2022 W draft

[BobbyJ]

Alot of questionable picks. In the first one... they still have Elizabeth Balgoun at Louisville... and Erin Boley at Oregon. Pretty sure Boley graduated and moved on to a life outside of basketball, and Balgoun is now at Duke.

The second one has Dara Mabry as a second round pick. Perhaps her father wrote that mock draft

C'mon, give them a break. They're trying to get caught up, they're only a couple years behind. They're doing a lot of intensive research.

 

[GoChips20]

I think the order, regardless of lottery placement, goes:

1. Howard
2. Smith

It gets interesting from there. To me, this is one of the stronger draft classes of recent years, and that’s without any early entrants so far.

A few thoughts on top prospects:

• Ashley Joens, Iowa State: Highly skilled combo forward who excels in a system built around her. Rooting for her, but she relies heavily on interior angles and cuts that will be much harder to execute against the defensive interiors of the W. She’s a good perimeter shooter and will find a place on a team, but I don’t expect much outside a role player career, and I’d be surprised if she’s taken before pick 6 or
• Elissa Cunane, NC State: Perhaps the most offensively-skilled post in the nation (great outside shooter, crafty inside, seems to have good all-around skills). Don’t always see the defensive impact you might want from your C. Not sure I see her as the type to take over many games and don’t project her as a W starter, but she realistically should go in the first half of the first round. She’s beyond solid for State and has exceeded all expectations in her college career. Side note: I think people are foolishly sleeping on NC State outside this year’s perceived Big 3 (UConn, SC, Stanford). I think NC ST will lose its season opener to S. Carolina but will be a national title threat all season long, in no small part due to its interior anchor.
• Shakira Austin, Ole Miss: Has gone from good to great between Maryland and Mississippi. Her upside is unbelievable —might be the highest in this draft or just behind Howard.
• Naz Hillmon, Michigan: I’ll admit she has carved out an immensely impressive career given the lack of offensive diversity in her game. Michigan was super close to taking out Baylor this year in the tournament. She’s a double-double machine and rebounded exceptionally well in this summer’s FIBA tournament, but she simply cannot survive in the W without a serviceable jump shot. My take is that if Megan Gustafson can’t do it, no college PF/C without one can.
• The UConn Trio: All will be drafted and all will stick in the league. I’m not sure any will be starts, but if it happens, I’d bet that it’s Williams. ONO’s defense and pedigree will help her hang for a bit but she’ll need to evolve her game and improve physically. I could see her finding success as a 4 (awesome passer from the pinch-post area), but she’d have to develop her handle first. I’m sure she can. Westbrook projects as a solid bench contributor and perhaps a starter if drafted to a team bad enough (IND, ATL. God help her if so!).
• South Carolina Seniors: Saxton is a bit behind ONO in terms of professional readiness although I think she could survive in the league off her defense and reliability, especially if SC gets to or wins a national title this year — that would set her up nicely in the eyes of GMs and coaches. Henderson is the better PG prospect and has incredible speed. I think she will be a first-round pick. She’s not as great a game manager as former Gamecock Ty Harris, but has a smoother shot and improved offensive arsenal.

Other thoughts:

• I’m not sure what anyone saw last year that made them think Nyara Sabally is pro-ready.
• I think Rae Burrell (and former teammate Rennia Davis, who was injured in her rookie season but IMO would have been a ROY favorite) will both turn out to be really good pros.
• This draft is just a notch below stacked at the top with a bit of a drop-off after that, but I see a lot of lesser-known players who could make an impact and stick on a roster (Mya Hollingshed, Queen Egbo, Lexie Hull, and others).

 

[Dokey]

Dont know the credibility of this source but interesting.

Player Rankings - 2022 WNBA Mock Drafts | Lines.com

Player Rankings for the 2022 WNBA draft

www.lines.com

ONO projected as the lowest (#25) of the 4 UConn players which is impressive (in a bad way) since the pros tend to place a premium on physical attributes. Geno tried to light a fire under her this spring; hope it worked.

She fares better (#11) in this one:

https://wbasketballblog.com/2021/01/17/2022-wnba-draft-version-1-0/[/U

[QUOTE="Vowelguy, post: 4002196, ... Don’t see that happening this year. [/QUOTE]

 

[Dokey]

Very strange list. I see Mya Hollingshed at 15 on one list and not even listed on this one when she is easily a better choice than either Westbrook (injury) or ONO (not beefy enough to survive in pros), just to mention UConn players. I would take a chance on CW, who I think is underrated even on the Boneyard, but cross my fingers. All and all, a weak draft class.

Just to point out that ONO scored only one point and had six rebounds in FF loss to Arizona while Mya had 32 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and one assist in Colorado’s victory over the Stanford team that beat Arizona.

 

[Plebe]

Just to point out that ONO scored only one point and had six rebounds in FF loss to Arizona while Mya had 32 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and one assist in Colorado’s victory over the Stanford team that beat Arizona.

Ha ya gotta love the cherry-picking of evidence. I love how you deftly avoided using her performance vs. the same team for your thesis.

 

[Dokey]

Ha ya gotta love the cherry-picking of evidence. I love how you deftly avoided using her performance vs. the same team for your thesis.

No, I freely admit it is just one game each. If I were to compare their seasons, having watched every game each played last year, where Mya was a top five scorer, higher rebounder, first or second in double doubles, all in the toughest conference, Mya would be my choice over ONO in an instant if I were choosing between the two. But I wish ONO well. I want to be surprised. And is it really cherry picking when you compare performances against the two teams that played for national championship. Plus Arizona only escaped Mya and Colorado in a game in which they were thoroughly outplayed only due to horrid free throw shooting on CU’s part.

 

[Plebe]

No, I freely admit it is just one game each. If I were to compare their seasons, having watched every game each played last year, where Mya was a top five scorer, higher rebounder, first or second in double doubles, all in the toughest conference, Mya would be my choice over ONO in an instant if I were choosing between the two. But I wish ONO well. I want to be surprised. And is it really cherry picking when you compare performances against the two teams that played for national championship. Plus Arizona only escaped Mya and Colorado in a game in which they were thoroughly outplayed only due to horrid free throw shooting on CU’s part.

Coulda, woulda, shouda.

You actually put it nicely. Colorado massively choked against Arizona, got outscored 20-8 in the 4th quarter. And on that note Hollingshed herself went AWOL / choked: 2-6 from the FT line and had zero FGs in 4Q. And this was nowhere near the same caliber of an Arizona team that was peaking in the NCAAT when UConn played them. Colorado then went on to self-destruct against Washington (gotta love it when you're eliminated by a team whose coach gets fired one day later) in the first round of the Pac-12 tourney, and then had an okay but not great WNIT in which they lost to Ole Miss.

You won't catch me raving about Olivia's most recent play, but clearly any WNBA GMs and scouts are going to be far more interested in her upside than in any of her past disappointing performances. I don't know anyone who'd argue that Hollingshed wasn't the better player as of March 2021, but draft position is very different question.

 

[Dokey]

Coulda, woulda, shouda.

You actually put it nicely. Colorado massively choked against Arizona, got outscored 20-8 in the 4th quarter. And on that note Hollingshed herself went AWOL / choked: 2-6 from the FT line and had zero FGs in 4Q. And this was nowhere near the same caliber of an Arizona team that was peaking in the NCAAT when UConn played them. Colorado then went on to self-destruct against Washington (gotta love it when you're eliminated by a team whose coach gets fired one day later) in the first round of the Pac-12 tourney, and then had an okay but not great WNIT in which they lost to Ole Miss.

You won't catch me raving about Olivia's most recent play, but clearly any WNBA GMs and scouts are going to be far more interested in her upside than in any of her past disappointing performances. I don't know anyone who'd argue that Hollingshed wasn't the better player as of March 2021, but draft position is very different question.

Mya was certainly not at her best in last games which I suspect was one of the reasons she came back, plus CU gets back it’s injured point guard and returns a pretty decent team, bolstered by a couple of transferring Washington players who thrashed them. Mya has all the skills, rebounding, defense, and the ability to pretty much score from any point on the floor. She is by no means a Stewie—who is?—but much of her game reminds me of her. I see her going anywhere in draft from 8 to 16.