Don't forget the dance party. UCLA's March Madness formula built on focus and fun

On Friday, the day before the biggest game of the season, Cori Close gathered her players at midcourt to start practice. With UCLA's first-round game approaching, the coach wanted to set a tone for her team. No fiery motivational speech needed.

The Bruins had a dance party instead.

With a balance of focus and freedom, No. 4 UCLA is dancing into the second round of the NCAA tournament, where they will face No. 5 Oklahoma (27-6) on Monday at 7 p.m. PDT at Pauley Pavilion.

The Bruins (26-9) are one win away from their seventh trip to the Sweet 16 and first since 2019. The stakes rise with each game, but Close just wants her players to enjoy the experience of living the childhood dream of playing on the March Madness stage.

“If you're relieved after a win, you're not getting this in terms of what this is all about,” Close said Sunday, echoing a message she heard from Kentucky men’s basketball coach John Calipari. “I don't want them to play tight. I want them to play free. I want them to play focused and I want them to play with great gratitude and joy.”

After losing to Washington State in the Pac-12 title game, Close realized the importance of emphasizing fun during the most high-pressure games of the season. She regretted not doing that enough after the Bruins stunned Stanford in the conference semifinal.

The day after the monumental victory, UCLA carried on with business as usual, studying film in the morning, then going to practice. Players were treated to a spa day, but as the game approached, Close felt her players put too much pressure on themselves. She left feeling that the Bruins didn’t play their best in the big moment, losing by four in a tense game with 13 lead changes and five ties.

The loss taught Close that she didn’t need to motivate this group of players to work hard. They do that on their own. Instead, she needed to remind them to let loose.

“If we kept preparing with great focus,” Close said, “then we needed to bring great joy.”

The Bruins tried to strike that balance during the two-week break between the Pac-12 and NCAA tournaments. They were surprised with new shoes and Jordan brand swag bags after practice one day. They blast music in the locker room and sing karaoke-style on the team bus.

What might be perceived as a distraction for other groups is something that brings the Bruins closer together, grad transfer guard Gina Conti said.

“It's fun, basketball is fun,” the former Wake Forest star said. “We worked hard to get here, it's OK to be present, enjoy the moment.”

With all day to wait before the 8:30 p.m. PDT tip-off Saturday, players stayed relaxed in the morning by watching other tournament games. Conti, who was playing in her first NCAA tournament game for the Bruins after a first-round loss in 2021 with the Deamon Deacons, went to breakfast with her father, who is in town for the tournament, and got a manicure in the locker room before starting her normal pre-game routine.

“We were all excited, NCAA tournament, March Madness,” Conti said, “I think we all felt that and we used it to fuel us. If we didn’t feel anything, then we wouldn’t care about it like we do. That’s any type of competitor, any type of athlete, so I think everyone’s used that to our advantage.”

The Bruins jumped on Sacramento State by scoring 14 unanswered points in the first quarter and raced into the second round, where Oklahoma presents a new set of challenges.

The Sooners are the second-best scoring team in the country, averaging 84.5 points per game. With forward Madi Williams and guard Taylor Robertson, Oklahoma is one of just two teams in the country with two active 2,000-point scorers. Close characterized the Sooners as a potent combination of Stanford and Utah with the way they shoot from distance.

UCLA went 1-3 against the Cardinal and Utes, the top two teams in the Pac-12 this season.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.