The blunt appraisal after No. 22 UCLA’s 94-75 crushing defeat to No. 24 Michigan at Pauley Pavilion on Tuesday night was part of an annual tradition during which Cronin questions the character of his players and declares they lack the ability to win without exerting maximum effort.

To get the most out of his wiry 6-foot-2 frame, he learned to throw with maximum effort on every pitch.

Paramount agreed and in October 2019 signed on to help make and distribute the film, with Krasinski and Reynolds’ Maximum Effort.

On what is needed from his team: "The start point is maximum effort, that has to be a given. Then a reaction to the latest news and then the energy to flow into the team and get that important win."

Esposito puts in maximum effort, muscling out a performance that exhibits his full range of dramatic capability despite prosaic scripts stringing together phrases you’ve heard in other shows and movies, and not necessarily superior ones.