Pac 12 Preview: UCLA

Last Season:
UCLA had a great 26-8 record advancing to the Pac 12 final game. The Bruins were 14-4 in Pac 12 play. They ended the season losing to Oklahoma after beating Stetson in the NCAA tournament.


The Coaches:
Cori Close is back for her 3rd season at UCLA. Close is from Milpitas and was a longtime assistant at UCSB in their heyday and then Florida State.

Jenny Huth is back for her 3rd season as an assistant. Jenny Roulier then, was a standout player for Colorado 1998-2002.

Tony Newnan is also in his 3rd year as an assistant. He was an assistant at Westmont College in Santa Barbara before coming to UCLA and was an assistant at Oregon State before that.

Shannon Perry is back for her 3rd year as an assistant and was an assistant at Duke for 5 seasons.


Losses:
Here’s a stat: UCLA played 34 games and their leading scorer in 27 of those games has graduated or is hurt and out for the year.

First the really sad news that UCLA has already lost two players to ACLs. Kori Korver averaged 5 points a game as a frosh. The 5-9 guard would have seen considerable playing time this season. Korver hit a team high 38 threes at 35%.
6-3 Jr Kacy Swain also tore her ACL and like Korver out for this season. Swain averaged 3 points and 3 rebounds per game.

Alyssia Brewer, Markel Walker, Jasmine Dixon and Mariah Williams all graduated. Six players started 24 or more games and the graduated Srs were four of the six.

Brewer was the starting post and averaged 11 points, 2nd on the team and a team leading 8 rebounds per game.

Walker averaged 11 points and 7 rebounds and lead the team with 5.5 assists per game, more than double the next player.

Dixon averaged 8 points and 6 rebounds per game while recovering from missing the previous season with an injury.

Williams averaged 4 points and was 2nd on the team in assists.

Six big losses for the Bruins to overcome.



Additions:
Savanna Trapp is a 6-9, yes 6-9, frosh center and the plan is to redshirt her. Trapp was ranked as high as 41 but most had her about 150-200. The plan seems to remand to redshirt her despite the two injuries.

Dominique Williams is a 5-9 point guard from Arizona, ranked 94 and 111 by two Sites. She played HS with Courtney Ekmark who is committed to UConn in the 2014 class.

Paulina Hersler is a 6-2 frosh power forward, a year older than most, from Sweden. Paulina played on the Swedish National 16U and 18U teams and led all Europeans in scoring at the 18U with 21 points per game. She shots threes very well, making 52 at 47% for her team a year ago, and is a strong rebounder. Sadly Paulina had a knee operation several months ago and is predicted to be back in January in time for conference play.

Luiana Livolo is a 6-3 Center from Portugal by way of Northwest Florida JC. Livolo is a redshirt Jr with 2 years to play. She played on Portugal’s 16U, 18U and 20U teams. She is a fine rebounder but not yet a solid offensive player.



The Schedule:
UCLA plays the Arizona and the Washington schools once each. The non-conference schedule is a killer:
At Nebraska, North Carolina and Oklahoma at Home, at Notre Dame. They do play in a fairly weak tournament in Florida but even the games not mentioned here will not be easy.


The Team:
Thea Lemberger is a 5-7 Sr and will start at the point guard position. Last season Thea averaged almost 9 points per game, starting 24 games. Thea made 27 threes at 31%.

The other guard should be Nirra Fields a 5-9 soph who averaged 8 point in just 19 minutes per game, and made 21 threes at 36%. Fields was a top 10 player out of High School.

At Center will be 6-4 redshirt Jr Corrine Costa who sat out most of last season with an head injury, after playing 5 games. Costa already is on the top 10 UCLA list for career blocks, and her 50 2 seasons ago ranks 2nd for a single UCLA season.

Atonye Nyingifa is a 6th year 5-11 forward who was the Bruins leading scorer last season at 11.6points per game. Atonye was 3rd in rebounding with 7.1 per game, high was 7.7. She is an outstanding offensive player in the paint.

Lauren Holiday is the probable 5th starter, she’s a 5-9 redshirt frosh who played 3 games then had a head injury last season.

That’s a three guard line up with only one player 6’ or taller.

Rhema Gardner is a 6-1 redshirt Jr wing who missed last season with a knee, not ACL, injury. She started 20 games 2 seasons ago.

Then we have the four newcomers, one will be redshirted and one will be out until January.


Predictions:
The injury bug, giant bug, has really hit UCLA the past two years. Three didn’t play last year, Dixon and Nyingifa missed all season two years ago and two are out for this year. A 500 season, especially with their non-conference schedule might be good. But wait until next season.



2014 Recruiting:
Jordin Canada 5-6 point guard ranked # 4 in the country
Recee’ Caldwell 5-8 point guard ranked # 6
Lajahna Drummer 6-2 power forward # 10
Monique Billings, 6-2 post # 17
Kelli Hayes 6-0 wing # 42
The # 1 Class in the Nation by far.