UCLA is just weeks away from starting its second season in the Big Ten. After capturing seven Big Ten championships during their first year in the conference, the Bruins will look to build upon their inaugural year. Prior to the start of UCLA’s second Big Ten campaign, Daily Bruin sports will preview football, men’s basketball and other top programs from each school.
Football
2024 record: 13-1, 9-0 Big Ten, conference champions, national quarterfinal appearance
Coach: Dan Lanning
Player to Watch: Matayo Uiagalelei
The Ducks wasted no time making their name known in their inaugural Big Ten campaign.
Oregon football swept its regular season, including a victory over eventual national champion Ohio State, and won the Big Ten championship game against Penn State last December.
But the Ducks’ 2024 performance was not enough.
The Buckeyes trounced the Ducks at the Rose Bowl in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal, which kept the program championship-less.
But 2025 could be a different story.
The Ducks retained one of the best defenders in the country in outside linebacker Matayo Uiagalelei. The 2024 First Team All-Big Ten selection tied for No. 10 in the nation with 10.5 sacks last season.
And although Oregon lost defensive lineman Derrick Harmon and defensive end Jordan Burch to the NFL, it retained Uiagalelei’s outside linebacker partner, Teitum Tuioti, – who posted 5.5 sacks in 2024 and may give the squad one of the country’s best edge units for the 2025 campaign.
Bryce Boettcher will also bolster coverage across the middle. The inside linebacker led the team with 94 tackles during his third year with the program, helping mitigate opposing rush attacks and forcing negative plays and recording eight tackles-for-loss, two sacks and an interception.
Oregon quarterback and former UCLA starter Dante Moore holds the ball and looks to throw downfield. Moore threw for 1,610 yards and 11 touchdowns when he was apart of the Bruins. (Daily Bruin file photo)
On the offensive side, the Ducks are replacing 2024 Heisman finalist Dillon Gabriel with signal caller – and former UCLA quarterback – Dante Moore. The former five-star prospect sat behind Gabriel last season but is expected to make a leap as the full-time starter under center.
Through two games this season, Moore has thrown for 479 yards and six touchdowns. He has also flashed tremendous accuracy and efficiency, logging a 77.3% completion percentage and a 213.7 passer rating across that span. Oregon could prevail if Moore can sustain this level of performance against the Big Ten’s defensive talent.
Supplying Dante Moore’s production is receiving trio Dakorien Moore, Malik Benson and Jeremiah McClellan, each of whom has garnered 85-plus yards and has combined for three touchdowns. The wide receiver group has seemingly made up for the lost production from wide receiver Evan Stewart, who was projected to be the team’s top target but tore his patellar tendon in June.
Oregon has combined for 128 points over its first two victories of the season against Montana State and Oregon State. If that sample size is a teaser to the rest of the year, then Oregon may finally go the distance.
Men’s basketball
2024-2025 record: 25-10, 12-8 Big Ten, NCAA Tournament Round of 32 appearance
Coach: Dana Altman
Player to Watch: Nate Bittle
The current landscape of collegiate sports has exacerbated the importance of embracing roster turnover
Teams need to recruit top-end talent from both high school and the transfer portal to battle the perennial portal plague. If a program happens to slack in either facet, it may face the detriments that come with a failure to reload virtually the entire roster each offseason.
And Oregon men’s basketball may not have done enough.
The Ducks kept their top two scorers from last year in center Nate Bittle and point guard Jackson Shelstad, who will likely be one of the Big Ten’s best backcourt-frontcourt tandems.
Bittle is a 7-foot senior with an impressive resume, earning third team All-Big Ten and Big Ten All-Defense selections last season, to go alongside 14.2 points, 7.6 rebounds and two-plus blocks per game. Bittle will continue to dominate the interior and seems poised for another All-Big Ten selection.
Oregon center Nate Bittle drives to the hoop while a defender guards him. Bittle led the Ducks in scoring and rebounds last season. (Courtesy of Oregon Athletics)
Shelstad is entering his third season in Eugene and could continue to break out after averaging 13.7 points per contest on a 37.9% 3-point shooting percentage– stats that warranted a Third Team All-Big Ten selection alongside Bittle.
But the Ducks failed to replenish the depth surrounding their premier talent.
Oregon lost its next four leading scorers from last year, including guard TJ Bamba, who was an All-Big Ten Defensive Team selection.
The Ducks have just one incoming freshman in three-star shooting guard JJ Frakes, who ranks as the No. 239 prospect in the country, per 247Sports. Lacking the high school pedigree and with veterans in front of him on the depth chart, Frakes may not see much playing time throughout his first collegiate season.
And Oregon also struggled in the transfer portal. Still, the Ducks added forwards Sean Stewart and Devon Pryor, from Ohio State and Texas, respectively. Stewart – a former five-star prospect and Duke forward – averaged 5.7 points and 5.8 rebounds per game last season as a Buckeye.
Stewart played just 18.4 minutes per game last season but should see more usage with less roster frontcourt competition. Pryor – a small forward from Texas – averaged 0.7 points and 3.2 points through his first two collegiate campaigns, respectively, and his sample size may be too small to judge if he can be an impactful contributor next season.
But Oregon’s third incoming transfer may represent the prized offseason acquisition. Former Elon guard TK Simpkins averaged 16.4 points per game last season on a 42.3% field goal percentage and a 36.7% long-range clip. Although he is the most productive incoming Duck, he lacks Power Four experience, which might make it hard to translate his game to the next level.
Coach Dana Altman is still a three-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year with 780 career wins despite all the questions surrounding the team heading into the 2025-2026 season. If anyone can solve the Ducks roster puzzle, it is Altman, but he may face a difficult task given his novel depth options.