Alexander: UCLA’s Lauren Betts as national player of the year? Could be

LOS ANGELES — Has UCLA junior center Lauren Betts become the front-runner for women’s college basketball’s player of the year award?

“There was a great piece at halftime of the Tennessee-South Carolina game on Lauren, making a play for her to be the No. 1 player in the country this year,” Bruins coach Cori Close said this past week.

“And I think the reason it’s so huge is because of the way she impacts winning, possession by possession in so many different ways. It’s not just scoring. It’s altering shots. It’s blocking shots. It’s being able to switch on multiple screens. It’s people not even wanting to go in (the lane) because she’s in there, the way she sets screens for other people, the way she does so many things that impact winning on both sides of the basketball. I do not think her impact can be overstated.”

As the focal point of the top-ranked team in the country, the 6-foot-7 Betts might be as viable a candidate as anyone. UCLA is 20-0 going into Sunday afternoon’s game against Minnesota at Pauley Pavilion, and Betts is among the national leaders in scoring (21 ppg, tied for 13th), rebounding (9.9 rpg, tied for 25th), offensive rebounds (4.6, seventh), blocked shots (3.0, fourth), field-goal percentage (64.1%, ninth) and double-doubles (11, tied for 9th).

But to better understand her value, you have to watch her play, to see her presence in the post offensively, reminiscent of the great centers of the past with her footwork, her passing and her ability around the basket, though she participates in screens and dribble handoffs and doesn’t restrict herself to the low block.

Defensively, she is as much of a rim protector as anyone in the women’s college game, and she is on a particular roll right now. She had 25 blocks in the Bruins’ last four games: seven against Penn State at home, and then nine against Baylor in the Coretta Scott King Classic in New Jersey, five at Rutgers and four at Maryland on a week-long trip East.

Those…