LOS ANGELES — This season, Donovan Dent led New Mexico to its first NCAA Tournament victory since 2014. He averaged 20.5 points and 6.4 assists per game, both ranking in the top 15 nationally, and was named Player of the Year in the Mountain West Conference. On Tuesday, when the junior point guard announced he was transferring, he earned the No. 1 rank of any available player in the portal. Simply put, when it came to choosing where he’d play his senior season, Dent had the pick of the litter. “Donovan is good enough to play anywhere,” Josh Giles, who coached Dent at Corona Centennial High, told the Southern California News Group on Friday. To be specific, Dent could have selected Kentucky or Gonzaga, or any of the other blue bloods reportedly pursuing his services. Instead, he picked UCLA, a commitment that became official Friday night. It was a decision that came to fruition, Giles explained in the hours after the announcement, because of Dent’s desire to return to Southern California and play in a system that will feature him. There’s a world where the two-time IE Varsity boys basketball player of the year ends up at UCLA or another high major program three years ago, but the COVID-19 pandemic significantly changed the outlook of his recruitment. “I personally think,” Giles said, “that he was the most underrated and under-recruited high school basketball player I’ve ever been around.” Centennial basketball player Donovan Dent at Centennial High School in Corona on March 25, 2022. Dent was chosen the IE Varsity boys basketball player of the year. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG) In 2022, he won California Mr. Basketball and led Centennial to a CIF Open Division state title, but didn’t receive any interest from Power-5 programs. That’s because for 17 months, during Dent’s sophomore and junior seasons, basketball activities for public schools in California were put on pause or not visible to college coaches, largely stunting his exposure during a crucial recruitment period. UCLA head coach Mick Cronin and his staff did scout Dent during his senior season, but Dylan Andrews, a fellow point guard in the 2022 class whom the Bruins had been pursuing since the summer of 2019, had already signed his scholarship. “We already had Dylan Andrews coming in,” Cronin said before the Bruins’ game against New Mexico on Nov. 8. “I’m the one who told Richard Pitino (former New Mexico coach) to sign (Dent). I told Richard – not that he needed me to tell him – ‘you know, this guy is going to be tremendous.’” So, Dent went to New Mexico and flourished, especially in his junior season when Pitino centered the offense around him. But on Tuesday, when Pitino left the Lobos and took the head coaching position at Xavier, it opened the door for Dent to make a change. “I know, during this whole process, he was really infatuated with Kentucky,” Giles said. “But, he’s been away for three years, and he just wanted to come back home.” Dent’s family still lives in Southern California. Playing in front of them and other familiar faces was a crucial factor. A homecoming was important to Dent, but he knows his worth and wouldn’t have settled for a team that asked him to significantly alter his playstyle, Giles said. Credit goes to Cronin, who holds a reputation as a stickler but has shown a willingness to adapt to the ever-changing, player-friendly NCAA landscape. In a year’s time, the Bruins went from a 16-17 team with just one transfer in Lazar Stefanovic to having a starting lineup that will, presumably, feature at least four transfers. “Continuity is irrelevant if you don’t have talent,” Cronin said after UCLA’s second-round loss to Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament last Saturday. “I’ll always take talent.” Reluctantly or not, Cronin has conformed to the reality of the NCAA and he morphed again this past week to win over Dent. The 6-foot-2 Riverside native was seeking a system that empowered him like at New Mexico. Cronin, though, tends to employ a fluid offensive scheme on a defensive-oriented team. Undoubtedly, both will make sacrifices. “I don’t think they would be interested in him for what he does and how he plays if you weren’t going to play him like that,” Giles said. “If you’re recruiting Donovan Dent, you’re doing it because you’re going to put him in ball screens, you’re gonna allow him to play in space, you’re gonna allow him to play up-tempo.” “He makes everybody around him better,” Giles added. When unleashed, Dent is the type of player who can elevate a team’s ceiling, but he needs the ball in his hands to do so. His future UCLA teammates aren’t oblivious to that. In fact, each and everyone of them, Giles said, reached out to Dent in recent days. Their persuasion was another key factor in Dent’s decision. Dent will join a Bruins roster that is retaining three of its five starters after a 23-11 season. Skyy Clark, Eric Dailey Jr. and Tyler Bilodeau all committed to staying at UCLA over this past week, as did reserve guard Trent Perry. 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