All it may be is just a small two-digit number in front of their
names, but for the members of the UCLA women’s basketball
team, that number is quite significant.
Not only is being ranked in the top-25 to begin the season
validation for all of the extra hours they put in the gym over the
last year, it’s a sign of respect that these Bruins
haven’t received in a long time.
But the test of this season won’t be earning respect. Last
year’s 17-13 team which took Minnesota to the limit in the
opening round of the NCAA Tournament already accomplished that.
For UCLA, this season will be about proving that they are
deserving of that respect. Picked to finish third in the Pac-10
behind perennial conference powers Stanford and Arizona, the buzz
around the program is peaking, but players and coaches know more
work needs to be done.
While crawling back into the national spotlight may have taken
up a lot of the Bruins’ energy, sustaining their share of the
limelight only promises to be tougher.
“We always have the respect because of the four letters,
but I think we have the talent now to back that respect up,”
said coach Kathy Olivier, who’s in her 12th year at the helm
for the Bruins. “This season we’re going to take it to
another level, we’re going to show people that we have
arrived, that we’re a good basketball team. We’ve
worked extremely hard to this point.”
“Everyone wanted to put us back on the map last
year,” sophomore guard Noelle Quinn added. “We got
that, now we just have to sustain it, back it up.”
And if the Bruins are going to take it to another level, it will
most likely be the Triple Threat of Quinn and juniors Nikki Blue
and Lisa Willis who will lead them to new heights.
Last season, the trio established itself as the premier
three-player tandem in the conference, as they accounted for over
half of the Bruins’ points scored, rebounds snagged, and
assists dished out.
Now that they’ve had a year to mesh together and mature,
expectations have skyrocketed as to how good Quinn, Blue and Willis
can be if together and healthy.
But each member of the Triple Threat knows it will take more
than solely their best effort to ensure a successful season. For
the Bruins to progress from last year’s finish, which would
mean at least advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament,
they will need contributions from everyone.
“It’s not going to take me, Lisa, and (Noelle) to do
it because we can’t do it by ourselves,” said Blue, who
has assumed the leadership role on the team. “It’s
going to take everyone, one through 12, putting in their little
contributions. Some people have cheerleading roles, some people
have scoring roles, some people have rebounding roles. And if
everybody sticks to her certain role, we’ll be
fine.”
While heading into the season Quinn, Blue and Willis have shored
up the starting positions on the perimeter, it will be the
frontcourt starting positions, currently held by sophomore Amanda
Livingston and freshman Lindsey Pluimer, that will be closely
scrutinized.
Though it would appear matching up the 6-foot-1 Livingston and
the slender 6-foot-3 Pluimer against other team’s low-post
players would pose a disadvantage for UCLA, Olivier is confident
her younger interior players can use their youth and athleticism to
combat any size differential.
But what the coach is more concerned about is her team’s
ability to rebound and its judgment on the floor. Because the Bruin
team is still relatively young, Olivier feels her team is more
inclined to play to the crowd and provide razzle-dazzle, when
keeping things simple would be more effective.
“We’re a team that likes to get down the floor and
push the ball up and make some fun passes, but we need to do a
little better with our decision making and rebounding,”
Olivier said. “If we do that, we will be a very, very good
basketball team.”
The Bruins will need to be a very good basketball team from the
beginning this year, as for the second consecutive season, UCLA
will face a stiff non-conference stretch early in their schedule.
Aside from the Bruins’ season-opening game against Texas
Christian on Nov. 20, UCLA will also play Texas, Purdue, Ohio State
and potentially Miami, all teams that made the NCAA Tournament last
year, before New Years Day.
Notorious for cruising early and turning it on late in recent
years, the Bruins are looking to jump out of the box early, if for
nothing else, because they’re looking out for their own
sanity when the NCAA tournament selections are made in the
beginning of spring.
“We can’t do what we did last year for coach’s
sake and our sake also,” said Blue of her team’s 10-10
start last season. “It’s so stressful getting down to
February and closer to March and not knowing if you’ll make
the tournament. We have to take care of business early. We’re
going to win in the Pac-10 if we win the (non-conference) games.
But our early schedule is tough.”
Which is why Olivier has been tougher and more demanding of her
players so far this season. During a recent practice, which she
later called “sloppy,” Olivier had seen enough
carelessness in the day that it made her question whether her team
was worthy to be called one of the 25 best in the country. To
Olivier, the real challenge of this season is convincing the
players themselves of how good a team they can become.
“I don’t think I’m harder, but I know that we
have more talent than we’ve ever had, and I’m trying to
get the most out of what we have and not settle,” Olivier
said. “I’m demanding more, but they are very capable.
They just need to realize that.”
And so the season begins, with increased expectations, more
pressure and a new attitude. But for many of the Bruins, it’s
a refreshing way to enter a season.
“Last year, we didn’t have to do much because no one
was expecting it,” Blue said. “This year, everyone
expects us to be the team the AP poll says we are.”
If anything, by the end of the season, UCLA is hoping the number
that comes to define them will be in single digits.