For the first time in NCAA Tournament history, the UCLA Bruins are headed to the Final Four.
UCLA’s recent victory over LSU in the Elite Eight avenged a loss to the Tigers in last year’s tournament and is the Bruins’ latest accomplishment in what has been a banner season for the program. Whereas the Bruins failed to close things out against LSU in 2024, they came out on top Sunday’s rematch, building a lead with seven minutes remaining in the second quarter and never letting go—something UCLA head coach Cori Close pointed to as a sign of team-wide maturity.
“I think the game was won in the poise and the choice to go back to neutral, get ourselves refocused, and make the next right step,” Close told media, referencing the Bruins’ mentality at a point when LSU had trimmed a 14-point lead to just five. She went on to say that improving the team’s chemistry had been a season-long effort and that the Bruins had to “become a group that’s better together than the sums total of [their] parts.”
Indeed, UCLA is a scary enough team on paper. 6-foot-7 center Lauren Betts is perhaps the most physically dominant back-to-the-basket post player in the country. Point guard Kiki Rice is a dynamic athlete who controls the transition game and has developed into a…
