I wish I could say the same, I was extremely worried.....I've seen us come out in second halves and play better than we had in the opening half, but I agree with Dimitri, this felt different.....First, Duke's team and their coach are top shelf.....it wasn't like they just had their best half of the season. They had a plan that was working......They were setting a significant number of interior screens and freeing up people for layups and mid-range shots and their aggressive defense was causing a massive number of turnovers.......they crowded Betts extremely well and she looked uncomfortable all half; Second, down 8 at half to a well-coached team cranks up the pressure on the number 1 seed in the region if not the country. My concern was that "our collars would start to tighten." Third, Close has her finger on the emotional pulse of this team and can get them to play harder, but over the years, I have never believed that she was a good tactical, "game time adjustment" coach. If what she prepped during the week wasn't working, there were many occasions where we were cooked. Here, as Dimitri mentioned, Close changed the automatic "Betts drop coverage" on screens and that seemed to helped to lessen the availability of mid-range shots........we also turned up the effort on defense and just played more aggressively, causing a number of turnovers and some transition baskets.......Ultimately, better defense and transition opportunities turned the tide and won the game for us........But Runfast, I was not comfortable until around the 3:00 minute mark in the 4th quarter....
Duke sure came out playing like the #1-seeded team and looked like they had another big upset in the making. I know the competition gets tougher after each round, but I wonder if the immense pressure on the seniors to win it all and/or mental fatigue (even HC Close had admitted she is exhausted doing her job) are affecting how poorly the Lady Bruins are starting out their games during this tournament. Good thing that their talent, experience, and ability to refocus helped them in the 2nd half to earn the victory and advance. Congratulations on achieving another Final Four, and Go Lady Bruins!
One major thing is that, other than Geno and Staley (South Carolina), Close is the only other coach (with her team) in the country that has a recent back to back final four appearance.......when I stated above that "she has her finger on the pulse of her team," I did her a disservice in "top-sheeting" her commitment to the in-depth "culture" she has built within this women's program.....I did not realize how shallow my comment was until I listened to her Post Game comments after the Duke game......she spent about a half hour talking about her players and their "culture" in responding to various questions.....it was illuminating as to her organizational skills and her commitment to sports psychology and lifting the performance of her players from within.........and she has won me over as a fan. She has a winning culture to sell Matt, as unique as anything I've seen as a team approach and supported by the results of these past two seasons. Especially after this next draft, kids will want to come here (to develope) and will probably take a little less in NIL to do so......
Not only selling a winning culture. She is selling a complete culture of care and support for her players. It's definitely the closest thing we've seen to Coach Wooden since...well, Coach Wooden.
In the postgame interview, I asked via Zoom whether this team needs to go 1-0 twice this weekend to achieve Competitive Greatness, which, of course, is at the top of the Pyramid of Success.
Her reaction was an emphatic "Absolutely not." Personally, I expected her to say no, but the added emphasis was interesting.
To answer the question about how she re-tools the team, she will do it the way she has each year: with a mix of HS recruits and transfers.
Cori has developed the program the right way. She doesn't focus on wins and losses. She focuses on players having a growth mindset and working constantly to refine their craft.
The team plays hard and the play for the right reasons. It's about the team, not the individual players. They play selflessly. They don't care about individual stats.
During the Oklahoma State game, Lauren scored a career-high 35 points with her last shot ever in Pauley giving her that achievement. Yet, during the postgame interview, she genuinely had no idea that her final shot in Pauley allowed her to achieve that milestone. They don't care about stats. They don't care about individual accolades.
They care about having fun with one another and about winning their next game.
This team is on a mission. They just want to go 1-0 on Friday so that they can go 1-0 on Sunday.
Joe, I heard you ask a question (on Zoom) during Cori's press conference, and then I noted that the moderator came back to you a second time for another question.......It's clear you have developed a positive reputation in press settings. I know enough about such settings to recognize that a moderator will never circle back for a "second question" unless he/she feels comfortable with the questioner or the publication, and/or the first question was high quality and he/she has prioritized in their mind that a second question from this source most likely will move the conversation forward and keep the flow of the interview going............... Props to you and The Mighty Bruin for even engaging in that press conference. This site has always been presented as "fan based" as opposed to being part of the "accredited media" like ESPN or FOX, or various sporting news papers or publications; yet, through your decades of work (for BN and TMB), you have clearly earned a level of "institutional respect" for yourself and this "UCLA fan site" that bridges the gap between fan media and professional journalism......Congratulations on being a part of this fascinating shift in how the modern sports media is treated and rewarded when they earn the reputation of engaging in quality work!
Coach Close is largely responsible for it because she recognizes the value in having many different voices present and covering her team. We've been extremely grateful for the opportunity and the access we've been given to cover the team.
Personally, I was very pleasantly surprised while watching the news on Fox 11 Sunday night when they used a clip from the Postgame interview which contained Lauren's answer to one of my questions. It felt great to see a major LA TV station using that.
It should be fun this weekend too as Dimitri and I will both be present in Phoenix for the Women's Final Four.
Of course, the trip to Phoenix wouldn't be possible without the generosity of our TMB subscribers. So, we're both thankful for everyone who voluntarily subscribers to TMB, too!
Kudos to you Joe and Dimitri.......We'll be with you in spirit, through streaming, radio, online and television broadcasts. Go Bruins.....and I look forward to hearing you ask Cori questions in person this time at her post game presser.....
That's a Close issue. She doesn't like using her bench. She did the same thing in the Texas game except their was no Sienna. Her entire freshman class transferred last year. I think mostly because they didn't see their minutes increasing. It's going to be a major undertaking to replace the main six.
I have faith in Coach Close. Playing time must be earned, trust must be earned. Sienna earned more and more time based on trust earned.
Selflessness, not selfishness. Look at Dugs who asked to be the player off the bench to mitigate anxiety about who is starting. She is a game changer in her role.
The players who decided to leave showed they did not believe in the mission. Chesney talks about this as well, when asked about the impact of players leaving.
Agreed T as to why freshman leave.....There is a fine line between confidence and selfishness. Confidence in yourself and your ability contributes greatly to your ability to be selfless.....you have confidence that eventually your ability and work ethic is going to bring you opportunities to shine, therefore, you can commit to the team and the "culture" and work every day to make yourself better and to make those who you are competing with better by constantly showing your best at practice. If they are a little better than you, then practicing every day against that kind of an athlete will help you to get better and "earn" your time. Contrarily, it is difficult for a selfish athlete to admit that someone may be better "right now;" thus, it is difficult for this person to commit to earn time within the selflessness of the team concept. When a selfish athlete starts worrying more about her minutes instead of focusing on making herself and the team better, it is more likely that she will "abort the mission" of being a team player.....it's just easier to leave for the "siren's song" of how great a player you are and does not require you to do the uncomfortable, the hard things it takes to actually become great.....
A few weeks back we discussed this concept in reference to USC's number 1 recruiting class (number 1 national recruit; number 1 recruit in Australia and number 1 recruit from Spain) and how difficult it might be to get so many young, talented players to play together and accept roles (the potential for emotional immaturity and oversized ego's could be significant, which can lead to insecurities when such athletes are challenged by other superior athletes-maybe for the first time-; it can create the "selfishness" referenced above and can interfere with a coach's attempt to create selfless team play).
I know Kiki wears glasses but does she need them to see the shot clock? Sometimes I wonder if she knows how much time is left. She also needs to develop a step back shot. On one of the clock violations, she drove into the defense and got her shot blocked.
First half: The speed and quickness difference is easy to see G2B......Playing transition basketball with Texas is a recipe for disaster here......Michigan is way too sped up....they need to slow the game down, run their offense, score and then set up their defense and get stops......rinse and repeat!
TX is beyond tough and their center is 6'6" and huge.
We have to take care of the ball. We must play our best defense of the year. And we must hit some 3s. They are just bruisers and can wear us down. I honestly worry about our players getting hurt.
They remind me of the Arkansas Razorbacks that we played in the 1995 Nattie game. 40 minutes of HELL and full court press. UCLA played out of their minds and won that game by 11 with Coach Wooden in the stands.
We can beat TX. But they scare me more than UConn. A lot more.
Actually, Cori said recently that all season long, they limited their scout/prep time to one day between games.
She didn't explain why but it was pretty obvious that it was tournament prep. As a result, the staff and the team are used to having short prep time between games.
So, they may have a full week to prep for Texas, but they don't necessarily need a full week.
Their Booker is a great Player........Oldacre is a bull in a china shop with deceiving athleticism given her size......she has no real vertical, but her lateral movement is superior and allows her to get between her opponent and the basket. She also demonstrated an ability to go out to the perimeter to cover 4's and 5's if she needs to. As I mentioned before, their team has great quickness and speed. Cori and her staff have their work cut out for them....
Texas made a number of mistakes/turnovers in the first quarter and some of the second while shaking off nerves.....it's just that Michigan made many more and again, they didn't look ready for Texas' speed and quickness......Michigan just didn't match up well......We need, above all, to play with poise re: our rotational 7. We cannot let the game get too big for us. That's where Cori's psychology clicks in. If we play with poise, lock in and execute the game plan, we will be in a position to take it at the end.....
Booker may be the best athlete on the court.....she is going to require extra attention and should be the focus of our defense until someone else proves they require more than single coverage....... Likewise, whomever she covers should test the refs (and how they are calling the game) by driving on her and drawing contact to see if we can get her in early foul trouble. As for Oldacre v. Betts...... Oldacre has no verticle, so I would think Betts will be able to shoot over her.....but trying to muscle her physically like she has other centers is going to be a battle royale........I would encourage Betts to go at her initially for the same reason to go at Booker, just to see if the refs will call some early fouls. I didn't see the first game. How did that matchup go between Betts and Oldacre?
I didn't see the game against TX either but Betts went out early in Q3 with an arm injury when she collided with Booker. She returned later but only had 8 points for the game (4-8). We outplayed TX in H2 by 9 but it wasn't enough to overcome a poorly played H1.
if the wings hit some outside shots, it frees up Betts from being double and triple teamed. Nobody can stop Betts without help, so the other four gotta hit some shots. Make their D respect our O.
Familiarity is a positive for coaches. But every one of the Final Four teams are familiar with Geno and UConn and what they do.......I don't believe they have an advantage because we haven't played them this season........Given our situation and our next game, I would think that any good coaching staff would relish the opportunity to play a second game against a team that beat you. The motivation to rectify that loss would naturally provide great (like you need any more motivation in a Final Four game) focus to the team on why we lost to Texas in November. It was reported that we had 20 turnovers for the game, with many of them being committed while trying to present an entry pass to Betts in the key. This makes sense after watching the difficult time we had again against Duke trying to provide entry passes to Betts. half of our turnovers were lazy attempts over the top, passes at her feet, late passes when the ball was whipped around the horn and she was open initially, but not late, or just ill-advised passes when she was being doubled. We have to sharpen our entry passes and Betts has to make quick decisions to either take it to the hole before the double/triple comes or quickly get the ball back out to the player left open from the double/triple team……..Face it, like NVE stated, we are going to have to hit some outside shots if we want to free up Betts on the inside….and if we want to neutralize Texas's speed in transition. Every outside shot we miss that results in a long rebound creates a transition opportunity for them so we have to rebound and get possession of any 50/50 balls. If we play well it will most likely come down to the last 30 seconds; and this is where our veteran poise will get us the win....
Nice April Fool's Joke and report by Barstool that Jarmond had been fired! As of April 2, 2026, UCLA Athletic Director Martin Jarmond has not been fired. Damn......I was hoping that one was true......
Agree. The hosting of the first two rounds of the Women's tournament was poorly executed. No emails on the details of the games. Just emails for selling tickets with generic game-day info. They usually bring in food trucks for additional meal options. There were none. How about eating on campus? Nope. Everything was closed. At least all the food stands at Pauley were open. Last year, one open food stand for round 1 and two stands for round 2.
The store in Pauley was not allowed to sell UCLA merchandise. You would think no problem. There's always the campus store. Guess what. It was closed. How about a simple program flyer? Nope. Not even a CR code to scan so you view a program on your phone. This was an opportunity to showcase our campus and provide a good fan experience. Opportunity loss. I put that on Jarmond.
Some of that stuff, like the UCLA store inside Pauley being closed, is due to the NCAA. They close the Pavilion Club as well and use it for NCAA Committee members and the media. I would assume they had similar rules regarding things like food trucks at the venue, as the school is supposed to be running things like a neutral site as much as possible, and the school doesn't get as much of the proceeds as you would think.
And I would assume the student store being closed was because the school went on Spring Break, so getting students to come work was going to be more difficult.
There are things that the AD has done poorly, but I would put much of the opening round issues on the NCAA not caring about women's sports.
I enjoyed the game, and I agree, it never felt lost.
I wish I could say the same, I was extremely worried.....I've seen us come out in second halves and play better than we had in the opening half, but I agree with Dimitri, this felt different.....First, Duke's team and their coach are top shelf.....it wasn't like they just had their best half of the season. They had a plan that was working......They were setting a significant number of interior screens and freeing up people for layups and mid-range shots and their aggressive defense was causing a massive number of turnovers.......they crowded Betts extremely well and she looked uncomfortable all half; Second, down 8 at half to a well-coached team cranks up the pressure on the number 1 seed in the region if not the country. My concern was that "our collars would start to tighten." Third, Close has her finger on the emotional pulse of this team and can get them to play harder, but over the years, I have never believed that she was a good tactical, "game time adjustment" coach. If what she prepped during the week wasn't working, there were many occasions where we were cooked. Here, as Dimitri mentioned, Close changed the automatic "Betts drop coverage" on screens and that seemed to helped to lessen the availability of mid-range shots........we also turned up the effort on defense and just played more aggressively, causing a number of turnovers and some transition baskets.......Ultimately, better defense and transition opportunities turned the tide and won the game for us........But Runfast, I was not comfortable until around the 3:00 minute mark in the 4th quarter....
If I had watched only the 2nd half, then I would totally agree.
That’s what this team does, they grind down the other team for 4 quarters. Granted this is the first game I can recall they played from behind.
Duke sure came out playing like the #1-seeded team and looked like they had another big upset in the making. I know the competition gets tougher after each round, but I wonder if the immense pressure on the seniors to win it all and/or mental fatigue (even HC Close had admitted she is exhausted doing her job) are affecting how poorly the Lady Bruins are starting out their games during this tournament. Good thing that their talent, experience, and ability to refocus helped them in the 2nd half to earn the victory and advance. Congratulations on achieving another Final Four, and Go Lady Bruins!
Something I found interesting, UCLA got 7 minutes out of players who will be on the team next year. How do they retool for next season.
One major thing is that, other than Geno and Staley (South Carolina), Close is the only other coach (with her team) in the country that has a recent back to back final four appearance.......when I stated above that "she has her finger on the pulse of her team," I did her a disservice in "top-sheeting" her commitment to the in-depth "culture" she has built within this women's program.....I did not realize how shallow my comment was until I listened to her Post Game comments after the Duke game......she spent about a half hour talking about her players and their "culture" in responding to various questions.....it was illuminating as to her organizational skills and her commitment to sports psychology and lifting the performance of her players from within.........and she has won me over as a fan. She has a winning culture to sell Matt, as unique as anything I've seen as a team approach and supported by the results of these past two seasons. Especially after this next draft, kids will want to come here (to develope) and will probably take a little less in NIL to do so......
I love everything you shared P1.
I have loved and admired Coach Close as she is an embodiment of Coach Wooden who was her dear friend and remains her dear friend from above 🙏💙💛💙💛
Not only selling a winning culture. She is selling a complete culture of care and support for her players. It's definitely the closest thing we've seen to Coach Wooden since...well, Coach Wooden.
In the postgame interview, I asked via Zoom whether this team needs to go 1-0 twice this weekend to achieve Competitive Greatness, which, of course, is at the top of the Pyramid of Success.
Her reaction was an emphatic "Absolutely not." Personally, I expected her to say no, but the added emphasis was interesting.
To answer the question about how she re-tools the team, she will do it the way she has each year: with a mix of HS recruits and transfers.
Cori has developed the program the right way. She doesn't focus on wins and losses. She focuses on players having a growth mindset and working constantly to refine their craft.
The team plays hard and the play for the right reasons. It's about the team, not the individual players. They play selflessly. They don't care about individual stats.
During the Oklahoma State game, Lauren scored a career-high 35 points with her last shot ever in Pauley giving her that achievement. Yet, during the postgame interview, she genuinely had no idea that her final shot in Pauley allowed her to achieve that milestone. They don't care about stats. They don't care about individual accolades.
They care about having fun with one another and about winning their next game.
This team is on a mission. They just want to go 1-0 on Friday so that they can go 1-0 on Sunday.
💯to everything you said, Joe...
Coach Close is a remarkable human being and I am certain her beloved friend Coach Wooden is smiling
Onto the next 1-0 🙏💙💛💙💛
Joe, I heard you ask a question (on Zoom) during Cori's press conference, and then I noted that the moderator came back to you a second time for another question.......It's clear you have developed a positive reputation in press settings. I know enough about such settings to recognize that a moderator will never circle back for a "second question" unless he/she feels comfortable with the questioner or the publication, and/or the first question was high quality and he/she has prioritized in their mind that a second question from this source most likely will move the conversation forward and keep the flow of the interview going............... Props to you and The Mighty Bruin for even engaging in that press conference. This site has always been presented as "fan based" as opposed to being part of the "accredited media" like ESPN or FOX, or various sporting news papers or publications; yet, through your decades of work (for BN and TMB), you have clearly earned a level of "institutional respect" for yourself and this "UCLA fan site" that bridges the gap between fan media and professional journalism......Congratulations on being a part of this fascinating shift in how the modern sports media is treated and rewarded when they earn the reputation of engaging in quality work!
It's been interesting all season.
Coach Close is largely responsible for it because she recognizes the value in having many different voices present and covering her team. We've been extremely grateful for the opportunity and the access we've been given to cover the team.
Personally, I was very pleasantly surprised while watching the news on Fox 11 Sunday night when they used a clip from the Postgame interview which contained Lauren's answer to one of my questions. It felt great to see a major LA TV station using that.
It should be fun this weekend too as Dimitri and I will both be present in Phoenix for the Women's Final Four.
Of course, the trip to Phoenix wouldn't be possible without the generosity of our TMB subscribers. So, we're both thankful for everyone who voluntarily subscribers to TMB, too!
Kudos to you Joe and Dimitri.......We'll be with you in spirit, through streaming, radio, online and television broadcasts. Go Bruins.....and I look forward to hearing you ask Cori questions in person this time at her post game presser.....
I would add that Coach Val (Kondos-Field) with gymnastics was also a legit heir to the Wooden tradition.
That's a Close issue. She doesn't like using her bench. She did the same thing in the Texas game except their was no Sienna. Her entire freshman class transferred last year. I think mostly because they didn't see their minutes increasing. It's going to be a major undertaking to replace the main six.
I have faith in Coach Close. Playing time must be earned, trust must be earned. Sienna earned more and more time based on trust earned.
Selflessness, not selfishness. Look at Dugs who asked to be the player off the bench to mitigate anxiety about who is starting. She is a game changer in her role.
The players who decided to leave showed they did not believe in the mission. Chesney talks about this as well, when asked about the impact of players leaving.
Agreed T as to why freshman leave.....There is a fine line between confidence and selfishness. Confidence in yourself and your ability contributes greatly to your ability to be selfless.....you have confidence that eventually your ability and work ethic is going to bring you opportunities to shine, therefore, you can commit to the team and the "culture" and work every day to make yourself better and to make those who you are competing with better by constantly showing your best at practice. If they are a little better than you, then practicing every day against that kind of an athlete will help you to get better and "earn" your time. Contrarily, it is difficult for a selfish athlete to admit that someone may be better "right now;" thus, it is difficult for this person to commit to earn time within the selflessness of the team concept. When a selfish athlete starts worrying more about her minutes instead of focusing on making herself and the team better, it is more likely that she will "abort the mission" of being a team player.....it's just easier to leave for the "siren's song" of how great a player you are and does not require you to do the uncomfortable, the hard things it takes to actually become great.....
A few weeks back we discussed this concept in reference to USC's number 1 recruiting class (number 1 national recruit; number 1 recruit in Australia and number 1 recruit from Spain) and how difficult it might be to get so many young, talented players to play together and accept roles (the potential for emotional immaturity and oversized ego's could be significant, which can lead to insecurities when such athletes are challenged by other superior athletes-maybe for the first time-; it can create the "selfishness" referenced above and can interfere with a coach's attempt to create selfless team play).
I know Kiki wears glasses but does she need them to see the shot clock? Sometimes I wonder if she knows how much time is left. She also needs to develop a step back shot. On one of the clock violations, she drove into the defense and got her shot blocked.
Great game
Bruins better be taking notes. Texas leads Michigan 22-9 after one quarter. Texas is 11 of 12 from the field.
First half: The speed and quickness difference is easy to see G2B......Playing transition basketball with Texas is a recipe for disaster here......Michigan is way too sped up....they need to slow the game down, run their offense, score and then set up their defense and get stops......rinse and repeat!
After playing Texas even in the 2nd quarter, Michigan getting blitzed again in the 3rd.
TX is beyond tough and their center is 6'6" and huge.
We have to take care of the ball. We must play our best defense of the year. And we must hit some 3s. They are just bruisers and can wear us down. I honestly worry about our players getting hurt.
They remind me of the Arkansas Razorbacks that we played in the 1995 Nattie game. 40 minutes of HELL and full court press. UCLA played out of their minds and won that game by 11 with Coach Wooden in the stands.
We can beat TX. But they scare me more than UConn. A lot more.
Agreed T.....Glad Cori and her staff have a week to prepare....
Actually, Cori said recently that all season long, they limited their scout/prep time to one day between games.
She didn't explain why but it was pretty obvious that it was tournament prep. As a result, the staff and the team are used to having short prep time between games.
So, they may have a full week to prep for Texas, but they don't necessarily need a full week.
and TX is a 1.5 favorite. UCLA can't turn the ball over because Texas is very good at applying pressure. It's going to be a very close game.
💯
Is society hanging on to an antiquated custom by not posting the weight of women basketball players?
Their Booker is a great Player........Oldacre is a bull in a china shop with deceiving athleticism given her size......she has no real vertical, but her lateral movement is superior and allows her to get between her opponent and the basket. She also demonstrated an ability to go out to the perimeter to cover 4's and 5's if she needs to. As I mentioned before, their team has great quickness and speed. Cori and her staff have their work cut out for them....
💯💯💯 I feel nervous knots just thinking about the game.
We are going to have to be the better team in every way to win.
TOs will kill us, period. I feel we need to have a close to perfect game to win.
Texas made a number of mistakes/turnovers in the first quarter and some of the second while shaking off nerves.....it's just that Michigan made many more and again, they didn't look ready for Texas' speed and quickness......Michigan just didn't match up well......We need, above all, to play with poise re: our rotational 7. We cannot let the game get too big for us. That's where Cori's psychology clicks in. If we play with poise, lock in and execute the game plan, we will be in a position to take it at the end.....
Yes, playing with poise is paramount. I agree, the mental prep for our team is so critical.
Coach Close and Coach Tasha Brown's 'mind gym' techniques will be foundational.
💙💛💙💛🙏
What do you think of the Oldacre vs Betts matchup and the Booker vs Dugs or Sienna matchup?
Booker may be the best athlete on the court.....she is going to require extra attention and should be the focus of our defense until someone else proves they require more than single coverage....... Likewise, whomever she covers should test the refs (and how they are calling the game) by driving on her and drawing contact to see if we can get her in early foul trouble. As for Oldacre v. Betts...... Oldacre has no verticle, so I would think Betts will be able to shoot over her.....but trying to muscle her physically like she has other centers is going to be a battle royale........I would encourage Betts to go at her initially for the same reason to go at Booker, just to see if the refs will call some early fouls. I didn't see the first game. How did that matchup go between Betts and Oldacre?
I didn't see the game against TX either but Betts went out early in Q3 with an arm injury when she collided with Booker. She returned later but only had 8 points for the game (4-8). We outplayed TX in H2 by 9 but it wasn't enough to overcome a poorly played H1.
if the wings hit some outside shots, it frees up Betts from being double and triple teamed. Nobody can stop Betts without help, so the other four gotta hit some shots. Make their D respect our O.
Out of the four, only UConn has not played any of the other three this season. So does the lack of familiarity give them an advantage?
Familiarity is a positive for coaches. But every one of the Final Four teams are familiar with Geno and UConn and what they do.......I don't believe they have an advantage because we haven't played them this season........Given our situation and our next game, I would think that any good coaching staff would relish the opportunity to play a second game against a team that beat you. The motivation to rectify that loss would naturally provide great (like you need any more motivation in a Final Four game) focus to the team on why we lost to Texas in November. It was reported that we had 20 turnovers for the game, with many of them being committed while trying to present an entry pass to Betts in the key. This makes sense after watching the difficult time we had again against Duke trying to provide entry passes to Betts. half of our turnovers were lazy attempts over the top, passes at her feet, late passes when the ball was whipped around the horn and she was open initially, but not late, or just ill-advised passes when she was being doubled. We have to sharpen our entry passes and Betts has to make quick decisions to either take it to the hole before the double/triple comes or quickly get the ball back out to the player left open from the double/triple team……..Face it, like NVE stated, we are going to have to hit some outside shots if we want to free up Betts on the inside….and if we want to neutralize Texas's speed in transition. Every outside shot we miss that results in a long rebound creates a transition opportunity for them so we have to rebound and get possession of any 50/50 balls. If we play well it will most likely come down to the last 30 seconds; and this is where our veteran poise will get us the win....
Nice April Fool's Joke and report by Barstool that Jarmond had been fired! As of April 2, 2026, UCLA Athletic Director Martin Jarmond has not been fired. Damn......I was hoping that one was true......
Agree. The hosting of the first two rounds of the Women's tournament was poorly executed. No emails on the details of the games. Just emails for selling tickets with generic game-day info. They usually bring in food trucks for additional meal options. There were none. How about eating on campus? Nope. Everything was closed. At least all the food stands at Pauley were open. Last year, one open food stand for round 1 and two stands for round 2.
The store in Pauley was not allowed to sell UCLA merchandise. You would think no problem. There's always the campus store. Guess what. It was closed. How about a simple program flyer? Nope. Not even a CR code to scan so you view a program on your phone. This was an opportunity to showcase our campus and provide a good fan experience. Opportunity loss. I put that on Jarmond.
Some of that stuff, like the UCLA store inside Pauley being closed, is due to the NCAA. They close the Pavilion Club as well and use it for NCAA Committee members and the media. I would assume they had similar rules regarding things like food trucks at the venue, as the school is supposed to be running things like a neutral site as much as possible, and the school doesn't get as much of the proceeds as you would think.
And I would assume the student store being closed was because the school went on Spring Break, so getting students to come work was going to be more difficult.
There are things that the AD has done poorly, but I would put much of the opening round issues on the NCAA not caring about women's sports.