With just softball and baseball remaining in the postseason hunt, UCLA’s first year in the Big Ten is nearly in the books. From championship glory to painful upsets, this year delivered a full spectrum of highs and heartbreaks for the Bruins. As the year winds down, Daily Bruin Sports editors weigh in on which UCLA team had the most disappointing finish.

Ira Gorawara
Sports editor
Team: Men’s basketball

Hope was in short supply for UCLA men’s basketball in the 2023-2024 season – and so were the highlights.

Adem Bona was the lone spark in an otherwise dim campaign – the Bruins treaded water in the Pac-12 and ranked a dismal 152nd in offensive efficiency, with most of the roster unable to crack a 100 offensive rating.

But as the transfer portal tends to do these days, it flipped coach Mick Cronin’s 2024-2025 plans on their head before the season tipped off.

Hype engulfed the Bruins, who had landed key prospects from the portal including veteran Kobe Johnson, four-stars Dominick Harris, Skyy Clark and Tyler Bilodeau – to name a few.

The pieces were there – on paper, at least – enough to fuel preseason optimism in Westwood and talk of a bounce-back year, deep rotation and a chance to make noise in the team’s Big Ten debut.

For a minute, it felt like Cronin pulled off the reset the program desperately craved in the 2024 offseason.

But basketball isn’t played on paper.

Chemistry felt off on Cronin’s unit all season long. Rotations shifted constantly, the offense stalled far too often and what should’ve been a cohesive unit appeared more like a collection of talented strangers.

The defense – usually a Cronin staple – lacked bite, and the late-game execution that once defined his best squads were nowhere to be found.

As the hype train derailed the Bruins’ season, UCLA’s lifeline ended in the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament, at the hands of Tennessee at Rupp Arena.

Disjointed offense, untimely turnovers and an abysmal effort from the charity stripe characterized too many postseason games.

For a program that prides itself on postseason pedigree, bowing out in the first weekend – even in a loaded Big Ten transition year – felt like a gut punch.

All the portal moves and preseason buzz fizzled when it mattered most. The disappointment lingers.

Kai Dizon
Assistant Sports editor
Team: Football

Coach DeShaun Foster’s rookie campaign was awry six games into the season, with the Bruins on a five-game losing streak and yet to eclipse 20 points on offense in a single contest.

Then, quarterback Ethan Garbers, who already had nine interceptions at the time, turned in a career day against Rutgers in Piscataway, New Jersey – tossing for 383 yards and four touchdowns in a 35-32 victory for UCLA football.

Foster proclaimed UCLA’s athletic director Martin Jarmond “hired the right guy” after defeating Nebraska 27-20 the following weekend. And against Iowa on Nov. 8, the running game that had been stuck in the trenches all season, exploded for 211 yards in a 20-17 win.

All of a sudden, the Bruins were 4-5, and just needed to win two of their final three contests to make a bowl game.

But Garbers was sacked six times in Seattle and the Bruins’ running backs were held to 40 yards as UCLA fell 31-19 to Washington.

In a do-or-die Battle for the Bell at the Rose Bowl, UCLA floundered again. Garbers had just one touchdown, and despite 99 rushing yards, first-string running back T.J. Harden failed to find paydirt.

The Bruins led 13-9 heading into the final quarter, but the Trojans put up 10 unanswered.

Yes, UCLA closed out the season with a 20-13 win over Fresno State, but I sure didn’t care. And given that it was Thanksgiving break, not many students did either. With a 5-7 record, the Bruin faithful were left with a sour introduction to the Fos Era.

Evidently, many of the team’s players were too.

On top of the players leaving via the NFL Draft or graduation – like Garbers, Carson Schwesinger, Oluwafemi Oladejo and Moliki Matavao – the Bruins lost J.Michael Sturdivant, Logan Loya, Niki Prongos and Harden to the transfer portal as practically every notable name from the 2024 roster would be absent come 2025.

Aaron Doyle
Assistant Sports editor
Team: Cross country

The pressure of qualifying for the national championship can make or break a team.

And in 2024, it seemed to have broken UCLA cross country.

Graduate student Michael Mireles carried much of the burden of qualification, earning UCLA’s first-ever podium finish at a Big Ten championship after placing second in the men’s 8K race.

The conference victory seemed like momentum that could have carried Mireles to the national championships, but it quickly slipped away at the NCAA West Regional on Nov. 15.

The men’s team opted to forgo a five-man lineup, forcing Mireles to qualify as an individual. A top-five finish would have punched his ticket to the national championship race.

Mireles looked to be in national-qualifying contention as he sat in fifth with just 1.8 kilometers to go. But at the 9K split, Mireles dropped to 17th and ultimately finished 21st, blowing his chances of going to nationals.

While the competition was stiff, Mireles seemed more than capable of making the cut. Mireles breezed right past Washington’s Nathan Green, Evan Jenkins and Tyrone Gorze, as well as Oregon’s Aiden Smith and Simeon Birnbaum at the Big Ten championships – but fell short to them when it mattered most.

Assistant coach Andrew Ferris blamed inexperience for the graduate student’s shortcomings, but there is still more to come from Mireles – just not as a Bruin.

Mireles has already announced his transfer to Oregon following the end of the outdoor track season, joining one of the teams that dashed his hopes in 2024.

Connor Dullinger
Assistant Sports editor
Team: Men’s soccer

When UCLA men’s soccer fell 1-0 in Westwood to Loyola Marymount in the 2023 NCAA tournament’s second round, many thought the Bruins were destined for revenge come 2024.

Few imagined the Bruins would let the embarrassment of a postseason upset grace Wallis Annenberg Stadium for a second consecutive year.

But that’s exactly what happened.

Despite missing three penalty kicks to fall in the Big Ten tournament semifinals to Michigan, UCLA still managed to earn an at-large bid to 2024’s NCAA tournament, where it faced a UC Santa Barbara team that tied Westmont 2-2 – a squad that UCLA defeated 5-1 just 10 days after Santa Barbara’s draw.

And in keeping with UCLA’s season-long offensive struggles, the Gauchos shut out the Bruins. UCSB outshot UCLA by eight and advanced to the second round after defeating the Bruins 1-0 in Westwood.

Not only did the Bruins fall in dramatic fashion in the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments, but they were also defeated 3-1 at home by Cal State Fullerton and 4-1 by Wisconsin in the regular season.

They also dropped crucial points on untimely goals, conceding two unanswered goals in the final 16 minutes of a 2-2 draw to Penn State and conceding an equalizer in the last 10 minutes to Michigan in a 3-3 tie.

Despite the squad’s deep roster and seven clean sheets, the Bruins failed to capitalize when they were expected to and gave up crucial goals when it mattered most.

Una O’Farrell
Assistant Sports editor
Team: Women’s water polo

Pulling off an undefeated season – one that resulted in the first national championship in 15 years for UCLA women’s water polo – is a hefty feat, almost impossible to replicate.

A 1.000 winning percentage wasn’t necessarily coach Adam Wright’s top priority heading into the 2025 season – earning back-to-back national titles was.

And with the return of two of the 2024’s roster’s top three scorers and ACWPC National Player of the Year sophomore goalkeeper Lauren Steele, along with the addition of two-time All-American junior center Bia Mantellato, it seemed the 2025 Bruins were well-poised to make a return to glory.

But the team struggled with early losses, with a 14-4 defeat to Stanford, 2025’s eventual national champions, marking UCLA’s worst loss differential since 2010.

The Cardinal handed the Bruins’ half of its 2025 losses, but maybe the most gut-wrenching of the trio came in an overtime defeat for the MPSF crown.

And with Stanford and UCLA sitting on opposite sides of the NCAA tournament’s bracket, many predicted the two to meet again in Indianapolis.

But the reigning MPSF and NCAA champions were unable to even make the title match after suffering a 15-13 loss to the Trojans, sending the Bruins home without the opportunity to defend their national title.

In 2024, Wright said that the Bruins were “back on the map.” But just less than a year later, they’d fall just short of the very greatness they swore would become a habit.

Sabrina Messiha
Assistant Sports editor
Team: Women’s basketball

Twelve weeks atop the AP regular season poll was not enough.

The first No. 1 seed in program history was not enough.

The first Final Four appearance in NCAA history was not enough.

Despite a year stacked with accolades, awards and trophies, UCLA women’s basketball was unable to take home the biggest reward – a NCAA championship.

While the Final Four outing doesn’t undermine the ground-breaking successes of the program, the nature of the loss makes for the most disappointing season end. All eyes were on UCLA to bring home a national championship, but they were upset by a No. 2 seed UConn.

It was more than an upset – it felt like a complete obliteration. The Huskies’ 85-51 over the Bruins marked the largest winning margin in NCAA Final Four history.

After UCLA maintained a perfect record against all schools except USC, it fell to a new foe. The Huskies were able to shut down junior center Lauren Betts, forcing the ball to a thoroughly defended perimeter.

“We wanted to take away their 3s, but we also wanted to make things hard for Lauren Betts,” said former UConn star guard Paige Bueckers.

And that is exactly what the Huskies did.

Only four Bruins scored in the first half. Only three players put up points from the field until the final quarter. UCLA put up just 13 points in the final 10 minutes of its season, as UConn ran away with a 34-point win.

And in the meantime, UCLA students gathered in Pauley Pavilion watched their team crumble.

Next season presents another opportunity for the Bruins to bring home the trophy. And if they don’t, may their fall be more graceful.