SACRAMENTO — Cori Close’s candid remarks about the growing challenges of coaching in modern college athletics sparked a reaction nationwide among her peers. On Thursday, the UCLA women’s basketball coach was asked about the rapid changes shaping college sports ahead of her Bruins’ Sweet 16 matchup against Minnesota on Friday night. The No. 1-seeded Bruins (33-1) entered…
SACRAMENTO — The UCLA women’s basketball team hasn’t lost a game in 120 days. In that time, the Bruins have outscored opponents by a total of 806 points and just one other school — Connecticut — has gone without a loss during the same stretch. Yet somehow, the No. 1 seed in the Sacramento 2 region of…
Absolutely, this is the best team in UCLA women’s basketball history. Not the best team in the country this year, but truly a testament to teamwork and hard work and talent retention. Whether UCLA wins it all this season or not, the Bruins are the envy of teams everywhere, including Oklahoma State, whose season they…
On a day when No. 1 seeds dominated, UCLA wasn’t the exception. The top-seeded Bruins led wire-to-wire, beating No. 8-seed Oklahoma State 87-68 in the second round of the NCAA tournament on Monday night at Pauley Pavilion to advance to the Sweet 16. They will face No. 4-seed Minnesota on Friday in Sacramento. While UCLA…
With just over five minutes left in UCLA’s first-round win over California Baptist on Saturday, freshman Sienna Betts took a shot. She missed. She grabbed the rebound. She missed again. Then, she put it in the basket. On the bench, her older sister, Lauren Betts, was laughing. No. 1 seed UCLA was up big late,…
PHILADELPHIA — The question will remain unanswered. Would UCLA have beaten Connecticut if Tyler Bilodeau was healthy? That’s what will haunt the Bruins and their fans for the rest of March Madness. Even without their leading scorer the seventh-seeded Bruins battled valiantly, briefly taking the lead in the second half. But in the end they simply didn’t…
The adage goes, it doesn’t have to be pretty. But for the UCLA women’s basketball team, that’s not the philosophy. Coach Cori Close preaches thriving, not surviving, and that’s been evident in the Bruins’ lopsided victory margin all season. That’s why leading by 10 points at halftime against a No. 16 seed was likely alarming….
Jordan Chiles captured the Big Ten all-around crown with her seventh perfect score of the season, leading UCLA to its second straight Big Ten championship gymnastics title on Saturday. Chiles, the Big Ten gymnast of the year, posted a conference-record score of 39.825 and earned a perfect 10 in floor routine as the Bruins defeated…
After sustaining a foot injury on her balance beam routine during a quad meet on Feb. 27 against Maryland, Ohio State and Iowa, Katelyn Rosen was sidelined for the rest of the competition. With the Big Ten title on the line, Bruins coach Janelle McDonald trusted one of the youngest athletes on her roster. Freshman…
PHILADELPHIA — Besides carrying on the UCLA legacy, which Mick Cronin says is an honor in itself, he’s got an extra incentive here this weekend that has nothing to do with finding the best cheesesteak in town. “We’ve got to win two games,” said Cronin, whose Bruins will start off going against Central Florida, whose coach, Johnny…
