UCLA 2025

[Bone Dog]

Also, with Barker leaving that might leave more consistent minutes available for Gardiner. I realize there are other front court options available. Just seems like neither Barker or Gardiner thrived last year, maybe with only one of them there it will work out better.

At the time, I thought bringing in Barker as a transfer was Cori’s mistake. But it was probably just as much Janiah’s mistake too. It’s not just a question of fit, but also of clogging the roster with too much talent, and Timea may have been the one who suffered for it.

Now in the aftermath, I hope transferring to Tennessee is a good move for Janiah. I have a feeling it will improve Timea’s situation for this season. And if there’s still some rehab to work through I hope she can resolve that without too much difficulty.

 

[jake0414]

Janiah recruited herself to UCLA and not the other way around. Close was hesitant but Janiah persisted and the other team members persuaded Cori that the team needed someone with Janiah’s athleticism and grit to compete with physical teams such as LSU and South Carolina. I believe Janiah’s then partner had moved to Los Angeles so that made UCLA attractive as well.

But as you mention it created was a logjam at the forward and post positions. Janiah did best in the games Lauren sat out injured. Will be interesting to see how things work out with Coach Caldwell’s entire lineup substitution patterns.

 

[BRS24]

 

[BRS24]

 

[visitingcock]

With Sienna Betts out Texas can focus their bigs on Lauren. Kayla Oldacre will be used to wear her down. I think Oldacre is capable of out muscling Betts and intimidating her as she did in their high school McDonalds game.

Yes, Betts is much the better player but Oldacre can be a bully when her PT is limited to avoid fatigue and fouls. Jordan Lee MAY have progressed enough this year to take some pressure and defenders off of Booker.

Both teams scare me at this point because we still have not developed cohesiveness. Maybe later, but we still need to develop team identity.

 

[JellyBean]

Huge game for UCLA in a few days. Heck huge game for both teams but since this is about UCLA, I will keep the conversation about UCLA. If they can beat Texas. That is going to be a huge boost for the UCLA players and their confidence. This should be a good game. Good luck, UCLA and to the UCLA fans.

 

[DefenseBB]

UCLA is in this "Players Era Women's Championship" where if they win, they play the winner of Duke/SCar or if they lose to Texas, they play the loser of the aforementioned game. On Sunday, Nov 30, they play at home against Tennessee. That is a pretty impressive 3 game run in the 5 days. If UCLA goes undefeated, they will garner a lot of #1 votes and deservedly so.