Let’s start this column the way UCLA women’s basketball coach Cori Close ends every – every – news conference and interview: Thank you for doing this.
Back at you, Coach. You, too, Lindsay Gottlieb at USC. Thank you for doing this.
Understand that once, when I was a kid, I pretended to be sick so I could stay home from school to watch the UConn and Tennessee powerhouse women’s teams play. So of course, I think it’s so cool what Close and Gottlieb have built and are building here, now, in L.A.
And not just what, but how – competitively, with class. Real rivals, respectfully. Refreshingly.
Thank you, ladies, for delivering these impossible-to-ignore women’s basketball teams in a time when women’s basketball has made itself impossible to ignore.
Shoutout to you both for amassing so much top-tier talent, including maybe the nation’s two best players, in UCLA’s incredibly impactful center Lauren Betts and, of course, USC’s sophomore sensation JuJu Watkins (sigh) — I highly doubt the Watts native would have taken her talents down the street if the Trojans’ program was in disarray.
So congrats to you both – Close with your arm-waving, foot-stomping sideline passion, your commitment to community service, oh, would John Wooden be proud; and Gottlieb with your cerebral adherence to prescribed rotations, your NBA coaching acumen and those two adorable little kids at home, what an inspiration to working moms you are – for hitting another gear.
For living up to the hype after starting the season together in Paris, guests of honor at ESPN’s Aflac Oui-Play First Four showcase. Now your teams are together again, in Spokane, Washington, top seeds set to play Sweet 16 games in your respective corners of the bracket.
And there’s a chance you could finish the season together in Tampa, Florida, with a fourth and final matchup against each other in the Final Four. It would be a monumental step for UCLA, which has never made it beyond the Elite Eight, and a step further than any USC team since 1986, when the Trojans lost to Texas in the title game.
But let’s not cut past the chase here. To channel you women and every coach in the history of the world, you’ve got to take it one game at a time.
Coach Cori, your Bruins have No. 5 seed Ole Miss to deal with on Friday night and, if you get past the Rebels, you’ll see the winner of the No. 2 North Carolina State vs. No. 3 LSU matchup Sunday in the Elite Eight.
Coach G, your team’s path is even more precarious, especially, heartbreakingly, without Watkins, your superstar sophomore who suffered a torn ACL in USC’s second-round victory over Mississippi State.
Your Trojans will try to adjust to life without JuJu and find a way to get past No. 5 Kansas State on Saturday, and if you do, face either No. 2 UConn or No. 3 Oklahoma in the Elite Eight on Monday.
There’s a reason Nike went with “NOTHING EASY” on all their warmup shirts for this tournament.
But there’s also nothing easy about building a women’s basketball power. There’s bound to be hiccups and headwinds. That’s true everywhere, but especially in L.A., a Lakers and Dodgers town where everyone is hustling and alternate entertainment options abound.
And yet, your dueling and distinctive women’s basketball teams have captured our attention.
So, Cori, after your Bruins’ 84-67 second-round victory over Richmond before 6,119 screaming fans at Pauley Pavilion, we reporters saw you nod to your mom, Patti Close, and tell everyone in a packed news conference, “We were looking at the paper and all of social media and all the things, and women’s basketball was dominating the media space today.”
And then you closed with your patented: “I, to you, say thank you for that.”
No, thank you.
Because if anyone who knows L.A., knows we love winners.
And you two? You’ve been doing a heck-ton of winning.
Your teams were a none-too-shabby 56-13 combined last season. And so far this season? A combined 62-5. UCLA’s only two losses resulted in USC wins – and, yes, one of the Trojans’ three losses was a win for the Bruins.
In your first year in the Big Ten, your Trojans finished atop the regular-season standings after being UCLA and your Bruins hoisted the conference tournament championship trophy … after being USC.
It was almost as if only L.A. could Beat L.A.
You both earned No. 1 seeds in the Big Dance after a season in which neither dropped below No. 7, and UCLA spent most of it ranked No. 1.
It’s iron sharpening iron, yes, but also coaches comparing notes for handling Big Ten travel. Players sharing a healthy dislike and coaches a healthy respect. It’s so much fun, it’s so cool.
That’s why, mere minutes after losing to your teams, your NCAA Tournament opponents keep wanting to pay tribute – and not out of perfunctory politeness, but because they’re fans, full-on gushing.
Like Richmond coach Aaron Roussell, who said it’s “just … admiration, maybe hopefully a mutual respect. Just admiration how (Close) carries herself, handles her program … you always try to find people that you feel like do it the right way and for her to have success, and be the [U.S. Basketball Writers Association] National Coach of the Year I think is a cool thing.
“She’s given back to young coaches a lot,” he continued. “That’s kind of been her thing. She’s given. She’s a giver. She’s seemingly the first one to step up and give back, and I wanted her to know that that was noticed and appreciated.”
And Mississippi State’s Sam Purcell, whose team went through the ringer at Galen Center on Monday night. Fighting back end-of-season tears after being beaten 96-59, Purcell made sure everyone knew he had no hard feelings about the ferocity with which USC’s 7,808 fans responded after Watkins was hurt.
“Just congrats to USC,” he said. “I thought the environment here was very special. That D.J. (salute, D.J. Mal-Ski) is unbelievable and I thought the energy was phenomenal. I think a shoutout to the crowd, when JuJu went down, how they rallied behind the players. And I thought they uplifted them and they played lights out.”
For all that heaping praise, there’s plenty to prove still. How many people thought defending champion South Carolina – not UCLA – deserved the No. 1 overall seed? And why were the Trojans were relegated to the fourth and final No. 1 seed?
We all know how your teams can erase those doubts. It’s nothing easy, but it would be so cool. And you both know L.A., so you both know how much this city would appreciate it.