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Los Angeles Times
03-04-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
‘Truly a treasure.' Dave Marcus has given voice to the rise of UCLA women's basketball
Dave Marcus has cycled through dozens of players and hundreds of games, seasons both good and bad. In his more than two decades on the job, the voice of UCLA women's basketball has often seen one — and sometimes two — teams from the Bruins' conference advance to the game's biggest stage, making him wonder when he might be able to say something like he did Sunday. Finally, after Kiki Rice made two free throws in the final seconds and the buzzer sounded inside Spokane Arena, Marcus unleashed those sweet words. 'Final Fours up,' Marcus said, 'the Bruins are on their way to Tampa.' If UCLA's first trip to the Final Four of the NCAA tournament has been a long time coming for coach Cori Close and her players, imagine what it feels like for Marcus. Most of the current roster was either infants or hadn't been born when Marcus called his first game involving the team in November 2003. Before this season, Marcus had seen the Bruins cut down nets only twice — after winning the 2006 Pac-10 tournament, when Noelle Quinn scored six points in the final 78 seconds to force overtime, and after winning the 2015 Women's National Invitation Tournament, when Jordin Canada scored half of her team's 62 points. The Bruins doubled that collection of nets after climbing ladders twice in a 21-day span last month, their Big Ten tournament title followed by a victory over Louisiana State in the Spokane Regional final that set up an even bigger game against Connecticut on Friday inside Amalie Arena. 'I've always been curious, you know, what is the Final Four like,' Marcus said, 'and we're about to find out.' As Marcus likes to make clear during even a short conversation, UCLA's run isn't about him but the stories he gets to tell. And there have been plenty over his 22 seasons. 'Dave Marcus has given UCLA women's basketball a labor of love for many, many years,' Close said. 'I love his professionalism. I love his storytelling. But even more than that, I love how much he's been committed to growing the game and honoring women's basketball. He is truly a treasure for our program.' Known for his conversational style and a smooth, mellifluous voice, Marcus is a one-man operation, serving as his own engineer and equipment manager. He perseveres through every challenge, like the time last season during an NCAA tournament game at Pauley Pavilion when someone unplugged his power cord and the webcast went silent for several minutes. 'That was just unfortunate,' said Marcus, whose calls can be heard at 'but fortunately we were able to figure it out and get back on.' Marcus hasn't always worked alone. Past broadcast partners have included Tracy Murray, the former Bruins and NBA forward who now serves as a radio analyst for men's basketball games alongside Josh Lewin, and Angel Gray, who is now a rising star at ESPN. After getting his start as a student broadcaster calling men's basketball games when he attended California, Marcus went on to work local high school football and basketball games for various Southern California television outlets. He was later a play-by-play announcer and sideline reporter covering college football and basketball games for an unwired radio network before getting hired to be the voice of Pepperdine women's basketball for two seasons. When the Bruins called about an opening to do their games before the 2003-04 season, Marcus was overjoyed. He's also worked a handful of men's games alongside Murray over the years and says his approach doesn't change whether he's broadcasting to the full UCLA radio network or a webcast that might be heard by significantly fewer listeners. 'The experience for me is the same — I'm at the game, I've got a great seat and I get to describe what's going on, and so I'm going to leave the metrics to others,' Marcus said. 'I hope that there's enough value there that I keep getting brought back, but so far it's worked.' Pointing out that it's hard to land airtime in the L.A. radio market — even many Kings broadcasts are relegated to an app — Marcus said there are benefits to doing a webcast that people can stream through their phone and play in their car. 'It's easier than trying to find a radio station sometimes,' Marcus said. 'We may have more people listening to the way we do it than if we were on a commercial station — I have no idea — but it's pretty accessible now, and I always think that no one's listening until I say something really dumb and then I hear about it from everywhere.' Some of Marcus' favorite stories about this UCLA team have come off the court. Before the season opener, he watched as the Bruins conducted a basketball clinic in the suburbs of Paris with economically disadvantaged children, teaching them how to dribble with each hand, jump stop and pivot. 'It was kind of hilarious,' Marcus said, 'because very few of the kids spoke English and very few of the players spoke French — although Zania Socka-Nguemen does speak some French — but I was just watching players, some of them almost come out of their shell; Janiah Barker was animated with the kids, and it was just wonderful to see that side of her.' When the Bruins traveled to Honolulu for a tournament later in the month, they played with children living in transitional housing who delighted in the chance to spend time with new college-aged friends. 'At the end of it,' Marcus said, 'the Bruin players handed out some of their playing cards and a lot of kids didn't even realize these were even basketball players, they just thought a group from [mainland] America had come to play with them and it was really kind of cool.' Marcus said he also appreciated the authenticity of Close, who is the same person in postgame interviews as she is when the microphone is turned off. If all goes well this weekend, he'll get to interview her after two more games and before one final set of nets gets cut down. Though the Bruins made history by getting here, there could be more to come. 'It's great to see them at this point realize their goals,' Marcus said, 'and I'm happy to be there describing the rest of the way.'
Los Angeles Times
30-03-2025
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
UCLA shines in critical moments to defeat LSU and reach Final Four for first time
SPOKANE, Wash. — This time, everything came together when it mattered most. Lauren Betts made sure of it, following one powerful move with another. This time, the last seconds were full of joyous anticipation. Kiki Rice made the most of them, sinking two late free throws inside Spokane Arena. This time, there was reason to celebrate the meaning of it all. Gabrela Jaquez made sure to marinate in this moment, bouncing gleefully toward halfcourt while her teammates formed a joyous mob. A year after Louisiana State ended UCLA's season in the NCAA women's basketball tournament, the Bruins returned the favor. Making the critical plays it needed in the final minutes, top-seeded UCLA pulled away for a 72-65 victory over the third-seeded Tigers on Sunday in a Spokane Regional final, propelling the Bruins to their first Final Four in school history. Hello, Tampa! UCLA (34-2) will face either top-seeded USC or second-seeded Connecticut in a national semifinal on Friday at Amalie Arena. It took some late fortitude to set the stage for the cross-country trip. With LSU having closed to within 59-53, Jaquez followed two free throws with a three-pointer that she celebrated by raising her arms in triumph. UCLA held a 62-53 lead and just needed to play a clean final 90 seconds. The Bruins got the job done. This was the long-awaited breakthrough UCLA had been seeking under coach Cori Close, who has taken her teams to the second weekend of this tournament seven times. The Bruins had reached a regional final only once previously under their current coach, losing to Connecticut in 2018. Now they're two victories away from the school's first NCAA title in the sport after winning the 1978 AIAW championship behind the dynamic play of Ann Meyers and Denise Curry. Joining them in school lore will be Betts, who continued her dominant run in this tournament with 17 points, seven rebounds and six blocks. The 6-foot-7 center has now tallied 78 points, 31 rebounds and 11 blocks over her last three games. Jaquez added 18 points, eight rebounds and three steals and Timea Gardiner made five of eight three-pointers on the way to 15 points. The Bruins celebrated by dumping a cooler of confetti on Close. Beating LSU (31-6) necessitated a better finish than a year ago, when the Bruins missed their final eight shots while being outscored 14-2 on the way to a 78-69 loss. Showing the poise their coach had referenced her players having on the eve of the rematch, UCLA did not wilt this time. Returning from foul trouble to start the second half, Betts quickly reasserted herself. She stepped out to contest an Aneesah Morrow three-pointer that was airballed, made a layup and snagged a defensive rebound. Londynn Jones added a three-pointer to push the Bruins' lead into double digits for the first time, forcing LSU to call a timeout. UCLA was just getting started. After Jones followed a steal in the backcourt with a jumper and Jaquez added a three-pointer, the Bruins' cushion was up to 43-29 and the Tigers needed another timeout. LSU surged to get within 46-41 before Morrow, the Tigers' leading scorer to that point with 13 points, went down with an injury and briefly had to go to the locker room before returning for the fourth quarter. Guard Flau'Jae Johnson led LSU with 28 points. After getting played to a push in the first half of its most recent tournament victories over Richmond and Mississippi, UCLA's 31-25 halftime lead over the Tigers felt like a massive edge. It largely came courtesy of Gardiner's making all three three-pointers she took in the second quarter, helping the Bruins withstand playing the entire quarter without Betts because of foul trouble. Earlier this week, Close had said she wanted her team to be able to push through chaos and have the flexibility to play the game 'like an art project, not a scientific formula.' That chaos came in the form of playing so many minutes without the team's best player. Betts had asserted herself in the early going, blocking two shots in the first 10 seconds and making three of five shots before exiting the game. But despite a prolonged shooting slump by the Tigers, who missed 14 of their first 16 shots, UCLA could not build more than a five-point lead. Two missed layups and three missed free throws were largely to blame. Things deteriorated further for the Bruins late in the first quarter when Betts was called for her second foul, sending her to the bench for the rest of the first half. But then something encouraging happened: UCLA went on a run. Back-to-back three-pointers from Jaquez and Gardiner capped a 12-2 push that gave the Bruins a 23-17 advantage and swung the momentum hugely in their favor. They would not let up, this time different from so many others.
