So excited to see the Women's Selection Show! The Lady Bruins are truly a treasure, and the players remind me of Coach Wooden's teams - so much heart, passion, selflessness, and talent. Except for those damn turnovers! Coach Close has done an amazing job, and she has won me over. Plus, I have always thought she was a great person and has represented UCLA with humbleness, gratitude and leadership. I can't wait for the first TIP- OFF!!! Go Lady Bruins!!! 💙💛
On the other hand.... 🤣 In a few hours we will know the fate of our Men's 'team.' If we get the #6 seed in Denver, then I have slightly more hope that we could win a couple. But if they play like they did against Wisky, it may be over in the first round. I would love to be proven wrong, but this team has many systemic and coaching issues that have not been resolved. Will the team against suc show up, or will it be the Wisky version?
Turns out UCLA men lost to a very good budding late season Wisconsin team (admittedly the men were a no show at this game). I hope Coach Close proves me wrong. Great recruiter; bad game coach. Bad.
Close made very good adjustments after half time against suc in the BIG Tourney Championship Game. Her team is ranked #1 and has the best record in the Country.
Yet people continue to dislike her as a coach but continue to be in love with Cronin. Make it make sense, smdh.
Close is a vastly better coach than Cronin on so many levels. The men's team did't show up, were unprepared, had zero focus and no heart - says it all.
Let’s all agree that Coach Close has had the best recruiting classes the past 2 years. With that said, last year’s games USC owned us. 1/14/2024 65/73. 3/8/2025 72/80. Sprinkle those losses with Utah 1/22/25 81/94, Washington State 1/28/2025 82/85 and Oregon State 2/16/2025 77/79. The cherry on the cake was our performance against LSU in the Sweet Sixteen last year 69/78. That game was an abysmal coaching job for Close. Bad. USC regular season this year owned us. There is no other team that has the talent that UCLA has this year. It’s Coach Close’s time to step it up. Fully utilize all her talent particularly the forwards. Coach em up.
Seriously. This bracket is already confusing for me.
Is ucla going to be higher or better placed than we expected then?? And why wasn’t Duke penalized for losing Cooper Flagg when we got penalized for losing Jaylen Clark 2 years ago? And Arizona as a 4 seed is surprisingly high too - they got rewarded for making big 12 final but their regular season wasn’t that good.
Arizona was good once they got to Big 12 play - they finished third in the conference. Also Flagg should be back for the tournament which is why they weren’t punished like UCLA was for losing Clark (also helped that Duke still won the ACC tournament).
Yeah, I'd much rather have drawn a flawed P5-6 team (the Big East is a power conference in basketball) than a veteran solid mid-major. At least the Bourbon will be enjoyable
We were always going to be a 6 or 7 unless we won the B1G tournament and then probably wouldn't be better than a 5 (witness Michigan) and, honestly, not that I'm thinking we're going to win 3 in a row to set it up but if you had to puck a 1-seed we'd match up with best, it'd be Houston
Yes they are, absolutely, but they are a defense-first, low scoring, slower pace team, which is a much better matchup for us than Duke, Auburn, or Florida IMHO
I believe UCLA at its best version can beat Utah St and Tennessee. We have to see if the UCLA team that showed up for 32 minutes against UNC and the full 40 against Gonzaga shows up, or the one who was outclassed by Wisconsin.
The Big Ten rankings are, in themselves, pretty wild. Wisconsin ended up as a #3 while Michigan ended as a #5, pretty good indication that the committee did not care all that much for the tournament to begin with. Purdue also ended up as a #4 for some reason while Indiana and OSU don’t make the tournament at all (don’t even get me started on Oregon as a #5).
Big Ten really got hosed as far as seeding, especially compared to an SEC that feels artificially inflated.
Think we can win against Utah S as they have no exceptional wins, no Big players and lost to some second tier teams. Tennessee is another issue. Good coach, some great players and some big wins. Will be a tough game and unless we are at our best, we will not get out of the first weekend.
Possible win for sure against Utah State. Tenn is very good but as Chen stated, they are likely the weakest #2. We will need to be at our best for 40 minutes - tall order but not impossible 💙💛
Am I really subscribed to a ucla site that doesn’t know they have 11 titles?
LMAO.
It was a reference to Coach Wooden winning ten titles, not to the total number of men's titles.
So excited to see the Women's Selection Show! The Lady Bruins are truly a treasure, and the players remind me of Coach Wooden's teams - so much heart, passion, selflessness, and talent. Except for those damn turnovers! Coach Close has done an amazing job, and she has won me over. Plus, I have always thought she was a great person and has represented UCLA with humbleness, gratitude and leadership. I can't wait for the first TIP- OFF!!! Go Lady Bruins!!! 💙💛
On the other hand.... 🤣 In a few hours we will know the fate of our Men's 'team.' If we get the #6 seed in Denver, then I have slightly more hope that we could win a couple. But if they play like they did against Wisky, it may be over in the first round. I would love to be proven wrong, but this team has many systemic and coaching issues that have not been resolved. Will the team against suc show up, or will it be the Wisky version?
Go Bruins!!! 💙💛💙💛
"Humility."
Love,
The Grammar Police
Ahhhh thank you Sea! 💙💛
Turns out UCLA men lost to a very good budding late season Wisconsin team (admittedly the men were a no show at this game). I hope Coach Close proves me wrong. Great recruiter; bad game coach. Bad.
I respectfully don't agree, Fruit...
Close made very good adjustments after half time against suc in the BIG Tourney Championship Game. Her team is ranked #1 and has the best record in the Country.
Yet people continue to dislike her as a coach but continue to be in love with Cronin. Make it make sense, smdh.
Close is a vastly better coach than Cronin on so many levels. The men's team did't show up, were unprepared, had zero focus and no heart - says it all.
💙💛
Let’s all agree that Coach Close has had the best recruiting classes the past 2 years. With that said, last year’s games USC owned us. 1/14/2024 65/73. 3/8/2025 72/80. Sprinkle those losses with Utah 1/22/25 81/94, Washington State 1/28/2025 82/85 and Oregon State 2/16/2025 77/79. The cherry on the cake was our performance against LSU in the Sweet Sixteen last year 69/78. That game was an abysmal coaching job for Close. Bad. USC regular season this year owned us. There is no other team that has the talent that UCLA has this year. It’s Coach Close’s time to step it up. Fully utilize all her talent particularly the forwards. Coach em up.
Wisconsin was generating the same open looks they got against UCLA today against Michigan, and ended up shooting 22% from the field, 18% from three.
Anyway sometimes a team get ridiculously hot and then ridiculously cold despite nothing changing.
Those stats are crazy! It all comes down to who shows up at crunch time.
Tonje - 32 pts yesterday, 1-14 from the field today...college athletes are inconsistent, part 200
Here we goooooo!
Yikes winning the b10 tournament and Michigan is still a 5 seed in the South
Unreal.
Mich State got the 2 seed. Good for them.
So we were UNC’s only quad 1 win?
And they snuck into the tournament based on being UNC. Gonna be rooting hard for SDSU for that game
💯
Wow Oregon a 5 seed???
Seriously. This bracket is already confusing for me.
Is ucla going to be higher or better placed than we expected then?? And why wasn’t Duke penalized for losing Cooper Flagg when we got penalized for losing Jaylen Clark 2 years ago? And Arizona as a 4 seed is surprisingly high too - they got rewarded for making big 12 final but their regular season wasn’t that good.
Smdh.
Flagg is expected to be back... everyone knew Clark wouldn't be... plus we should all find someone who loves us as much as the committee loves Duke
Arizona was good once they got to Big 12 play - they finished third in the conference. Also Flagg should be back for the tournament which is why they weren’t punished like UCLA was for losing Clark (also helped that Duke still won the ACC tournament).
So thus far, we've beaten a 2 seed, a 3 seed, a 4 seed, and a 5 seed twice...
Oregon/Arizona as a 4/5 matchup in the East is some inspired stuff from the committee.
Yep. Was thinking the same!
Wow Illinois gets to be close to home.
7 seed. Shipped to Kentucky.
Talking head already stating we will lose to Utah State. It's possible.
Seth Davis is a moron. It's also possible we beat Utah State.
Agreed on the moron part 🤣 Yes, possible. Hoping.
ugh, travel. At least Utah st is moving multiple time zones too.
So much. for the Bruins being the 6 in Denver. No game for me.
But it's not too far for Terry maybe?
I was thinking same. Hope he gets a chance to go 💙💛
That's right. That would have been fun to be there. Oh well, I don't see us going far.
Sigh it’s a tough venue and draw in all ways possible.
Oh wow we draw 7 seed against a tough Utah St team with a potential matchup against Tennessee
Yeah, I'd much rather have drawn a flawed P5-6 team (the Big East is a power conference in basketball) than a veteran solid mid-major. At least the Bourbon will be enjoyable
Yep. Tenn is great. Guess that BIG Tourney loss was kinda a BIG deal. Thanks Cronin for your team getting blown out.
We were always going to be a 6 or 7 unless we won the B1G tournament and then probably wouldn't be better than a 5 (witness Michigan) and, honestly, not that I'm thinking we're going to win 3 in a row to set it up but if you had to puck a 1-seed we'd match up with best, it'd be Houston
Houston is 19-1 in the BIG 11, 30-4 overall. They are really really good.
Yes they are, absolutely, but they are a defense-first, low scoring, slower pace team, which is a much better matchup for us than Duke, Auburn, or Florida IMHO
All good points IF we get that far 💙💛
Looks like Tennessee is the weakest 2 seed though. I think UCLA can blow them out just as easily as they can get blown out by them.
I like your analysis 💙💛
I believe UCLA at its best version can beat Utah St and Tennessee. We have to see if the UCLA team that showed up for 32 minutes against UNC and the full 40 against Gonzaga shows up, or the one who was outclassed by Wisconsin.
That's basically going to be a home game for Tennessee. Thanks, committee. <insert eyeroll emoji here>
Well that is what we get for being a #7 seed
Agreed.
It wasn't. They were a projected 6/7 before that.
Women - UConn better be in Texas' bracket... clearly overall 4/5 teams
The Big Ten rankings are, in themselves, pretty wild. Wisconsin ended up as a #3 while Michigan ended as a #5, pretty good indication that the committee did not care all that much for the tournament to begin with. Purdue also ended up as a #4 for some reason while Indiana and OSU don’t make the tournament at all (don’t even get me started on Oregon as a #5).
Big Ten really got hosed as far as seeding, especially compared to an SEC that feels artificially inflated.
Making us former Pac12 teams feel right at home in our new conf, getting shafted by the nationals like that.
It does look like it's gonna take a lot of funny things to get our hopes crushed by stupid Gonzaga again though.
Think we can win against Utah S as they have no exceptional wins, no Big players and lost to some second tier teams. Tennessee is another issue. Good coach, some great players and some big wins. Will be a tough game and unless we are at our best, we will not get out of the first weekend.
Possible win for sure against Utah State. Tenn is very good but as Chen stated, they are likely the weakest #2. We will need to be at our best for 40 minutes - tall order but not impossible 💙💛