The Big Ten is insanely deep once again, and the proof of that is everywhere. The conference has seven teams ranked in the current AP Poll, with three others receiving votes. It has eight Top 25 teams on Her Hoop Stats, nine teams ranked in the Top 21 on Bart Torvik and 10 in the Top 24 of the NET.

Half of this conference is playing some of the best basketball in the country, but only one team has been able to lay waste to almost everything in its path so far.

It’s time to truly talk about UCLA.

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For the past few weeks, I found myself feeling obligated to mention UCLA, but not really talk about UCLA. A “yeah they won by 50 again but let’s discuss something interesting” type of situation. But the Bruins are doing it with such consistent ease that it has become the story for me, especially with some solid tests coming over the next 15 days.

So, how good have the Bruins been in conference play?

This is obscene stuff, but just to drive it home, you know what UCLA would rank when compared to all the Big Ten teams from the past two years, including the 24-25 version of themselves? First, first, first, first, first, first and first.

Of course, it helps to be anchored by the best player in the conference and one of the best at their position in the entire country. It helps even more to have two players on your roster that fit this description.

Lauren Betts is having another tremendous season for UCLA, but her numbers are slightly down, partially because she hasn't needed to take on the same workload (2.5 less MPG, 1.2 less FGA per game). Still, 16.1 PPG on 57.6% shooting with 8.3 RPG, 2.3 BPG and a career-high 3.1 APG is still a tremendous boost to this Bruins attack.

All of this is to say: I think Kiki Rice has a legitimate argument for being UCLA’s best player this season.

The senior guard is averaging 15.2 PPG, 6.7 RPG, 4.7 APG, 1.8 SPG and 0.7 BPG. Every one of those numbers is a career high except assists (5.0 last season), but she’s also cut down her turnovers to a career-low 1.5 per game to get a dazzling 3.1 AST/TO ratio. Only five players nationally — and no others in the Big Ten — average at least 4 APG with an AST/TO above three.

Her shooting has continued to improve as well, with a career-high FG% (49.1), 3PT% (39.6) and FT% (90.4) as she teeters on a 50-40-90 split. Have these numbers gotten worse in Big Ten play? Her scoring has dipped a touch, but she’s even stronger from the arc (42.9 3PT%) and the line (94.3 FT%) and is running the UCLA engine beautifully with 53 assists to 12 turnovers: A conference-leading ratio of 4.42.

Rice has become the player she was expected to become as a five-star prospect, and UCLA is benefitting in a massive way. Is she more impactful than Betts? Rice at least leads the Bruins with 4.3 win shares on Her Hoop Stats and 7.9 PRPG! on Bart Torvik, the site’s top measurements of player value.

I think the most important thing to takeaway is this: UCLA has two players competing against each other for Big Ten Player of the Year, and I still haven’t talked about four other players who could get significant discussion for All-Big Ten teams.

Betts isn’t even second in win shares or PRPG! — she is third and fourth, respectively, and is still having what I would label as another tremendous season. Gabriela Jaquez is the runner-up for both metrics as she also enjoys a year of career-highs in PPG (15.0), RPG (5.7), FG% (58.2), 3PT% (47.1) and FT% (88.7). She’s one of the most efficient scorers in the nation and is an absolute luxury to have as someone who is shooting the ball less than 10 times per contest.

If one hyper-efficient off-ball shooter wasn’t enough, how about two! Enter: Gianna Kneepkens, the Utah transfer who is not simply dancing with a 50-40-90, she’s currently trampling over it. Kneepkens is averaging 13.9 PPG on 52.6-47.3-95.7 splits while boasting a 2.83 AST/TO ratio. It’s bonkers efficiency, I really don’t have another word to properly describe it.

Then you have Charlisse Leger-Walker, who is lower on scoring (9.2 PPG), but is one of UCLA’s better three-point shooters (38.3% on 4.1 attempts per game. It’s her playmaking that has been essential though, with 6.0 APG to help take some of the burden off Rice. She’s also tied for the team lead with 1.8 SPG and has the highest on/off impact of any starter: UCLA is 17.2 points better with Leger-Walker on the floor.

The fact that this starting five also gets to benefit from having Angela Dugalić come off the bench is unfair. She is adding 9.3 PPG and 5.6 RPG while hitting 52.9% from the field, including 63.2% from inside the arc.

This six-player core is, dare I say, without a significant flaw. It has efficient shooting all over the floor, great rebounders, multiple playmakers that are turnover-averse, everyone contributes well on forcing turnovers and not a single one of these six players averages more than 2.0 fouls per game.

Where UCLA could face hurdles is with the depth after that core, though there’s also a very clear seventh answer that could continue to ramp up. Sienna Betts, the nation’s No. 2 player in the 2025 class, now has 10 games under her belt after starting the year recovering from a lower leg injury. Her per 40 stats are solid (19.0 pts, 10.2 reb, 3.8 ast) and she’s shooting 52.6% from the field. Above all, the Bruins have been able to give her consistent minutes regardless of performance due to the lopsided games, which could be critical when they truly need her later in the season.

It’s been a similar story for Lena Bilic, the exciting overseas prospect who has played some strong minutes off the bench, but has not gotten involved offensively in recent weeks. She possesses great size and is another high-potential piece that UCLA can continue to incorporate plenty before the tournament games come into the picture. If both her and Sienna Betts become consistent producers, that eight-player rotation is a national title contender.

So, can they be stopped in the Big Ten? Ohio State certainly gave them a great fight and had the best shooting day against UCLA (43.8%) of anyone this season. Texas beat the Bruins by forcing 20 turnovers, minimizing their rebounding dominance (32-30 UCLA) and hitting 16 of 17 from the line. Lauren Betts was also held to just eight points in the lone defeat.

UCLA gets @ Illinois, home vs. Iowa, @ Michigan, @ Michigan State over the next 15 days (also a home game against Rutgers, which, good luck to the Scarlet Knights). Those are some great tests — specifically the road trips to Michigan — to see if the Bruins truly are leagues above their peers in this conference. It’s felt like such a well-oiled machine to this point, but getting over these late-season hurdles could prove them worthy of being next to UConn in talks instead of in the tier below.

Remember those stats above about how strong the Big Ten is? A lot of those teams referenced would be the expected subjects: UCLA, Iowa, Michigan and Michigan State all rank favorably across the metrics, and each of them are Top 10 in the NET.

You know who else is all over the top of these metrics? Folks, I’m Minnesota posting once again.

The Gophers are currently 13th in the NET (5th in the Big Ten) and ninth on Bart Torvik (3rd). They rank ahead of teams like Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Oklahoma and TCU, who I would consider to be real contenders to get to at least the Elite Eight. Could Minnesota — a team absent from the NCAA Tournament since 2018 — be that as well?

Perhaps that’s a bridge too far, but there’s a whole lot to like about Minnesota’s play so far. This team continues to be a destructive defensive unit, allowing more than 70 points only twice this season. All six of the team’s defeats are relatively respectable, with the six-point road defeat to Kansas being the worst of them, but that was also back in Mid-November. The team has strong wins against USC and Oregon this month, both nail-biters and both with teams scoring 65 points or less.

Minnesota’s best strength is that it will rarely beat itself, a staple of Dawn Plitzuweit’s tenure as head coach. The Gophers average the second-fewest turnovers (10.6) in the country and rank 22nd in fouls per game (13.6). They have an elite rebounding rate (55.6%, 26th) and dominate the defensive glass (76.2%, 4th).

The offense is also primarily efficient, led by the ultra-efficient Grace Grocholski — 14.0 PPG on 51.2 FG% and a 47.7 3PT%. Tori McKinney (12.5 PPG) has continued her strong play as a sophomore, and it feels like the offense still has another gear if known stars Mara Braun (10.7 PPG, 36.1 FG%) and Amaya Battle (9.5 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 35.6 FG%) can find their shots.

The Gophers play at their own pace — and boy, is it slow — and if they can force their opponent to do the same, I truly believe this team has an impressive ceiling. There are some easier matchups coming, too, to potentially improve the record. Are they a Top 10 team in the country? I’m not there yet, but Minnesota should be ranked, and absolutely should be back in the Big Dance for the first time in eight years.

(TTQ: Torvik Thrill Quotient)

February 1st, a Truly Unbelievable Day of Big Ten Hoops

Photo Credit: UCLA Women’s Basketball (@UCLAWBB), Twitter

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