Of course getting to the w and spending time there is an accomplishment. So no shade. But here's who comes to mind.
Lindsey Harding - her final season at Duke she was amazing. She was super quick and really good defensively. Definitely thought she'd be an all star caliber guard.
Marissa Coleman - I think she did make an all star team but I remember watching her drop 40 in the tournament. I also remember Maryland was confident they could be UConn that year when UConn was undefeated. They thought they matched up well. And in particular Maya moore vs Coleman.
Katie Geralds- always liked big guards. She was 6'1 could post and shoot. Led Purdue to the elite 8 I believe. I was surprised she didn't have a more impactful career in the W.
Shalee Lehning - she was small and wasn't a super athlete but she was fun to watch and a triple double threat. She did have meaningful stint in the W but I thought she'd have a long career just how savvy she was.
Glad that you brought up these names! I hadn't thought about some of these players in a while. I'll share my thoughts:
Re Lindsey Harding--I believe that the lack of a reliable jump shot (in particular, a 3-point shot) killed her career progress. She did make an All-Star team, I believe. But she could've done more offensively had she been able to rely on a jumper consistently.
To that point, I'm glad to see Jordin Canada developing a 3-point shot and hope she sticks with it.
Marissa Coleman--maybe it's the anti-Maryland bias speaking here, but I never saw her as being that good. Her size played into her hype as a prospect, IMO. I couldn't see her consistently guarding her position in the W based on what I saw of her in college. I think it's telling that the player drafted just after her had a better WNBA career despite being much smaller (and being a college teammate).
Katie Gearlds--I always thought that her size at guard is what really had people excited about her, but she seemed too slow to make it in the W. She is transitioning into a decent young coach at the P5 level.
Shalee Lehning--I didn't think she had the physical gifts to make it long-term in the W, but she did find a home briefly in Atlanta and looked great as a distributor for a few seasons. Then, she got injured and that was that. Not a great talent, but not terrible.
I'll add two more names to the discussion: Monica Wright (UVA to Minnesota Lynx) and Jantel Lavender (Ohio State to Los Angeles Sparks). Both players got stuck behind multiple future HOF teammates. They ended up winning titles, but it would've been interesting to see how their careers would've panned out had they been starters on other (i.e. not as good) teams.
