UCLA women dive back into Big Ten play focused on defense

LOS ANGELES — Before UCLA’s game against Long Beach State last week, Cori Close was fit in a blue-striped suit talking to America as an analyst in the studio on Fox’s women’s college basketball coverage. Playing double-duty on television before returning to call X’s and O’s on the Pauley Pavilion hardwood, Close heard her colleagues list national championship contenders. Of course, the fourth-ranked Bruins were on that list. But so were Connecticut, South Carolina, LSU and Texas, which rounded out the Associated Press Top 25 poll top five. The Bruins’ coach thought about UCLA’s foes – the obstacles on the way to a return trip to the Final Four – and asked herself a question:...