins\u2019 celebrated senior class will play at Pauley Pavilion.<\/p>\n UCLA coach Cori Close provided the following scouting report on Oklahoma State.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that what stands out is their ability to shoot the three, their versatility, their work down the tunnel with the high ball screen,\u201d Close said. \u201cThey\u2019re extremely good in transition. It\u2019s going to be so important for us to make them play later into the shot clock, which is going to be easier said than done. But I guess with the exception they don\u2019t have like a really tall big, but they actually remind me in terms of their style and some of the actions that they run of Oklahoma. Their guard play.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd one of the big things that we talk a lot about is trying to make them play later in the clock than they\u2019re comfortable with. Now we go through all the analytics, and the later you have them play in the shot clock, the less efficient they become. They\u2019re 13th in the country in offensive efficiency. They\u2019re really, really good.<\/p>\n \u201cDefensively I think that we obviously need to really hunt the paint. We\u2019ve got some advantages with our size there. But they\u2019re a really good team.\u201d<\/p>\n Survey says<\/p>\n We asked \u201cHow far will the UCLA men advance in the NCAA men\u2019s tournament. After 648 votes, the results:<\/p>\n They lose in the second round, 36.5% In case you missed it<\/p>\n UCLA overcomes slow start to open NCAA tournament title bid with a blowout win<\/a> <\/p>\n Jordan Chiles goes perfect again as UCLA sweeps Big Ten gymnastics titles<\/a> <\/p>\n UCLA freshmen draw on their elite gymnastics roots to help Bruins push for championships<\/a> <\/p>\n Without Tyler Bilodeau, UCLA edges Central Florida to advance at NCAA tournament<\/a> <\/p>\n How UCLA guard Kiki Rice became the Bruins\u2019 ace and top WNBA draft prospect<\/a> <\/p>\n UCLA men\u2019s basketball eager to mount deep tournament run<\/a> <\/p>\n March Madness women\u2019s tournament analysis: Teams and players to watch<\/a> <\/p>\n UCLA was snubbed by women\u2019s NCAA tournament selection committee<\/a> <\/p>\n Have something Bruin?<\/p>\n Do you have a comment or something you\u2019d like to see in a future UCLA newsletter? Email newsletters editor Houston Mitchell at houston.mitchell@latimes.com<\/a>. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When UCLA baseball coach John Savage scouts prospects, he looks at their projections and skill upside. Most important,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640114,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2289],"tags":[1769,5,648,39,13528,13529,1562,1593,1694,2341,169,3480,13531,235,1200,5005,3998,13527,13530],"class_list":["post-640113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-college-baseball","tag-associated-press","tag-baseball","tag-college-baseball","tag-dodgers","tag-jason-preston","tag-kings","tag-lakers","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-baseball","tag-news","tag-sandy-alcantara","tag-taylor-fritz","tag-team","tag-teams","tag-times","tag-tuesday","tag-ucla-olympic-sports","tag-wimbledon"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116282230125692924","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640113\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"UCLA](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774325919_968_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"UConn's](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774325920_239_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774325921_200_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
They lose in the Sweet 16, 27.5%
They lose in the Elite Eight, 17.3%
They win it all, 12.6%
They lose in the first round, 3.2%
They lose in the Final Four, 2.5%
They lose in the championship game, 0.4%<\/p>\n