Saturday, June 21

Preseason poll ranks women’s basketball No. 9 in nation


Guard Jordin Canada will be one of the main pieces to UCLA's strategy. Voted team captain last season,the now-junior will look to lead her team deep into the NCAA Tournament. (Daily Bruin file photo)


UCLA women’s basketball has just been ranked as the No. 9 team in the country by the USA Today Coaches Preseason Poll.

This is a vast improvement over last year’s preseason rankings in which UCLA received votes but did not crack the top 25. The Bruins finished the year at No. 13 with a record of 26-9.

The USA Today Sports Board of Coaches consists of 32 NCAA Division I institutions and the voting system not only incorporates points, but also takes into account the number of first-place votes a team has received.

At No.1, Connecticut finished last season 38-0 and was awarded with 755 points and 18 first-place votes.

The Bruins notched 481 total points but did not receive any first-place nods.

UCLA is the highest-ranked Pac-12 team with Stanford, Washington, Arizona State and Oregon State falling in line at No. 10, 15, 16 and 17 respectively.

Sugimura joined the Bruin as a freshman in 2015 and contributed until 2017. He was an assistant Sports editor for the 2016-2017 academic year and spent time on the women's basketball, men's volleyball, women's volleyball, beach volleyball, men's soccer and swim and dive beats.


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