Lauren Betts and JuJu Watkins Named Wooden Award Finalists

ROSEMONT, Ill. – UCLA junior Lauren Betts and USC sophomore JuJu Watkins were named finalists for the John R. Wooden Award, the Los Angeles Athletic Club announced. The duo also earned spots on the 10-member Wooden Award All-America Team.

Betts has picked up All-America honors from the Wooden Award, Associated Press (AP) and U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) after powering her squad to the 2025 TIAA Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament crown and the program’s first No. 1 overall seed in the 2025 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. She is the Bruins’ first AP first team All-American in program history. The Big Ten Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year and Big Ten Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player led UCLA to 12 consecutive weeks ranked at No. 1 in the AP Top 25, a Big Ten women’s basketball record. Betts is averaging 20.0 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.0 blocks while shooting 64.9 percent from the field to pace the Bruins. The Centennial, Colo., native broke UCLA’s single-season blocks record and set the single-game blocks record with nine rejections against then-No. 25 Baylor. Betts was also chosen as a first team All-American by The Athletic. UCLA is set to make its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Final Four on Friday against UConn at 9:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Watkins was a unanimous selection by the Associated Press, joining Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris, UConn’s Maya Moore and Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo as the only players to earn first team All-America honors in their freshman and sophomore years. Watkins also earned USBWA first team recognition after leading the Trojans to their first-ever Big Ten regular-season title. It is her second season on the AP and USBWA All-America First Teams. The Big Ten Conference’s Player of the Year became the first basketball player at the Division I collegiate, WNBA and NBA levels since 2000 to score 38 points, 11 rebounds, eight blocks and five assists in a single game. Watkins ranks ninth all-time at USC in career scoring with 1,709 points and was the fastest Trojan to score 1,000 career points in program history. In addition, Watkins has been named National Player of the Year by The Athletic, Sporting News and USBWA so far this season.