Betts siblings drive each other to Colorado prep basketball greatness: “I’ve got to continue the legacy”

Often, it’s 500 shots. Sometimes, a thousand. And the Betts siblings will not stop until they’ve pushed themselves to their hooping brink.

Sienna Betts, the Grandview senior who is a five-star recruit, sees the workouts with her freshman brother, Dylan, as part of her push to cement herself as one of the best girls basketball players in Colorado history.

For Dylan, the weekly sessions with Sienna throughout the summer and fall were stepping stones to starting his high school career at Cherry Creek. There, he hopes to assert himself as a force just like Sienna has, and current UCLA star and oldest sister Lauren did before that.

“Just like Lauren, they both have a relentless work ethic,” observed their dad, Andy Betts, who played professionally for 14 years overseas. “Sienna, even with all she’s accomplished at Grandview, knows she needs to prepare for the next level. And Dylan… he has the potential to do whatever he wants in this game. It’s kind of scary how good he could be.”

Sienna, 18, has already accomplished everything a player could dream of in a high school career. Two state titles. Two Gatorade state player of the year honors. Ms. Colorado Basketball. All-state and All-Colorado nods. All of which led the 6-foot-4 blue-chip — the No. 2-ranked player in ESPN’s 2025 HoopGurlz rankings — to a commitment to join her sister at UCLA.

But she’s hungry to add another ring to her finger and put herself in the conversation as the Colorado girls hoops G.O.A.T.

Grandview head coach Josh Ulitzky believes Sienna can enter the same stratosphere inhabited by all-time Colorado prep greats Abby Waner and Ann Strother. And the path for Sienna to get there is by proving herself as more of a perimeter threat, which has been the focus of her offseason training.

“She has an opportunity to put herself among the top players to ever come out of this state, and put herself in some really rare air,” Ulitzky said. “And this season, I would expect to see her shooting more outside.”

Betts has only made nine 3-pointers in her Grandview career, on 36 attempts. She says she wants to shoot at least six 3s a game this season, a desire born out of two parts.

For one, UCLA projects her as a forward in their system, so she knows she needs to expand her outside game. And two, she remembers how opponents last year — up to and including Mullen, which upset Grandview in the Class 6A Sweet 16 — double- and triple-teamed her.

“I’ve rewatched that Mullen game over and over during the summer, during this fall,” Sienna said. “This year, it’s going to be constant movement to free me up.”

As Sienna expands her game, Dylan is facing the same daunting task Sienna did when she came into Grandview as a freshman and Lauren was already the top player in the state as a senior.

“For all the times that Sienna was like, ‘I hate being known as Lauren’s little sister,’ I would always remind her, ‘Well, how do you think your brother feels?'” her mother, Michelle Betts, said with a laugh. “Because he’s got Lauren, he’s got you, and he’s over 7 feet tall.”

Indeed, high expectations have been heaped upon 7-foot-2 Dylan as he steps into Cherry Creek’s varsity lineup.

Dylan chose to attend Cherry Creek because he wanted to stick with his Team Colorado teammates as well as his club coach, Bruins assistant Antoine Proctor. Bruins head coach James Hartsfield believes Dylan, in conjunction with junior point guard Jeremiah Hammond and 6-foot-11 sophomore Wyatt Carpenter, can form a core that will make Cherry Creek championship-caliber.

The Bruins lost in the Sweet 16 last year to state runner-up ThunderRidge, and are hungry to add to the program’s relatively thin title resume for a Cherry Creek team. Their lone state championship was a Class 5A overtime triumph over Arapahoe in 1995.

Like his sister, Dylan, 14, wants to be more than just a force in the paint this winter.

“He’s starting to come into his frame,” Hartsfield said. “Eight to 10 months ago, he was a totally different player. … We want him to dominate the paint, but also have an outside game to match.”

Dylan understands the onus that comes with his last name. He’s ready to start proving he can live up to it.

“There’s definitely a lot of pressure, but I’ve just got to keep working and keep believing in myself,” Dylan said. “It adds a lot of pressure knowing that every player in my family is good, well-known, high-profile. I’ve got to continue the legacy.”

If he does that, and if Sienna can become a star in college like she is in high school, the Betts parents could ultimately have three pro hoopers on their hands. Lauren is projected as a top-five pick in the WNBA draft if she were to leave UCLA early, but all indications are the forward will stick around Westwood for her final year of eligibility in 2025-26.

Dylan, who already has plenty of Division I interest, dreams of playing in the NBA. Sienna also has WNBA aspirations, with the ultimate goal of becoming a college coach.

“(In the summer) when the seasons briefly overlap, to be able to watch two WNBA games and an NBA game, maybe even all on the same night, sitting on my couch and flipping between them — that would be crazy,” Andy Betts said. “That would be the dream right there. And it’s definitely not out of the realm of possibility.”

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