How UCLA, with a chance to make history at 2026 WNBA Draft, set its players up to succeed now and later

The Bruins are out to win the first NCAA national championship in program history but they have their eyes on the future too

After UCLA beat Ohio State in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament, Lauren Betts climbed the stairs to the elevated podium on the Indiana Fever's practice court inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse, which had been converted into the press conference room, and took a seat. 

Once Bruins coach Cori Close had finished her opening statement, it was Betts' turn to talk. 

"I think this team is really special," Betts said. "This group of girls that we have together is not normal."

Women's college basketball has seen plenty of dominant teams throughout the years. Few have been as talented, experienced and stacked with soon-to-be pros as UCLA. The Bruins boast three true seniors and three graduate students, and all of them expect to hear their name called during the 2026 WNBA Draft next month. 

If Betts, Kiki Rice, Gianna Kneepkens, Gabriela Jaquez, Charlisse Leger-Walker and Angela Dugalic are indeed all drafted, UCLA will become the first school ever to have six players selected in the same draft, surpassing the previous record of five, held by Tennessee (1999, 2008), Notre Dame (2019) and South Carolina (2023). 

"I feel like I'm extremely fortunate over my four years here to have played with a ton of really, really incredible players," Rice said. "This year, especially." 

'We knew that was the makeup of our team'

After an embarrassing loss to UConn in the Final Four last season, UCLA brought back Betts, Rice, Jaquez and Dugalic, got Leger-Walker healthy and added Kneepkens in the transfer portal with one obvious goal: win the first NCAA national championship in program history. (They won an AIAW title in 1978.)

The Bruins were ranked No. 3 in the preseason AP poll and have never shied away from their mission -- or their status as one of the few true challengers to UConn's throne. 

"We knew that was the makeup of our team," Leger-Walker said, adding that the group has had conversations about all turning pro together later this spring. 

With their six potential draft picks leading the way, the Bruins have gone 31-1, won more Quad 1 games (18) than any team in the country and cruised to the Big Ten regular season and Tournament titles. Their 51-point win over Iowa in the championship game was the biggest win ever by a Division I team against a top 10 opponent. 

Along the way, Betts was named Big Ten Player and Defensive Player of the Year and made the All-Big Ten First Team alongside Rice, while Jaquez and Kneepkens earned All-Big Ten Second Team honors. Dugalic won Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year. "It just goes to show that you have to pick your poison with our team," Kneepkens said. The Bruins had four players average double figures in scoring, four average at least three assists and five shoot at least 35% from 3-point range. Betts, Rice, Jaquez, Kneepkens, Leger-Walker and Dugalic each led the team in scoring in at least one game. 

'Not a lot of people get to play basically on a pro team'

Success in the WNBA is about talent and size and athleticism, but it's also about fit and knowing your role. Unlike most prospects, the Bruins' contingent has already faced that reality and will be "ready to play with a ton of high-level players around us," Rice said. "A lot of people in college, you're used to always being the best player on your team, the only option, but that won't be the case for any of us," she added.

"Not a lot of people get to play basically on a pro team," Rice said. "That will help all of us." Specifically, it should make for a smoother transition to the next level. 

"I see a lot of alignment in their current roles to what they will need to be as pros," a WNBA talent evaluator who works in a front office told CBS Sports. "Identifying and projecting a role for players at the next level is a critical part of this process. Each of their key players is in a role where they can impact winning and a lot of what they need to do now for this year's team will apply to what they'll need to do to be impactful contributors as pros."

UCLA's depth isn't the only reason the Bruins' seniors will be so well prepared for the next level. Former Bruin Michaela Onyenwere, the No. 6 pick in the 2021 WNBA Draft and the 2021 WNBA Rookie of the Year, joined the staff as an assistant coach this season and has been "just a really great resource," Rice said. 

Onyenwere, who has played for the New York Liberty, Phoenix Mercury and Chicago Sky, and is currently a free agent (along with nearly every other WNBA vet), gathered the six potential draft picks for an extended meeting prior to the Big Ten Tournament to discuss all things WNBA.  

"I think we're really fortunate to have someone who's been through that and is currently still playing, so can give us some behind-the-scenes advice on what it's gonna take to be successful," Rice said. 

A major reason why Onyenwere has been so helpful to the Bruins? She experienced the harsh reality of going from a No. 1 option in college to a role player in the pros. In each of her final three years at UCLA, she played at least 30 minutes per game and averaged at least 15 shots and 18 points. In five years in the WNBA, she's never played more than 24 minutes per game, never taken more than 8.1 shots a night and never averaged more than 8.9 points. 

The six draft-eligible Bruins, meanwhile, are averaging between 23.4 and 30.6 minutes, between 6.9 and 12.6 shots and between 8.9 and 16.4 points. Betts, the team's best player and leading scorer, has a 29.2% usage rate. Everyone else's usage rate is between 17% and 22.1%. "Earning a role, being efficient and impacting winning will always keep you in high demand," the WNBA evaluator said. None of that will be a shock to these Bruins. 

For now, the Bruins' set-up has put each individual prospect in a position to succeed. This may be something of a superteam, but it is a team.

"Having multiple experienced handlers, entry passers and shooting threats certainly helps Betts, and her two-way presence in the paint commands a great deal of attention and makes a lot of things much easier on both ends for her teammates," the WNBA evaluator said. "Rice has been positioned very well to carry a lot of responsibility on both ends and have weapons around her. She has been challenged to improve there and has followed through. Jaquez has embraced her role very well. She isn't asked to do anything outside of herself and she is bought into playing to her strengths rather than simply wanting more touches, shots, etc."

Betts is a lottery lock, while Rice could play her way into the late lottery in the NCAA Tournament. Jaquez and Kneepkens will likely be the next two Bruins off the board in the mid- to late first round. Leger-Walker profiles as a late first- or early second-round pick, while Dugalic could go in the second or third round.

'All of us want to stay present'

Come April, UCLA's stars will be off to the WNBA to begin the next chapter of their careers. Four franchises control 12 of the first 20 picks in this year's draft -- Washington has four, Connecticut three, Seattle three and Chicago two -- so there's a real chance that some of the teammates will get to stay together at the next level. 

But as Bruins, this group has less than a month and no more than six more games left together.

"We're excited about [the draft], but at the same time all of us want to stay present and enjoy our senior season and what a great team we have," Leger-Walker said. If the Bruins "get too far ahead of ourselves," Kneepkens said, "we'll lose track of now and not be able to be present and be our best."

Before the seniors make history together on draft night in New York, they want to make history on the court together in Phoenix. 

"To be in these type of games, you're definitely going to need every single person," Betts said, adding that playing with such a talented group has been a "very unique experience."

"What I love most is that although all of us can pretty much just go off for 20 any night we wanted, we continue to play for the team and play consistent," she added. "The selflessness of this group is really, really special."