The 2025-2026 season is officially over after No. 7 seed UCLA men’s basketball (24-12, 13-7 Big Ten) fell 73-57 to No. 2 seed UConn (31-5, 17-3 Big East) on Sunday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia. Daily Bruin Sports editor Connor Dullinger gives his five main takeaways from the 2025-2026 campaign, the Round of 32 defeat and what to look forward to going into the next season.

Snake-bitten.

There are few teams more injury-riddled than the Bruins in March Madness.

In UCLA’s First Four to Final Four run in 2021, Chris Smith tore his ACL just eight games into the campaign, after averaging 12.6 points and 6.4 rebounds per game.

Three seasons ago, the Bruins lost Naismith Defensive Player of the Year Jaylen Clark to an Achilles tear in the regular season finale, and Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Adem Bona missed a Sweet Sixteen matchup with Gonzaga due to a shoulder injury.

This time around, the Bruins lost senior forward Tyler Bilodeau to a knee injury suffered in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinal against Michigan State.

While it is impossible to say if the Bruins’ leading scorer, second-best rebounder and most efficient 3-point shooter would have reversed the Round of 32 outcome, it definitely would have given them a better shot.

It is no secret that coach Mick Cronin has felt the effects of UCLA’s injury luck, too.

“If I didn’t have bad luck, I’d have no luck at all since I’ve been at UCLA with injuries,” Cronin said after UCLA beat Michigan State in the Big Ten tournament.

Injuries are an uncontrollable, but imperative, factor when it comes to deep March Madness runs.

The teams that dance until the end of the NCAA Tournament are the ones that stay the healthiest.

Cronin has failed to shake the injury bug since taking the helm at UCLA, and all he can hope for is that the tides switch come next season.

No Bilodeau, no offense.

After all of the times Cronin criticized his team for being the worst defensive squad he has coached in 23 years, it is almost ironic that it was offensive woes that sent his squad packing.

The Bruins scored just 57 points – largely a byproduct of missing Bilodeau, who was easily their most efficient and impactful offensive player from all three levels.

But still.

Very few teams win scoring under 60.

As a team, the Bruins shot 39% from the field, particularly marred by inefficient nights from guards senior Donovan Dent and sophomore Trent Perry. The backcourt duo combined for just 16 points on 4-for-17 shooting from the field.

The Bruins not only failed to convert easy shots at the rim and open shots from the perimeter, but were taking low-percentage looks in key situations while trailing late to the Huskies.

And when a team is without its best offensive weapon and its two guards are failing to efficiently convert, the bench needs to step up.

But the Bruin reserves went just 1-for-5 from the field for two points.

This is not the first time UCLA’s offense has faltered when the lights are brightest. The squad scored just 58 points in its final game of the season last year against Tennessee – also in the Round of 32.

Despite Cronin tabbing the Bruins as one of his best offensive squads yet, it has been offensive woes that have led to his team’s demise in back-to-back seasons.

Who’s gone?

The end of a season means the end of many players’ college careers.

And in the current landscape of college athletics, immense roster turnover is a plague that hits teams every offseason.

This time around, the Bruins are graduating eight players.

Headlining the list are starters Dent, Bilodeau and guard Skyy Clark. Dent and Bilodeau are the Bruins’ top two leading scorers, while Dent also leads the team in assists and steals and Bilodeau ranks second in rebounds.

Clark is attempting to return to UCLA on an additional fifth year of eligibility – he’s been working with the UCLA Compliance Office and assistant coach Nate Georgeton to submit the necessary files to the NCAA, per Aaron Heisen.

The senior guard could receive an additional year due to only playing 13 games during his freshman season at Illinois. However, there is no specific timeline for a decision, per a school spokesperson.

Returning Clark would be major for the Bruins as they are already losing a bulk of their scoring, rebounding and facilitation upon Dent’s and Bilodeau’s departures. Clark could give UCLA a savvy, veteran guard who is efficient from beyond the arc and an instinctual man-to-man defender.

Outside of the starters, the Bruins are losing bench pieces in fifth-year guard Jamar Brown and redshirt senior forward/center Steven Jamerson II. However, UCLA should be able to replace both of those pieces after the duo contributed just a combined 5.7 points per game this season.

New faces.

The age of recruiting high school prospects and developing them over multiple years is over.

Championship squads are built through the portal.

And with all of the losses the Bruins will have this offseason, Cronin and his staff need to hit a home run with their roster creation.

There are no guarantees for who UCLA will retain over the summer, but I think it is a fair guess to make that Perry will return as the centerpiece of the team, potentially joined by Clark if he is granted a fifth year of eligibility.

And with the emergence of redshirt freshman guard Eric Freeny, I imagine the Bruins will attack other aspects of the roster.

UCLA desperately needs an elite-level wing that is both a proficient scorer – preferably on all three levels and especially dangerous from beyond the arc – and a versatile defender that can take quicker guards and bigger forwards.

All signs point to junior forward/center Xavier Booker returning to UCLA next year, meaning that the Bruins will either need a stretch-four to replace Bilodeau, or a traditional center – one that protects the rim, is an efficient interior scorer and an elite man-on-man defender – allowing Booker to move back to the four spot.

Regardless, the Bruins most likely need two to three bona fide starters in the portal, along with a few veteran bench pieces to give UCLA depth at wing and in the frontcourt.

While time will tell who will be fresh to the Bruin roster come next season, the portal waits for no one, so expect new names to be on the UCLA roster in no time.

And if you don’t believe me, Dent joined UCLA on March 28, 2025.

Evaluation.

When it is all said and done, how should we look at this season?

Was it a success? The short answer is no.

Was it a failure? Also no.

If you asked me before the new year, I would have said the season was a failure.

UCLA started as the No. 12 team in the AP poll but failed to beat a formidable opponent, falling to Arizona, Gonzaga and California early on. If you asked me before UCLA upset then-No. 4 Purdue, then I definitely would have said the season was a disappointment – the squad lost three of the first five games of the new year.

And if you asked me again after the Bruins’ brutal battering in Michigan – falling by a combined 53 points to Michigan and Michigan State, coupled with the Jamerson fiasco and Cronin erupting on a reporter – I would have said that the campaign was chalked up to a dumpster fire.

But just like last season, the Bruins seemed to turn it on when it mattered most, finishing the season strong and looking like the best version of themselves all year.

And if Bilodeau were healthy, I genuinely think the Bruins could have made a run to the Elite Eight.

But they didn’t.

UCLA fell in the Round of 32 and has not made it back to the Sweet Sixteen in the last three seasons and has not made it past the round since 2021.

I cannot give a conclusive answer on whether or not the season was a success or a failure due to the injuries that riddled UCLA’s season.

But I do know that if you told people at the start of the campaign that a loss in the Round of 32 would end the season, they would give you a concrete, resounding response.