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Women’s college basketball has had to take a back seat to the new era of college sports, yet reaped all the downsides of what many believe has become the wild, wild west.
Football, with a touch of men’s basketball, was the launchpad for conference realignment. Certainly, those who committed to UCLA to play women’s basketball just three years ago didn’t have playing about half their games east of the Mississippi on their bingo card.
But just like football and men’s basketball, women’s basketball players have fallen victim to potentially chasing the NIL money.
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Head coach Cori Close of the UCLA Bruins cuts down the net after winning the Spokane regional championship against the LSU Lady Tigers 72-65 in the Elite Eight round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament at Spokane Arena on March 30, 2025 in Spokane, Washington. (Alika Jenner/Getty Images)
“The day after we got off the plane to the Final Four, we had six kids leave our program,” UCLA women’s basketball coach Cori Close said in a recent interview with Fox News. “And I’m a believer that there are really reasons to transfer. So I’m not at all implying that every kid is chasing the money. That’s not the case. But I do believe that it is making it easier and incentivizing kids to chase the wrong things.”
That’s why Close tries to exemplify making a mark in the Southern California community. UCLA and Close partnered with Wescom Financial to support the Wescom Foundation’s wildfire relief initiative, erasing $10 million in debt for individuals impacted by the 2025 Southern California wildfires in Altadena and the Pacific Palisades.
During games this season, Close has hosted some of the debt relief recipients, meeting with them and hearing their stories of how they were impacted by the wildfires.
“It’s one of those things that really was a no-brainer. It just was the kind of thing that I want to be a part of, I want to learn from, I want to be better at. And so when the opportunity came to partner with Wescom Financial and to do something with such significance and importance, it really was a no-brainier,” Close said.
Head coach Cori Close of the UCLA Bruins celebrates a 67-63 win over the Creighton Bluejays during the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament – Second Round at UCLA Pauley Pavilion on March 25, 2024, in Los Angeles, California. (Harry How/Getty Images)
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Close admitted that it is not easy to get her players involved in the community, considering they are trying to win a national championship on the court and build their brands off it. But Close mentioned that her team leads the NCAA in assists per game, and she tries to instill assistance others both on and off the floor.
“When you see it as like, how can I add value to somebody else? How can I make someone else better? And you get great purpose and meaning from that, you know, I think it makes us better people, but I also think it makes us a better basketball team too,” Close said.
Close said she had numerous locals reach out to her throughout last year in thanks, as watching or going to a Bruins game made them forget about their harsh new realities from the fires. She said the love was actually able to take pressure off the players to perform as they fight for a national title.
“Whenever you feel pressure, you’ve probably forgotten your why. And so people don’t burn up from things because they’re doing too much. They burn out because they lose track of their why. And so, actually, it was probably one of the best things that could have happened to us from a pressure standpoint, because you’re always knowing that someone else is dealing with stuff a whole lot harder than you’re dealing with the basketball game,” Close said.
Head Coach Cori Close of the UCLA Bruins celebrates after a game against the LSU Lady Tigers in the Elite Eight round of the 2025 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament held at Spokane Arena on March 30, 2025 in Spokane, Washington. (Tyler McFarland/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
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“I just go, you know what? We get to be an inspiration to others. We get to bring joy to somebody else. We get to bring a bag of clothes to a person who was doing their documentary on us that lost her house. We get to bring her a big duffel bag of clothes. We got to be a part of that.”
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