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Scout players for UCLA women’s basketball translate chemistry to club championship

UCLA men’s club basketball senior forward and scout player Jonny Garnett completes a passing drill with UCLA women’s basketball freshman forward Christeen Iwaula. Garnett led the UCLA men’s club basketball team to its first national championship in program history and earned tournament MVP. (Courtesy of UCLA men’s club basketball)

By Lauryn Olina Wang

May 1, 2023 12:51 p.m.

This post was updated May 4 at 10:31 p.m.

The final buzzer sounded at 8:10 p.m. as UCLA women’s basketball stunned No. 1 seed Stanford in a Pac-12 tournament semifinal comeback.

By 8:12 p.m., its scout team was arranging travel to Vegas to catch the championship game.

Throughout the season, a troupe of scout players became a staple behind the Bruins’ bench. Having practiced with the women’s program, they knew all the plays, players and personnel. An impromptu trip to Vegas was an opportunity to see their preparation pan out on the biggest stage of the season thus far.

“This is one of the best (scout teams) I’ve had in 30 years,” said UCLA women’s basketball coach Cori Close. “Not just in their capabilities, but in their attitude. And you know, they drove to Vegas for us.”

Although UCLA would end up relinquishing the conference title to Washington State, many of the scout players earned a chance at their own chip come April as part of the UCLA men’s club basketball team that secured the No. 1 seed in the National Club Basketball Association National Championship tournament.

After an initial flight delay, a missed connection, an alternative flight booking and an Uber across state lines, the club team arrived in Erie, Pennsylvania, at 2 a.m. the morning of its first game in the tournament.

“It was a metaphor for what we’ve been through the whole season,” said senior forward Jonny Garnett. “Ups, downs, but at every point where there was adversity, we were able to respond.”

The Bruins indeed responded by trouncing No. 8 seed Boston College, toppling No. 5 seed Florida State, then outlasting No. 6 seed James Madison down the stretch to clinch the first national championship in program history.

Entering the season unranked and coming off an 11-9 campaign, UCLA made little noise in the preseason. It proved its place at the top by injecting new talent such as Garnett into a squad with dedicated veterans eager to achieve a turnaround and a deep postseason run.

“They (the coaches) brought in a younger demographic, but of course we have six seniors who are so important to the team,” said sophomore guard Benji Moore, who is also a team manager for the women’s program. “It was a huge turnaround in the sense that we’re committed, but we’re also having a lot of fun.”

Smiling wide and donning championship-laden swag, Garnett hoisted the title hardware after his third double-double in as many games. The tournament MVP – averaging 21.3 points and 10.7 rebounds across the weekend – thanked his family before giving a special shoutout to UCLA women’s basketball.

“Everyone in that program has changed my life permanently,” Garnett said. “You guys have allowed me to do things I could only have dreamt of. … Thank you so much for always supporting me and supporting my team.”

Despite the immense success of his inaugural year with men’s club basketball, Garnett began his student-athlete career as a linebacker under coach Chip Kelly. He closed his UCLA football chapter after two years to explore other opportunities, and his next endeavor emerged at the Hitch basketball courts on the Hill when a UCLA women’s basketball team manager approached him about joining the scout team.

“I saw it as the perfect opportunity,” Garnett said. “I pretty much said yes right away.”

UCLA men’s club basketball senior forward and scout player Jonny Garnett practices a passing drill with UCLA women’s basketball freshman forward Christeen Iwuala. (Felicia Keller/Daily Bruin)

The women’s program continues to recruit scout players from the Hitch courts, the John Wooden Center, the intramural basketball league and by word of mouth. But scout players aren’t sourced from the men’s club basketball team – it’s the other way around.

“They developed their chemistry on our scout team, and then they put it into practice with the club program,” Close said. “Most of them didn’t know each other before they started participating with our scout team.”

The scout team is composed of 12 to 15 players each year, with eight participating in every practice for the women’s team. Many of the student-athletes bypassed Division II and mid-major scholarship offers in high school to attend UCLA, and alumnus Jerrold Smith even walked onto the UCLA Division I men’s basketball team in 2014 after two years as a scout player for the women’s program.

Incorporating scout players into UCLA women’s basketball’s training dates back to 2004, but the practice has existed in collegiate basketball informally for far longer. Close met current assistant coach Tony Newman when he was a scout player at UC Santa Barbara and she was a student-athlete for the Gauchos.

Scout players fulfill evolving roles to provide the women’s team with more concentrated reps and feedback, including emulating the tendencies of players on an opposing roster, assisting with drills and easing load management.

But both UCLA senior guard Charisma Osborne and freshman forward Christeen Iwuala attest that the scout players’ specialty is trash talk.

“They love to compete, and talking trash is what they do at the same time,” Iwuala said. “Having that dynamic brings out the best from everyone and pulls everybody up another level – knowing I can’t just relax, or they’re going to say something I don’t want to hear.”

The club team’s national championship may have proven that the scout players boast the pedigree to back the digs, but the women’s program respected the scout team long before it brought a ring back to Westwood.

The array of team managers, club athletes and scout players converging from different corners of campus to pursue excellence on the court is a testament to the impressive ecosystem UCLA women’s basketball has cultivated. In symbiotic fashion, each party continues to push the other to compete, contend and chase championships.

“It just blows my mind that we literally play them every day,” Iwuala said. “There’s no Jonny out in the Pac-12 or in the whole entire nation. … We play against Jonny every day, so what else can’t we do?”

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Lauryn Olina Wang | Sports senior staff
Wang is currently a Sports senior staff writer on the women’s basketball, men’s basketball, NIL and football beats. She was previously an assistant Sports editor on the women’s basketball, men’s soccer, men’s golf and track and field beats, reporter on the women’s basketball beat and contributor on the men’s and women’s golf beats. Wang is also a fourth-year history major and community engagement and social change minor.
Wang is currently a Sports senior staff writer on the women’s basketball, men’s basketball, NIL and football beats. She was previously an assistant Sports editor on the women’s basketball, men’s soccer, men’s golf and track and field beats, reporter on the women’s basketball beat and contributor on the men’s and women’s golf beats. Wang is also a fourth-year history major and community engagement and social change minor.
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