UCLA is the top seed in women's March Madness. It only took 36,000 miles to get there

New York Times

20-03-2025

The most remarkable number to define UCLA's season is not No. 1 — the overall seed it has in this year's women's NCAA Tournament. Nor is it 43 (team rebounds per game), 2.9 (All-American Lauren Betts' blocks per game) or 30 (total wins, including the Big Ten title).
It's 36,116 — as in miles in the air, a distance that equates to, roughly, one and a half trips around the world. Or, if you're into astronomical numbers, one-seventh of the way to the moon. Or, if it's difficult to comprehend that distance, consider: The Bruins spent 78 hours and 16 minutes in the air this season, which equates to about three and one-quarter days.
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The Bruins' route to being a tournament championship contender includes traveling more than any team in the country. Their move into the Big Ten increased their travel significantly, and a trip to Paris for a season-opener against Louisville and a Thanksgiving tournament in Hawaii continued to tack on the miles for these frequent fliers.
'It felt like we were in the air for a while, honestly. … But, at the same time, it felt like it's what we do,' guard Kiki Rice said. 'We get our schedule, we get on the plane, we leave L.A., we land wherever we land, and we get to work.'
UCLA has been aware of its impending cross-country conference move for a few years. With that in mind, coach Cori Close scheduled several eastbound trips for her Bruins to give them (and the staff) an idea of what was coming and how to fight against potential pitfalls. Two years ago, they played at South Carolina — a 2,130-mile flight — and flew in the day before the game and left immediately after. A Sweet 16 flight last season to Albany on a red-eye that stopped for fuel proved small jets were a no-go for the upcoming Big Ten season.
'It was: How can we figure out all the things that are pulling on these kids, and what are all the things that can be interferences on the road? And how do you mitigate those within as much proactive planning as you can?' Close said.
In case you haven't heard #NCAAWBB x @UCLAWBB pic.twitter.com/TbFxY02SJt
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) March 10, 2025
Close worked with her staff of trainers and dieticians and even consulted with sleep scientists to best minimize the negative impact of long and frequent travel.
These are the numbers that best illustrate how UCLA got to the top of the country in both mileage and basketball:
Big Ten miles flown: 18,038
The move into the Big Ten accounts for much of the Bruins' heavy travel schedule this season. UCLA flew 18,038 miles for conference games, which is significantly more than its non-West Coast conference counterparts, and more than double the mileage the Bruins flew during their final Pac-12 conference season (7,071). That conference mileage is nearly the entire travel time of what UCLA flew last season, which included trips to nonconference games at Ohio State and Arkansas and a tournament in the Cayman Islands — 19,302 miles.
Though UCLA didn't fly the most miles in the Big Ten, it did log more air miles when calculating its total travel schedule.
The new addition West Coast schools obviously were in the air longer than their Big Ten counterparts from, say, the Midwest or East Coast.
Complicating matters for UCLA, a Big Ten rule requires teams to spend two days of preparation in between games (in the Pac-12 conference games were played on Friday-Sunday). This is of little concern for Midwest-based programs — they fly home between games. But a return cross-country flight isn't an option for UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington, so in addition to seeing new conference arenas and practice facilities this season, the Bruins also toured Midwest towns.
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'It depended on the day,' Rice said. 'It was a lot of nap time or hanging out in the hotel room. One day, we went to the spa, or we had options to go to a mall or the movies. … They really tried to give us options.'
Nights in a hotel (or a redeye): 30
Sleep goal: Nine hours per night
After consulting with sleep scientists, Close knew for the Bruins to win on the court, getting shut-eye off it was important. For flights less than three hours, UCLA used a retrofitted smaller plane that was equipped to fit 52 seats, but with rows removed for just 30 so players could stretch out. Flights longer than three hours meant UCLA flew on larger jets, giving players full rows to stretch out.
'How you maintain sleep schedules, recovery, continuing to build muscle, aggression — all of those things really started with protecting sleep,' Close said. 'It really did start with prioritizing sleep schedules.'
This meant ensuring 'nap time' on longer flights (but nothing longer than one hour), assuming the Bruins' flight and travel time to the hotel allowed for that, so players could maintain a West Coast sleep schedule no matter where games took them. On road trips, UCLA altered travel schedules, always working back from a 9 p.m. (PT) bedtime at their destination with a 6 a.m. (PT) wake-up time.
Not everyone took advantage of nap times on flights. Guard Charlisse Leger-Walker, who redshirted this season, didn't need to rigorously commit to sleep schedules. Instead, she hit the books. Between her academic and leisure reads, Leger-Walker led the team in literature. Coaches knew when they looked at the back of the plane, if anyone's overhead light was on — it was Leger-Walker's.
Leger-Walker's pages read: 4,635 (per Goodreads)
Before each road trip, players were given a small travel bag that included snacks, water bottles, eye masks and the Bruins' secret weapon for prioritizing sleep, tart cherry juice concentrate (or, for players who don't like concentrate, tart cherry juice gummies).
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UCLA performance dietician Delaney Smith said these concentrates became a staple for the Bruins given the research that backs tart cherry's ability to reduce inflammation, aid in recovery and act as a natural melatonin in the body. Players took two ounces of juice concentrate one hour before bedtime to ensure a restful (and fruitful) sleep after every game and every flight.
'That was beneficial,' Smith said. 'It just became habit for the athletes.'
Tart cherry juice concentrate consumed: 12.25 cups per player
As a team, the Bruins drank almost 160 cups, which amounts to 10 gallons or 106 standard soda-can sizes of the beverage. Rice said she enjoyed the taste of the concentrate, but not so for all of her teammates. Wing Gabriela Jaquez was not a fan.
'It was tart and sour, and ehh,' Jaquez said. 'I'm making a face right now, but I can't even really describe it.'
For players like Jaquez, Smith replaced the concentrate with the gummies that had an equivalent amount of nutrition.
In addition to the recovery benefits from the tart cherry juice, Smith emphasized hydration throughout the season, especially while flying. 'Flying in a plane with the elevation changes and the pressurized cabin, you get really dried out,' Smith said. 'All the coaches and staff are just making sure that everyone always has water in their hands and are rehydrating. So that was a big push.'
At home, Smith did what she could to keep water accessible during practice, in the training room and locker room, but it became a bigger challenge on the road and in the air. She wanted to ensure that each player drank 16 ounces of water during every one hour of flight time. With more than 78 hours of flying — that was significant.
Water consumed in the air: 1,248 ounces per player
Individually, each player drank 156 cups of water while flying, which means as a team, the Bruins drank nearly two bathtubs worth of water or nearly 140 gallons of water.
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Smith also used hydration tests. Smith would tap a measurement strip on players' tongues that were then placed into a hydration level reader called an osmometer, which calculated the salivary osmolarity of their saliva. This device spits out numbers that correlate into four categories: hydrated, mildly dehydrated, moderately dehydrated and severely dehydrated. Lower scores equated to a stronger level of hydration.
And yes, on a team of ultra-competitive individuals, it came as no surprise that even hydration levels became a point of pride.
'We would be pretty competitive about it,' Rice said. 'Like, whoever had the lowest score, we'd always cheer. … I'm usually pretty hydrated. I definitely didn't win every time, but I was usually on the more hydrated side.'
Off to Indy! #GoBruins pic.twitter.com/htpiF5Api7
— UCLA Women's Basketball (@UCLAWBB) March 5, 2025
Finding good food on the road is always a challenge, whether you're an elite athlete or a road warrior on a cross-country RV trip. For UCLA, Smith and Close focused on snacks that were high in liquidity and something they believed players would actually eat.
That brought them to three main items: applesauce pouches, fruit snacks and grapes. As a team during the season, they ate:
• 380 applesauce pouches
• 760 fruit snacks
• 400 pounds of grapes
Applesauce pouches were an easy snack while fruit snacks divided the Bruins into 'Team Welch' and 'Team Mott,' for which Smith needed to make sure to have both. Grapes were a constant at practice (three pounds per practice) and during games (five pounds per game).
Between the start of the season and the end of February, the Bruins received 10 more off days than they did last season during their final Pac-12 season. Additionally, Close monitored numbers produced from players' wearable devices that measure load during practices to adjust quickly to make sure players, and the team as a whole, didn't overdo it.
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'I've been more reliant on the science of load in how we practice,' Close said. 'We just made some tweaks the last couple weeks about things that we're just not going to do live anymore, to sort of minimize some of the wear and tear.'
A lot of those off days came after cross-country trips, so players didn't always feel like it was an off day, but Jaquez said that using those days for recovery — however that looked for each player — has been paramount to the Bruins' success.
'I remember being a freshman, I was like, no way do their bodies just hurt after practice. But it does. It's real because I've definitely felt a lot more pain this year,' Jaquez said. 'Getting older and playing so many basketball games, I think I've just tried to focus on a lot of recovery and not doing too much to my body.'
Establishing norms and schedules was paramount this season as seemingly every other factor — air travel, schedules, hotel stays — put stress on the Bruins' bodies. Focusing on what would stay the same, instead of what would drastically change, gave UCLA a chance to do something special.
Now, the Bruins are the No. 1 overall seed with a viable path to their first Final Four. Just two more flights, to Spokane and Tampa. Easy, right?
(Illustration: Will Tullos / The Athletic; Photo of Lauren Betts courtesy of UCLA Athletics)