NCAAW: For UCLA to win a championship, Lauren Betts needs to get better

Everything is set up for Lauren Betts to have a monster year for UCLA.

The coaches and media voted Betts the Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year. Both also placed her on the Preseason All-Big Ten Team, and did so unanimously. No other Big Ten player made the All-Big Ten Team by both the coaches and media as a unanimous decision.

Factor in UCLA, ranked as the No. 3 team in the country, and the fact that Betts has improved her averages in points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks every season of her college career, and it’s obvious why expectations are so high.

While the Bruins have gone further than ever before during the Betts era, the big goal—a national championship—has eluded them. Whether they accomplish it or not will have a lot to do with how much more she can improve this season.

A mid-ranger could be a game-changer for Betts and the Bruins

It’s tough to ask more from a player who already does it all, but heavy lies the crown.

For Betts, there are still ways she can improve as a scorer. She’s elite in the post near the rim, but can she extend her range a bit? Can Betts start establishing herself as a mid-range shooter? Can she become a player who can work on the short roll and score from the elbow?

I don’t expect Betts to suddenly make mid-rangers a huge part of her shot diet, but sprinkling some in here and there could force defenses to start strategizing such attempts. Those shots also could give her some baskets without having to be as physically aggressive as she usually has to be in order to score.

Still, Betts’ bread and butter will remain post work. In that category, she is one of the best in the country, and when she has a mismatch, she’s elite at mercilessly exploiting it. The key to more points with a player like Betts is simple: Get her the ball near the paint as much as possible.

However, that requires cooperation from her guards. This is where Kiki Rice and Gabriela Jaquez will play a crucial role. The guards need to look for Betts and ensure she receives the ball when and where she needs it. If they consistently feed her, good things will happen.

Cleaning up some little things could make a big difference for Betts

For passing to a big to be an alluring proposition for the UCLA guards, Betts needs to continue improving as a passer herself. They have to trust that, if Betts doesn’t get a good look, she’ll kick it back out.

For Betts, this entails finding open players, passing more effectively out of double teams and minimizing her turnover numbers. Last year, Betts averaged 2.7 assists per game, her highest numbers ever. She also averaged 2.7 turnovers per game, a career high. That’s not a good assist-to-turnover ratio. During the 2025-26 collegiate season, that needs to change.

Another small, but important, area for growth for Betts is her free throw shooting. A professional scout once told me, “If you can’t shoot free throws, you can’t shoot.” If the adage is true, then Betts isn’t a shooter. A free throw is the most replicable shot you’ll ever take. The distance is the same, and the parameters of a free throw shot are always identical, regardless of what gym you are in. Betts was a 62 percent shooter from the charity stripe last year. A good percentage is considered to be around 80 percent so, clearly, work needs to be done.

With the Bruins expected to go on a deep postseason run, they will likely be in scenarios where they have to win close games. The last thing UCLA wants is a “Hack-a-Betts” strategy to implemented and, even more so, for it to be effective. Betts needs to improve her free throw shooting so that, if teams foul her on purpose, she can make them pay. Betts missing crucial free throws down the stretch of an NCAA Tournament game would be an awful way for her illustrious career to end.

Overall, Betts is already a UCLA legend, having taken the program to another level. She also will likely be a lottery pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft.

But for now, there is work still to be done as a Bruin. If Betts can make some progress in the areas discussed, she can optimize her skill set, and maybe that, along with some help from her teammates, will be enough to get UCLA its first women’s basketball national title.