UCLA coach Cori Close uses lessons learned from time with UConn's Geno Auriemma over a decade ago

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UCLA coach Cori Close uses lessons learned from time with UConn's Geno Auriemma over a decade ago

2025-04-04 04:51 Last Updated At：05:01

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — When Cori Close was starting out at UCLA 14 years ago, she called Geno Auriemma and asked if she could fly across the country to watch his UConn team practice during the NCAA Tournament because her team wasn't playing in March Madness.

It was Close's first head coaching job, the Bruins had finished the season with a losing record and she wanted to see what made Auriemma's team so successful. Auriemma was happy to oblige and Close watched his team up close. She came back with her staff in the fall to try to learn more.

“He’s a master teacher. He’s done it in a style of play that I really enjoy, just personally, especially on the offensive end,” said Close, who was named AP Coach of the Year on Thursday. “Trying to think about as a young, first-year coach at that point what was that going to look like for me. It wasn’t just Coach Auriemma. (Chris Dailey) and their assistant coaches, their whole program, just letting someone in in the middle of the NCAA Tournament and learn, I think it’s a huge credit to them.”

Over the past four decades, the Huskies have won a record 11 national championships and are nearly a perennial Final Four participant.

The Bruins have been climbing steadily over the past few seasons, earning the school's first No. 1 ranking earlier this season and now are appearing in the Final Four for the first time. Their opponent on Friday night will be UConn.

“If I had known, I wouldn’t have let her in,” Auriemma said, laughing.

But then he was reflective of the experience.

“Basketball is basketball, you know? And it’s our job to share it if we have anything that’s worth it, and if they think that we have something that’s worth it," Auriemma said. "You can’t worry about anything else. Our relationship — and through USA Basketball, Cori and I got to know each other a little bit.

"We both share a passion for wines. And so her energy and all that she has, that she brings is just infectious, I think. And I’m glad when coaches have success. That’s what we’re here for.”

This isn’t the first time the teams have met in the NCAA Tournament. UConn beat UCLA in the Sweet 16 in 2017 and 2019. A lot more is at stake now with the Bruins on the biggest stage for the first time.

UConn is a veteran of the Final Four, reaching the national semifinals for the 16th time in the past 17 seasons.

“There’s four teams left out of hundreds in the NCAA, so we’re just so grateful,” Huskies star Paige Bueckers said. “But we know like the journey isn’t done. We want our story to continue as long as possible, and we have this to finish, so we want to enjoy this, soak it up, be proud of each other."

UCLA guard Kiki Rice and UConn's Azzi Fudd are no strangers to each other, having played at rival high schools in the Washington, D.C., area.

“Our high schools were 15 minutes away from each other. I think she’s always been a fantastic shooter, one of the best shooters I’ve been able to see and stuff,” Rice said. “And I think just grateful to have another opportunity to play against her and the UConn team. But it’s really cool that both of us are from the DMV.”

Lauren Betts has been nearly unstoppable the last few weeks, helping UCLA win the Big Ten Tournament and leading the Bruins to their first Final Four. She has averaged 21.2 points and 8.7 rebounds while shooting 75% from the field.

She and her teammates credit some of the success to her opening up about her mental health struggles last month.

“I think one of the reasons why I wanted to come out with the story is because I felt like I was finally in the right place to do so,” Betts said. "I think that I just had done a lot of healing since then. I was, like, you know what, I just don’t feel like I have to really hide this anymore.

“I think the responses that I’ve had since then have truly just validated what I did and what I put out. And I think the amount of love and support that I’ve gotten just means a lot to me.”

Betts along with Bueckers and Fudd are among a growing number of college players who have opened up about mental health struggles the last few months.

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Informal ties with US philanthropists like Howard Buffett firm despite shaky US–Ukraine relations

2025-04-08 07:22 Last Updated At：07:31

BOBRYK, Ukraine (AP) — As uncertainty in U.S.–Ukraine relations grows, informal ties with some U.S. philanthropists built over three years of war with Russia are holding firm.

One such benefactor is Howard G. Buffett, a Republican and son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett. He's making his 18th visit to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The trip comes as the new U.S. administration led by President Donald Trump is trying to broker a temporary ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. But the fighting has continued, and it remains unclear whether the United States will maintain its support for Ukraine in repelling Russia’s invasion.

“It doesn’t change anything we do. We’re on track,” Buffett told The Associated Press, adding that his foundation will surpass $1 billion in aid to Ukraine this year. He called the prospect of a peace deal “impossible.”

“Putin doesn’t want it, and he won’t respect it,” he said. “There’s no easy way to end the war. So, we’ll stick with it as long as we need to.”

The AP caught up with Buffett aboard a train with Ukraine’s Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko on Saturday. Their shared commitment to humanitarian demining brought them together in 2023, and they’ve remained in close contact since then. Svyrydenko calls him “one of the greatest friends of Ukraine.”

Buffett is among a number of Americans across the U.S. political spectrum who support Ukraine’s war effort, either through financial aid or volunteer military service, who say the U.S. hasn’t done enough to help Ukraine defeat Russia over the past few years.

On this trip, Buffett and Svyrydenko traveled to the country’s northern Sumy region, where the situation has significantly worsened following Ukrainian forces’ loss of ground in Russia’s Kursk region.

They visited the villages of Popivka and Bobryk, which — like much of the region — lie in a high-risk zone for land mines. Parts of the area were occupied by Russian forces in 2022 and are now considered potentially contaminated. They also stopped at a local school that had been relocated to a basement, where children now study during hours-long air raid alerts.

Buffett’s foundation, which focuses on humanitarian needs like agriculture, infrastructure and mine clearance, has contributed about $800 million to Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion, including $175 million in humanitarian demining. Svyrydenko’s ministry is responsible for Ukraine’s humanitarian demining infrastructure.

“He understands very well that if a country that can feed 400 million people cannot clear its fields and loses at least $12 billion of GDP every year due to mined land, it’s a major challenge,” Svyrydenko said of Buffett.

According to Ukraine’s Ministry of Economy, the country’s agricultural sector has lost 20.5% of its farmland since the invasion — due to land mines, occupation and ongoing fighting.

Roughly 139,000 square kilometers (53,670 square miles) of Ukrainian land — about the size of the state of New York — are potentially mined. Two-thirds of that territory consists of fertile farmland where generations of Ukrainians have grown wheat.

Since the beginning of the war, 335 people have been killed and 823 wounded in mine-related incidents. An estimated 6.1 million people live in areas considered at risk of landmine contamination.

Despite rocky relations and growing uncertainty in the United States, Buffett said he believes many U.S. lawmakers still support the principles of freedom and democracy and won’t abandon Ukraine as it fights for its sovereignty.

“At the end of the day, I think the U.S. will do the right thing, but it may be a painful process and there may be a lot more Ukrainians that die,” he said.

The Buffett Foundation funded several bipartisan U.S. congressional delegations to Ukraine in 2023 and plans to bring another group in May.

Buffett, whose foundation has worked in conflict zones for over two decades, said witnessing the conditions firsthand is critical to understanding the war’s scale. He recalled one drive in particular — from Kharkiv to Borova, near the front line —where he passed through village after village flattened by Russian attacks.

He added that atrocities committed in towns like Bucha, Borodyanka and Irpin, where Russian forces were accused of torturing, raping and executing civilians, are often forgotten outside Ukraine.

“That’s why showing up matters. Hearing it from the people living it is the only way to truly understand.”