TAMPA, Fla. — If at first UCLA coaches don’t sign a recruit, they try, try again.
Relying on years of relationships fostered through high school recruiting, the Bruins have navigated the fast-paced transfer portal to make a super team no one seems to talk about.
They started with the No. 1 recruiting class in the country that’s now grown into experienced juniors. They added Lauren Betts (Stanford), Angela Dugalic (Oregon), Timea Gardiner (Oregon State) and Janiah Barker (Texas A&M), all former McDonald’s All-Americans and five-star prospects. The result is the program’s first NCAA Final Four appearance and a matchup against No. 2 Connecticut on Friday at 6:30 p.m. PDT at Amalie Arena.
Gardiner was one win away from this stage a year ago. She helped Oregon State to the Elite Eight before she entered the portal. Having played with Kiki Rice, Londynn Jones and Betts on the youth national team, Gardiner had experience with many UCLA players and a long relationship with head coach Cori Close from the high school recruiting process. She focused on the Bruins almost immediately.
“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 said. “This [the Final Four] is a plus.”
Gardiner powered the Bruins to the best NCAA tournament result in program history with 17 points in UCLA’s regional final win over Louisiana State, nailing five of eight three-pointers to help overcome the absence of Betts, who missed all of the second quarter because of foul trouble.
Gardiner’s smooth three-point shot was the exact need coaches wanted to fill when they pursued her in the portal last spring. The 6-foot-3 forward’s addition along with Dugalic, another stretch four who transferred to UCLA from Oregon in 2021, gave the Bruins a surplus at the position. But the crowded roster didn’t deter Barker, a 6-foot-4 forward who starred at Texas A&M.
The fact that the Aggies’ second-leading scorer and Gardiner, who was the Pac-12 sixth player of the year in 2024, were willing to take smaller roles with their new team speaks to the culture UCLA coaches have created, guard Charlisse Leger-Walker said.
“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,” said the Washington State transfer who will return to the court next season after redshirting because of a knee injury. “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 those things too, Leger-Walker added. They enjoy a basketball-specific practice facility they share with the men’s team. They fly on chartered planes.
Forces outside of basketball are only going to continue to change the sport as revenue sharing is expected to come into effect as soon as next week. The consequences of the ever-changing name, image and likeness rules are still playing out as players try to rush transfer decisions before the newest law takes effect, said UCLA associate head coach Shannon LeBeauf, who is also the program’s recruiting coordinator.
The longtime assistant calls coaching her “calling.” Incorporating monetary decisions into roster building is dicey, LeBeauf said. The NIL decisions fall on Close’s desk. Yet the Bruins have tried to balance the new world of college sports while holding true to the program’s long-standing mission to teach, mentor and equip players for life beyond UCLA.
“You’re trying to find that match where it still is a good match, and it’s just not transactional,” LeBeauf said. “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 enjoying every bit of their first NCAA Final Four run. Arriving in Tampa this week, they settled into the best team hotel available — a perk bestowed to the highest seed in the tournament — and unwrapped Jordan Brand swag bags. NCAA gift boxes in their locker room included customized lettermen’s jackets and phone accessories.
It’s already exceeded the Bruins’ expectations.
“This has been a plus,” Gardiner said. “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.”
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