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UCLA Basketball: The women crack the AP Top 25 after big weekend

By Mike Regalado

SALT LAKE CITY, UT - MARCH 18: A view of the game balls prior to the game between the Gonzaga Bulldogs and the Northwestern Wildcats during the second round of the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Vivint Smart Home Arena on March 18, 2017 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr./Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY, UT - MARCH 18: A view of the game balls prior to the game between the Gonzaga Bulldogs and the Northwestern Wildcats during the second round of the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Vivint Smart Home Arena on March 18, 2017 in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Photo by Gene Sweeney Jr./Getty Images) /
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The UCLA basketball women’s team have finally broken into the AP Top 25 Poll after a weekend topping the #2 Oregon Ducks and taking the #12 Oregon State Beavers to the wire.

If you do good things, good things happen to you. That is the case with the UCLA basketball head coach Cori Close and her band of Bruins as they have cracked the AP Top 25 for the first time this season as they enter at the 25th spot.

RELATED: UCLA Women’s Basketball is One of the Hottest Teams in the Nation

The Bruins had received votes in the preseason AP Poll, but after a season-opening loss to LMU and an underwhelming non-conference season, which saw UCLA go 7-5, they never got as close to the poll. Until now.

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Things have changed in conference play as UCLA has been on a tear. With the end of the regular season coming to a close, the Bruins have posted a 10-5 record in the Pac-12 and are currently in the 4th place spot (if they retain that position after their last two games, they will get a first-round bye in the Pac-12 Tournament).

In the last ten games, UCLA has gone 8-2. On the road in conference play, the Bruins are 7-2. They have beaten four ranked conference foes. This past weekend they dropped #2 Oregon after being down by 22 and were just three points short of victory against #12 Oregon State.

These are the contributing factors to the Bruins’ making the most recent rankings.

Though the Bruins are looking to get that 4th place spot in the Pac-12 Tournament, it seems as they have already done enough to book their ticket to the NCAA Tournament. Currently, the Bruins are 31st in the NCAA women’s basketball RPI ratings.

Close’s team is getting hot at just the right time. The season might have started off slow but it is quickly picking up the pace. If the Bruins can sustain this energy and momentum, they could make a deep run in both post-season tourneys.