reached an agreement on a new CBA earlier this week<\/a>, but a date for the expansion draft and WNBA free agency has yet to be set.<\/p>\nThis year’s draft presents a pivotal opportunity for the Fire to shape the franchise’s future with a top draft selection. The team holds either the sixth or seventh overall pick \u2014 that will be determined before the draft by a coin flip with the Toronto Tempo. The Fire will also have selections in the second round (either No. 21 or 22) and third round (No. 36 or 37), giving them additional chances to build a competitive roster.<\/p>\n
But we’re going to focus on the first-round talent performing in the NCAA Tournament, players who might be available when the Fire make their first selection. Here are the players to watch, and when their teams are scheduled to play \u2014 hint: you’ll want to watch UCLA, which could have four Top-10 selections this year \u2014 as the tournament gets underway this weekend.<\/p>\n
\nFriday’s games <\/p>\n
When she plays: No. 3 TCU plays No. 14 Charleston at 9 a.m. on ESPNBy the numbers: 5-foot-10 senior averages 19.6 points, 6.9 rebounds and 6.4 assists.Current projected draft range: 2-4 <\/p>\n
Flau’jae Johnson, guard, LSU<\/p>\n
When she plays: No. 2 LSU plays No. 15 Jacksonville at 3 p.m. on ESPNBy the numbers: 5-10 senior averages 13.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 40.2% from 3Current projected draft range: \u00a04-7 <\/p>\n
\nSaturday’s games <\/p>\n
Ta’Niya Latson, guard, South Carolina<\/p>\n
When she plays: No. 1 South Carolina plays at 10 a.m. on ABCBy the numbers: 5-8 senior averages 14.3 points, 3.5 assists, 2.7 reboundsCurrent projected draft range: 4-9 <\/p>\n
When she plays: No. 1 UConn faces No. 16 UTSA at noon on ABCBy the numbers: 5-11 senior averages 17.7 points, 3.0 assists, 2.6 rebounds, shoots 44.6% from 3Current projected draft range: 1-3 <\/p>\n
Lauren Betts, center, UCLA<\/p>\n
When she plays: No. 1 UCLA plays No. 16 California Baptist at 7 p.m.By the numbers: 6-7 senior averages 16.4 points, 8.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.9 blocksCurrent projected draft range: 1-5 <\/p>\n
When she plays: No. 1 UCLA plays No. 16 California Baptist at 7 p.m.By the numbers: 5-11 senior averages 15.3 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists, shoots 38.1% from 3Current projected draft range: 4-9 <\/p>\n
Gabriela Jaquez, guard, UCLA<\/p>\n
When she plays: No. 1 UCLA plays No. 16 California Baptist at 7 p.m.By the numbers: 6-0 senior averages 13.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.0 assists, shoots 41.1% from 3Current projected draft range: 7-12 <\/p>\n
Gianna Kneepkens, guard, UCLA<\/p>\n
When she plays: No. 1 UCLA plays No. 16 California Baptist at 7 p.m.By the numbers: 6-0 senior averages 13.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, shoots 44.2% from 3Current projected draft range: 7-12 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here are the players to watch, and when their teams are scheduled to play (Hint: you’ll want to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":533836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-533835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}