Letters To Sports: Cori Close And Ucla Women Delivering Basketball Excellence

UCLA Bruins women’s hoops coach Cori Close has delivered a phenomenal season. She has built a squad that is disciplined, superbly coached, and afloat of bosom — qualities that callback nan title standards group by nan legendary John Wooden. Under Close’s leadership, nan UCLA programme has reached unprecedented heights, including its first Final Four quality successful 2025.

This year’s squad is not only winning — it is representing UCLA pinch integrity, grit and excellence. I judge it will beryllium remembered arsenic 1 of nan finest teams successful UCLA history.

Connie Giguere
Rolling Hills Estates

Thank you for nan article on nan UCLA women’s hoops seniors. This programme has been nan champion hoops squad successful Los Angeles. It’s awesome to spot them get nan attention. Coach Close and her unit are specified awesome teachers and mentors. It shows successful nan type of players that are connected nan team. You tin spot they really bask each different and are wholly unselfish. It’s a joyousness going to nan games and it is nan champion bargain successful town.

Steve Shaevel
Woodland Hills

Congrats to caller Lakers proprietor Mark Walter and unit for having nan courageousness initiating replacement of nan dysfunctional beforehand agency pinch nan hiring of Lon Rosen arsenic president of business operations. This should resonate arsenic a beardown connection to GM Rob Pelinka that his past 2 years drafting led to nan mistakes of Dalton Knecht, Bronny James and Adou Thiero, arsenic good arsenic [earlier] trading mistakes of Russell Westbrook, Ivica Zubac and Josh Hart, on pinch [the] free-agent nonaccomplishment of Alex Caruso and waiving Jordan Goodwin, will nary longer beryllium tolerated. Neither will mediocrity aliases nan sentimentality from Jeanie Buss. Time to move on!

David Goldstein
Chatsworth

Lakers fans were hoping that nan first large move by nan caller ownership group led by Mark Walter would travel astatine nan caller waste and acquisition deadline. That did not happen. Instead, nan first move was to hit their loyal fans pinch a monolithic value summation for play tickets for nan 2026-27 season. It would person been bully if nan first move was obtaining players who excel astatine defense. Or moreover conscionable improving nan lousy nutrient astatine Crypto.com Arena. As unspeakable an proprietor arsenic he is, moreover Arte Moreno realized nan first move arsenic a caller proprietor is important: He importantly lowered brew prices astatine Angels games instantly aft he bought nan team.

Dave Ring
Manhattan Beach

Last Sunday’s debacle successful an uninspiring and disfigured nonaccomplishment to a higher-seeded, much aggressive, much talented and much balanced Celtics squad seemed to expose each nan flaws that plague this struggling and inconsistent Lakers team.

They’re porous defensively and person a boring, predictable discourtesy mostly consisting of alternating one-on-one isolations betwixt their “Big Three” astir each travel down nan court. When their unbalanced lineup of fundamentally 3 akin constituent guards person an disconnected night, for illustration against nan Celtics, they’re lost. Other players connected nan tribunal can’t compensate and their chair disappears. All this connected a “special night” erstwhile nan Pat Riley statue is unveiled and nan ‘80s Showtime Lakers are honored, nan Lakers laic an ovum to a squad without Jayson Tatum.

They stay a middle-of-the-pack, unremarkable squad that has small aliases nary separator for correction to triumph and/or make immoderate benignant of tally done what now looks for illustration a short postseason.

Rick Solomon
Lake Balboa

The past 2 Laker losses were travesties of defense. They were picked and screened to death, which led to galore wide-open three-point shots by nan Magic and Suns. Picks and screens are basal hoops plays that we each utilized and defended against successful inferior precocious and precocious school. This has been going connected each season. The Lakers response? They traded for different anemic defender successful Luke Kennard. Absurd!

Richard Raffalow
Valley Glen

If you were wondering who nan worst proprietor successful sports is, Arte Moreno conscionable eliminated nan competition. Claiming that Angels fans had minimal liking successful winning — based connected immoderate unnamed investigation study — Moreno blatantly exposed his longstanding disregard for nan players, nan fans, nan media and Major League Baseball. All 4 factions request to admit a toxin successful nan strategy and enactment instantly to region it.

Jim Fredrick
Manhattan Beach

In Ryan Kartje’s article astir the USC men’s hoops team he quotes coach Eric Musselman whining astir really his squad misses Rodney Rice and suggesting that if UCLA had been missing Donovan Dent successful nan blowout nonaccomplishment to nan Bruins, things mightiness person been different. But injuries are a portion of squad sports. In fact, UCLA was missing a premier subordinate successful Skyy Clark for a important portion of nan play but nary whining came from that camp. Every squad suffers losses. But sadly, not everyone loses pinch dignity.

Alan Abajian
Alta Loma

Enjoyed Bill Shaikin’s comments connected Sacramento State jumping to nan Mid-American Conference. Can they compete is nan large question, but geography-wise it can’t beryllium worse than Cal and Stanford joining nan Atlantic Coast Conference.

Fred Wallin
Westlake Village

Dodgers announcer Stephen Nelson’s self-deprecation successful his statement that “I don’t person a very precocious sentiment connected myself aliases my work,” does not bespeak my cognition of his occupation performance. I emotion his telephone of Dodgers games. Stephen, you are 1 of nan champion astatine what you do.

Rich Fond
Sherman Oaks

I spot Pete Crow-Armstrong mocked Dodgers fans. If I batted .247, I don’t deliberation I’d beryllium mocking of anyone else.

Mike Schaller
Temple City

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