Lauren Betts, UCLA Make History in 2026 WNBA Draft After NCAA Championship Run

It's a good time to be part of the UCLA Bruins women's basketball program.

After all, the program just set a WNBA draft record a mere eight days after taking home the national championship.

ESPN's Alexa Philippou reported Monday that UCLA set the record with five players from a single team selected in the first round of the same WNBA draft. The Connecticut Sun's decision to select Gianna Kneepkens at No. 15 overall was the record-setting mark.

Kneepkens capped off a run that started with the Washington Mystics taking Lauren Betts at No. 4 overall and continued with the Chicago Sky taking Gabriela Jaquez at No. 5, the Toronto Tempo taking Kiki Rice at No. 6 and the Mystics taking Angela Dugalić at No. 9.

It didn't stop in the first round, as the Sun selected Charlisse Leger-Walker in the second round.

With all that talent, it's no surprise the Bruins cut down the nets as national champions.

They won five of their six NCAA tournament games by double digits, including in the national title game when they handled South Carolina with ease in a 79-51 victory. Texas was the only team to remain within single digits, but the Longhorns still fell 51-44 in the Final Four.

South Carolina-UCLA WCBB Highlights

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Betts' anchored a dominant defensive effort and took home the tournament's Most Outstanding Player award. She averaged 17.1 points, 8.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 2.1 blocks and 1.0 steals per game while shooting 58.2 percent during the regular season and then delivered on the sport's biggest stage.

Now it will be up to her to live up to elevated expectations with the Mystics as a top-five pick.

She will be teammates with Dugalić in Washington but will also run into plenty of her former teammates around the league.

After all, a record-setting number of them were selected in the first round Monday.