In Reply to: Let's give Close some credit posted by ucla'93 on April 05, 2025 at 11:46:10
All season long I've been pointing out how the Women's team had excessive turnovers, many unforced and many trying to get the ball into the post. I also mentioned that Close had never won any kind of championship in her 14 seasons, unprecedented for any UCLA coach in any sport. All important facts. Yet for this I have been accused of "trashing" the women's team and being a "troll" by oversensitive fans.
It's not just me. Last year Bolch called the LSU women "basketball's villains", certainly an image that was not far from the truth, yet he had to make a public apology.
There's also the whiney coaches. Being a #1 seed was not good enough for Dawn Staley. She had to be the #1 overall seed. Who cares? If you think you have the best team you should be able to beat anyone. Then there's Kim Mulkey who threatened to sue a newspaper last season without even knowing the contents of the story.
Also, isn't everyone tired of seeing the same teams win the championship every year? UConn, South Carolina and Mulkey coached teams (LSU, Baylor) have won nine of the last 12 tournaments. In the same time period, there were nine different Men's champions.
If Women's teams want to be taken seriously, the fans and coaches should stop the complaining and not be so sensitive to criticism. Yes, Close deserves a lot of credit for getting the program into the national spotlight along with the traditional college powers. They will most likely be preseason #1 next year. But that doesn't mean she doesn't have her faults and bringing them up here is a legitimate topic.