ESPN's prerecorded Charleston Classic halftime report praises UCLA's undefeated start

Dave Clark | Cincinnati Enquirer

For college basketball fans, nothing beats watching hoops on a weekday afternoon. And between ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, fans get a chance to see a lot of the action in the tournaments that take place as Thanksgiving approaches.

But during halftime of a Miami-Florida game (won by the Gators) Friday afternoon in the Charleston Classic - with Xavier fans watching the Musketeers' potential next opponent, pending the result of Friday night's XU-UConn game - ESPN2 aired a prerecorded halftime report that featured studio analysts Sean Farnham and Seth Greenberg looking forward to next week's Maui Jim Maui Invitational and praising UCLA's undefeated start to the season under new head coach and former Cincinnati Bearcats coach Mick Cronin.

The problem? Cronin's Bruins were upset at Pauley Pavilion by Hofstra, 88-78, early Friday morning:

Farnham: Want to guess which one I want to watch in the first round? UCLA! C'mon, Mick Cronin's got them undefeated, ready to roll! I love what Mick Cronin's doing. He's brought an additional toughness to UCLA - something they desperately needed. They needed a culture shift and a culture change. I've been to multiple practices. The best thing about it is he's hard on his guys but his guys accept it. They're responding to it. And even though they're limited offensively, the Bruins are finding a way to win. Greenberg: I like it. I like that hire. And I like this UCLA team. They might struggle offensively, but they're going to be hard to score against.

Oof. The Bruins were not "hard to score against" a few hours ago, as Cronin acknowledged after the game:

“You’ve got to give the other kids credit. You’ve got to give the Hofstra kids credit. You have to. They came in, they played a good offensive game, they took care of the ball.”



Coach Cronin, speaking to the media after Thursday's game pic.twitter.com/esLQTJjVhE — UCLA Basketball (@UCLAMBB) November 22, 2019

Also, CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein tweeted after the game that he couldn't remember the last time a team coached by Cronin allowed 88 points. The answer? Dec. 2, 2017, to Xavier in the Crosstown Shootout at Cintas Center.

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