UCLA coach Mick Cronin has this thing he does during interviews, where he answers a reporter’s question with a wry smile, then shakes his head and gets serious only to toss in a little joke or jab at the end, flashing that smile again with a twinkle in his eyes.

That twinkle dominated the Bruins’ abbreviated NCAA Tournament run, which ended in disappointment with a blown 13-point halftime lead and an eventual 79-76 loss to Gonzaga in the Sweet 16.

Several times during UCLA’s postseason run, Cronin dropped thinly veiled references to Jaime Jaquez Jr., about the Bruins’ star senior returning for a super senior season. He’d cajole, he’d pry, he’d extol and he’d flatter. He’d pat Jaquez on the back or tug at his jersey. He made it obvious, even if there was some subtlety in his delivery.

But is this possible? Can Cronin pull off what would certainly be his most significant recruiting victory in his UCLA tenure?

And does it end with Jaquez?

*****

As a result of COVID, the NCAA extended an extra season of eligibility for any athlete impacted by the pandemic.

Little did they know the havoc they’d unleash: 25-year-old men squaring off with 18-year-old boys.

To pretend it hasn’t had a material impact on the college sports climate is absurd.

San Diego State, for one, has several players in its rotation playing in their 5th season of eligibility, including All-Mountain West stud Matt Bradley and 5th-year starter Nathan Mensah, who has now started 128 career games. But even players like Aztecs big man Aguek Arop, who has started just 8 of his 133 career games, has benefited.

Then there is Miami’s Jordan Miller and UConn’s Joey Calcaterra and Florida Atlantic’s Michael Forrest, each of whom has played pivotal roles in helping their team advance to the Final Four. And those are just the players remaining — Kansas State’s fabulous 5th-year star Markquis Nowell may just have been the Tournament’s most prominent player this year, among a host of others.

“There is no substitute for experience,” Texas interim coach Rodney Terry said, according to John Marshall of the Associated Press. “They understand what type of urgency you have to play with this time of year. They will help the young guys with that.”

It’s more than that, though. A lot.

It’s the savvy a super senior plays with, his ability to get to the free-throw line in traffic, his sense of timing and spacing, knowing when to gun the engine and when to push the brakes.

Jaquez already does that for the Bruins.

The Pac-12 Player of the Year averaged 17.8 points per game on 48.1% shooting and added 8.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.5 steals per game. With Johnny Juzang off to the NBA, Jaquez became the Bruins’ most consistent scorer. He had 11 20-point games this year, including 7 in a 9-game stretch to end the season, and he was at his best in the NCAA Tournament, scoring 24 in a Round of 32 win over Northwestern before pouring in 29 and 11 rebounds in a heated back-and-forth duel with Gonzaga’s Drew Timme.

Imagine what he could do with just a little more seasoning.

Forget Pac-12 Player of the Year. We’re talking about a potential national POY candidate.

*****

Jaquez isn’t the only Bruin with a crucial decision to make, of course.

Fellow senior Tyger Campbell, who has been Jaquez’s running mate for all 4 seasons, also is eligible to return, as is Kenneth Nwuba, who played valuable minutes for the Bruins down the stretch this year, when Jaylen Clark and Adem Bona were lost because of injuries.

Getting Nwuba back would be nice, but getting Campbell back would be a game-changer. And convincing Jaquez to return for one last go-round would likely make UCLA a top-5 team entering next season, if not the preseason No. 1. UCLA could also very well hang onto both of its star freshmen — Bona, the league freshman of the year, and scorer Amari Bailey — though both could test the NBA waters. Clark, too — despite his brutal season-ending Achilles’ injury — also could return.

Re-recruiting each of them, or any of them, really, will be Cronin’s biggest challenge as head coach. As it stands, the Bruins have commitments from 3 4-star Class of 2023 commits (shooting guard Sebastian Mack and power forwards Devin Williams and Brandon Williams), but none of UCLA’s commits figure to be on the level of what they could return.

And Cronin knows this.

Sitting at the postgame press conference after UCLA’s 68-83 Round of 32 win over Northwestern, Jaquez was asked about surpassing Bill Walton on the Bruins’ career scoring list.

“That’s crazy. That’s insane,” he said. “I’ll be sure to tell Bill when I see him. … That’s kind of crazy. I didn’t know that. But it’s funny because we see Bill all the time in the mornings. He always does our games back at home. Just to be in a conversation with a guy that’s so great like that, I mean, I’m just blessed. I’m just blessed to be in this position, blessed to play under such a great coach, blessed to go to this institution.

“I don’t really know what to say. That’s crazy.”

Once Jaquez finished, Cronin broke into a smile.

“Come back for a 5th year,” he said.

The full-court press is on.