WNBA talent evaluators have been scouting prospects for months. But the college players available in Monday\u2019s draft, had one last audition in the NCAA tournament.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s better to emphasize the players\u2019 overall body of work versus what happened in the past couple of weeks. But strong performances in their final college postseason have been known to help players\u2019 draft stock.<\/p>\n
In our latest WNBA mock draft, for example, TCU point guard Olivia Miles has moved to the top of the board. Miles projected as a lottery pick last season when she was eligible age-wise for the draft. Instead, she transferred to TCU from Notre Dame for her final college season in hopes of being an even more polished pro prospect.<\/p>\n
She was at her best statistically in the NCAA tournament — averaging 19 points, 9.8 rebounds and 9.0 assists — where the Horned Frogs lost to South Carolina in the Elite Eight.<\/p>\n
Some might question whether the Dallas Wings, who have the No. 1 pick, will pair Miles with another young guard who handles the ball a lot, such as last season\u2019s WNBA Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers. But those two highly talented players might also complement each other.<\/p>\n
WNBA free agency is underway, so signings before draft day could change our first-round projections again as team needs are filled or revealed. But for now, here is our latest mock draft, which includes four players from UCLA\u2019s NCAA championship team.<\/p>\n
1. Dallas Wings: Olivia Miles<\/p>\n
TCU | point guard | 5-foot-10 | senior<\/p>\n
Miles averaged a career-best 19.6 points this season as the Horned Frogs went 32-6 and won the Big 12 regular-season title. She had six triple-doubles this season, including one in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Her court vision is excellent. She made 73 3-pointers this season at TCU and last season at Notre Dame. With that kind of offensive arsenal, Miles could work well with Bueckers (and Arike Ogunbowale, if she stays in Dallas).<\/p>\n
2. Minnesota Lynx: Awa Fam<\/p>\n
Spain | center | 6-foot-4<\/p>\n
Fam, who is averaging 9.2 points and 5.0 rebounds for Valencia in Spain, is just 19 with a ton of potential. It comes down to how quickly and how well coach Cheryl Reeve and the Lynx believe Fam can adjust to the WNBA and how high they believe her ceiling is, especially considering how well UCLA\u2019s Lauren Betts played her senior season. Betts has to be considered for this spot, too, if the Lynx pick a post player.<\/p>\n
3. Seattle Storm: Azzi Fudd<\/p>\n
UConn | shooting guard | 5-foot-11 | senior<\/p>\n
Fudd could still be picked No. 1, which is where we\u2019ve had her in two previous mock drafts. But this could be a good landing spot for her as the Storm might retool with a younger group under new coach Sonia Raman.<\/p>\n
Fudd was the Most Outstanding Player at the 2025 Final Four but didn\u2019t have as strong an NCAA tournament this season. After a career-high 34 points with eight 3-pointers in the second round, Fudd totaled just 31 points on 12-of-39 shooting (30.8%) in her last three games. She was 3-of-15 for eight points in the Huskies\u2019 national semifinal loss to South Carolina.<\/p>\n
4. Washington Mystics: Lauren Betts<\/p>\n
UCLA | center | 6-foot-7 | senior<\/p>\n
Betts did nothing but help her draft stock during the NCAA tournament, a nice side benefit to winning the national championship. She is one of six Bruins seniors expected to be picked in this draft. Betts shot at least 60% from the field in all six NCAA tournament games, averaging 68.8%. She averaged 21 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.8 blocks and was named the tournament\u2019s Most Outstanding Player. The Mystics already have size, but it\u2019s hard to see them passing on Betts if she\u2019s still available.<\/p>\n
5. Chicago Sky: Flau\u2019jae Johnson<\/p>\n
LSU | shooting guard | 5-foot-10 | senior<\/p>\n
Johnson had ups and downs this season, but she has a lot of ability and might need to play against pros to start her next stage of development. She averaged 19.0 points and shot 52.4% in the Tigers\u2019 three NCAA tournament games. On the season, she shot a career-best 39.3% from behind the arc (48 of 122) and tied a career high with 89 assists. Her energy and defense are two other strong points.<\/p>\n
6. Toronto Tempo: Nell Angloma<\/p>\n
France | small forward | 5-foot-11<\/p>\n
Angloma is averaging 15.5 points and 5.6 rebounds for Basket Lattes Montpellier Agglomeration (BMLA) in France\u2019s premiere league, BWL. She doesn\u2019t turn 20 until June and likely can play at the small forward or shooting guard spots in the WNBA. The Tempo won a coin toss and opted to pick first in this draft while letting the other expansion team, Portland, pick first in the expansion draft.<\/p>\n
7. Portland Fire: Iyana Martin<\/p>\n
Spain | point guard | 5-foot-8<\/p>\n
Martin, who turned 20 in January, was part of the Spanish team that advanced to the EuroBasket championship game last summer. Despite her youth, she has a lot of experience playing at the professional level. She is averaging 14.8 points and 4.2 assists for Perfumerias Avenida in Spain\u2019s LF Endesa. In 2023, she was MVP of the FIBA Under-19 World Cup.<\/p>\n
8. Golden State Valkyries: Gianna Kneepkens<\/p>\n
UCLA | shooting guard | 5-foot-11 | senior<\/p>\n
Who will be the second Bruins player taken after Betts? It could be Kneepkens because of her most well-known skill: long-range shooting. She spent four years (with one injury redshirt season) at Utah before transferring to UCLA as a senior, a decision that worked out great for her and the national champion Bruins. Her scoring average dipped, as expected, with more talent around her. But Kneepkens still shot 42.9% from behind the arc (87 of 203). She finished her college career at 43.1% from 3-point range (335 of 777).<\/p>\n
9. Washington Mystics: Cotie McMahon<\/p>\n
Ole Miss | small forward | 6-foot | senior<\/p>\n
McMahon will have to transition to be more of a perimeter player in the WNBA and improve her 3-point shooting. She has worked on that over the past two seasons. This year, after transferring to Ole Miss after three years at Ohio State, McMahon averaged a career-high 19.5 points and had a career-best 36 3-pointers. But she shot 28.6% from behind the arc. McMahon\u2019s physical style of play should translate well in the WNBA.<\/p>\n
10. Indiana Fever: Raven Johnson<\/p>\n
South Carolina | point guard | 5-foot-9 | senior<\/p>\n
It appears Johnson helped her draft stock plenty as a senior because of the traits she showed: leadership, maturity and resilience. We saw those qualities throughout her career at South Carolina, but they were key in helping the Gamecocks reach the national championship game again and end UConn\u2019s unbeaten season. Johnson was the SEC Defensive Player of the Year. She is very strong and can effectively guard a lot of different types of players.<\/p>\n
11. Washington Mystics: Gabriela Jaquez<\/p>\n
UCLA | shooting guard | 6-foot | senior<\/p>\n
If all someone saw of Jaquez was her national championship game performance — 21 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and enough energy to have lit up the arena — that alone would be reason to draft her. But we\u2019ve watched her give this kind of effort for four seasons at UCLA. Her 13.5 points average and shooting percentages — 53.9% from the field, 39% on 3-pointers and 86% on free throws — as a senior were all career highs.<\/p>\n
12. Connecticut Sun: Kiki Rice<\/p>\n
UCLA | point guard | 5-foot-11 | senior<\/p>\n
Like her fellow UCLA seniors, Rice saved her best for last. She averaged 14.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.5 steals and shot 49% from the field, 38.5% from beyond the arc and 90.2% at the foul line. All those numbers were career highs. She also averaged 4.6 assists and showed so much poise in clutch situations, including her four free throws in the final 13 seconds that clinched UCLA\u2019s national semifinal win over Texas.<\/p>\n
13. Atlanta Dream: Ta\u2019Niya Latson<\/p>\n
South Carolina | shooting guard | 5-foot-8 | senior<\/p>\n
Latson\u2019s transfer from Florida State to South Carolina for her senior season worked out well. She helped lead the Gamecocks to the national championship game with a huge performance — 16 points, 11 rebounds — against UConn in the semifinals. She averaged 14.1 points and 3.6 assists this season and showed she could play South Carolina-style defense. One of the top guards, Latson could go several spots higher, but the Dream\u2019s system seems like it could be a good fit for her.<\/p>\n
14. Seattle Storm: Marta Suarez<\/p>\n
TCU | small forward | 6-foot-3 | senior<\/p>\n
A native of Oviedo, Spain, Suarez played two seasons at Tennessee and two at Cal before going to TCU. But what she showed in her lone season in Fort Worth, Texas, might be enough to make her a first-round pick. Suarez averaged 17.1 points and 7.4 rebounds while hitting a team-best 84 3-pointers. Her most impressive NCAA tournament game was a 33-point, 10-rebound performance in TCU\u2019s Sweet 16 victory over Virginia.<\/p>\n
15. Connecticut Sun: Madina Okot<\/p>\n
South Carolina | center | 6-foot-6 | senior<\/p>\n
South Carolina is still waiting to hear if Okot will receive an extra year of college eligibility from the NCAA. She has played just two years in the U.S. college system — at Mississippi State last season and South Carolina this season — after competing two years in college in her native Kenya. If she\u2019s granted another season, she will return to the Gamecocks, which would be good for her development. If not, she will have to learn more quickly in the WNBA, but she has the talent to do so. She averaged 12.8 points, 10.6 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.4 blocks for the national runner-up Gamecocks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WNBA talent evaluators have been scouting prospects for months. But the college players available in Monday\u2019s draft, had…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":["post-590415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=590415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}