Swanson: Book it – the UCLA women are going to the Final Four
LOS ANGELES — America! Hey, Miss!
A heads-up before you head out to Albany, or tune in. A warning, because I don’t want you to be disappointed.
You know what’s on the menu there at “Albany 2,” in that juicy Northeastern corner of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament bracket. And so I know, when it gets to the Elite Eight, you’re going to want to order the championship rematch: LSU-Iowa, Part 2.
You’ve watched those teams play other opponents this season, but there’s something maddeningly delectable about the intense heat of a March rematch. The late-season seasoning. The steaks – er, stakes – that have you and your uncle and TV executives all craving another meeting between the Tigers and the Hawkeyes, Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark.
Here’s the thing, though. When you point at that on the menu and try to order it, this is what’s going to happen: Your waiter will sigh, for maybe the millionth time Monday, and deliver some unexpected news: “We’re out of LSU.” Or maybe he’ll say, “LSU is out,” but you’ll be so stunned you might misunderstand.
“We do have UCLA,” he’ll say.
“UCLA?” you’ll ask. You heard Coach Cori Close’s team was good, seeded No. 2 and all, but you didn’t think the Bruins could beat the reigning national champs in the Sweet 16 (at 10 a.m. PDT Saturday).
“U-C-L-A! Fight, fight, fight?” your waiter will offer, hoping to help.
“I know UCLA, but –”
“UCLA, basketball school?” he’ll suggest.
“OK,” you’ll say, “I guess I’ll go with the Bruins.”
“Excellent choice,” he’ll say. “You won’t be disappointed; very good team – and, I’d recommend you save room for some dessert after the Sweet 16.”
“Iowa, right?” you’ll ask.
“Well,” he’ll shrug, “that could go either way. Could go with Colorado too.”
“Colorado?! What’s up with all these Pac-12 teams?” you’ll say, “Five of the final 16? I thought that conference was going out of business?”
“Ah, it is,” your waiter will lament, “but the talent it’s produced … je ne sais quoi!”
“But,” you’ll say, “I’d like to watch Caitlin Clark.”
“Of course,” he’ll say, understanding. “I’ll put in an Elite Eight order for UCLA-Iowa. But…”
“But?”
“I think we’ll be out of Iowa after that.”
“No!”
“Afraid so,” he’ll say.
“This is getting ridiculous,” you’ll say. “I’d like to speak to your manager!”
“One moment,” he’ll reply, and disappear, go get Camryn Brown, a graduate student enrolled in UCLA’s Transformative Coaching and Leadership program – and a guard on the women’s basketball team.
You’ll complain to her: “I waited a year for the LSU-Iowa rematch!”
And Brown will tell you what she told me after practice Wednesday, that she respects everyone who shares that opinion, buuut… “I am a selfish girlie, and sometimes I want what I want, and I want what my teammates want, and I don’t think any of us want to see that rematch.”
“But,” you’ll argue, “on TV, they’ve been promoting the stars!”
But then you’ll remember. UCLA has star power too – it’s in Los Angeles, please don’t forget.
Which is why, in May, you’ll be able to find Bruin sophomore guard Kiki Rice featured alongside Clark and South Carolina center Kamilla Cardoso on “Full Court Press,” an ESPN series chronicling their stories.
It’s why you can count on Rice to cook when her team needs her most. Like in the third quarter Monday, when she scored 13 of her 24 points to help UCLA beat No. 7 Creighton 67-63 in the second round.
Why I knew Rice, the Bruins’ resident soccer player – in high school, she became the only girl in Gatorade National Athlete of the Year history to claim a national honor (basketball) and also a state honor in a second sport (soccer) in the same year – would appreciate being part of a “Group of Death.”
You know, the World Cup-inspired notion? When a tournament group contains at least three teams with a realistic chance of advancing, even though those teams – and oddsmakers have No. 1 seed Iowa, No. 3 LSU and UCLA among the seven squads most likely to challenge South Carolina for the championship – wouldn’t typically be expected to meet until later?
“Obviously, we’ve got a very tough draw … this is the part of the bracket that has no games you’d want to miss,” Rice said. “But it’s a really great opportunity for us to go against LSU, and Iowa too, teams that get a lot of attention. It’s a great opportunity to bring more awareness to this program and this team. Because we’re great.”
UCLA TAKES DOWN CREIGHTON IN THE FINAL MINUTES
KIKI RICE
24 POINTS & 6 REBOUNDS (7/13 FG)LAUREN BETTS
20 POINTS & 10 REBOUNDS pic.twitter.com/zlwKF5r1PF— WSLAM (@wslam) March 26, 2024
For her part, Close sees the Group of Death talk you’re serving up and has no appetite for it. Send it right back to the kitchen, she says. “The Group of Death is only that if you let it be that in your own mind.”
Besides, right after the Bruins squeaked past Creighton, Close said this: “When that bracket came out, I thought this could be our hardest game.”
Your waiter leans in; he’s not sure he heard that right, it’s so crowded in here – attendance at even non-Iowa games has exploded, up 74% from just last season. The surge was evident at Pauley Pavilion too, where a total of 16,680 fans watched the first two rounds, way more than in 2023, when only 3,872 saw UCLA beat Oklahoma in the second round (and no attendance tally is readily available for the Bruins’ first-round victory over Sacramento State).
So many people, so much noise: Can you repeat that, Coach?
“Honestly,” Close said again Wednesday, “when the bracket came out, I turned to (assistant coach) Tony (Newman), and I said, ‘Creighton poses the biggest amount of problems against us.’”
Close knows that both she and the gauntlet that was the Pac-12 have sharpened UCLA like a chef’s knife.
And besides that, the Bruins seem to be in a good place, health-conscious in the spiritual sense – without the weight of the world bearing down.
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Said Brown: “I just hope we have a fun time, live in the freedom we’ve earned. We always need to take a second and breathe and live in that moment; we are some of a select few who get to experience something not many get to experience. Enjoy it to the fullest.”
And there’s this last ingredient too, and it’s important: The Bruins, who are making their fifth Sweet 16 appearance in Close’s 13-year tenure, and who’ve reached the Elite Eight only once in that time, are as hungry as anyone.
Book the reservation in Cleveland now. The Bruins are going to their first Final Four.
NCAA Tournament Sweet 16: UCLA vs. LSU
When: 10 a.m. PT Saturday
Where: MVP Arena, Albany, NY
TV: ABC (Ch. 7)