learned

The Navy’s top leadership says they are working hard to avoid serious issues that have plagued previous shipbuilding efforts when it comes to the Trump class “battleship” program. Senior officials have focused, in particular, on the need to have a very firm design before any work on the large surface combatants, the first of which could cost a whopping $17 billion, actually begins. A lack of a finalized design, along with repeated changes to it along the way, contributed heavily to the demise of the Constellation class frigate last year.

Editor’s note: As this story was being written, the Pentagon announced that the Secretary of the Navy “is departing the administration, effective immediately,” and that Undersecretary Hung Cao will take over as Acting Secretary of the Navy. No reason for the change in leadership was immediately given.

Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Daryl Caudle and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan both discussed the Trump class battleship, also known as the BBG(X), at separate roundtables on the sidelines of the Navy League’s Sea Air Space 2026 exposition this week. President Donald Trump had officially rolled out plans for the Trump class, the first of which is currently set to be named the USS Defiant, last December.

“I think it is a necessary element to the force,” and “I think it provides real flexibility to the force,” Secretary Phelan said about the BBG(X) effort at his roundtable.

From what the Navy has shared so far, the Trump class warships will displace approximately 35,000 tons, very roughly three times that of the newest Flight III subvariant of the Arleigh Burke class destroyer. They will also be between 840 and 880 feet long, have a beam (the widest point in the hull) between 105 and 115 feet, and be able to reach a top speed greater than 30 knots. The armament on each of the ships will include a mix of nuclear and conventional missiles, including hypersonic types, loaded into large vertical launch system (VLS) arrays. They will also have an electromagnetic railgun, a pair of traditional 5-inch naval guns, laser directed energy weapons, and various additional weapons for close-in defense.

Navy officials also provided additional details about the costs and production schedule associated with the Trump class during yesterday’s rollout of the service’s proposed budget for the 2027 Fiscal Year. As it stands now, the Navy is looking to order the first of three of these large surface combatants in Fiscal Year 2028, at an estimated cost of $17 billion. The Navy is currently projecting it will spend $43.5 billion on the program, overall, across the next five years. As a point of comparison, the estimated total procurement costs of each of the next three Ford class aircraft carriers range from roughly $13 to $15 billion.

The $17 billion figure “is the early initial estimate. We’ll see where we really settle down as we get through that and start to rationalize some of the costs,” Secretary Phelan noted at his roundtable at Sea Air Space. “So, let’s see where we land on that first ship, and then what the economies of scale get us to as we move through it.”

The Navy has already started “talking to two different vendors” about actually building the Trump class warships, he added. “Then it’ll be a function of how we get through that design process with them, and then their capacity in their yards, what we think they can do. Because we’re looking to really get moving on this and lay the keel in [20]28.”

The Secretary of the Navy and CNO Caudle have made clear that the BBG(X) design is still in the very early stages of being formulated. The ships are also set to incorporate a host of advanced capabilities, many of which, such as the railgun and laser directed energy weapons, have yet to be fully proven out, despite years of relevant work the Navy has done already.

“The ship needs to be designed. So, I got to put money toward the research and design of it,” Adm. Caudle said during his roundtable at Sea Air Space. “It’s really the design and how much pull-through I can do from previous efforts, like things that we already have on Arleigh Burke and DDG(X) designs that were already in the works.”

The Navy has previously confirmed that BBG(X) is a direct successor to the DDG(X) next-generation destroyer program. The service has also said that the new large surface combatant addresses shortcomings that had emerged with the previously planned DDG(X) design, which we will come back to later on.

“So all that has to go into a form factor in which we’re fundamentally changing the capacity, [the] vertical capacity of it, [and] the electrical plant and electrical generation for future large-scale directed energy [weapons] and other munitions that require a lot of power, like railgun,” Caudle continued. “So all that’s being baked into that design. And, because we’re taking it so seriously, we want to make sure that we have the right resources applied to the design.”

One of the “mistakes that we’ve done before, quite frankly,” is “we’ve started to build before the design is mature enough,” the CNO added. “And we want to make sure that we’re at [sic] least a very, very high level – I won’t try to give a percentage, but you can think like 80% or more design – before the first weld is done.”

Caudle did not explicitly mention the Constellation class frigate, but the design of that ship was still being finalized as of April 2025, nearly five years after the initial contract award. Work had already begun on the lead ship at that time. This was all despite the Navy having explicitly chosen a derivative of an in-production frigate – Franco-Italian Fregata Europea Multi-Missione (FREMM) – specifically to help reduce risk and keep the program on track. Needless to say, that did not happen, as you can read more about here.

The Navy has also deliberately utilized a process known as “concurrency,” which entails starting production without having a validated design in place, on other shipbuilding projects. Concurrency has been presented in the past as a cost and time-saving measure, but has often produced exactly the opposite results. It has had notably negative impacts on the Navy’s newest operational aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and both classes of Littoral Combat Ships (LCS).

“Look, we were doing work on railguns. We kind of abandoned it. We do have some directed energy [weapons] we are testing out right now,” Secretary Phelan also pointed out in terms of work the Navy has already done to develop key capabilities for the Trump class. “These are all things we have to get better at and need to do. So I think it’s just making sure that we’ve got the design down in an appropriate fashion, pretty locked down, and then making some trade-offs as we decide where to build that ship, when, how.”

The Navy just disclosed earlier this year that it conducted at least one new round of live-fire testing utilizing a prototype electromagnetic railgun currently at the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in New Mexico. In the early 2020s, the service had shelved work on that weapon, at least publicly, despite promising developments, citing technical hurdles.

Navy officials also continue to be very supportive of work on laser directed energy weapons, despite ongoing challenges with their development. The service is actively pursuing microwave directed energy weapons, as well.

At his roundtable at Sea Air Space this week, Phelan said that there are discussions ongoing about the possibility of the Trump class warships being nuclear-powered, though he said that was “unlikely” to be the case. Nuclear propulsion would have major impacts on the complexity and cost of the ships. Navy budget documents say the plan currently is for the BBG(X) to use a combined conventional propulsion system that includes diesel generators and gas turbines.

The Navy is also still fleshing out how it plans to employ the Trump class battleships operationally, which will also have impacts on the final design. This ties back into the aforementioned issues with DDG(X) that the service has cited in the past. The Navy has said it had previously arrived at a place with the next-generation destroyer program where it was considering building two subclasses with different armament configurations. This, in turn, had prompted questions about the limits that course of action would have imposed on the operational flexibility of the class as a whole.

“It’s something we’re trying to understand all the proper trade-offs, and then think about it as a Battleship Strike Group, Carrier Strike Group, how do they work in which different theaters,” Phelan said. “Look at how we’re deployed today, and ask yourself, how a ship like that, what it could do for us. If I had a ship like that today, I could park that off the coast of Venezuela, and I don’t need a ton of DDGs [Arleigh Burke class destroyers] to support it, and I can relieve some of the pressure on those.”

The Secretary’s comments here are in line with how the Navy’s latest budget request describes the current operational concept behind BBG(X).

“Adding capability at the highest end of the Golden Fleet high-low mix, the Battleship’s primary role is to deliver high-volume, long-range offensive fires and serve as a robust, survivable forward command and control platform. The expanded size and energy density of the new Battleship provide critical advantages for future naval warfare, offering a future-proof platform with distinct capabilities that enhance deterrence,” the line item for the program says. “Its advanced systems will enable true long-range strike with hypersonic weapons housed in new, larger vertical launch systems. Vastly increased power generation, managed by a sophisticated integrated power system with high-capacity energy storage, will support mission-critical directed energy weapons like high-output lasers and electromagnetic railguns, reducing reliance on costly single-use munitions.”

“Furthermore, its advanced naval gunfire offers cost-effective options for strike and defense, and its capacity to embark a fleet command staff enhances survivability by putting commanders closer to the fight. As a flexible command-and-control platform for both manned and unmanned platforms, the Battleship can lead a Surface Action Group, integrate with a Carrier Strike Group, or operate autonomously to secure critical sea lanes,” it continues. “To overcome the capacity limits of the Arleigh Burke class destroyer and the capability compromises of the previously planned DDG(X), the Battleship is designed specifically to accommodate these advanced weapon systems.”

TWZ has previously raised detailed questions about the actual ability of a warship like the Trump class design to conduct independent operations, as well as the general utility of employing it in this way. These questions are compounded by the Navy’s plans, at least right now, to only acquire a very small number of these ships, which can only be in one place at one time. They would also be top targets for adversaries in future conflicts. With the plan now to order the first of these ships in Fiscal Year 2028, the decision about whether to proceed at all could fall to a new administration, as well.

The service does not appear to have ever put out a firm target for how many of the smaller DDG(X)s it expected to buy, but there had been talk of acquiring between 30 and 50 of those ships in the coming decades.

There are also industrial base and affordability concerns around acquiring such an expensive class of new large surface combatants amid the Navy’s other shipbuilding priorities. Naval shipbuilding capacity, or lack thereof, in the United States has been of growing concern for years, especially when contrasted with China’s industrial might in this regard.

“What we’re looking at more is this distributed ship building in modular [sic; modules], and I think that is a way to tackle that issue,” Phelan said at his roundtable in response to a direct question about these issues. “We’re going to need to really improve our ability to build ships.”

With TWZ and other outlets at a separate event earlier this year, Adm. Caudle also touted the importance of a greater focus on modular shipbuilding methods, which are not new. At that time, CNO was talking about how that could be used to help accelerate work on new FF(X) frigates that the Navy is now looking to acquire in place of the abortive Constellation class.

“An innovative strategy is guiding the new Battleship’s design and construction, centered on a state-of-the-art digital workflow. This utilizes modern digital engineering, AI-enabled design, and advanced production practices to reduce cost and schedule risk. Adopting best practices from Korean and Japanese shipbuilding, the approach emphasizes high design maturity before construction begins, precision modular construction, and tight integration between design and production teams,” according to the Navy’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget request. “This digital-first, modular approach allows for distributed construction across the industrial base, with U.S. shipyards focusing on final assembly and integration. The strategy is designed to stabilize the workforce, increase industrial resilience, and deliver the new capability more predictably and affordably.”

With the Navy now pushing to order its first Trump class battleship in Fiscal Year 2028, and insisting it won’t start work without a very firm design in place, more details about these warships are likely to continue to emerge in the coming months.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Arsenal and Manchester City are once again battling for the Premier League title in England and, with only weeks of the season remaining, the gap between them remains extremely small.

Whether Arsenal or City go on to win the league, one thing about Arsenal already feels clear: There has been growth, but not dominance.

Arsenal are more consistent than they were a few years ago. They are harder to beat, more confident and more composed during the “no-pressure” parts of the season.

They look so dominant when the pressure is off, but when the moments that matter arrive, they still fail to fully take control. As an Arsenal fan, that is what makes this team so frustrating to watch.

For the second time since the 2022/23 season – when they led the Premier League for much of the campaign before being pipped by Manchester City in the run-in – Arsenal have made the title race harder for themselves than it needed to be.

At the start of the campaign, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta made a number of significant and, for some, controversial changes. He dropped Myles Lewis-Skelly, who had been outstanding last season, and brought Riccardo Calafiori back into the starting lineup after injury.

Whatever people thought of those decisions, they appeared to immediately make Arsenal impossible to break down. That defensive strength was clear from the opening day, when Arsenal beat Manchester United 1-0 at Old Trafford thanks to an early Calafiori goal. In the following weeks, they conceded fewer than one goal per game.

But in their third game of the season, they lost to Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield, with a late Dominik Szoboszlai free-kick deciding the match.

The obvious question after that game was: Why did Arsenal not go for the kill?

Liverpool were not at their most dominant, yet Arsenal looked more concerned with defending a draw than winning the game. It felt like a missed opportunity and raised early questions about game management in decisive moments.

A similar feeling followed the home draw against Manchester City a month later, in September. That game once again highlighted Arsenal’s competitiveness and extensive growth, but also their reluctance to fully seize control when the game opened up. A late Gabriel Martinelli equaliser earned them a point, but doubts remained about whether they should have been more aggressive.

At that point, for me personally, and for most Arsenal fans, the signs were still overwhelmingly positive.

Martinelli’s equaliser came from an assist by Eberechi Eze, whose arrival added creativity and unpredictability in attack. We all enjoyed watching the team and were hopeful for its success.

When my cohost Stephen Howson taunted me on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast by saying, “Those dropped points against Liverpool and Man City will come back to haunt you come the end of the season,” I laughed at him. I was feeling extra confident, as Rio Ferdinand himself had said he believed Arsenal would win the Premier League. That’s what you need to keep believing, right? A six-time Premier League winner backing your club to get it over the line this season.

That belief only grew stronger on October 4, when Arsenal went top of the table after a 2-0 win over West Ham United. Goals from former West Ham midfielder Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka sent Arsenal to the summit.

For much of the season, Arsenal remained close to flawless, even if the sense around them was that they were never fully in control.

The first setback came in December, when Arsenal lost 2-1 away to Aston Villa after a late winner from Emiliano Buendia.

The defeat caused a wave of panic among Arsenal fans about a possible change of trajectory and a repeat of the 2022/23 season, particularly given that the team had looked dominant against stronger rivals such as Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.

Thankfully, those fears were eased just a few weeks later, when Aston Villa visited Arsenal’s home stadium, the Emirates, on December 30 and Arsenal battered them 4-1.

That victory was a reminder that the panic around Arsenal after a defeat is often bigger than the reality.

League results remained strong until Arsenal were faced with another opportunity to make a statement, this time against a resurgent Manchester United under Michael Carrick.

United had already beaten Manchester City in the derby and then managed to beat Arsenal as well.

Despite that defeat, Arsenal remained top of the table. But for Arsenal fans, the memories of previous collapses once again started to return.

Then came the draws against Brentford and Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Confidence began to fade, and there was a growing sense that City, strengthened by the arrivals of Marc Guehi and Antoine Semenyo, were beginning to gather momentum. City’s victory against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final on March 2 worked to cement this feeling.

Fans had another moment of hope and relief on March 14 when 16-year-old Max Dowman scored a brilliant goal in a 2-0 win over Everton, while City could only manage a 1-1 draw away at West Ham. At that stage, it felt as if we had done it.

But then history repeated itself, and Arsenal found themselves in another losing streak – a defeat to Southampton in the FA Cup quarterfinal, and league losses against Bournemouth and, recently, City.

Arsenal are still currently top by three points. However, City have a game in hand and, if they beat Burnley by a couple of goals, they will go top on goal difference.

Is it happening again? Are we to lose it all at the last minute? I hope not, but somehow this shows us once more that Arsenal have shown growth throughout the season. However, the lack of dominance has allowed City to get back into the title race.

In the famous words of Declan Rice, “It’s not done yet,” but there is no denying we have made it very difficult for ourselves.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Welcome back to this week’s Lakers newsletter, where we are remembering that all good things must come to an end.

The Lakers’ longest winning streak since the 2019-20 season ended in Detroit on Monday much in the same fashion that it was built. The Lakers announced themselves as a legitimate playoff threat by piling up thrilling, clutch time wins. Another team’s clutch time win snapped the Lakers’ nine-game streak. Win or lose, the Lakers are finding new lessons in every one of the close games.

Bend but don’t break

Luke Kennard, second from right, celebrates after his winning basket.

(Phelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press)

The missed shots. The missed calls. Every missed opportunity against the Orlando Magic could have been a moment for the Lakers to “let go of the rope,” Austin Reaves said.

But why didn’t they?

“I think it’s just …” Reaves said, pausing to find the right word after the Lakers rallied from down five points with 50 seconds left to win by one.

“Belief.”

We thought the Lakers’ early season clutch success might have been a mirage against bad teams. But through the most difficult stretch of the season — nine of 11 games against teams with winning records including seven against teams .600 or better — the late-game execution has remained largely on point.

The Lakers (46-26) still have a league-leading 22-7 record in games within five points in the last five minutes. The Lakers are 6-2 in clutch games in March. Before the loss to Detroit, their 82-point clutch time defensive rating this month is an astronomical improvement from their overall 115.7 points allowed per 100 possessions.

They have played the fewest number of clutch minutes this season, in part because they kept getting blown out earlier this season. Their first 12 losses were all by 10 or more points. Those losses tipped the team’s point differential into the red despite their overwhelming winning record. They were signs that the Lakers bent and immediately broke.

Just as much as the clutch wins, coach JJ Redick looks at recent close losses — the last four came by a combined 14 points against Orlando, Phoenix, Denver and Detroit — as signs of progress.

“Our resolve and resilience — you need to be connected to do that as a team, not just individually,” Redick said. “I think where we were earlier in the year, all of us, probably the coaching staff included, was like, ‘When things go bad, you revert back to your means of self preservation, whatever that may look like for each individual.’ … We’re bending multiple times in a game, and we’re staying the course and trusting each other.”

The Lakers have two of the best individual stars to trust in key situations.

Luka Doncic put on a clutch clinic in Houston: Within five consecutive offensive possessions, Doncic hit a pirouetting step-back three, split a double team with a behind-the-back dribble to throw a no-look lob to Rui Hachimura, spun through another trap for a second alley-oop to LeBron James and nailed the dagger three. The dazzling display elicited roars from his teammates.

Some of James’ recent clutch highlights haven’t been as loud but are just as significant: His Superman dive to save a loose ball against Denver, the forced turnover that gave the Lakers the last possession against the Magic and the hard cut to the basket that drew two defenders to leave Luke Kennard wide open for the game-winning shot. The Lakers never doubted.

“We got Hall of Fame players,” Reaves said, “guys with a lot of talent that compete at the highest level, and when you got that, no game’s ever over.”

LeBron James rewrites another narrative

LeBron James looks for a pass during a game against Sacramento earlier this month.

(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)

After 23 years of hearing every compliment and every criticism imaginable, James is still smiling through it all. Because through chatter that the Lakers are better without their 22-time All-Star who is making $52.6 million this season, James offered this interview equivalent of a one-handed dunk:

“It sells papers a lot easier and clippings and podcasts if you say ‘LeBron, that their team is better off without him,’ ” James said after he had a triple-double in the Lakers’ win over the Miami Heat during his NBA-record 1,612th regular-season game. “A lot of people will try to, like, view it, so I get it. But they’re absolutely wrong.”

James then scrunched his face into a sarcastic, close-eyed smile.

The Lakers started their winning streak without James, but they couldn’t have continued it if he hadn’t returned in this fashion.

Since missing three games with elbow and hip injuries, James has starred in his new role as possibly most dangerous third option ever. The NBA’s all-time leading scorer’s usage rate dropped from 28.2% in his first 44 games of the season to 21.3% across the six games before Detroit. Before this season, his usage rate has never been lower than 27.6% for an entire year.

But Redick said the team knows it’s at its best when James has the third-highest usage rate. More important, James is playing like he knows that too.

James was held scoreless in the first half against Detroit for just the third time in his career. Redick praised James for his “selfless” play against the Pistons. He finished a rebound short of a triple-double: 12 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.

“It’s the role that I’m playing for the ball club,” James said. “In order for us to win ball games, it’s the role that I’m playing.”

James is taking three fewer shots a game in the last seven games compared to his season average and averaging a quiet 18 points and 6.1 assists per game. But he has been exceptionally efficient: 58% shooting from the field and he still leads the league with 5.7 fastbreak points per game. Reaves said he sometimes forgets that he’s throwing lobs to a 41-year-old.

“I’m going, I’m going to kill you one day on accident just throwing the ball like I forget that you’re 41,” Reaves said he told James. “I’m still throwing it to 35-[year-old] LeBron.”

On tap

Wednesday at Pacers (16-56), 4 p.m. PDT

The Lakers’ six-game trip ends in Indianapolis with the Pacers, who just snapped the NBA’s longest losing streak Monday. They had lost 16 consecutive games before knocking off the Magic, but still have the worst record in the league. Ivica Zubac is out for the rest of the season after the former Clippers big man fractured his rib.

Friday vs. Nets (17-55), 7:30 p.m. PDT

Michael Porter Jr. is averaging a career-best 24.2 points, 7.1 rebounds and three assists. That’s basically all there is to know about the Nets.

Monday at Wizards (16-55), 7 p.m. PDT

The Wizards’ 16-game losing streak is now the longest in the NBA after the Pacers’ recent win. Anthony Davis was traded to the Wizards from Dallas in February but remains sidelined because of a finger injury. Fellow midseason acquisition Trae Young (quad) is also expected to miss the game.

Status report

Rui Hachimura (right calf soreness)

Hachimura is day-to-day after he got hit in the calf against Miami. The injury bothered Hachimura enough that he went back to the locker room late against Orlando. He got imaging and “it was clean,” Redick said.

Marcus Smart (right ankle soreness)

Smart injured his ankle against Orlando when forward Goga Bitadze fell on the Lakers guard. Smart also has some lingering right hip soreness from another fall during that game, but is day-to-day, Redick said.

Maxi Kleber (lumbar back strain)

Kleber joined the team on the trip in Detroit after missing seven games. During his rehab process, Kleber participated in a practice with the South Bay Lakers last week.

Favorite thing I ate this week

The gumbo at Fixins in downtown Detroit.

(Thuc Nhi Nguyen / Los Angeles Times)

With the weather difference from Orlando to Detroit, I landed in the Midwest in desperate need of comfort food. I fed my soul at Fixins in downtown Detroit, filling up on their gumbo. The hearty stew had chicken and sausage (with an option to add shrimp) and was served over rice with a cornbread muffin. On a chilly Midwest day, it healed me. There’s a Fixins location in L.A. too, so expect to find me there the next time I need my Southern food fix.

In case you missed it

Lakers fade in final seconds against Pistons as nine-game win streak ends

Luka Doncic avoids suspension after NBA rescinds his 16th technical foul

Luka Doncic says vulgar comment from Orlando player led to his 16th technical

Luke Kennard’s last-second three-pointer lifts Lakers to ninth consecutive win

Luka Doncic’s 60-point game thrusts Lakers star into middle of MVP debate

Plaschke: ‘Yeaaaaaah!’ A child’s cheer inspires surging Lakers

Luka Doncic scores 60 and LeBron ties NBA games record in Lakers’ eighth straight win

Luka Doncic (40 points) and LeBron James (30) lead Lakers to win over Rockets

Until next time…

As always, pass along your thoughts to me at thucnhi.nguyen@latimes.com, and please consider subscribing if you like our work!

When UCLA baseball coach John Savage scouts prospects, he looks at their projections and skill upside. Most important, he wants players dedicated to the culture he’s developed during his 22 years as a coach.

“We want people that fit into our program, that want to be a part of a winning culture,” he said.

Most of his current roster consists of players who came up short in last year’s College World Series. This year, the No. 1 team in the country has its eyes set on winning a national title in Omaha. The Bruins (21-2 overall, 9-0 in the Big Ten) are coming off a three-game weekend home sweep of Maryland.

The Times spoke to Savage about the expectations the Bruins set for themselves and his longevity with UCLA. The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Your team entered the year ranked No. 1 nationally and has gotten off to a strong start. How have you managed expectations?

Savage: It’s really about the people you have in the clubhouse. They’ve been born and raised through our program. Now it’s their junior years. They went to Omaha their sophomore year. They had a difficult year their freshman year. It’s been a work in progress, and I think the expectations are probably the heaviest inside our room. Everybody’s held to a very high standard and they believe in one another, they believe in the program. It’s refreshing to coach people that want to be coached, and to have people that love UCLA, and want to stay at UCLA.

After returning a large percentage of last year’s production, what differences have you noticed in this roster compared to previous teams?

UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky.

(Kyusung Gong / Associated Press)

Savage: I think the leadership is fantastic. Roch Cholowsky, Cashel Dugger, Michael Barnett, Jack O’Connor — our captains, they do a wonderful job of making sure guys are accountable. Everybody’s a year older. Everybody’s a little stronger. Everybody’s a little faster. A lot of guys that work extremely hard to upgrade their physicality, and then certainly it’s a mental game. We’ve worked really hard on the mental side of things to make sure that we’re combining both phases.

What has allowed your program to retain so much of its core talent year to year?

Savage: I would say loyalty, personal relationships, wanting to be at UCLA, to get a degree from UCLA, coaching staff, facilities, location. But, I would say most importantly, relationships. We didn’t win a national championship last year and these guys seem to be on that sort of mission.

Last season’s run to Omaha ended just short of the championship series. How much has that experience motivated this year’s group early in the season?

Savage: You see where you’re going. People always talk about Omaha, but if you never go, it’s hard to really envision what it looks like. It’s something that if you experience, you want to go back. It’s the mecca of college baseball and the city of Omaha has done a wonderful job of developing this tournament over 75 years. It’s an experience that you go and you definitely want to go back as a player and certainly as a coach.

How has recruiting or roster construction changed, if at all, now that UCLA is competing in the Big Ten instead of the Pac-12?

Savage: It’s still UCLA. I’ve been here 22 years, we’ve produced 30 major leaguers. It’s a place that you certainly could go and enjoy your college life and go play in the major leagues. The Big Ten is getting better in baseball, with the addition of UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington. Obviously, it has helped the baseball side of things quite a bit. But there’s a lot of programs that are investing throughout the Big Ten in baseball and it’s only going to get better. Baseball is baseball. You gotta go play any time, anywhere.

With the travel demands that come with a conference like the Big Ten, what adjustments have you made to keep players fresh and focused?

Savage: We don’t charter. We’re all commercial. We fly out of LAX on Wednesday morning and we get back late Sunday night. It’s a challenge and it’s certainly one that it’s a daily and weekly operation. In terms of managing school, they all go to class. Not a lot of remote classes, really, so we love the challenge and the opportunity to grow as a young player and a young person.

You’re now in your 22nd season leading the Bruins. What has kept you motivated to continue evolving as a coach after more than two decades in Westwood?

Savage: I love being at UCLA. I love what it stands for. It’s a combination that I’m really looking for in terms of baseball, schedule, league, school — it’s just an elite combination. You have to make sure you’re grounded. You have to make sure you’re very consistent. You have to make sure that you have true values that are consistent with the university and that equates to winning. Winning is really, really difficult, especially now at the Power 4 level.

When players leave UCLA after their careers — whether they go to pro baseball or move on to other careers — what do you hope they carry with them from their time in your program?

Savage: That they understand how to be a contributor to an organization, to a business, how to lead a family, how to lead a group in work. Just be a person that people like to be around and a person that has a vision, that they want to get better and they want to do well in their lives and they want to have impact on other lives. That’s ultimately what we’re looking for, that they can handle themselves in any phase of life.

UCLA men are out, UCLA women stay strong

UConn’s Tarris Reed Jr. tries to get through UCLA’s Trent Perry, from left, Donovan Dent and Eric Dailey Jr. in the first half Monday.

(Matt Rourke / Associated Press)

UCLA coach Mick Cronin never wavered.

If senior forward Tyler Bilodeau felt any pain, he was not playing the NCAA tournament.

The No. 7 seed Bruins could not overcome No. 2 seed UConn’s interior game and suffered a 73-57 loss. The Bruins kept it close early, trailing by just five at halftime.

Cronin will help UCLA cope with the sudden end to its season and then immediately work on sorting out next season’s roster.

While fans questioned Cronin’s aggressive coaching style, the Bruins did play significantly improved defense through the final four weeks of their season and his players never wavered in their support of him.

Now Cronin will start over, working to forge comparable buy-in from the next wave of players.

The UCLA women walk to the bench during a time out against Cal Baptist.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

It’s rare for a No. 1 seed in the women’s NCAA tournament to miss the Sweet 16, but the Bruins (32-1) say they expect a big test when they face No. 8 seed Oklahoma State (24-9) at 7 p.m. Monday night at Pauley Pavilion.

It will be the final game the Bruins’ celebrated senior class will play at Pauley Pavilion.

UCLA coach Cori Close provided the following scouting report on Oklahoma State.

“I think that what stands out is their ability to shoot the three, their versatility, their work down the tunnel with the high ball screen,” Close said. “They’re extremely good in transition. It’s going to be so important for us to make them play later into the shot clock, which is going to be easier said than done. But I guess with the exception they don’t have like a really tall big, but they actually remind me in terms of their style and some of the actions that they run of Oklahoma. Their guard play.

“And one of the big things that we talk a lot about is trying to make them play later in the clock than they’re comfortable with. Now we go through all the analytics, and the later you have them play in the shot clock, the less efficient they become. They’re 13th in the country in offensive efficiency. They’re really, really good.

“Defensively I think that we obviously need to really hunt the paint. We’ve got some advantages with our size there. But they’re a really good team.”

Survey says

We asked “How far will the UCLA men advance in the NCAA men’s tournament. After 648 votes, the results:

They lose in the second round, 36.5%
They lose in the Sweet 16, 27.5%
They lose in the Elite Eight, 17.3%
They win it all, 12.6%
They lose in the first round, 3.2%
They lose in the Final Four, 2.5%
They lose in the championship game, 0.4%

In case you missed it

UCLA overcomes slow start to open NCAA tournament title bid with a blowout win

Jordan Chiles goes perfect again as UCLA sweeps Big Ten gymnastics titles

UCLA freshmen draw on their elite gymnastics roots to help Bruins push for championships

Without Tyler Bilodeau, UCLA edges Central Florida to advance at NCAA tournament

How UCLA guard Kiki Rice became the Bruins’ ace and top WNBA draft prospect

UCLA men’s basketball eager to mount deep tournament run

March Madness women’s tournament analysis: Teams and players to watch

UCLA was snubbed by women’s NCAA tournament selection committee

Have something Bruin?

Do you have a comment or something you’d like to see in a future UCLA newsletter? Email newsletters editor Houston Mitchell at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Most people think you can’t walk without an Achilles tendon. Jo Giese begs to differ, especially since she hikes without one.

The L.A. hiker, journalist and community activist shares her journey of recovery in her new 240-page book, “You’ll Never Walk Alone: A Hiker’s Memoir of Adventure, Tragedy, and Defying the Odds” (Amplify Publishing). Giese outlines how one fall down the stairs led to eight surgeries and a relentless search for answers for how she could return to the trails she loved.

“The reason I wrote the book is to inspire others,” Giese said, “that if you’re given a grim diagnosis — and it certainly doesn’t have to be your left Achilles — you do not have to accept it.”

Like many of us, Giese’s love of the outdoors started early. At age 5, she regularly took walks alone from her family’s home on Lake Washington Boulevard in Seattle. Wearing a frilly pinafore dress and Mary Jane shoes, she’d walk a few blocks to Seward Park, pausing at the playground, where she’d persuade someone to push her on the swing. That wasn’t the main goal of the trip, though.

“There is a path that leads up into the middle of the peninsula in this old growth forest. The canopies of the trees are two and three stories high. You’re just walking in this green wonderland,” Giese said. “And then after I finished walking all the way up as far as I wanted to go, I’d come back, and I’d walk back along [the route] and go home.”

The cover of “You’ll Never Walk Alone”; and a photo of author Jo Giese.

(Amplify Publishing; Dan Fineman)

Giese has been a walker and hiker ever since, falling in love with waterfall hikes in particular. Giese and her husband, Ed, split time between their house near L.A. and a home in Bozeman, Mont. They hike in the Santa Monica Mountains when they are home in Southern California, but Giese isn’t picky.

“I mainly hike anywhere I am,” Giese said.

That includes an epic vacation “jumping out of helicopters in New Zealand … in my late 60s,” she said. But neither that adventure nor any other is how Giese got injured.

It was a rainy night in late November in L.A. Giese was upstairs when her friend Lana arrived, and not wanting her friend to get drenched, Giese raced down the stairs to open the front door.

“I miss the bottom two steps, and I literally go flying horizontally,” Giese said. “My husband heard the crash. He came running, and I said, ‘Go let in Lana. She’s getting wet!’”

The trio immediately rushed to a nearby urgent care, where an X-ray showed a complete rupture of Giese’s left Achilles tendon, a thick band of tissue that attaches a person’s calf muscle to their heel bone.

Giese quickly called an orthopedist whom she’d seen for a simple knee procedure. He told her to come to his office the following day at 8 a.m. At the appointment, the doctor said, “‘I can do this. I did [an]

Hikers dressed in Dodger Blue gather for a group photo midway through a hike at Griffith Park on March 24, 2024.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Achilles repair 20 or 30 years ago. I can do this,’” Giese recalled.

Giese at Point Dume.

(Jo Giese)

In hindsight, it’s clear she should have found someone who’d done an Achilles repair “20 or 30 minutes ago,” she said. But the relief of not having to wait for surgery mixed with the shock of the moment made Giese and her husband impulsive.

“We were so frightened then — I’m in a wheelchair, and I’m all black and blue and bruised. I cannot walk. And there is someone in front of me who says he can do this,” Giese said. “And that should be a lesson to anybody.”

After the surgery to reattach her Achilles, her doctor left for a two-week vacation while Giese was at home recuperating, studiously following the doctor’s after-care guidelines. At her follow-up appointment, the nurse was unwrapping the bandage when the doctor observed, “That’s necrotic.” At the time, Giese didn’t know that word essentially meant “dead.”

The doctor immediately blamed her, saying it was from an ice burn. Both she and her husband knew that wasn’t true. Another doctor would later suggest that the surgeon introduced the infection during that first surgery.

“I don’t think I’d been so scared since my encounter with a bear,” Giese wrote in her book.

Exactly 49 days from her accident, Giese was scheduled for another surgery (with a different doctor) to debride the wound and reattach her Achilles. It was supposed to take several hours. But less than an hour into surgery, her physician told Ed that Giese’s Achilles had died. Soon, he asked Giese if she wanted to see what was left of the largest and strongest tendon in the body.

It looked like “a nasty little caterpillar that had turned fetal, curled in on itself, and died in a sea of black-and-green muck,” Giese wrote.

Next, Giese needed a skin graft to cover the wound from the previous surgeries. After that, she returned to her doctor’s office — 114 days after her accident — where her doctor removed the bandages from that third surgery and suggested something revelatory: that Giese should put her left foot down, putting her whole weight on it.

“My naked left foot — heel and five toes — made intimate contact with a floor, a cold linoleum floor, for the first time since this medical journey had begun four months earlier,” Giese wrote. From here, she walked her first 20 steps.

But recovery would come in fits and spurts. About a month later, Giese wanted to attend a festival while in Austin, Texas, only to find the 10 blocks of booths and vendors too daunting. She went back to the hotel and screamed, “I cannot walk!”

From here, she demanded better care. Giese was tired of hearing medical professionals say they’d never encountered someone without an Achilles. She wanted to find someone who was experienced with complex muscle injuries.

Her search ended 274 days after her accident when she learned about the Center for Restorative Exercise in Northridge. Giese felt dubious about another physical therapist, though. She’d already been to three physical therapy clinics, and “those had been a waste of time, energy and hope,” she wrote. But here, she was met with science and intentionality.

Taylor-Kevin Isaacs, the clinic’s co-founder, told Giese that she had other muscles still intact that could help her walk again, and she luckily hadn’t suffered any nerve damage, Giese wrote in the book. She spent the next 2½ years working with the center’s staff, which included receiving acupuncture, shockwave therapy and scar tissue massage, which was so painful “you could have heard me screaming from where you are,” Giese said.

After she completed care at the center, Isaacs nominated Giese for an award she won — an Oboz Footwear “Local Hero” award in 2024.

On the photo shoot for the award, Giese hiked with a photographer along a trail to Ousel Falls, a 50-foot waterfall in Big Sky, Mont.

It had been five years since her accident, and Giese thought back to a medical appointment in Montana the first summer after her fall. A physical therapist that Giese had been working with for about a month asked her to walk about 50 feet across the room.

“I hate to be a Debbie Downer,” the therapist said, “but you’re going to be compromised for the rest of your life.”

At that point, Giese told me, all she had was hope — that she’d get better, that she’d walk again.

Here at the waterfall, Giese told the photographer they should take the steps down to the splashdown area for a better shot. She was ready, navigating black ice like she’d done many times before the accident.

“My thought was, ‘If only that person could see me now,’” she said. “This person who said, ‘You’re going to be compromised the rest of your life, and you have to accept it.’ I thought, ‘No, I don’t.’”

3 things to do

Hikers dressed in Dodger Blue gather for a group photo midway through a hike through Griffith Park on March 24, 2024.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

1. Have a home run of a hike in L.A.
The Dodgers Blue Hiking Crew will host an intermediate hike at 6:30 a.m. Sunday at Griffith Park. Participants are required to wear hiking or trail shoes or boots. The group’s hikes are usually six miles and last about three hours. Register at facebook.com.

2. Clear the trail near Ojai
Los Padres Forest Assn. will host a workday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday along the Potrero John Trail. Volunteers will meet at the Cozy Dell Trailhead before carpooling to the work site. The trail features jagged rock formations, a perennial creek and bigcone Douglas fir. Register at lpforest.salsalabs.org.

3. Wander through nature’s wonders in Whittier
The California Native Plants Society San Gabriel Mountains chapter will host an easy hike from 9 to 11 a.m. Sunday through Sycamore Canyon in the Puente Hills. Cris Sarabia, conservation director for the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy, will educate hikers on plants along the trail, both native and nonnative species. Participants should wear long pants to protect against poison oak. Register at eventbrite.com.

The must-read

Sturtevant Falls, a 55-foot waterfall, in Big Santa Anita Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountains.

(Jaclyn Cosgrove / Los Angeles Times)

Perhaps you’re reading this from a dark room, blinds drawn, fan blowing, praying for a return to spring. That’s definitely the scene where I’m writing to you! Whenever L.A. experiences an intense heat wave, I feel a little trapped. That’s why this week I updated our list of the best hikes around L.A. that will offer you shade and, in most cases, streams and rivers where you can cool down.

Please take good care, though. Hike before 11 a.m., stay hydrated and only cross creeks when you feel safe doing so.

Happy adventuring,

P.S.

Our recent weather pattern — heavy rains followed by intense heat waves — has meant wildflower season came earlier than expected in several regions of Southern California. Times contributor Jessie Schiewe outlines in this guide the hiking areas where you’ll most likely find recent blooms. For example, Towsley Canyon in Newhall, an area I have yet to visit, is likely a spot where you’ll find bright orange poppies. Want to learn a quick hack that I use to better ensure I will see blooms? Search iNaturalist, a citizen science app, for the flower you’d like to see, using the filter option to only view posts from the last two weeks. If users have recently posted, for example, about spotting poppies, your chances are higher that you will too. Keep on reading The Wild, and I promise I will keep giving you my secrets of outdoors reporting!

For the Record: Last week’s edition of The Wild said decentralized seed banks would be built by procuring seeds from L.A. County nature centers. A decentralized seed bank will be developed to procure seeds for and by L.A. County nature centers.

For more insider tips on Southern California’s beaches, trails and parks, check out past editions of The Wild. And to view this newsletter in your browser, click here.