This post was updated Nov. 3 at 12:45 a.m.

It’s been four years since the Bruins’ First Four to Final Four run.

The program’s only appearance past the Sweet Sixteen since 2008 lives more in YouTube clips than memories – at least for most of the undergraduates in Westwood now.

No. 12 UCLA men’s basketball remains the nation’s leader in NCAA championships but has not appeared in a title game in 19 years, has not won a national crown in 30 and 10 of its 11 championships came 50-plus years ago.

But the Bruins, who will open their 2025-26 campaign Thursday, have their best shot at a deep March Madness run since the injury bug hampered the team’s 2023 run.

After losing Jaylen Clark, Tyger Campbell, Amari Bailey, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and David Singleton with the finish of the 2022-23 season, coach Mick Cronin brought in seven freshmen across the United States and Europe as part of his first UCLA rebuild.

It did not work.

Dylan Andrews, Sebastian Mack and Aday Mara – once thought of as the future of UCLA – are all gone.

Instead, following a number of failed projects, Cronin has only embraced the transfer portal further.

The head honcho brought in five players through the portal this offseason after a pair of transfers – senior forward Tyler Bilodeau and junior guard/forward Eric Dailey Jr. – led the Bruins in scoring last season.

Senior guard Donovan Dent, junior forward/center Xavier Booker and fifth-year guard Jamar Brown headline the quintet – and all featured in the Bruins’ preseason starting five against San Diego State and UC Irvine.

Dent – the reigning Mountain West Player of the Year and an AP All-American honorable mention last season – posted 20.4 points per game and a 40.9% clip from beyond the arc last season.

Bilodeau, who led UCLA in both categories in his debut Bruin campaign, averaged just 13.5 points and a 40% 3-point clip.

Booker has been tasked with filling the shoes of the since-departed 7-foot-2 Mara, as the former transitions from a forward with Michigan State to a center under Cronin. While Booker hasn’t done much of anything in his first two collegiate seasons – averaging just 4.3 points as a Spartan – the hope is that a change in role will help the former five-star recruit and McDonald’s All-American reach new heights.

With Dailey – who averaged 11.4 points and four boards over 33 games last season – out with an undisclosed knee strain, Brown appears to be the next man up. He posted 17 points and 7.4 rebounds per game last season with Missouri-Kansas City, and recorded a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds in UCLA’s exhibition game against UC Irvine on Oct. 28.

The Bruins also return starting guard senior Skyy Clark and former McDonald’s All-American and four-star recruit sophomore guard Trent Perry.

Just two of UCLA’s first 14 opponents are in the preseason top 25 – No. 13 Arizona and No. 21 Gonzaga – both of which it will face at neutral sites. In conference play, however, UCLA will face five of the six ranked Big Ten teams, including No. 1 Purdue in Westwood on Jan. 20 and No. 7 Michigan in Ann Arbor on Feb. 14, before the Bruins head to Chicago for the Big Ten tournament.

UCLA’s current student body has seen the fire, antics and postgame comments Cronin brings.

But they largely have not seen the postseason success a Cronin-led squad is capable of – the success many believe should be typical at UCLA.

But Singleton is back with the Bruins as an assistant coach this season.

And maybe the triumphs experienced in Cronin’s first few years in Westwood could make a return, too.