From orange carpet fits to WNBA draft dreams: UCLA seniors own New York

Heather Burns, USA TODAYSat, April 11, 2026 at 3:44 PM UTC

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NEW YORK — The UCLA women's basketball team has a had a whirlwind of a week since winning the national championship on April 5 at Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix.

They had a celebration with fans at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, danced with cheerleaders at an LA Clippers game, attended an LA Lakers games and made an appearance on the Jimmy Kimmel Show.

"Doing Jimmy Kimmel, being on late night TV, that's my goal of life," UCLA forward Angela Dugalic "... I never knew how I was gonna get there, but it's always been a dream."

Now five of the Bruins' six seniors are spending time together in New York in the runup to the WNBA draft on Monday (7 p.m. ET, ESPN). Dugalic, Lauren Betts, Gabriela Jaquez, Gianna Kneepkens and Kiki Rice are five of the 15 players that have been invited to attend the draft at The Shed at Hudson Yards in Manhattan. The group was a part of media event on Saturday at The Luxury Collection Hotel, also in Manhattan.

"This is a dream come true for all of us, just really excited," Betts said. "To experience all of this with them, I feel like I'm a lot less nervous than I would be, because ... I have all my teammates here.

"When the draft happens, it's gonna be such a special moment for all of us."

1 / 0See UCLA Bruins celebrate their NCAA women's basketball championship

The UCLA Bruins celebrate on the podium after defeating the South Carolina Gamecocks during the National Championship game of the women's 2026 NCAA Tournament at Mortgage Matchup Center.

Betts has been projected to go as high as No. 1 but no lower than the top five in most mock drafts. If all five UCLA Bruins are drafted in the first round, it will be the first time one school has had that happen. Notre Dame had five players drafted in the top 20 in 2019. The 2023 South Carolina Gamecocks and 2008 Tennessee Volunteers also had five players drafted in a single year, but not in the first round.

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"Playing against the best of the country every day (was the biggest reason I came to here)," Gianna Kneepkens said, when asked if she thinks her draft stock went up when she transferred from Utah to UCLA for her senior season. "... You have to learn and grow, because you have to know when it's your time and when it's their time, because anyone on our team got buckets. That was really fun.

"I also just improved my mid-range game. I think I improved my defense, getting through and navigating screens."

UCLA guard Kiki Rice said the last week has gone by quick, allowing little time to worry about the draft and where she might be headed.

"I have not had time to stress about it," Rice said. "I've just been going nonstop in the past few days and I was trying to pack up my apartment and celebrate, but then also enjoy all opportunities ... I have to allow everything to sink in."

All of the UCLA players are excited about getting dressed up for the orange carpet on Monday. They said they are working with stylists and will not be getting ready together. But Betts suggested they all meet somewhere to check out each others fits.

"Lauren suggested a first look. People do it for, you know, at their weddings ... first look for the bridesmaids," UCLA guard Gabriela Jaquez said. "But we were thinking, try to do first looks for the class. So we'll figure out how we do that, which should be a lot of fun."

UCLA is not the only school that has multiple players attending the draft. South Carolina's Ti'Niya Latson, Raven Johnson and Madina Okot are all in New York together as are TCU's Olivia Miles and Marta Suarez.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: WNBA draft 2026 caps UCLA's dream week of title celebrations

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