Lauren Betts did everything a player could do at UCLA.
Last season, the 6-foot-7 center won Big Ten Player of the Year and Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, which would have been impressive enough. It was Betts’ second straight Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, as she was a unanimous choice the season prior.
Then, Betts and the Bruins crushed everyone in the women’s NCAA Tournament. UCLA defeated South Carolina by 28 points — and it really wasn’t even that close — to win the first NCAA national championship in UCLA women’s basketball history. Betts was named the Most Outstanding Player.
One week later, the Washington Mystics selected Betts with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft, and from that moment on, Betts has had to deprogram some of what she learned from UCLA head coach Cori Close.
Betts appeared on Sue Bird’s “Bird’s Eye View” podcast for an episode that released Friday. In it, Betts shared that Mystics head coach Sydney Johnson runs his team similarly to how Close did at UCLA because “it’s all about the journey and getting to know us as people.”
It helps that the Mystics also drafted Angela Dugalić, Betts’ UCLA teammate, with the ninth overall pick in April.
Tactically, however, it’s a different story.
When asked to name the hardest or most overwhelming aspect of her rookie WNBA year so far, Betts said, “I feel like really having to drop everything I learned at UCLA, and then like picking up all this stuff.”
Betts continued:
“It’s actually really funny that Ang is here with me. At UCLA, everything we did was around the post and playing high-low, and getting it inside. So, Ang and I, first day, we’re playing high-low during the scrimmage. Syd is like, ‘What are you guys doing?! What are you guys doing? Get out of the way!’ It’s like sitting to a corner instead of getting up and flashing high post. They’re like, ‘We’re not doing that.'”
Bird, the Hall of Fame point guard that she is, diagnosed that Betts must be setting “a lot of pick-and-rolls,” which Betts confirmed.
Betts has appeared in all of the Mystics’ first four games. She’s coming off the bench, which was inevitable with Shakira Austin on the roster, and averaging 5.5 points and 3.0 rebounds in 14.8 minutes per game.
The Mystics have the youngest average age in the WNBA — their starting five is all under 25 — and their young core has the potential to pop in the near future.
After drafting Betts and Dugalić, the Mystics went ahead and added Ole Miss star guard Cotie McMahon with the 11th overall pick. The three rookies join 25-year-old Austin, the 2022 third-overall pick; 22-year-old guard Sonia Citron, the 2025 third-overall pick; 22-year-old Kiki Iriafen, the 2025 fourth-overall pick; and 25-year-old guard Georgia Amoore, the 2025 sixth-overall pick.
Despite their youth, Betts told Bird that the Mystics expect to reach the playoffs this season.
Watch Betts’ full “Bird’s Eye View” episode below.
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