College hoops analyst Rob Dauster tips Mick Cronin’s UCLA as Big Ten’s dark horse for a Final Four run

College basketball analyst Rob Dauster was optimistic about Mick Cronin and UCLA’s chances of making a deep run in the 2025-26 season. In an X clip posted on Saturday, Dauster tipped the Bruins as a dark horse contender for a Final Four run in the Big Ten.

Dauster pointed to the balance of Cronin’s roster on "The Field of 68" podcast and highlighted the arrival of standout guard Donovan Dent as the major reasons for optimism.

“You have an elite point guard,” Dauster said on Aug. 22. “You have spacing bigs, you have a roster that has actually been built around having an elite point guard. I have very high expectations for what this group can be.

"A large part of that is I have very high expectations for how good Donovan Dent is going to be going back home to LA. We should be talking about UCLA as one of the four teams that can make a Final Four out of the Big Ten.”

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Dent, who transferred from New Mexico, is coming off an impressive season where he averaged 20.4 points, 2.3 rebounds and 6.4 assists per game on 49% shooting.

Cronin is entering his sixth season with UCLA. He was hired in 2019 as UCLA’s 14th coach. At the time of his hire, Cronin had 365 career wins and ranked among a select group who had reached nine straight NCAA tournaments. Cronin also guided UCLA to a Final Four appearance in 2021.

Mick Cronin seeks to fill in last season’s gaps with lineup

UCLA Bruins coach Mick Cronin reflected on last year’s second-round NCAA Tournament exit and how he would approach next season. The Bruins lost to No. 2 seed Tennessee 67-58 on March 23.

“I told our guys this game was going to be won by other things,” Cronin said per Daily Bruin's Connor Dullinger on Wednesday. “Who gets a ball when it comes off the rim, who’s strong with the ball, they screen better than we screen.”

According to Cronin, the Bruins lacked size, strength and consistent scoring to match the nation’s top teams:

“At the end of the day last year, we weren’t big enough. Against Michigan, against Tennessee, they were just too big and strong for us.”

Cronin turned to the transfer portal this offseason to address the weaknesses. His biggest move was landing Donovan Dent, the 2024–25 Mountain West Player of the Year from New Mexico. Dent had been working on volume shooting after Cronin challenged him to take more shots with more confidence.

Alongside Dent, Cronin added Missouri-Kansas City transfer Jamar Brown, a fifth-year guard who averaged 17 ppg and shot 40% from 3-point range last season.

UCLA also added 6-foot-11 Xavier Booker from Michigan State and 6-foot-10 Steven Jamerson II from San Diego. Further, returning redshirts Brandon Williams and Eric Freeny are expected to give UCLA depth and continuity.