UCLA Women's Basketball News Roundup: Bruins Preparing for Southern Jaguars
While the men's team is facing Utah State, let's take a look at what's going on with the UCLA women's basketball team who begin their March Madness journey at Pauley Pavilion tomorrow.
In the old days back on the old site, we used to have a series of articles called the “UCLA Basketball News Roundup.” Of course, that was focused on the men’s basketball team, but it was the basketball version of what we called the Spaulding Report for football. Basically, it was an article detailing the news about the men’s basketball team.
With the women’s team having earned the top seed in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, the time feels right to bring back the old title modified slightly for the women’s team. It felt better than debuting the “Ostin Report,” especially since it may not be back as a regular feature here at TMB.
Of course, the week began with Selection Sunday, and the Mo Ostin Basketball Center was the place to be. That’s because Champion of Westwood held a Selection Sunday Watch Party for the women’s team on the Ann Meyers Drysdale Court.
As I wrote on Sunday, the overall atmosphere was festive and it became joyous when the Bruins were announced as the #1 overall seed for the NCAA Women’s Tournament.
By now, you’ve probably seen the sheer joy in Westwood when the news was announced. If not, click on the link and come right back.
But there were lots of fun moments both before and after that announcement. It was immediately evident to anyone who entered that afternoon that something special was happening as the Big Ten Championship Trophy was on display in the lobby.
One of my favorite moments came shortly before the Selection Show started when Joe Bruin carried the Big Ten Championship Trophy into Ann Meyers Drysdale Court from its perch in the lobby of the Mo Ostin Basketball Center. He placed in right on the aisle with the women’s basketball players flanking it. That’s when Gabriela Jaquez and Joe Bruin both threw up a 4’s Up and smiled for the camera.
Before the announcement, former men’s player Matt Barnes served as the emcee interviewing team members Kiki Rice, Lauren Betts and Gabriela Jaquez and, later, interviewing head coach Cori Close.
After the event, head coach Cori Close was joined by Kiki Rice and Lauren Betts at a press conference. Here’s the video of the Sunday’s press conference.
Of course, the Women’s Tournament kicked off yesterday with the two First Four games. One of those games was played last night at Pauley Pavilion and it featured the Southern Jaguars against the UC San Diego Tritons. That game was won by Southern, 68-56. As a result, the Jaguars will now play the Bruins in Pauley tomorrow night.
That game will be featured game of the day since it features the #1 seeded Bruins, but before UCLA plays at 7 pm, there will also be a game between the #8 seed Richmond Spiders and the #9 seed Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. That game will air on ESPNews with tip-off slated for 4:30 pm PT.
Today, all four teams held their pregame press conferences as well as a shootaround. Here are each of the press conferences, which are courtesy of the NCAA. UCLA’s pregame press conference is courtesy of the NCAA and UCLA Athletics on YouTube.
For the uninitiated, the NCAA allows media to cover only the first fifteen minutes of each team’s 90 minute practice. TMB has been credentialed for this weekend’s events at Pauley Pavilion. Thanks again to UCLA Athletics’ communication team for helping us out with that! So, both Dimitri and I will be at the game tomorrow night reporting on it for each of you. It also means that I was at today’s shootaround for the Bruins.
Now, as other media outlets have discussed for sports like football where their reporters are only allowed to observe small portions of practice, there wasn’t a whole lot to see during the 15 minutes I was allowed inside.
But, I was able to take a bunch of pictures of the team on the floor inside Pauley this afternoon. So, I’m going to wrap this up by sharing some of those photos.
That will do it for now. I may post some more shootaround photos in the morning, time permitting.
Go Bruins!!!
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Joe, your photos are wonderful! Thank you for capturing the essence of the moments! You and DD are doing outstanding work in capturing the spirit of March Madness for all of us 💙💛
I truly believe this is our year for the Lady Bruins (and nexr year too 😊). I Love everything about this team - they are a shining example of what it means tp represent the heart and soul of UCLA!
Go Lady Bruins!!! Bring it HOME! 💙💛
I mentioned it in the thread for the Men’s game, but an excellent piece on ESPN about Lauren Betts journey. Really fills in a lot about why she left Stanford and why things are clicking this season.