The UCLA women’s basketball team isn’t concerned about being hunted as the reigning national champions, coach Cori Close said. That’s up to somebody else.
“Having a target on your back means that you’re worried about what someone else is going to do,” she added. “That’s an outcome-based [way of] thinking, and we have to be obsessed with our process, obsessed with our standards.”
As the Bruins prepare to open the season at Pauley Pavilion against Lehigh on Monday, they are focused on getting better every day and following the championship-level process the program established. It’s not their job to worry about what others think about them, forward Sienna Betts said.
“I don’t really care what the media has to say or whatever,” Betts said. “It really is just a matter of what is in these four walls and what we know we’re putting into practice every day.”
UCLA forward Sienna Betts shoots under pressure from Texas’ Breya Cunningham at H-E-B Center in Cedar Park, Texas, on Sunday.
(Scott Wachter / Getty Images)
While the Bruins are maintaining the same championship standards as last year, the group tasked with meeting them looks considerably different than last season.
UCLA will begin the 2026-27 season with five players returning from the championship team, Betts being one of them. None of the returning players were starters, with the top six performers getting selected in the 2026 WNBA draft. The rest of this season’s Bruins consists of seven newcomers, including two freshmen and five transfers.
“We’re not trying to repeat an outcome, we’re repeating a process,” Betts said. “We’re our own group and I don’t think it’s fair to put the weight of last year on this group.”
Close’s roster includes the No. 5 transfer portal class in the nation, according to ESPN. The group includes Donovyn Hunter, who transferred from TCU and described the process of transferring as uncomfortable. She also said adjusting to a new system is difficult.
“We’re going to mess up, we’re going to make mistakes, we’re not going to get it on the first try, but knowing that there’s a coach that’s behind you, that knows you’re going to get to that level has been the most important thing for all of those transfers and the freshmen,” Hunter said.
Three of the five transfers are international players learning English, including Elina Aarnisalo, who returned to Westwood after spending a season at North Carolina.
UCLA guard Donovyn Hunter drives to the basket in front of Texas’ Breya Cunningham in Cedar Park, Texas, on Sunday.
(Scott Wachter / Getty Images)
“We spent a lot of time together … so that’s helped us on court and obviously practicing every day,” Aarnisalo said. “… Even though there might be a language barrier, sometimes we’re just spending time together and learning [from] each other so that relationship part comes pretty naturally for all of us.”
Regardless of the language barriers, Betts said building the team’s chemistry is a good start and a work in progress as they enter the start of the season.
“I think our connection on the court, it’s really showing and we’re still just learning how to play with each other. … It takes time,” she said. “The team last year, they were playing with each other for four years and over.”
Even with the added pressure that comes with last year’s championship run, Aarnisalo isn’t worried about the expectations. She’s enjoying the kind of media attention the Bruins are getting.
She’s happy the returning players were able to lift the trophy last year and says the exposure that goes with it is an opportunity to show off the newly reloaded UCLA team.
“We’re making our own process out of this,” she said. “Obviously, the standards are the same, like it’s championship standards, but it’s completely new people, new personalities. [We’re] just trying to create our own storyline for this year.”
Breeze coach Noelle Quinn directs players during an Unrivaled game against the Laces on Feb. 27 in Medley, Fla.
(Leonardo Fernandez / Getty Images)
After spending 12 years as a professional player and six years coaching in the WNBA, Noelle Quinn has returned to Westwood. She is a two-time WNBA champion, winning a title as a player and a coach.
“I have not been able to find anyone else that has won a conference championship in college, a WNBA championship as a player and as a coach,” Close said. “You don’t think when she talks, they listen?”
The fourth overall pick in the 2007 WNBA draft has had an influence among the UCLA coaches, with Close noting associate head coach Tony Newnan told Quinn during a staff meeting that she was making him a better coach.
On the court, Quinn’s defensive expertise is creating an environment that has helped Bonnie Deas get excited about playing defense.
“I love defense and she brings so much energy to our defensive side of the game,” Deas said. “She’s so switched on with our scout and film, she makes defense really, really exciting.”
Betts describes her defensive presence as calming.
“I love the way she just talks and the way she talks about defense and just the game,” she said. “She brings such warmth to this gym.”
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One of the two bidding consortia for GFL Environmental (GFL) has moved ahead in the waste-management company’s sales process.
Both of the consortia are still in the process, according to traders, citing a CTFN report that was circulating on Tuesday. Some shareholders are
Dolly Parton’s estate is alleging that Bryan Seaver, the country icon’s nephew and former head of security, used a “no trespassing” sign and barbed wire to avoid being served legal documents.
There is an active restraining order and lawsuit against Seaver by Parton’s company, She’s Alive LLC, which is run by Parton’s former manager, Danny Nozell, for allegedly threatening and extorting her estate.
Seaver served as Parton’s head of security for more than 20 years and, on Aug. 25, delivered the news of his aunt’s death via a video on her Instagram account.
Legal troubles for Seaver first came to light on Sept. 22 when a case was filed by She’s Alive in Davidson County Chancery Court in Nashville on the heels of Seaver’s termination as head of security. Both Seaver and his company, Squadron Augmented Protection Services LLC, are the defendants in the lawsuit.
In documents reviewed by the New York Times, Seaver is accused of mounting “an obscene, deliberate and escalating campaign of threats” to acquire money from the Parton estate, including a profane threat made toward at least one Dollywood business partner.
Seaver filed a motion last week to delay a hearing scheduled for Friday, saying he needed time to meet with his preferred legal counsel.
The following day, lawyers for She’s Alive asked the court to deny this motion, arguing that Seaver “attempted to evade service of process” and that the “court should not reward that behavior.”
According to court filings obtained by ABC News, a process server tried to issue court documents to Seaver for the third time but encountered a “no-trespassing sign in the front yard and barbed wire draped across the handrails leading to the front door.”
The new hearing date is set for Oct. 20.
The legal complaint includes text messages in which Seaver wrote that he would become “the hand of retribution for my entire family.” According to the complaint, in other text exchanges between him and a longtime lawyer of Parton, he described himself as a “killer,” a term he would later argue was taken out of context.
There are also claims that Seaver began making financial demands before Parton’s death, including in a text to Nozell where he said he would launch a podcast “dedicated to ruining Dolly’s brand partnerships and telling the violations these people have done on us” if demands were not met, the New York Times reported.
Nozell was Parton’s longtime manager and is credited with reviving the “I Will Always Love You” singer’s international touring career.
The Times reached out to Seaver, Nozelle and She’s Alive LLC but did not hear back.
Leicestershire have had eight points of their 27-point County Championship deduction reinstated but their Division One status remains in limbo.
The original penalty for breaching pitch regulations, relating to their win against Glamorgan in August, was announced on 16 September.
Leicestershire took 19 points from the match against Glamorgan – 16 for winning and three bonus points – which were removed but remain the subject of appeal.
The Cricket Discipline Panel (CDP) had applied an additional eight-point deduction, a further eight-point penalty suspended for a year, plus a £5,000 fine.
The latter two sanctions remain part of the amended decision but the eight-point deduction for this season has been waived because the docking of the 19 points for winning the game in question is considered punishment enough.
Without the 27 points being docked, Leicestershire would have finished two points above the relegation zone.
With the 19-point penalty currently in place, the Foxes are 17 points behind Essex and will be relegated if their appeal is unsuccessful.
The amended punishment comes after the Cricket Regulator raised with the CDP whether the 19-point penalty imposed, after its initial hearing, under the County Championship’s playing conditions had been taken into account when making its original decision.
A section of the County Championship’s playing conditions state that teams charged with producing a pitch rated as poor or below average, and the Cricket Discipline Panel (CDP) upholding the charge, would receive zero points from the fixture in question.
Leicestershire had already stated their intention to appeal against the panel’s decision and a statement by chief executive Emma White said the club’s position is “unchanged” by the amended decision.
More to follow.