UCLA Athletics Whip-Around 4/29: Volleyball Takes Center Stage, Football Spring Showcase, More

Taking a quick look around the UCLA Athletics sphere.

(Photo credit: uclabruins.com)

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Welcome back to the Whip-Around, our offseason catch-all to help you keep up with the latest events in UCLA Athletics. This time out, men’s volleyball is taking the top spot, we talk about the NFL Draft, update on the latest roster news for the basketball teams, and maybe glance at softball for a hot minute.

Let’s get into it.

Men’s Volleyball

Well, I said last time that the men’s volleyball team was essentially guaranteed a spot in the NCAA Tournament, and that ended up being the case. The Bruins lost in the MPSF Finals to Grand Canyon 2-3 (16-25, 26-24, 17-25, 25-19, 10-15) but still earned the top seed in the NCAA Tournament, which feels like as much a sign as any that the Bruins were destined for that spot regardless of the outcome. Earning the top seed works out to the Bruins’ advantage, as they will avoid one of #2 Long Beach State or #3 Grand Canyon until the finals, and will instead face either UC Irvine or Penn State in the second round. Neither of those teams are pushovers, but the Bruins went 4-0 against those two teams while they’ve dropped a match to both LBSU and Grand Canyon this year (they’ve also lost to Ohio State who is also on that side of the bracket, so it works out well).

Of course, that is all looking ahead, as the Bruins first need to get past Fort Valley State University in their first-round game on April 30th. Funnily enough, the Bruins played FVSU in their first game this year, a 3-0 (25-18, 25-12, 25-17) drubbing that doesn’t even seem as close as the box score would indicate. That said, FVSU was without three players in that game, including two who would go on to earn all-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honors this year, so the game should theoretically be much closer. The Wildcats are a great story, becoming the first HBCU to ever compete in the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship Tournament after winning the SIAC championship and its new automatic bid for the first time in program history.

Should the Bruins win, they will move on to the semifinals on May 2, with the national championship game on May 4. With the tournament taking place down the road at the Pyramid in Long Beach, you have to like UCLA’s chances of grabbing another national championship.

Football

First some NFL Draft notes. As expected, Laiatu Latu went in the first round of the Draft on Thursday, becoming the first defensive player taken overall when the Indianapolis Colts grabbed him with the 15th pick. It’s a good situation for Latu on a developing team where he can simply focus on his pass-rushing ability while getting better in other areas. Darius Muasau became the only other Bruin drafted when the New York Giants took him in the 6th round. Muasau will be on the outside looking in for a roster spot, but he could turn himself into a solid special teams player with heady play.

Second, UCLA had its Spring Showcase last Saturday after not holding it the previous year under Chip Kelly. Even without getting into the practice itself (and let’s be honest here: this was just a glorified practice still), you have to consider the Spring Showcase to be an absolute success for new head coach DeShaun Foster. UCLA got 11,703 fans to come to the Rose Bowl for a scrimmage and treated them to all the things they’d lost over the past six years; an engaging fan zone, a Bruin Walk through Lot H, and the team and coaching staff willingly engaging with the fan base.

I’m still not sold on DeShaun Foster as the long-term solution at head coach and do not think next year will be very successful (though, as I have mentioned before, that’s not his fault in the slightest but just another indictment of the job Chip Kelly ran from) but he clearly understands the things he needs to do to right the ship at UCLA, and the easiest thing is to engage the fanbase instead of treating them like a nuisance. Everything about spring practices under Foster has seemed geared towards bringing the fanbase back into the fold, from reinvigorating the Spring Showcase to hosting a Friday Night Lights practice last week, to improved donor outreach and improved media relations resulting in more positive coverage of the team. There’s been an increased focus on recruiting, especially at the high school level, which should hopefully pay off in a year or two. This was always going to be a long rebuild, but at the very least Foster understands the work he has to put in now (and perhaps he is seeing the success that men’s basketball is seeing with NIL and recruiting and taking that to heart).

Men’s Basketball

Ok, so quick update on where we’re at since the last check-in. Last time, UCLA had commitments from Skyy Clark and Kobe Johnson and was hosting a few more on official visits. Since then:

• UCLA has received commitments and signatures from Eric Dailey (Oklahoma State) and Tyler Bilodeau (Oregon State), completely remaking the power forward depth.

• UCLA has also received the commitments of South Dakota State post William Kyle III and (officially) Loyola Marymount guard Dominick Harris.

• The Bruins are one over the scholarship limit as of writing on Monday, but the belief is that Berke Buyuktuncel will be entering the transfer portal soon.

At this point, the 2024-2025 roster seems mostly set. There is still an open question regarding the recruitment of Harvard Westlake guard Trent Perry, who was originally a Southern Cal commit but reopened his recruitment and has UCLA among the favorites. Getting Perry would be a huge move for Coach Mick Cronin, who would be locking in a McDonalds All-American from one of the top high school programs in the state, let alone one that is close to campus. That said, getting Perry would necessitate moving one more player out, and that would end up being one of Sebastian Mack, Brandon Williams, or Devin Williams (Dylan Andrews is the clearest lock to return from last year’s roster as is Lazar Stefanovic, and Aday Mara has been at a ton of UCLA events in the past few weeks including the Spring Showcase, so you have to assume he is also coming back). Mack would be the obvious replacement in this scenario as Perry plays the same position, so it’s almost a question of whether you value what Mack can become over Perry. And of course, there could still be additional moves at this point.

If there’s another interesting nugget to start watching here, it’s how this year’s transfer portal cycle will affect recruiting for 2025. One of the interesting notes for this group of transfers is that outside of Harris, each of them still has at least two years of eligibility remaining, which means only one scholarship will be open for next year as of right now. An excellent season for the Bruins could open up more scholarships as players consider jumping to the NBA, but it is hard to forecast those decisions at the moment.

Beach Volleyball

I wanted to keep this group out of the others section because the Bruins earned the #2 seed in the NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship Tournament starting Friday, May 3. Their opening-round matchup is against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, which is the same team the Bruins faced in the opening round last year, which was a 3-0 victory. The road to a national championship will be tough and will likely require another meeting with Southern Cal in the championship game, with both teams splitting the season matchups 3-3, though Southern Cal took the most recent pairing to win the Pac-12 Championship.

Quickies

• UCLA women’s basketball has seen some roster movements as well. The Bruins saw three recent departures from last year’s squad, as Lina Sontag chose to retire, Christeen Iwuala will enter the transfer portal, and Emily Bessoir will be moving on from the program. These all went with Charisma Osbourne being drafted by the Phoenix Mercury two weeks ago to open up some holes on the roster. Coach Cori Close has begun filling in those holes by adding Washington State transfer guard Charlisse Leger-Walker. Leger-Walker was by far Washington State’s best player last year before tearing her ACL and ending her season (ironically, she did so at Pauley Pavilion, so maybe she feels she has unfinished business on that court in particular).

• UCLA Softball has been on a tear over the last month, picking up huge win after huge win, including a road sweep of Stanford, to catapult themselves back to the top of the Pac-12 standings. With one series left against basement-dweller Arizona State, the Bruins can lock up the top seed in the Pac-12 Tournament with a road sweep and should be able to guarantee themselves at least a regional host spot in the Women’s College World Series. I’ve tuned into a few of the games in recent weeks and the common theme has been a team that is unwilling to lose, finding clutch hits repeatedly and getting big outs from a pitching staff that is growing into the role with each passing game.

• Women’s Water Polo captured their 12th MPSF Championship on Sunday, defeating UC Berkeley 13-10 to cap off an undefeated 23-0 season. The Bruins should be the #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament being held in Berkeley from May 10-12, with those seedings being announced later today.

• Women’s Tennis will also find out their NCAA Tournament fate today. The Bruins likely made the tournament after winning the Pac-12 regular season title and being ranked #8 in the nation, but they fell to UC Berkeley in the Pac-12 Tournament.

Jump into the comments to discuss all the various goings-on with UCLA Athletics.

Go Bruins!

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