UCLA women’s basketball is heading into a very different kind of season after riding one of the most dominant runs in program history.
The Bruins went 37-1 last year and finished the job by winning the National Championship in emphatic fashion. In the title game against South Carolina, UCLA came out firing, built a 36-23 halftime lead, then buried the Gamecocks with a 25-9 third quarter on the way to a 79-51 win.
That team was built around six seniors: Lauren Betts, Gianna Kneepkens, Gabriela Jaquez, Charlisse Leger-Walker, Kiki Rice, and Angela Dugalic. Each played a major role in the championship run, and Betts earned Big Ten Player of the Year honors along the way. But all six are now gone to the WNBA, leaving Cori Close with an entirely new starting five to piece together.
One of the key names back is Aarnisalo, who gave UCLA a strong freshman season and now looks set to be part of the next backcourt foundation. She averaged 10 points while shooting 47% from the field and 40% from three, production that made her one of the team’s best outside threats. Her return gives the Bruins both steadiness at point guard and a perimeter weapon.
Hunter arrives as a senior and brings the kind of experience this roster needs. She began her college career at Oregon State, where she developed into a scorer and defender, then continued that growth at TCU. At TCU, she averaged more than 10 points per game while shooting 45% from the field and 34% from three, adding efficiency to a game that already had value on both ends.
Addy Brown is another senior who should help right away, especially from the arc. Injury limited her to 21 games last season, and Iowa State felt that absence when the Cyclones were knocked out in the first round. At UCLA, Brown gives the Bruins more shooting, with a career mark of 37% from three-point range.
Inside, Betts is expected to move from a limited role to a central one. Last season’s freshman standout was ranked as a top prospect in the 2025 high school class, but she averaged only 14 minutes per game while coming off the bench. This time, she should be at the center of what UCLA does, with the chance to show why she was so highly regarded coming out of high school.
And with no bigs added through the transfer portal, Muse appears likely to round out the frontcourt. She made a noticeable jump last season as a reserve, and while her scoring numbers were modest at just over one point per game, she could be in line for a larger role. UCLA will need her to rebound, hold her ground in the paint, and provide reliable defense around the basket.
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UCLA Just Won A Four Star Recruiting Battle Fans Craved
UCLAs recruiting surge under Bob Chesney keeps showing up in the secondary, where the Bruins have made a clear point of stacking talent in the 2027 class. The group is already ranked inside the national top 20, and the emphasis on safeties and cornerbacks has helped give the class a stronger defensive spine than the program had coming into this cycle.
The latest addition came after Myles Baker toured multiple schools and then changed course, a sign the Bruins are winning more of the battles they need to win. Baker joins a secondary haul that now gives UCLA real depth and more flexibility on the back end, with three cornerbacks and three safeties in the class and another major piece added to a group that has quickly become one of the more promising parts of the rebuild. [Read more 🡒]
UCLA May Have Finally Found The Backfield Answer It Needed
UCLA has spent the offseason trying to remake its roster through the portal, and the backfield looks like one of the spots where that work could pay off quickly. Bob Chesney has already added 45 players, but the arrival of Wayne Knight from James Madison stands out as one of the more important pickups for an offense that needed help on the ground after a difficult year running the ball.
Knight arrives with the kind of resume that makes him easy to spotlight, and UCLA will pair him with returning backs Jaivian Thomas and Anthony Woods in hopes of giving the Bruins more balance. There is still a familiar question hanging over the move, though, because the next step is less about what Knight has already done than whether his game translates cleanly to the Big Ten grind. [Read more 🡒]
Jalen Woods Feels Like A UCLA Building Block Fans Can Trust
Jalen Woods has taken the kind of path UCLA coaches love to point to when they talk about building a defense the right way. A three-star recruit out of St. John Bosco, he arrived with offers from programs like Miami, Oregon and Arizona State, then worked his way from a minimal freshman role into a steadier presence in the Bruins' linebacker rotation as the years went on.
His rise matters even more because it came during a period of real change around the program, with Chip Kelly gone, DeShaun Foster taking over and plenty of roster movement around him. Woods opted to stay put through that transition, and his growth from spot duty to a more trusted contributor, including his first career start against USC, is the sort of stability UCLA can use as it tries to settle into Foster's new era. [Read more 🡒]