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UCLA Basketball: The Women’s team ranked 8th in preseason AP Top 25 poll

By Mike Regalado

LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 12: General view of the exterior of Pauley Pavilion is seen prior to the start of the game between the Oakland Golden Grizzlies and the UCLA Bruins on November 12, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 12: General view of the exterior of Pauley Pavilion is seen prior to the start of the game between the Oakland Golden Grizzlies and the UCLA Bruins on November 12, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images) /
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The UCLA Basketball Women’s team cracks the Top 10 of the 2017-18 preseason AP Poll as they will start the year ranked 8th in the nation.

Sometimes things just come together at the right time and for the Women’s UCLA Basketball team, that could be this season.

RELATED: UCLA Women’s Basketball picked to finish 1st in the Pac-12

Yesterday, the AP Top 25 for Women’s Basketball was announced and your Bruins came in at no. 8. This is the second year in a row the Bruins start the season in the Top 10 of the AP Poll. Last season, UCLA started things off ranked 9th.

Under the guidance of head coach Cori Close, the Bruins have gone from WNIT Champions to Sweet 16ers to potential Pac-12 Champions. UCLA was recently picked to finished first in conference.

Close has put together a team that can score at will and is tough on defense. This year she gets to add the senior leadership and experience of two All-Pac-12 honorees, Jordin Canada and Monique Billings. Both of whom just made it to the 2017-18 preseason All-Pac-12 team.

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Not only will they be one of the best senior combos in the nation, they have a fantastic supporting cast with them. The Bruins lost sharp shooters Kari Korver and Nicole Kornet, but that void will be nicely filled with a few others, though Kennedy Burke could be the go-to outsider shooter this season.

UCLA also returns some skilled position players giving the Bruins one of the more experineced teams in the conference. Look for Chrissy Baird, Lahjannah Drummer and Kelli Hayes to be in heavy rotation this season.

In addition to them, the Bruins have brought in a solid recruiting class which was ranked 6th in the nation by ESPN. Leading the way is 5-Star power forward Michaela Onyenwere who was the #10 overall high school player last year. But that’s not all.

The Bruins also bring in two other 5-star recruits, shooting guard Chantel Horvat and small forward Kayla Owns as well as 3-star power forward Lauryn Miller.

Next: Canada, Billings named to All-Pac-12 women’s team

The expectations are high, but as stated above, things seem to be coming together for the Bruins who could go farther than the Sweet 16 in the 2018 NCAA Tournament. It is definitely going to be an exciting time in Westwood this season! Go Bruins!