When the Final Four teams, all of which were No. 1 seeds, set foot in Phoenix, AZ earlier this month, few had UCLA coming out on top.
UConn, the then-undefeated defending champions, entered as the top team. South Carolina was participating in their sixth-consecutive Final Four, and while Texas didn’t have those kinds of accolades, they already had a win over the Bruins.
But the games aren’t played on paper; they happen on the court. In the end, UCLA outplayed them all. They took down Texas 51-44 in
the Final Four as Lauren Betts had a career-defining block in the closing seconds of the game. And in the title game against South Carolina, they dominated them from the opening tip.
Now, UCLA has won its first NCAA championship, and the 2025-26 Bruins etched their name into the history books.
It would be justifiable to celebrate such a victory for months on end. Instead, UCLA’s six graduating seniors have had to quickly pivot from college life to a professional one. After winning the title, they’re in the midst of a mad dash to prepare for the 2026 WNBA Draft on Monday, April 13.
Still, some fun can be had in the eye of the storm that is draft preparation.
And that joy was found inside of a Raising Cane’s in Hollywood, CA, as Betts and Kiki Rice discussed the year that’s been and what’s next on their journey.
“This is so cool,” Betts said. “We’re so happy to be here. Our team loves Cane’s, so this is really cool. And we have a slogan on our team, we always say, ‘Let’s get this chicken’, so it’s kind of perfect that we’re here.”
Another thing that was perfect for the Bruins was their play in the championship game. They won 79-51, never trailing. That result might have shocked the basketball world, but Rice knew it was inevitable before the game even began.
“You could just feel the vibe, feel the energy that we had when we started warm-ups,” Rice said. “You looked around the team and in the locker room you’re like, ‘Ok, no one on this team is gonna be ok with losing today.'”
UCLA did a ton of winning this season and won the ultimate team award. Now, it’s time for individual glory, as both Rice and Betts find out where they’ll be playing next. For now, they are just controlling what they can, while being confident that they have the skills that will translate to the next level.
As Betts explained:
I think I’m really a big post presence. I think just continuing to work on my skills there, in my one-on-one game, just trying to spread the floor a little bit more if I can, but just continuing to grow in all aspects. I think defensively, that’s gonna be really key for me being able to switch out on guards. It’s something that I take a lot of pride in.
“For me, I just think being a two-way player competing on both ends of the floor defensively and offensively,” Rice said. “And as a point guard, help, leading the team coming in there and making plays and learning from the veterans around me.”
Despite draft night fast approaching, Betts and Rice stayed in the moment during their Raising Cane’s shift.
They smiled, appearing in awe at all the attention on them. They laughed when poses weren’t perfect, enjoyed doing some live-action shots, and if they weren’t actually having fun serving up chicken through the drive-thru, then both Betts and Rice should stay in Hollywood, as they have acting careers ready to go.
It was a moment of zen and fun for the pair after the madness of March and April.
“It’s been the craziest three days of our lives, so we’re really just trying to soak it all in,” Betts said. “But this is just another amazing day for us, another amazing opportunity, and we’re thankful for all the support that we’ve been getting from everyone.”
That support will only get larger as their names are called in the WNBA Draft.
Where they’ll end up is up in the air, but what’s secure is that they are two players who always give a full effort. They have continued to improve and have won at the highest levels of the sport. Now, they are taking those talents to the next stage, and it’ll be exciting to see what’s in store for the next chapter of their basketball lives.
