UCLA's Mick Cronin Blames Pac-12 Exit for 'Comical' NCAA Tournament Preview Seeding

UCLA head coach Mick Cronin wasn't a fan of his team's placement in the NCAA tournament bracket preview released on Saturday, which had the Bruins as the No. 8 overall team.

"If you ask my one-word answer on that ranking — comical," Cronin said Saturday, per Beth Harris of the Associated Press. "I'm going to try not to laugh."

The veteran coach believes the ranking was payback for UCLA and USC leaving the Pac-12 for the Big Ten, a move that will take place in 2024.

"When we left the Pac-12, it cost a lot of people millions of dollars and there was going to be fallout, and I think it's a direct result," he said. "I had nothing to do with us leaving the league, but you deal with the fallout being a lame duck."

UCLA entered last week as the No. 4 team in the Associated Press poll and should move up after two more wins this week. The Bruins are 23-4 on the season, putting them fourth in the NET Rankings with zero losses outside of Quad 1.

The resume should certainly put the Bruins in contention for a No. 1 seed, but the Committee currently believes the team is barely a No. 2.

The Committee does feature Arizona athletic director Dave Heeke, a Pac-12 rival who likely isn't happy about UCLA leaving the conference. However, it might be a leap for the entire group of representatives to have a slight against the Bruins.

Conference realignment has become a major storyline in college sports, with Texas and Oklahoma notably set to leave the Big 12 for the SEC. Texas was below UCLA in last week's rankings, sitting at No. 6.

Cronin still better hope there are no biases when the real bracket is announced on March 12.