selection

The issue that has created the most noise since Tuchel took charge is about how he has dealt with Jude Bellingham and the battle for the number 10 position.

The Real Madrid midfielder was left out of the October camp after injury despite wanting to join up as Tuchel favoured keeping a settled group after excellent performances.

Aston Villa midfielder Morgan Rogers impressed in qualifying, starting five of England’s eight group games, and has become the first-choice number 10.

“Rather than finding positions for my best players just so that I can have them on the field, I prefer to put everyone in their best positions and have some competition,” Tuchel said when speaking about the pair going up against each other.

There is no denying Bellingham is one of the best midfielders in the world when he is fit and in form, but the midfielder is currently working his way back from a hamstring injury and has not played since 1 February.

It’s easy to forget that Bellingham is just 22, given he has already produced some iconic moments for England such as his last-gasp bicycle kick against Slovakia at Euro 2024 and his assist for Cole Palmer’s goal in the final.

Tuchel has made a point about how his England team need to be settled and united, but if Bellingham is producing his best for Madrid at the end of the season, the England manager has a very difficult decision on his hands.

Chelsea’s Cole Palmer, who has also had injury problems this season, has barely played under Tuchel, featuring for just 65 minutes.

And Phil Foden’s role is not clear in this England squad – he was called up as a back-up striker for the last camp and assisted Eberechi Eze in the win over Serbia at Wembley in November from that position.

UCLA coach Cori Close has said all the right things all season, hammering the importance of winning each day and making the most of every practice.

After watching her team struggle during the Final Four last season, she also urged the Bruins to remember the joy of their journey together was far more important than the final tournament results.

She continued to run the John Wooden playbook on Selection Sunday, brushing away the suggestion that UCLA was snubbed by the NCAA tournament selection committee.

“Everybody else can talk about whatever they want,” Close said. “We’re going to talk about what that takes, and we are completely committed to just being really focused on us and our journey and keeping the main thing, the main thing.”

While she rightly is focusing on her team, there is no denying UCLA got a bad draw.

Not only were the Bruins denied the No. 1 overall seed despite playing a much tougher schedule than overall No. 1 seed UConn, the Bruins will have to fight through the toughest regional to reach the Final Four in Phoenix.

LSU was the highest rated No. 2 seed and Duke was the highest rated No. 3 seed. Both were assigned to the same regional as UCLA. No. 5 Ole Miss, led by Ohio State transfer and dynamic SEC newcomer of the year Cotie McMahon, is another potent team slotted in the Bruins’ side of the bracket.

“The Sacramento region with UCLA, they absolutely have the toughest region when you look at the LSU-Duke matchup — the No. 1 two seed, the No. 1 three seed,” former Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw said on ESPN. “I don’t know how they ended up with the same bracket as UCLA as the No. 2 overall. … I’m perplexed.”

McGraw has been doing the work Close arguably couldn’t for weeks without coming across as whining. The retired coach questioned the NCAA tournament selection’s committee previous rankings that slotted UCLA behind UConn.

On March 2, McGraw posted on X, “Does anyone else think UCLA deserved the overall [No. 1] seed? Undefeated regular season Big Ten champs, beat 11 ranked teams, six of which are currently in the committee’s top 16. They have 14 Quad 1 wins, more than anyone in the country, and their only loss was to another [No. 1] seed. And what about SEC champ South Carolina as the [No. 2] overall?

“UConn is certainly good enough to win the national championship, but UCLA and South Carolina have had as much success against a much tougher schedule.”

UConn fans were quick to point out McGraw’s losing record against Huskies coach Geno Auriemma and their bad blood, but the former Notre Dame coach was armed with notable stats that are supposed to be the basis for the selection committee’s bracket.

McGraw made her case before No. 2 UCLA (31-1) beat No. 9 Iowa (26-6) by 51 points in the Big Ten tournament championship game.

It wasn’t enough to help the selection committee ignore the score that seemed to matter the most — a 85-51 UCLA loss to UConn in last season’s Final Four.

“We watched a lot of UConn, we watched a lot of UCLA,” NCAA tournament committee chair Amanda Braun said on ESPN. “The way we watched UConn win throughout the year from beginning to the end, UCLA did a lot of winning too, but ultimately we gave UConn the edge.”

The Bruins have said every team is tough in the NCAA tournament and they must simply focus on being their best each day. Surviving a challenging regional will only make their success sweeter.

And UCLA can take solace that at least one team had a worse draw than it did on Sunday. Crosstown rival USC was awarded a No. 9 seed and will play No. 8 seed Clemson in Columbia, S.C., a short commute for the Tigers’ fans. If the Trojans survive, they most likely will face No. 1 seed South Carolina on the Gamecocks’ notoriously hostile home court.

Survey says

We asked, “How far will the UCLA women advance in the NCAA tournament?”

After 460 votes, the results:

They win it all: 80.8%
They lose in the title game: 14.6%
Just like last year, they lose in the Final Four: 3.5%
A surprising elimination in the Sweet 16: 0.9%
A shocking upset in the first or second round: 0.2%
They lose in the Elite Eight: No votes

Survey time

How far will the UCLA men advance in the tournament?

They lose in the first round
They lose in the second round
They lose in the Sweet 16
They lose in the Elite Eight
They lose in the Final Four
They lose in the title game
They win it all

Click here to vote in our survey

In case you missed it

‘We know what it takes to get there.’ No. 1 UCLA ready to begin NCAA title chase

UCLA men’s basketball earns No. 7 seed, to face No. 10 UCF in Philadelphia

NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournament brackets: A look at every matchup

How Gabriela Jaquez became a breakout shooting star for No. 2 UCLA

UCLA star Jordan Chiles helps Bruins win her final home meet, knocking out rival Utah

UCLA falls to Purdue in Big Ten semifinal without injured Tyler Bilodeau

UCLA stuns Michigan State to advance to Big Ten tournament semifinals

Donovan Dent achieves Big Ten tourney history in UCLA win over Rutgers

UCLA won a Big Ten tournament title with a group of ‘Pac-12 Avengers’

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.

On the road to this point, he has lost a few warriors – Jamie Ritchie and Jamie Dobie after the Calcutta Cup and now Scott Cummings and Gregor Brown, too.

That’s a stellar cast list in the casualty unit, particularly the three forwards and especially the locks, who have been immense in Scotland’s recovery from the despondency of Rome.

Elliot Millar-Mills, previously unsung, had such a terrific impact off the bench against England and Wales that his injury can now be categorised as a blow.

In keeping with this trippy, but utterly wonderful, championship, Duhan van der Merwe is also out, a loss that would have been seen as an absolute calamity not that long ago.

Now, given his bit-part season, it’s merely regrettable but entirely salvageable. Even on his very best form it’s hard to see how he would have shifted Graham, scorer of two tries against France, and Kyle Steyn, arguably the player of the entire tournament so far.

In the four games, Townsend has started two different full-backs and three different left wings. He has changed his hooker from Italy to England, England to Wales and Wales to France – Ewan Ashman, George Turner and Dave Cherry all getting the nod at different times.

He’s had three different second-row combinations and three different back-rows. Some of this has been forced by injury.

His first three benches have had a 5-3 split before he switched to 6-2 against France, a day when Rory Darge, the brilliant flanker, ended up playing centre alongside the inspirational captain, Sione Tuipulotu.

So what now? Ireland were blown away by France, sneaked home against Italy, were utterly imperious against England and then battled to a win against Wales.

They have issues with their scrum, among other things, but they have home advantage and an astonishing win rate against Scotland.

Does Townsend have many big calls to make for such a momentous game?