Lauren Betts: LA’s (different) school basketball celebrity

When most individuals consider Los Angeles girls’s basketball, Juju Watkins and the USC Trojans most certainly come to thoughts. Whereas the hometown hero goals to steer her group to their first nationwide championship in over 40 years, one other group only a few miles down the street even have their sights set on being topped the town’s new girls’s basketball dynasty by bringing a trophy again to L.A.

At present of their sixth week atop the AP High 25 ballot, UCLA is exceeding expectations all because of their very own celebrity, the 6-foot-7 Lauren Betts is averaging 19.9 factors, 9.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists and a pair of blocks for the undefeated Bruins.

Betts’ title isn’t new amongst these conversant in the ladies’s sport. Instantly set aside by her “imposing submit presence,” within the phrases of an ESPN scout, Betts drew curiosity from many elite universities whereas taking part in for Grandview Excessive College in Aurora, Colo., a Denver suburb close to her hometown of Centennial.

Betts lived the primary eight years of her life in Vitoria, Spain, the place her father, 7-foot-1 Andrew, performed skilled basketball. As a child, she tried out soccer and swimming in hopes of differentiating from her dad, however ended up becoming a member of a basketball group when her household moved to Colorado.

After creating friendships together with her teammates, Betts determined to proceed taking part in basketball regardless of feeling that she wasn’t notably gifted at it. As her sport began to realize extra consideration, Betts realized that internal confidence was the important thing to unlocking the expertise and fervour that had all the time been there.

After a dominant highschool profession averaging a double-double for Grandview, Betts was broadly thought of a five-star prospect and solidified her rating because the No. 1 total recruit of the 2022 class. With presents from any college she may dream of, the two-time Colorado Gatorade Participant of the 12 months introduced her dedication to play for Tara VanDerveer at Stanford simply months earlier than the group introduced dwelling a nationwide championship.

Shortly after her commencement from Grandview, Betts advised Charlie Desadier of SLAM Journal that she “[didn’t] need to go to a faculty the place I do know I’m going to be, like, the perfect as quickly as I stroll in. I need to go to a faculty the place, clearly, my freshman 12 months won’t be as wonderful as I need [it] to be, however we’ll see what occurs,” emphasizing that she believed that every season would get higher as time went on.

Whereas including a participant of Betts’ top and caliber to one of many prime packages within the nation may look like an plain benefit, Stanford’s core rotation was already well-established upon her arrival in Paolo Alto. Betts’ freshman season marked the final hurrah for Stanford’s “Funky 4” (Fran Belibi, Hannah Leap, Haley Jones, and Ashten Prechtel), who collectively led the Cardinal to 3 Pac-12 Championships, a nationwide championship in 2021, and a Remaining 4 look in 2022. With six nationwide championship members on the roster, incoming freshman Betts knew that her function–and her stats– may look a bit completely different from highschool.

Betts’ freshman 12 months with the Cardinal was quieter than anticipated, even contemplating the energy of the roster. Within the shadow of then-junior Cameron Brink, who dominated nationwide awards voting that season, Betts averaged simply 5.9 factors and three.5 rebounds in solely 9.6 minutes per sport in her freshman marketing campaign.

Picture by Darryl Oumi/Getty Photographs

Just some weeks after No. 1 total Stanford was surprised by No. 8 Mississippi within the second spherical of the 2023 NCAA Event, information broke that Betts had entered the switch portal. The information was notably surprising not solely due to her prior feedback acknowledging the season won’t be her greatest, but in addition as a result of Stanford traditionally boasts a low portal entry price.

Whereas it’s uncommon for gamers to recount the precise reasoning behind their departure from a program, Betts has alluded to her lack of utilization at Stanford resulting in a plummet in her confidence, additionally recognizing that the season forward–so half of her school profession–would doubtless look the identical. In a podcast episode together with her former teammate Jones, Betts stated that her choice to enter the portal was a “very robust choice to make,” stressing that outsiders usually don’t take into account off-the-court components in a participant’s alternative to depart a college.

“On the finish of the day, I simply wished to be completely satisfied,” Betts stated. “My freshman 12 months was so robust, however I simply wished to ensure I used to be in an excellent place for the remainder of my 4 years and I wished to be supported on the finish of the day.”

Throughout highschool recruitment and thru USA Basketball, Betts had fashioned a relationship with Bruins head coach Cori Shut, prompting her to take an official go to of her personal. After spending only a weekend in Westwood with Shut’s employees and gamers, Betts cancelled her different pending visits to decide to UCLA.

After arriving in L.A., Betts’ impression on Shut’s roster was fast. In her debut as a Bruin, she topped her career-high 18 factors with 20 factors in 20 minutes on 81% capturing from the sector. She completed her sophomore season with 24 double-digit scoring video games–half of these had been additionally double-doubles–whereas main UCLA in factors (14.9), rebounds (9.3), and blocks (1.9) per sport, main them to a Candy Sixteen look. Now in her second season beneath Shut, Betts has already racked up 7 double-doubles in simply 10 video games and recorded her first 30-point efficiency in her second sport of the season.

For Betts, transferring to UCLA reminds her of what initially ignited her ardour and unlocked her expertise.

“I get quite a lot of my confidence from my coaches,” Betts stated in her dialog with Jones. “They really imagine in me a lot with all the things. I’m out right here, like, guarding on the perimeter, which I wasn’t doing [at Stanford]…I simply really feel prefer it has modified my sport a lot and I’ve a lot confidence…My coaches have been pushing me a lot in apply and ensuring that I imagine that I can do it myself and I feel that it’s simply expanded my sport a lot, simply the entire perception that they’ve in me.”

Picture by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Photographs

Whereas Betts’ top and rim defending skills are sometimes probably the most extremely emphasised when discussing her sport, Shut has been pleasantly shocked by one other space of growth since becoming a member of her squad.

“It begins with the management aspect, that’s the place I’ve seen the most important progress in [Betts’] potential to make use of her voice and he or she has an unbelievable basketball IQ,” Shut stated. “In that manner, she’s type of a degree/ahead for us. We need to hear her voice on the market, we wish her to assist us anticipate and never react, her IQ is actually actually excessive and her management voice has been extremely impactful for us.”

With a click on of a button coming into her into the switch portal, Betts has remodeled from a diffident bench-riding freshman to an unapologetically assured chief of one of many prime packages within the nation.

At present holding an ideal report, UCLA will quickly enter into their first season of convention play as a member of the Massive Ten. Sadly, now we have to attend till February 13 to see Betts’ Bruins tackle cross-town rival USC and Watkins, a rematch of the thrilling double-overtime PAC-12 championship final season.