• Following their blowout win over South Carolina in the 2026 NCAA Women's National Championship game, UCLA has lost six key players to the WNBA draft.
• Coach Cori Close has turned to the transfer portal, attempting to retool the squad for the upcoming season with five transfer signings.
• The departure of so many key players created a bleak outlook for the upcoming season, with some even projecting the defending champs to start the season outside the top 25. Coach Close’s top-five transfer class, coupled with her chemistry-building and player development track record, helps to assuage some of those concerns.

UCLA barely had time to celebrate its first NCAA championship win before it had to reckon with what they were losing.

This offseason, the Bruins lost all five starters from the team that beat South Carolina 79-51 in the 2026 National Championship game. Lauren Betts, Kiki Rice, Gabriela Jaquez, Gianna Kneepkens, Charlisse Leger-Walker, and their star off the bench, Angela Dugalić, all heard their names called in the WNBA draft. Five of those names were called in the first-round, setting a WNBA record for the most first-round picks from one school in the same draft.

That amount of loss is about as close as a college basketball team gets to starting over.

Coach Cori Close seems suited for the task moving forward. She is a process-driven coach who talks often about John Wooden, growth, and character. Her attention to detail has allowed her to find success even as college basketball has transformed around her.

Close is entering her 16th season at UCLA. When she took the helm, the program was still chasing its first NCAA Final Four appearance. Having won the National Championship and earned a contract extension through 2030, Close must now find a way to rebuild if she hopes to repeat.

Even before the Championship game, Close knew an overhaul was coming. Asked about maintaining continuity in the portal era, she said UCLA would be aggressive.

“We’re probably going to sign five transfers,” Close said. The night after winning the title, she joked that she told her mother, “The transfer portal just got easier.”

She was right on both counts. UCLA added five transfers and two international freshmen, likely giving the Bruins enough experience to avoid a long-term rebuild in favor of a quick reset.

"The transfer portal just got easier," Coach Close joked after winning the National Championship.

A different kind of UCLA team

Despite their activity in the portal, one of the first pieces that fell into place for the Bruins was a more familiar name – UCLA’s very own – Sienna Betts.

The younger Betts spent her freshman season behind one of the deepest veteran groups in the country, but still averaged 6.0 points and 4.0 rebounds in only 14.1 minutes per game while shooting 52.9 percent from the field. She made the Big Ten All-Freshman Team despite missing the beginning of the season with an injury.

Her potential was evident during the national championship game. Sienna was thrown into important first-quarter minutes against a formidable South Carolina frontcourt. In a game where she only played 6 minutes, Sienna secured 4 rebounds and the approval of her All-American sister.

“For her to get crucial rebounds, go up against really strong bigs, that’s huge as a freshman,” Lauren said afterward.

At 6-foot-4, Sienna gives UCLA a young interior piece whom Close can entrust with a larger role. She does not have to play exactly like her sister, but at least UCLA is entering the season with a Betts in the paint.

In Lauren, the team lost a big producer. The 6-foot-7 center averaged 17.1 points and 8.8 rebounds last season while shooting 58.2 percent from the field. Having also lost Rice, Jaquez and Kneepkens to the draft, UCLA must find a way to replace its four leading scorers.

With so much production to replace, Coach Close sought a variety of experienced and versatile players.

The biggest addition from the portal may be Senior Addy Brown. The former Iowa State forward averaged 11.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists in her junior season. At 6-foot-2, Brown can rebound, handle the ball and create shots for teammates instead of being locked into one frontcourt role.

Iowa State senior Addy Brown transferred to UCLA this past summer

Brown has also shown she can score when a game demands. During the 2025 Big 12 Tournament, she scored 41 points against Arizona State, prompting longtime Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly to open his postgame press conference with: “Not bad for a Second Team All-Conference player.”

That versatility matters for a UCLA team losing both its primary post scorer in Betts and one of its main creators in Rice.

The Bruins also brought in Donovyn Hunter from TCU and former Arkansas guard Bonnie Deas. Hunter started all 38 games last season and made 60 threes. Deas averaged 10.2 points and 9.0 rebounds as a freshman, despite standing just 5-foot-9.

Elina Aarnisalo is returning to UCLA after spending one season at North Carolina. She averaged 10.2 points and 2.9 assists for the Tar Heels and started 26 games. Aarnisalo’s return offers Close a point guard who understands the program and has starting experience she lacked when she left Westwood.

K.K. Bransford rounds out the transfer class after four years at Notre Dame. Despite missing one year due to injury, the proven leader brings valuable experience to Westwood. Bransford won an ACC tournament with the Irish and was named a team captain in her final season.

The Bruins also added first-year international players Lina Jerković and Somto Okafor, giving Close more young talent to develop.

Put together, it is a group that gives Close options. UCLA might not have one obvious replacement for Rice, Jaquez, or Betts, but they have several players who have already handled major roles elsewhere.

Close has done this before

This is a bigger portal class than Close has typically needed, but rebuilding through transfers is not new at UCLA. In fact, some of the most important players on last year's championship team arrived in Westwood that way.

Lauren Betts came from Stanford in 2023. Timea Gardiner, who is returning for the upcoming season, followed from Oregon State in 2024. Kneepkens transferred from Utah before last season, while Leger-Walker originally came from Washington State.

The portal has never completely replaced UCLA’s traditional recruiting. Rice and Jaquez stayed with the program for four years. Sienna Betts was also recruited out of high school.

In the 2024-25 season, UCLA featured three transfer signings, four freshman recruits, and six returning players, and reached the program’s first NCAA Final Four. For Close, assembling a team is always about more than player rankings.

“Talent was going to be our floor,” Close explained during the tournament run. “Our character, our chemistry, our habits were going to be our ceiling.”

That approach matters even more now. Close is trying to integrate five transfers at once, and some of them have only one season left to play together. Talent alone will not give UCLA much time to figure it out.

Reloaded, but not the same

Coach Close’s offseason provides reasons for optimism, but there are still real questions.

UCLA no longer has the massive interior advantage Lauren Betts supplied every night and has yet to solidify a late-game scorer like Rice or Jaquez. With so many new pieces and open questions, Close will have to build chemistry quickly.

That is the part of this rebuild transfer rankings cannot measure.

When UCLA returned to practice in July, Close described the roster as “a new art project,” with a new identity that would have to develop on its own.

A few months ago, UCLA’s outlook looked much shakier. When it became clear the defending champions would be losing their top six players, ESPN left the Bruins out of its first way-too-early Top 25 rankings.

After the portal opened, UCLA assembled a transfer class ESPN later ranked fifth nationally.

The Bruins will not look much like the team that raised the trophy in April. They may not need to.

UCLA does not need Sienna Betts to become Lauren, Brown to become Rice or Hunter to become Kneepkens. It needs Close to do something she has already done on a smaller scale: take players who arrived in Westwood travelling very different paths and make the pieces fit quickly.

Now that the confetti has settled, and certain pieces have fallen into place, UCLA’s outlook is not as bleak as it seemed when they cut down the nets in April. The starting five may be gone, but the coach who built it is not.