Gazing over her team during a midweek practice at Pauley
Pavilion, coach Kathy Olivier knows what some of her critics are
saying. She hears the grumbling that her club, featuring three of
the most talented players in the country, is wildly inconsistent
and at times downright disappointing.
“I shut it all out,” Olivier said. “I
can’t worry about what other people are saying or writing on
the internet or whatever, because that doesn’t make us a
better team.
“Cynics are going to think what they want, but we need to
prepare for each game.”
Those cynics Olivier is talking about are people who follow her
team and have a hard time knowing what to expect out of them. Over
the past three years, the UCLA women’s basketball team has
been on the cusp of greatness that has been just out of its reach.
The reasons why this is so remains a mystery.
“They have three first-round draft picks on that
roster,” said Arizona State coach Charli Turner Thorne,
referring to Noelle Quinn, Nikki Blue, and Lisa Willis. “They
have traditionally finished stronger than they started. It would be
foolish to write them off, but I am not sure why they’ve lost
some games they probably shouldn’t have.”
Two years ago, the Bruins were limited by youth and
inexperience. Last year, they started the year strong, winning 10
of their first 12 games, only to fade after a devastating knee
injury that ended then sophomore Noelle Quinn’s season. This
was supposed to be the year that UCLA put it all together.
However, UCLA (9-6, 4-2 Pac-10) goes into Washington to take on
a surprising Huskies team holding onto its season-long promise to
“think big” and put a first half highlighted by marquee
wins, yet plagued by disappointing upsets, behind them.
Their record doesn’t sit well with anyone in that locker
room, but Olivier and her players don’t accept that their
season has been tainted by any means.
“I wouldn’t say we’re underachieving, but our
record should be better,” said senior point guard Nikki Blue.
“We let a couple of games slip from under us and that’s
unacceptable. But that’s in the past and all we can do is
look to the future.”
The sudden transfer of freshman guard Ashlee Trebilcock, who
decided to leave the program after four games, created a stir
around the team. Rumors have swirled about the disgruntled
freshman, ranging from theories about how Trebilcock wanted the
spotlight right away to how she didn’t get along with Quinn,
Blue and Willis.
“It’s hard because people think that “˜oh
we’re not winning so something must be wrong,'”
Quinn said. “No, nothing is wrong. We just need to
click.”
Every player asserted that Trebilcock hasn’t taken their
minds off of winning, but they have had mental lapses at different
times during the season.
“I just think we should’ve come in with a consistent
mind set,” Blue said. “We have a tendency to
underestimate teams.”
It’s not just a matter of concentration, however. The
triple threat of Quinn, Blue and Willis has given opposing teams a
clear target of exactly what to stop, as the threesome has
accounted for over 72 percent of the team’s scoring output
for the year so far.
The inconsistency thus far in the season has been largely
attributed to the ability of opposing teams to contain the three
perimeter shooters, as UCLA is still searching for a post presence
to complement its superb outside game.
“A lot of teams are doubling and trapping more,”
Quinn said. “They’re being more aggressive. Teams know
we’re very perimeter oriented. There’s a lot more
aggressiveness. Teams try to get us out of our comfort level
““ they don’t see us as the aggressor, so they try to
take advantage of that.”
The road has also been a clear weak point for the Bruins. They
sport an impressive 8-1 record in Pauley Pavilion and at neutral
sites, but have stumbled in five of their first six road games of
the season. That’s something that makes this road trip to the
Washington schools that much more definitive, Olivier said.
Following the games against the Huskies and the Cougars, the team
then plays at crosstown rival USC for its third-consecutive road
game.
“I don’t think we want to say, “˜oh this is how
many games we have to win’ and so on,” Olivier said.
“But at least two wins in the next three would be a
boost.”
With 12 games left to play before the conference tournament,
recent history would suggest that the team needs to have at the
very least 17 wins to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. In a
conference as talented top to bottom as the Pac-10, that is no
small feat.
The Bruins don’t want to finish the season as a team on
the NCAA Tournament bubble, leaving their fate in somebody
else’s hands.
“We don’t want our future in the hands of the
committee, so we need to come out the way we need to,” Quinn
said.
With the crucial stretch of the season now on the horizon, the
Bruins are still trying to put tough losses behind them, put the
season’s relative success in perspective and avoid panic.
“I go back in my mind all the time to those games earlier
in the season,” Olivier said. “If we can pull out the
wins against Baylor and Oklahoma, we are a top-ten team and
everybody is talking about us.”
But they didn’t win those games, and the Bruins are faced
with the reality of fighting for their postseason dreams earlier
than they would have liked. UCLA knows that right now there is
little room for error.
“Our backs are up against the wall each and every game
from now on,” Olivier said.
With reports from Bryan Chu, Bruin Sports senior staff.