Giovanni Fanta
College basketball broadcaster and reporter
UCLA girls’s basketball head coach Cori Close listens to the naysayers.
“I’m very keen about these folks on the market who say, ‘Last yr was very a lot the Caitlin Clark impact in girls’s basketball,’” stated Close, who’s in her 14th season main the fifth-ranked Bruins.
“Caitlin Clark has been spectacular for the game, I imply, unimaginable. The turning factors she has helped us create are unimaginable, however there’s a lot to have a good time in our nice recreation proper now. I need the general public to proceed to to go up, scores to go up, attendance to go up and I need company sponsorships to grasp what a implausible funding it’s to put money into our sport. It’s an funding, girls’s basketball is right here to remain.”
The sport has endurance as a result of Close and different high coaches are backing their phrases and taking up challenges that produce blockbuster video games and occasions which might be watched by appointment on TV. That’s what we’ll get this weekend in girls’s faculty hoops when No. 5 UCLA hosts No. 1 South Carolina at 4 PM ET Sunday on FS1. In addition to UCLA’s showdown in opposition to the top-ranked Gamecocks, No. 3 hosted Notre Dame no. 6, so sure, Los Angeles is the place to be on the woodwork this weekend.
But it is also a testomony to what must be applauded nationally: Women’s soccer has momentum as a result of one of the best groups are keen to play one another, one thing sensible sufficient to do what Clark created. Last season, the 18.87 million individuals who tuned in to the nationwide championship recreation between South Carolina and Iowa have been handled to a spectacle, being the biggest viewers to attend a basketball recreation of any variety, skilled or college, since 2019.
Close needs to maintain transferring the needle and so does the coach of the reigning nationwide champions, Dawn Staley of South Carolina, which is strictly why they determined to maintain the Bruins-Gamecocks matchup alive. Close instructed FOX Sports that an annual neutral-site recreation between the 2 groups will start subsequent season.
“Dawn is somebody who has at all times had a ‘develop the sport’ mentality,” Close stated. “We would even have an occasion collectively to profit our NIL monetary scenario, and she or he would converse on our behalf. She has carried out wonderful issues for the game. So, it provides one other layer the place we will play in South Carolina inside Pauley Pavilion and in opposition to somebody who I actually respect and who has a world mindset in rising the sport. What a privilege to be a part of.
“Then, you add the Notre Dame-USC recreation and this is sort of a Final Four in November in Los Angeles. Los Angeles has grow to be a spot, a mecca, for women and girls’s basketball.”
Close’s feedback about Hollywood star energy within the sport are definitely true, with three of the 5 preseason AP All-Americans in girls’s basketball coming from USC and UCLA, with Trojans stars Juju Watkins and Kiki Iriafen, together with star Bruins Kiki Rice, to headline preseason honors.
Rice returned to the Bruins from a shoulder damage to make his season debut final Sunday, taking part in simply 11 minutes as a result of medical protocol in what was a 101-52 UCLA win over Arkansas. What have the Bruins proven with a 4-0 begin this season? Their depth.
Junior Lauren Betts appears to be like like probably the greatest gamers in America because the 6-foot-7 heart is averaging 21.5 factors and 11.5 rebounds per recreation, whereas Oregon State switch Timea Gardiner is coming off a 23-point efficiency within the win over the Razorbacks. Freshman Elina Aarnisalo, who involves UCLA with some skilled expertise having performed in Finland, has taken on an even bigger position early on as Rice is returning, with the Bruins’ new level guard tallying 30 assists within the first 4 video games .
But make no mistake: UCLA wants Rice to compete with the Gamecocks on Sunday.
“Kiki Rice is the rock of our program,” stated Close, who took UCLA to the Sweet 16 in six of her first 13 years on the job. “You do not discover out a lot simply by asking Kiki how she’s doing. You discover out extra while you ask her teammates if she’s again with us after her damage. There’s a peaceful that is come to our group as a result of she’s again. That tells you says what he means to this group.
Kiki Rice remains to be recovering from a shoulder damage. (Photo by Greg Fiume/NCAA Photos through Getty Images)
“I’ve been teaching basketball for 32 years and his work ethic is within the high 5 I’ve ever seen. His work ethic is simply elite, and the best way he assaults the sport from an IQ standpoint and learning the sport, at all times getting further work, I’ve to kick her out of the health club. And due to her instance, now I’ve to kick numerous gamers out of the health club. She created a tradition the place different gamers are searching for further work that would not be in a spot I’ve now due to her instance . This is greatness.”
As for the greatness on the opposite aspect of the reckoning, Staley’s group might not have had a preseason All-American, however this system that has gained two of the final three nationwide championships has a junior, Chloe Kitts, who he is virtually averaging a double-double. with 14.0 factors and 9.8 rebounds per recreation, whereas sophomore guard MiLaysia Fulwiley is off to a sizzling begin with 12.8 factors per recreation for the 5-0 Gamecocks.
So, what’s Close’s recreation plan to defeat a South Carolina program that has gone 79-1 in its final 80 video games?
Chloe Kitts and MiLaysia Fulwiley led No. 1 South Carolina to a different excellent begin. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
“I feel it is really a very easy recreation plan, but it surely’s actually, actually laborious to execute as a result of they’re so good and constant,” Close stated. “We undoubtedly need to have nice shot choice and deal with the ball. Almost 27% of South Carolina’s scoring is available in transition. So if you wish to gradual them down in transition, you higher have good shot choice, play the paint and deal with the ball. You cannot have dwell turnovers, in order that’s going to pressure us to develop. Against Arkansas, it was the primary time we had lower than 12 turnovers. It’s going to be actually large as a lot because the whether or not or not they’re dwell ball turnovers.
“The second factor it’s a must to do in opposition to them is rebound the basketball. The quantity of paint touches they search for and get is phenomenal. They are additionally completely different from South Carolina groups of the previous due to the variety of shooters they’ve on the perimeter. However, the share of pictures they take within the paint and second likelihood alternatives is immense, so in the event you take away the paint, rebounds and transition, you could have a very good likelihood if we will get them to take robust 2s off the dribble, it will likely be the important thing to the sport. It’s simpler whether or not stated or carried out, however it will likely be actually vital.
“It’s about D-transition, bouncing the ball and caring for the ball. It sounds easy, however kudos to South Carolina for the way laborious it’s so that you can try this.”
As for what the raucous Pauley Pavilion crowd and the nationwide tv viewers on FS1 can anticipate Sunday afternoon, UCLA junior Gabriela Jaquez, the youthful sister of Miami Heat standout and former Bruins nice Jaime Jaquez, stated that Better.
“If you come to Pauley Pavilion on Sunday afternoon, you are in for one of the best present you may see in Los Angeles,” stated Jaquez, who’s averaging 8.3 factors, 6.0 rebounds and three.3 assists per recreation for the Bruins on this season.
“What Caitlin Clark has carried out on this sport has been extraordinary, and she or he has introduced so many eyes to this sport, and I respect the brand new followers we have now. I need folks to proceed to find out about UCLA girls’s basketball and ladies’s basketball in total, and in the event you do your analysis and take a look at different groups, you may discover out who these individuals are and what makes them nice. This sport will proceed to develop and I’m actually excited to see that momentum proceed as we transfer ahead.”
With a weekend in Los Angeles like this and a top-five matchup that South Carolina and UCLA had secured, it is precisely like maintaining it getting in November.
John Fanta is a nationwide faculty basketball broadcaster and author for FOX Sports. He covers sports activities in a wide range of roles, from calling video games on FS1 to serving as a lead anchor on the BIG EAST digital community to offering commentary on The Field of 68 Media Network. Follow him to @John_Fanta.
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