Big Ten Daily (March 29 & 30): UCLA Women Advance To First Ever Final Four

The UCLA women's basketball team has advanced to the Final Four after defeating LSU. Plus, Big Ten hockey is really on the map right now.

Mar 30, 2025; Spokane, WA, USA; UCLA Bruins celebrates after an Elite 8 NCAA Tournament basketball game against the LSU Lady Tigers at Spokane Arena. Mandatory Credit: James Snook-Imagn Images | James Snook-Imagn Images

The No. 1-seed UCLA women's basketball team defeated the 3-seed LSU squad, 72-65 to send the Bruins to the Final Four for the first time in program history. The trip to the Elite Eight was the just the third ever for the women of UCLA, making for a pretty special run as of late.

UCLA head coach Cori Close was obviously extremely proud of her team and couldn't wait to start preparing for the Final Four.

"We've been having great first quarters and great third quarters," said Close. "And we were talking to our team and at the quarter break we said, 'OK, here we go, right here. What are we going to do different to come out and execute?' … It wasn't even about Lauren [picking up two early fouls]. It was like, we want to play better all the way through this stretch. I thought we were very locked into what that look like. We talked about the adjustments we needed to make and how we needed to go about it. I think we got two kills in that period of time, which is three stops in a row, and that sort of fueled us and got us going with momentum."

UCLA will take on 2-seed UConn, who beat No. 1-seed USC on Monday night. The conference foe Trojans are obviously without star guard JuJu Watkins after she tore her ACL earlier in the tournament.

Pair Of Big Ten Hockey Coaches Up For National Coach Of The Year

Ten coaches have been named finalists for the Spencer Penrose Award, given each year to the CCM/AHCA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Coach Of The Year. Ohio State's Steve Rohlik and Penn State's Guy Gadowsky are both up for the award and have represented the Big Ten well over the course of the season.

The other eight coaches are listed below:

David Carle, Denver, NCAA Semifinalist
Mike Cavanaugh, UConn, Hockey East Coach of the Year
Pat Ferschweiler, Western Michigan, NCHC Coach of the Year, NCAA Semifinalist
JF Houle, Clarkson, ECAC Coach of the Year
Jay Pandolfo, Boston University, NCAA Semifinalist
Bill Riga, Holy Cross, AHA Coach of the Year
Brett Riley, Long Island University, Independent Coach of the Year
Luke Strand, Minnesota State University, CCHA Coach of the Year

Penn State Advances To Frozen Four

March 8, 2025; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; Penn State forward Charlie Cerrato (15) celebrates a penalty goal in the third period at Yost Ice Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brian Bradshaw Sevald-Imagn Images | Brian Bradshaw Sevald-Imagn Images

With Guy Gadowsky up for coach of the year, things have obviously been going well for the Nittany Lions. That's evidenced by PSU making it to this year's edition of the Frozen Four. The berth marks the first time Penn State has ever advanced to the semifinals.

The No. 4-seed Penn State team edged out 2-seed Connecticut, 3-2 in the Allentown Regional Final on Sunday. Penn State will now square off against Boston University on April 10 in St. Louis, Mo. The winner will earn the right to take on either Denver or Western Michigan for a hockey national title.

Penn State's victory marks the fourth-straight year that a Big Ten team has made it at least to the Frozen Four.

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