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Out of all 11 championship teams at UCLA I’ve seen during my time here, never have I seen a roster change as much the next season as this year’s men’s water polo team.

All seven starters from the team who won the title this past December are gone. All of them.

Most championship teams usually do have their fair share of seniors, but seldom do you see one with all senior starters.

Having all of your starters from the previous year leave is usually the equivalent of a death sentence.

But not for this year’s Bruins.

Don’t get me wrong – this year’s squad probably won’t win the NCAA Championship. The Bruins probably won’t even get to the NCAA Final Four.

But this year’s team will still be very good and probably finish among the top four or five teams in the conference and country. The only reason the Bruins probably won’t be at the NCAA Final Four is that the NCAA is forced to take two East Coast schools that have never, ever beaten a team from the state of California at the Final Four.

They might not have any returning starters, but luckily for the Bruins, they have coach Adam Krikorian at the helm.

Krikorian always tries to use a deep bench, and he did last year, en route to that championship.

Matt Jacobs, David Pietsch, Logan Powell, Marco Santos and Grant Zider all played in at least 23 of the team’s 28 games, and it wasn’t just mop-up time, either. Powell scored two goals in the NCAA Championship match against Stanford, including the game-winner in overtime, and Zider also scored a goal in the match.

On top of that, returning players John Blanchette and Chris Pulido battled injuries throughout last season, and Krikorian expects both of them to be key contributors on this year’s team.

I’d be lying to you if I said any of those guys were as talented as Player of the Year Brett Ormsby, who is irreplaceable, or even all-conference teammates Michael March and Albert Garcia.

But this year’s main players will have all played in big games last year. They know how to win close games.

One of the biggest questions surrounding this team is how to replace all-conference goalkeeper Joseph Axelrad. While it may seem daunting, consider the following: Krikorian told me last year that coming into summer practice, Axelrad and Will Didinger, who will likely be the starter this year, were at about the same level, saying Axelrad was in danger of losing his starting job.

And then there’s the biggest X-factor of them all – Krikorian. Even though he is still very young compared to most coaches (he’s only 30 years old, for heaven’s sake), he has established himself as the best coach in the country.

His teams – on both the men’s and the women’s side – compete for a national title ever year, almost always finishing among the top four teams in the country.

That being said, expecting this year’s team to win a championship is probably a bit much. Stanford and USC will still be strong like they are every year, Cal and UC Irvine are programs on the rise, and Pepperdine returns a 2004 Olympian who redshirted last year.

But this team will still be competitive, beat some good teams and have a realistic chance of going back to the Final Four.

That’s a much better scenario than most teams face after losing all of their starters.

Quiñonez can’t believe this year’s Final Four is being played in Lewisburg, Pa. E-mail him at gquinonez@media.ucla.edu.