A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
UCLA has one of college basketball's greatest legacies, going back to the 1960s and '70s. It's men's program once won seven straight NCAA championships and 88 games in a row. This year, the UCLA women's team is carrying on that legacy as they're the only unbeaten Division 1 college basketball team left. Steve Futterman reports from Los Angeles.
STEVE FUTTERMAN, BYLINE: UCLA's Pauley Pavilion has been the home court for many of college basketball's greatest teams. This year, another Bruin squad may be joining that long litany.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #1: And now get on your feet, clap your hands and raise your voices for the starting lineup of your UCLA Bruins.
FUTTERMAN: UCLA's women's basketball team has been perfect so far this season - 21 games, 21 victories. The latest on Sunday, a 26-point win over Minnesota. The Gophers' coach, Dawn Plitzuweit, was impressed.
DAWN PLITZUWEIT: What are they good at? They score around the rim. They don't let you score at the rim. They shoot it well from the arc. They don't let you shoot it well from the arc. So just about every aspect of the game of basketball they are dominating in.
FUTTERMAN: UCLA's rise to the top has not been sudden. The Lady Bruins have won 27 games in each of the last two seasons. The team is led by 6'7" center Lauren Betts, who says she's playing with a new confidence.
LAUREN BETTS: I think I'm just playing, like, a lot lighter, and I feel, like, a lot more free when I'm playing.
FUTTERMAN: Is that a difference from - a little bit different from last year?
BETTS: Oh, yeah. Yeah. I think last year I was so worried about, like, the wrong things, and I think it had a lot to do with things that weren't really in my control.
FUTTERMAN: Whatever she has done, it's working. Betts is averaging 20 points in almost 10 rebounds a game. There are a number of connections to the historic UCLA men's program. The most visible on this year's team is guard Gabriela Jaquez. She is the sister of former UCLA All-American Jaime Jaquez Jr., who now plays for the Miami Heat.
GABRIELA JAQUEZ: I don't know about royal family, but super grateful that I'm a Bruin. Super glad that I got to share one year with my brother here, and we got - both got to play.
FUTTERMAN: And there are many strong ties to legendary coach John Wooden, who won ten titles at UCLA, the most in men's basketball history.
CORI CLOSE: I met him in 1993, the fall of 1993. I was a nervous wreck.
FUTTERMAN: Bruins coach Cori Close first met Wooden when he was in his 80s and she was in her 20s. She calls him a mentor.
CLOSE: If you were to ask our players, they would all say, oh, we hear coach Woodenisms every day.
FUTTERMAN: What are some of your favorite ones?
CLOSE: Well, I think failure to prepare is preparing to fail. Make each day your masterpiece.
FUTTERMAN: Watching all this from afar this season is an early pioneer of women's basketball, Ann Meyers. She led UCLA to its only women's basketball championship in 1978. She refers to Wooden as papa and says he would be proud of this team.
ANN MEYERS: It's chemistry. You have to have chemistry. And a lot of times, no matter how good or talented certain players are, it's a team game and whether - you know, UCLA, when they had coach Wooden here, and you had Bill Walton or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. You had other pieces. And you say, oh, this guy is so great. They're so good, so great. He said, yeah, they're the engine. But you have to have a steering wheel. You have to have four tires.
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UNIDENTIFIED ANNOUNCER #2: Another double-digit victory for the UCLA bunch. Unbelievable.
FUTTERMAN: Tonight, UCLA has one of its toughest tests facing off against No. 8, Ohio State.
For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman in Los Angeles.
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