Barack Obama, Kamala Harris Congratulate Lauren Betts, UCLA Seniors After First NCAA Title
This class of seniors has officially changed what UCLA means in women’s basketball. Before this class, UCLA was seen as a rather dormant team. They had deep NCAA Tournament runs under Close but never really contended among the top, instead settling near the middle until this class changed everything. Cut to today, Lauren Betts and Co. have defeated serial winners South Carolina 79-51 in the National Championship game, earning glowing praise from a former president.
“The way this team has embraced the hard work and work ethic and shown up early, staying late, it’s definitely shifted the culture in a great way,” UCLA assistant coach Michael Onyenwere said. Kiki Rice and Gabrila Jacquez made this change from the ground up and Lauren Betts was the key ingredient to success. “(Betts) just makes playing basketball so easy,” Angela Dugalić said. Now they bear the fruit of their efforts, earning wishes from Barack Obama and Kamala Harris.
“Congratulations to Lauren Betts and the sensational seniors at @UCLAWBB for winning their first NCAA Championship!” Obama wrote. Why did he congratulate the seniors particularly? Well, according to the ESPN broadcast, UCLA’s last 170 points have come from senior players, including Lauren Betts and Gabriela Jaquez.
And Obama must have known this dynamic. As most know, he is a big hoop fan. He attended his niece’s (Leslie Robinson, who played for Princeton) NCAA first-round matchup back in 2015. Obama even gave special attention to his youngest daughter’s elementary basketball team. Coaching them from the sidelines while enlisting Reggie Love, a former Duke standout on the 2001 NCAA championship team.
https://www.essentiallysports.com/ncaa-college-basketball-news-barack-obama-kamala-harris-congratulate-lauren-betts-ucla-seniors-after-first-ncaa-title/