Go Joe Bruin
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UCLA Basketball: The women’s path to a Pac-12 Championship

By Mike Regalado

LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 12: The UCLA Bruins mascot Joe Bruin during their game against the Washington State Cougars in the Pacific Life Pac-10 Men's Basketball Tournament at the Staples Center on March 12, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - MARCH 12: The UCLA Bruins mascot Joe Bruin during their game against the Washington State Cougars in the Pacific Life Pac-10 Men's Basketball Tournament at the Staples Center on March 12, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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The UCLA basketball women’s team has been rolling through the Pac-12. If they keep this up, especially with the way the remainder of the schedule is, they could contend for a Pac-12 Championship.

It was a bit concerning the way the women’s UCLA basketball team started Pac-12 play. Just looking at their early conference record, 2-2 was not promising for a team that was projected to win the Pac-12.

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But you have to look a little harder. Three of the teams they played in those first four conference games were all ranked. The Bruins got wins over #20 Cal and #16 Oregon State, but dropped games against Stanford and #9 Oregon. Though the losses hurt, we saw what kind of fire power UCLA had in their 82-46 rout on the Golden Bears’ home turf and their 84-49 home victory over the Beavers.

UCLA had a heavy, front-loaded schedule, but since then, after their last loss (against Oregon), the Bruins have rattled off four straight wins which included another “W” over #21 Cal (for the season sweep) and a revenge victory over Stanford. Currently, UCLA is 15-4 overall and 6-2 in conference, which has them in second place and one game back of Oregon.

Current Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Standings

  1. Oregon 18-3, 7-1
  2. UCLA 15-4, 6-2
  3. Stanford 12-8, 6-2
  4. Oregon State 14-5, 5-3
  5. California 14-5, 5-3
  6. Utah 14-5, 5-3
  7. Arizona State 14-6, 5-3
  8. USC 13-6, 3-5
  9. Colorado 11-8, 2-6
  10. Washington State 9-11, 2-6
  11. Washington 7-12, 1-7
  12. Arizona 5-14, 1-7

Looking ahead, the Bruins have 10 games left and it could be quite advantageous. The good thing about a front-loaded schedule is that the back end is a bit lighter. In their remaining regular season games, the Bruins face the bottom five teams in the Pac-12 standings (they play USC twice). The rest of their schedule also includes Oregon, 4th place Oregon State, 6th place Utah and 7th place Arizona State.

That is good news for their title hopes, especially since the other top teams in the conference have tougher stretches through the end of the season.

Oregon, which plays UCLA in Eugene, also has to face Utah, Cal, Stanford and Arizona State (five games against the top seven). Stanford, which split their season series with UCLA, still has to play Arizona State, Oregon State, Oregon, Utah and Cal twice (six games against the top seven teams).

Oregon State has Utah, Stanford, Cal, UCLA and ASU (five games against the top seven). Cal (which was swept by UCLA) still has Arizona State, Oregon, Oregon State, Utah and Stanford twice (six games against the top seven). Utah has Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, Cal and UCLA (five games) and ASU has Stanford, Cal, UCLA Oregon and Oregon State (five games).

With the other top six teams having to battle it out with more games against top opponents, this gives UCLA a chance to continue to quietly overtake the Conference of Champions. Obviously, the Bruins need to continue winning, but more importantly, they need to come away with wins against the top teams, specifically the Oregon schools.

Despite the easier path to a potential championship, this will not at all be easy, but that is where head coach Cori Close comes in. All season she has had her team focused and playing with a lot of energy. This has been one of the best seasons for Close, but she knows they are nowhere near done.

The goal is to raise some hardware, but the Bruins need to set there minds on each game before they start looking ahead. That continues tonight as the Bruins head north to face the Washington schools, to which we say, “Go Bruins!”