Sunday was the last collegiate game for the Bruins’ graduating class.

Now, less than five days later, the rebuilding begins.

UCLA women’s basketball picked up freshman guard Bonnie Deas from the transfer portal, On3 reported Thursday afternoon. The news comes after the Bruins won their first NCAA title Sunday with a 79-51 victory over South Carolina, the third-largest margin in a championship game in history.

Deas averaged 10.2 points, nine rebounds and 2.6 assists per game at Arkansas while starting in all 32 contests for the Razorbacks. Deas led the team in both rebounds and assists, and she was second in points averaged to just senior guard Taleyah Jones.

The Frankston, Australia, local received All-Star Five honors at the 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup, where her 12.3 points and three assists averages helped lead her country to a silver medal.

“Bonnie has the great ability to play downhill, she’s dynamic and she does a great job getting into the lane,” said Cinnamon Lister, NBA International Elite Women’s Operations Lead, per Arkansas Athletics. “She also stretches the floor with her ability to shoot from deep.”

The Razorbacks recorded a 12-20 record this past season, going 1-15 across SEC games and failing to earn a March Madness berth.

Only five players will return to UCLA’s roster next year, since all five starters plus Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year graduate student forward Angela Dugalić have exhausted their collegiate eligibility. Filling in the abyss left behind by the departing athletes will be a tall task for coach Cori Close, considering the Bruins’ graduating class scored 90% of their team’s points across the entirety of the 2025-2026 campaign and all of the squad’s points across their Final Four run.

Seniors guards Gabriela Jaquez and Kiki Rice, plus center Lauren Betts, in addition to graduate student guards Gianna Kneepkens and Charlisse Leger-Walker – who made up UCLA’s starting five across the 2025-2026 campaign – have all been in projections to be first-round picks in the 2026 WNBA Draft.

If all five Bruins hear their names called in the first 15 selections, UCLA would make history as the first school in either WNBA or NBA history to produce that many first-round draft picks in a single year.

Deas will join a rising sophomore class in Westwood that features forward Sienna Betts and fellow guards Lena Bilić and Christina Karamouzi.

Sienna Betts, a 5-star recruit out of high school, averaged six points and four rebounds per game after sitting out the first part of the season due to a lower leg injury, while Bilić averaged three points while downing 20 of her 73 attempts from behind the arc.

Senior forward Timea Gardiner, who redshirted this year’s campaign due to a knee injury, will also return for the Bruins as one of two upperclassmen and an additional presence in the post alongside Sienna Betts.

The transfer portal opened earlier this week and will not close until April 20, before which the Bruins will likely look to continue bolstering their roster. While acquiring Deas is a small step towards replacing UCLA’s four starting guards, Close and her staff still have a long way to go.