[stopandpop]

I find this critique a little odd, in two respects. First, Cori's made it to two final fours with some extremely stacked, portal-curated rosters. 

Extremely! She has had stacked rosters since she arrived in Westwood, which points to her excellent recruiting skills. Yet almost all of her players leave UCLA barely better off than when they arrived. They have always under-performed.

I had a chuckle reading about her post-game Elite Eight interview where she said something like "I didn't have to give a half-time speech, the seniors did." Uh, yeah. The last two years they have been succeeding because of the leadership of the players, not the coach.

Whatever anyone wants to say about Coach Close, know this; she has changed and adapted to the new competitiveness of women's college basketball.  Her pre-game and half-time 'emotional' talks with the team have tampered down, and she's spending more time on game strategy and adjustments.  The adjustments she made at halftime (down by 8 against Duke) are an example.  I respectfully disagree that most of her players don't improve all that much between their freshmen and senior years.  Rice and Jaquez are much more 'complete' players than a few years ago.  Coach Close has actually made Angela Dugalic (coming off the bench), a more impactful player, especially in this Tournament and Dugalic bought into the change quite well.

I would not put Cori in the same elite company as Dawn Staley, Geno, or even a Vic Shafer, partly because she has yet to win 'the Big One', but also because her teams, though loaded with talent at all positions, seem to lack the physical and mental toughness you need in today's women's basketball to win it all, but perhaps this time may be different. 

Bottom line for me is- Coach Close has become a better recruiter, strategist and game coach than she was 3-4 years ago.  She's adapted to the rapidly changing game.

[stopandpop]

I find this critique a little odd, in two respects. First, Cori's made it to two final fours with some extremely stacked, portal-curated rosters. 

Extremely! She has had stacked rosters since she arrived in Westwood, which points to her excellent recruiting skills. Yet almost all of her players leave UCLA barely better off than when they arrived. They have always under-performed.

I had a chuckle reading about her post-game Elite Eight interview where she said something like "I didn't have to give a half-time speech, the seniors did." Uh, yeah. The last two years they have been succeeding because of the leadership of the players, not the coach.

Whatever anyone wants to say about Coach Close, know this; she has changed and adapted to the new competitiveness of women's college basketball.  Her pre-game and half-time 'emotional' talks with the team have tampered down, and she's spending more time on game strategy and adjustments.  The adjustments she made at halftime (down by 8 against Duke) are an example.  I respectfully disagree that most of her players don't improve all that much between their freshmen and senior years.  Rice and Jaquez are much more 'complete' players than a few years ago.  Coach Close has actually made Angela Dugalic (coming off the bench), a more impactful player, especially in this Tournament and Dugalic bought into the change quite well.

I would not put Cori in the same elite company as Dawn Staley, Geno, or even a Vic Shafer, partly because she has yet to win 'the Big One', but also because her teams, though loaded with talent at all positions, seem to lack the physical and mental toughness you need in today's women's basketball to win it all, but perhaps this time may be different. 

Bottom line for me is- Coach Close has become a better recruiter, strategist and game coach than she was 3-4 years ago.  She's adapted to the rapidly changing game.