recent drama<\/a>, aside). Then-Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer \u2014 their fellow Naismith Hall of Famer \u2014 participated, too.<\/p>\n\u201cI don\u2019t know why I was on the call(s),\u201d UCLA coach Cori Close joked Saturday. \u201cBut they just let me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Close, the 54-year-old who learned under John Wooden and has dedicated her life to women\u2019s basketball, has undoubtedly become one of the sport\u2019s most consistent advocates. She routinely speaks up and speaks out about growing the game, and takes seriously her role in promoting it.<\/p>\n
The only thing separating her from the sport\u2019s highest tier \u2014 the only thing missing from her resume \u2014 is a national championship.<\/p>\n
But on Sunday afternoon in Phoenix, when the Bruins take on Staley\u2019s Gamecocks, Close will have the chance to take home the sport\u2019s grandest prize. And should the Bruins win, she\u2019d solidify both herself and her program as two of the very best in this era of the sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would mean everything,\u201d star center Lauren Betts said of delivering Close a title. \u201cNot just for her, but for our entire program. To be here is amazing, but we don\u2019t just want to end here. We want to make sure we finish the season off the right way.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a huge opportunity for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bruins had their chance last season as the top overall seed in the tournament.<\/p>\n
They won 34 games for the best mark in program history and collected statement wins against South Carolina and USC that made it clear they had arrived on the sport\u2019s biggest stage.<\/p>\n
But in the program\u2019s first Final Four berth of the NCAA era, the Bruins folded against UConn in Tampa and lost in blowout fashion, 85-51. Betts had more than half of UCLA\u2019s points on a night when no one else could get anything going for UCLA. The Huskies\u2019 trio of Sarah Strong, Azzi Fudd and Paige Bueckers dominated from start to finish. Considering the lopsided score, questions arose about UCLA: Maybe the Bruins weren\u2019t quite ready to take that next step after all.<\/p>\n
This year feels different.<\/p>\n
\u201cI definitely think last year felt like \u2026 we were reacting to everything, not anticipating,\u201d Close said of the experience. \u201cWhereas now that we have been a part of this, it just was a totally different planning experience. I just felt like we were able to be more strategic in how we put our players in position to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Bruins won the program\u2019s first Final Four game in the NCAA era on Friday night when they grinded out an ugly 51-44 win against Texas. Betts led the way offensively with 16 points, but it was the Bruins\u2019 defense against Longhorns star Madison Booker (who finished 3-of-23 from the field) that really carried them.<\/p>\n
When Close went into the locker room following the win, she noted that there was no jumping around, no celebrating from her players, who have spoken repeatedly this week about their business-like approach.<\/p>\n
The fun will potentially be saved for Sunday, when a win against South Carolina would deliver UCLA its first national title in men\u2019s or women\u2019s basketball in 30-plus years and the first for the women\u2019s program in the NCAA era.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe really believe that the job wasn\u2019t done yet,\u201d Close said. \u201cWe want to have a chance to compete for a national championship. We want to do that at the highest of levels.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if she\u2019d thought about her legacy at UCLA, Close said \u201cnot for a second\u201d Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
But if UCLA pulls this off, that conversation around her will be inevitable.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo have that opportunity (to win a title) would be really spectacular,\u201d Close said, \u201cbecause it gives me the opportunity to thank and connect to the UCLA village that has buoyed us, helped us, supported us, been incredibly enthusiastic supporters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe chance to connect that with them would be an honor.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 A few years ago, when the gender disparity between the men\u2019s and women\u2019s NCAA Tournaments was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":855050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,49,48,666,5481],"class_list":{"0":"post-855049","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ucla-bruins","12":"tag-womens-college-basketball"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116352182085011775","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}