Things could be worse for the women’s basketball team.
Things could be like last year.
The Bruins went into the 2014-2015 season ranked, but after a tumultuous schedule that included an 8-10 conference record, they were in a position to either win the Pac-12 tournament or not make it to the NCAA tournament. It was a different atmosphere. UCLA lost in the second round to Stanford and went to the National Invitation Tournament.
UCLA won’t be going to the NIT this year.
The team has just finished a 14-4 conference season and is ranked No. 12 overall by the NCAA selection committee. While last year the Pac-12 tournament was accompanied by a desperate need to win, this year there is a feeling of optimism.
“I think the mood is excitement. I challenged us to have an attitude of great focus, have a lot of fun and be a team of great gratitude,” said coach Cori Close. “We got to look at this like, ‘Hey, we are the luckiest team in America, and no one is going to appreciate it like us.'”
The players seemed to share Close’s sentiment. Though the trip is about basketball, it lacks the same brutal edginess of conference play.
“(I’m looking forward to) seeing everybody,” said sophomore guard Jordin Canada. “I have a lot of friends on different teams, so it’s just going to be fun being surrounded by them and having fun and most of all taking advantage of this moment.”
It’s an odd position. The team is pretty securely locked in at a No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament, with only slim chances that it could move up to a No. 2 seed or fall to a No. 4. The worst case scenario for the Bruins would be an ugly loss in their first game, but that wouldn’t automatically drop them to a No. 4 seed.
Even if they did end up as a No. 4 seed, they would still be hosting the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament, a major advantage for any team and an even bigger one for a UCLA team that hasn’t lost in Pauley Pavilion since November.
Still, the team is hoping to tie up some loose ends from the regular season.
“(I want to play) Oregon State again, just to redeem ourselves from the second time we played them,” said sophomore guard Kelli Hayes, referring to the recent 64-54 loss they suffered to the eventual co-conference champions. “We started off really well that game and then we drifted off a little, but I think we can play consistently throughout the whole game against them.”
There are other incentives to winning in the tournament. Close described it as being a “dress rehearsal for the NCAA tournament” with a similar atmosphere.
At this point, though, there is less pressure than in years past.
“It’s fun,” Close said. “You’re playing against your peers and everyone gets to press the restart button. There’s always people that play out of their mind, and it’s just a great opportunity to get better.”
The intensity won’t likely pick up until Saturday. The tournament begins for UCLA on Friday against Arizona, which just fired its head coach after a 3-15 conference season. If the team wins that game, it will probably match up Saturday against Arizona State, which lost to UCLA in the regular season finale Sunday. The game gave the Sun Devils their second loss of conference play and ended their chance to win the conference outright.
At the same time, the much more important NCAA tournament won’t begin until two weeks after that. Winning a couple games this weekend will largely just be for the sake of winning basketball games.
Email MacDonald at rmacdonald@media.ucla.edu or tweet him @macdonald_reed.