UCLA Women's Basketball: Last AP Poll Of 2024 Knocks Bruins Down A Few Pegs

UCLA women's basketball will close out the 2023-2024 season ranked No. 10 overall, according to the latest AP Top 25 poll. In the final edition of the rankings, the Bruins dropped four spots, after ranking No. 6 in the previous poll.

The drop comes after the Bruins were eliminated during the Sweet 16 round of this year's NCAA Tournament, when they lost 78-69 to the LSU Tigers. This is also a significant drop from where the Bruins started the season, ranking No. 4 in the Week 1 edition of the poll. At their peak, UCLA was even ranked as high as No. 2 in the poll.

They had one of the best starts in the country, beginning their season 15-0. While they looked dominant at the start, the Bruins became mortal midway through the season. They were still one of the better teams in the NCAA, as evinced by their emergence as one of the final 16 clubs in the country, but they were not able to replicate their early-season dominance consistently for the rest of the year.

This was UCLA's second consecutive NCAA Sweet 16 run, and a mark they'll try to improve upon next season. While the Bruins are losing Charisma Osborne, who has been one of their top players over her five seasons with UCLA, they are bringing in a strong recruiting class for next season. The Bruins have three five-star recruits among the high school class of 2024, including Kendall Dudley, Avary Cain and Zania Socka-Nguemen. Dudley is ranked No. 14 in the nation, Cain is No. 24 and Socka-Nguemen is No. 27, per ESPN. These three will be expected to contribute right away alongside UCLA's stars, including Kiki Rice, Lauren Betts and Gabriela Jaquez next season.