Cori Close on UCLA's Title Run

Cori Close walks into the Rich Eisen Show studio as a national champion, and the conversation that follows runs deeper than a trophy. UCLA beat South Carolina for the women's basketball title, and Close is there to explain how.

Rich opens by noting his alma mater Michigan won the men's title, so he's had a good week too. Close said the same thing back to him. The celebration is mutual.

The pivot point for UCLA's tournament run, Close says, was the Elite Eight against Duke. The Bruins got down early. She saw a team decide who it was going to be from the halftime of that game on. The morning of the national championship, she gathered the entire program, including support staff, managers, and scout team, into one circle and told them the superpower of the team was connectivity and mission-mindedness. Three strands woven together. She turned to her director of basketball operations afterward and said they were going to win.

The Texas rematch in the Final Four was a rugby match. UCLA turned it over 23 times and still won because they were tougher and more together. After the game, Close walked into the locker room expecting celebration. Her players were already asking about the next film session. Business trip mentality.

Rich asks about the Saturday open practice where the team danced through workouts. Close says warrior dials are different for each player. Some need to be turned up. Lina Fanene needs to play mad. Others need to be turned down because they're already carrying pressure. Last year's semifinal loss, she says, was partly on her as a leader for not handling expectations well. This year she called Muffet McGraw for advice, made the open practice the fun one, and kept a closed practice for business. The balance paid off.

The conversation turns to Lauren Betts. Close references the Players' Tribune piece Betts published in March about checking herself into care at UCLA for depression. Close says she's more proud of how the program shows up on hard days than of any championship. When Close coached Betts on the USA under-19 World Cup team, her father passed away in Spain during the trip. Betts gave more to her than she gave to Betts. The bond extends to teammate Izzy Anstey, who flew in from Australia during Betts' hardest stretch, and Cam Brown, who has walked her own mental health journey alongside Lauren. A photo after the championship shows three foreheads pressed together.

Gabriela Jaquez gets her own chapter. Close laughs that Jaquez had one other power four offer her senior year of high school. Her AAU coach Kelly Sopak said if you picked ten shooters for a three-point contest, he'd pick Jaquez last. If you needed one three-pointer to win a game, he'd pick her first. She shot in the teens from three as a freshman and became a 50-40-90 player. Warrior spirit. Self-made.

Close predicts four first-rounders and all six Bruins drafted in the upcoming WNBA draft. The final beat is John Wooden's granddaughter texting her a photo of her kids in UCLA gear. Banners hang in gyms. The real legacy is who you become and who you impact.