Entering the year it was a foregone conclusion that at least one UCLA team would capture an NCAA title, the 100th in the school’s history and the most for any school in the country.
But No. 100 has proved more elusive than predicted. Women’s volleyball came up short in December. Men’s soccer lost in the title game, 90 minutes short of a crown, and women’s soccer fell in the semifinals. The basketball team was once again thwarted by Florida in the Final Four. And almost a year removed from its last title, UCLA is still stuck on No. 99.
Now the school is faced with its last chances at reaching milestone this school year, as a handful of teams eye the prestigious No. 100 in the coming weeks. Gymnastics will have the first opportunity at the end of the month and in May, men’s volleyball and women’s water polo will look to repeat as national champs.
The university is eager to celebrate such a tremendous accolade.
“It’s a very fitting milestone for this university,” UCLA athletic director Dan Guerrero said. “It’s the finest public university in the world. … To be that university that is the first one to get (to 100), to reach that milestone, I think is indicative of the overall quality of UCLA.”
The athletic accomplishments year in and year out have created the national image of UCLA.
“It’s very clear to many of those athletic directors at other universities that we are in fact the university that has the most NCAA Championships,” Guerrero said. “That’s very meaningful from the standpoint of credibility in our profession, image, substance, prestige, all those kinds of things.”
The contenders
No. 4-ranked men’s volleyball begins its postseason this weekend as defending national champions. A title would be the 20th in the team’s storied history, more than any other Bruin team.
Coach Al Scates’ 19 titles as UCLA coach are more than any other coach, making him a fitting candidate to win No. 100 for the school. Yet Scates is trying to focus on his team and the task at hand rather than large-scale accomplishments.
“Our goal is to win the NCAA Championship,” Scates said. “It would be great if we won the 100th; sure that would be wonderful.”
For senior captain Paul George, a national championship would bring the kind of recognition the men’s volleyball program deserves.
“We’re looking for No. 20, looking to get the recognition, and if we win No. 100, I think it would just highlight us as a program here that has really done well,” George said.
While Scates built a dynasty in his 44 years in Westwood, women’s water polo coach Adam Krikorian has been at UCLA for less than a decade. Both men have guided UCLA to dominance.
Krikorian’s women’s water polo team has won the past two NCAA Championships, and as the No. 2 team in the nation, has a great shot at a third this spring. The Bruins’ toughest competition will be No. 1-ranked Stanford, who has already defeated UCLA twice, and No. 3 USC, who UCLA has beaten twice.
Coach Krikorian has cemented the Bruins’ place in the top echelon of women’s water polo with a home winning streak spanning four years.
“I love Adam’s passion,” Guerrero said. “Adam has hit the ground running since he’s been here and has proven to be one of the finer water polo coaches in the country.”
Krikorian, too, is more concerned with the postseason run than potential historic accomplishments.
“In the end, it’s just a number,” Krikorian told the Daily Bruin earlier this month. “Winning a championship, and we’ve been fortunate enough to win a few, and creating a close bond with players and coaches is more special than any number will ever be.”
Gymnastics, however, could beat both teams to the punch. The team is traveling to Salt Lake City at the end of the month for the NCAA Championships and has already won the Pac-10 crown.
The close misses
UCLA is familiar with capturing multiple NCAA Championships in one season ““ the school won all 99 titles after 1950 and has won at least one title every year since 1986.
But this school year there have been multiple close calls. Four prominent Bruin teams reached NCAA Final Fours. Women’s volleyball lost to Nebraska. Men’s basketball fell for the second straight year, this time just two wins short of a crown. Both UCLA soccer teams were a hair away from No. 100. The men’s team lost to UC Santa Barbara in an intense, 2-1 contest the day after the UCLA football team beat USC.
“The whole team was talking about winning No. 100,” junior midfielder Greg Folk said. “But I don’t think it was a distraction. It provided more incentive for us to get the job done.”
The excitement entering the championship is clear, but after losing, UCLA athletes have a difficult time focusing on anything besides the championship loss.
“Obviously, whenever you lose it’s disheartening,” Folk said. “I think we were just more stuck on losing the national title. The 100 titles was sort of forgotten.
“The team that wins the 100 will be recognized, and they should, because it’s definitely a big deal to reach that milestone. It’s a tribute to how successful the UCLA program has been over the years,” he added.
No. 100 will surely come in time, if not in the next weeks. For the Bruins it will be a time to reflect upon a superlative accomplishment that distinguishes them as the top athletic school in the nation.
“There are almost no schools that can say across the board we got a chance to win,” Guerrero said. “And when I say “˜win,’ it’s not just a conference championship ““ it’s the chance to play for the big crown. When you talk to a lot of our student-athletes what is in the back of their minds all the time is getting that ring, winning that national championship, hanging that banner ““ because that’s what they come here for.”
With reports from Allister Wenzel, Bobby Gordon, Bruin Sports senior staff.