Gabriela Jaquez jumped in the air and joined her teammates screaming with joy as ESPN revealed UCLA earned its highest NCAA tournament position in school history, securing the tournament’s No. 1 overall seed. The Bruins will start play in the Spokane regional on Friday.
Coming off their first conference tournament title since 2006, a comeback win over USC in the Big Ten tournament final, the Bruins (30-2) will host the winner of No. 16 seed UC San Diego (20-15) versus No. 16 seed Southern (20-14) in the first round at Pauley Pavilion. If UCLA wins, it will face the winner of No. 8 Richmond (27-6) versus No. 9 Georgia Tech (22-10).
No. 3 seed LSU (28-5), which eliminated the Bruins in last year’s NCAA tournament, looms as a threat deeper in the Spokane regional bracket.
The Bruins have won 13 consecutive NCAA tournament games at Pauley Pavilion, including 10 straight as a top-four seed hosting first- and second-round games.
With six Sweet 16 appearances in their last seven NCAA tournament appearances, the Bruins are trying to reach their first NCAA Final Four and win their first national championship since the 1978 AIAW crown.
Sunday’s historic postseason seed is just the latest accomplishment for the record-setting team that already spent 13 weeks ranked first in the country, achieving the program’s highest ranking in the Associated Press poll. The Bruins (30-2) vaulted back to the top spot in the AP poll this week after knocking off USC for the conference title, avenging their only two regular-season losses.
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