‘Championship-level habits’ bearing fruit as UCLA women begin chase for NCAA trophy
Jordin Canada turned down scholarship offers from women’s basketball powerhouses Connecticut and Tennessee. The blue-chip point guard chose UCLA for what the school didn’t have.
“When I went on my unofficial visit before I committed, I remember [coach Cori Close] taking me to the hall of fame at the Morgan Center and showing me all the national championship trophies of every sport, and how there was an empty spot in the case,” Canada, a senior, recalled of that fateful decision four years ago. “She was talking about filling that empty space and being the first women’s team to win [an NCAA) national championship.
“She was talking about being first, creating your legacy here and just being different. That really stuck with me. Her message to us, and still is today, is about doing the uncommon things and the things people don’t usually do. That resonated with me and my recruiting process. I wanted to be different, and she wanted to be different as well.”
Canada, among the jewels in Close’s No. 1-ranked recruiting class, has one last chance to fill that spot in the trophy case. The third-seeded Bruins open the NCAA tournament Saturday when they play host to No. 14 American University at Pauley Pavilion.
The way Close sees it, these UCLA players have remarkable leaping ability in that they took a leap of faith to buy into the dream she’s been selling. This year’s senior class, which includes starting guard Kelli Hayes and forward Monique Billings, is coming off the first back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances in school history. The Bruins have gone 94-43 since 2013-14, with three consecutive 20-win seasons, their best four-year stretch since 1976-79 (which included winning the 1978 AIAW national championship).
“Our promise to [recruits] was that we were going to create an uncommon transformational experience,” said Close, 46. “But we were going to also give them tools that were going to be with them long after the ball goes flat. No matter what happens, it’s going to be about character first. As a result of building championship-level habits, championship-level preparation, championship-level experiences, through that, wins will come.
“Sixteen-year-old kids don’t really buy into that. But I think it was their families who understood that they wanted more than wins and losses. They want their young women to be prepared for life. That was key.”
At the moment, life is basketball, and the Bruins have a chance to make their mark. They are out of UConn’s bracket for the first time in three years, but they still have a daunting path. The top seed in their bracket is 2017 runner-up Mississippi State, which knocked off UConn in a semifinal game last year.
Close and her players know the perils, though, of looking beyond the now. They plan to grit their way through this tournament possession by possession, rebound by rebound.
That’s the way she has coached throughout her seven seasons at the school, and before that as associate coach at Florida State. A former four-year starter at point guard for UC Santa Barbara, she began her coaching career as an assistant for UCLA in the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons.
It was then that she met John Wooden and joined the ranks of the many coaches and players who regularly visited the legendary coach at his Encino condominium. She was introduced to Wooden in 1993 by Steve Lavin, a men’s basketball assistant at the time.
“I went with Steve and two other coaches and walked in [Wooden’s] house, and he said, ‘Who are you?’ ” Close recalled. “I said, ‘Cori,’ and I was like shaking. He said, ‘How do you spell that?’ and I said, ‘C-O-R-I.’ And he said, ‘Oh, my gosh. I have something to show you.’ ”
Wooden showed her a small wooden stool outside his den that read “Cori,” the name of his great-granddaughter. He said Close was the first person he’d met who spelled her first name the same way.
After that, Close would visit Wooden every other Tuesday for the rest of her first stint at UCLA, then visited him once a month when she returned to UCSB to work as player development coordinator.
Wooden died in 2010 and didn’t get to see Close hired as a UCLA head coach nine months later. Of course his memory is alive and well with her.
“I remember my [introductory] press conference here, getting emotional up there,” she said. “The thing that he gave me more than anything else was, ‘You need to lead the way you’re wired, not try to be me.’ There was a freedom in that. Of course, I would love to have the success and the impact that Coach Wooden had here, but his goals were never about him. His goals were to teach, mentor and equip those young men to be all that they were supposed to be.”
Close wears one ring, a silver band commemorating the Women’s National Invitation Tournament championship that UCLA won in 2015, the first such title in school history.
“We ended up winning the championship at West Virginia in front a sold-out crowd,” she said. “But it was not easy. I remember a lot of times during that year thinking, ‘I’m not seeing any fruit from this venture.’
“I remember my friend, [author] Jon Gordon, saying, ‘If you want to see the fruit, you’ve got to stay committed to nurturing the root.’ He told me to focus on the soil and planting the right seeds, and eventually the fruit will come.”
It’s like that leap of faith her celebrated recruiting class took four years earlier. And now, set to embark on their ultimate goal, the Bruins are hoping for a bountiful and uncommon harvest.
Follow Sam Farmer on Twitter @LATimesfarmer
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