TAMPA, Fla. — If at first UCLA coaches don’t signal a recruit, they struggle, strive once more.
Counting on years of relationships fostered via highschool recruiting, the Bruins have navigated the fast-paced switch portal to make a brilliant workforce nobody appears to speak about.
They began with the No. 1 recruiting class within the nation that’s now grown into skilled juniors. They added Lauren Betts (Stanford), Angela Dugalic (Oregon), Timea Gardiner (Oregon State) and Janiah Barker (Texas A&M), all former McDonald’s All-People and five-star prospects. The result’s this system’s first NCAA Ultimate 4 look and a matchup towards No. 2 Connecticut on Friday at 6:30 p.m. PDT at Amalie Enviornment.
Gardiner was one win away from this stage a 12 months in the past. She helped Oregon State to the Elite Eight earlier than she entered the portal. Having performed with Kiki Rice, Londynn Jones and Betts on the youth nationwide workforce, Gardiner had expertise with many UCLA gamers and a protracted relationship with head coach Cori Shut from the highschool recruiting course of. She targeted on the Bruins virtually instantly.
“For me, coming out of the portal was going somewhere I knew I could develop as a pro and be at a place where I knew I would be supported not only on the court but off the court,” Gardiner mentioned. “This [the Final Four] is a plus.”
Gardiner powered the Bruins to one of the best NCAA event lead to program historical past with 17 factors in UCLA’s regional ultimate win over Louisiana State, nailing 5 of eight three-pointers to assist overcome the absence of Betts, who missed all the second quarter due to foul hassle.
Gardiner’s clean three-point shot was the precise want coaches wished to fill once they pursued her within the portal final spring. The 6-foot-3 ahead’s addition together with Dugalic, one other stretch 4 who transferred to UCLA from Oregon in 2021, gave the Bruins a surplus on the place. However the crowded roster didn’t deter Barker, a 6-foot-4 ahead who starred at Texas A&M.
The truth that the Aggies’ second-leading scorer and Gardiner, who was the Pac-12 sixth participant of the 12 months in 2024, have been keen to take smaller roles with their new workforce speaks to the tradition UCLA coaches have created, guard Charlisse Leger-Walker mentioned.
“When you come on your visits, when you talk to the coaches, when you talk to the players, it’s very clear that they care not just about you as a basketball player, but about everything else outside of basketball,” mentioned the Washington State switch who will return to the court docket subsequent season after redshirting due to a knee damage. “For transfers coming in, they see that and it’s their second time around during the recruiting process so they’re not blinded by just the best facilities or the best whatever it is.”
The Bruins have these issues too, Leger-Walker added. They get pleasure from a basketball-specific observe facility they share with the boys’s workforce. They fly on chartered planes.
Forces exterior of basketball are solely going to proceed to vary the game as income sharing is predicted to come back into impact as quickly as subsequent week. The results of the ever-changing identify, picture and likeness guidelines are nonetheless enjoying out as gamers attempt to rush switch choices earlier than the latest regulation takes impact, mentioned UCLA affiliate head coach Shannon LeBeauf, who can be this system’s recruiting coordinator.
The longtime assistant calls teaching her “calling.” Incorporating financial choices into roster constructing is dicey, LeBeauf mentioned. The NIL choices fall on Shut’s desk. But the Bruins have tried to stability the brand new world of faculty sports activities whereas holding true to this system’s long-standing mission to show, mentor and equip gamers for all times past UCLA.
Bruins ahead Janiah Barker, proper, high-fives teammate Angela Dugalic after she scored and drew a foul throughout a sport towards Michigan State earlier this season.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Occasions)
“You’re trying to find that match where it still is a good match, and it’s just not transactional,” LeBeauf mentioned. “We want to make sure that our relationship is transformational, it is creating a great experience. … Because I don’t know if you would really enjoy that kind of experience if it was just all about money.”
The Bruins are having fun with each little bit of their first NCAA Ultimate 4 run. Arriving in Tampa this week, they settled into one of the best workforce resort accessible — a perk bestowed to the best seed within the event — and unwrapped Jordan Model swag luggage. NCAA present containers of their locker room included personalized lettermen’s jackets and telephone equipment.
It’s already exceeded the Bruins’ expectations.
“This has been a plus,” Gardiner mentioned. “I’m super happy to have joined a team that’s so amazing with incredible women. We’ve done amazing things so far and we can’t wait to continue.”
