Is UCLA the unluckiest team in recent NCAA tournament history?
UCLA has had repeated injuries to key players during the NCAA tournament over the past few years. This year, it was leading scorer Tyler Bilodeau.
The 2025-2026 season came to a close for the UCLA Bruins in a familiar way this past weekend . UCLA was without Tyler Bilodeau in their most important games of the season, which has become a very unwelcome tradition for UCLA under head coach Mick Cronin. A key injury in March isn't a rarity for UCLA Over the past few years, the Bruins have seen key players go down with injuries in March.
This year’s team didn’t look poised to make a run at a national championship but it was just the most-recent costly Bruin injury during tournament time. Jon Rothstein makes his case College basketball insider Jon Rothstein covered some of UCLA’s costly injuries on his Inside College Basketball Now Podcast. “I have not seen a power conference team more snake-bitten than UCLA when it comes to injuries in the NCAA tournament over the last five years,” Rothstein said.
“I don’t think it’s close. UCLA went to the Final Four in 2021 under Mick Cronin. That team’s best player, even though they went to the Final Four, was Chris Smith, who had a season-ending ACL tear.
” Murphy's Law continues to hit UCLA during March Madness. https://t. co/c9JLel2QnF (Apple) https://t.