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cover of episode 3/5/23 - WNBA Mock Draft: Pre-March Edition (Part One)

3/5/23 - WNBA Mock Draft: Pre-March Edition (Part One)

2023/3/5
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WNBA Nation

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@Kyle Haywood : Aaliyah Boston将成为状元秀,尽管得分数据并非联盟最高,但她作为一名全能型球员,在球队中扮演着关键角色,其篮板数据非常出色,并且她在一支实力强大的球队中无需承担过多的个人进攻压力。她的数据可能受到球队整体实力和出场时间的影响,但她仍然是本届选秀中最好的球员。 Diamond Miller将是第二顺位,她是一位全能型后卫,拥有出色的运动能力和得分能力,在马里兰大学有着非常出色的表现。 Haley Jones将是第三顺位,她是一位安全可靠的选择,虽然上限可能不如其他球员高,但下限很高,不太可能成为水货。她拥有出色的篮板能力和助攻能力,并且在斯坦福大学与其他WNBA潜力新秀一起比赛的经验,让她已经做好了进入WNBA的准备。 Jordan Horston将是第四顺位,她的选秀顺位下降是因为Diamond Miller的崛起,但这并不意味着Horston表现不佳。她是一位身材高大的后卫,能够胜任多个位置,并且在防守端表现出色。 Rekia Jackson将是第五顺位,她和Jordan Horston是田纳西大学队的核心球员,表现出色,预计会在乐透区被选中。她们两人是田纳西大学队的核心,尽管球队整体表现不如预期,但她们的表现仍然非常出色。 Maddie Siegrist将是第六顺位,她是一位得分能力极强的球员,虽然与其他球员风格不同,但她稳定的得分能力将会让她在WNBA获得一席之地。她得分能力极强,甚至超过了Caitlin Clark,并且篮板和助攻数据也相当不错。

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Kyle discusses Aaliyah Boston as the top pick in the WNBA Mock Draft, highlighting her skills and contributions to South Carolina's team.

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Welcome to the WNBA Nation.

Welcome back WNBA Nation. How's it going? My name is Kyle Haywood and I have been MIA for the last little bit. I want to apologize about that. We had three different, of course things always come in threes, right? Three different medical issues that hit my family that took me personally out. So I apologize about that, but I am back and as of the time of this recording, I'm

Conference tournaments are just about to start. This episode will probably come out several days after I actually record this, but I want you guys to all know that that's where the figures, the points per game that I'm going to be using, all of that, all the stats are

come at the beginning before any conference tournament start. So those are supposed to start tomorrow as of the recording of this episode. So obviously there may be a couple things here and there. Hopefully, fingers crossed and knocking on wood here that we don't have any injuries to any of these players that I'll be talking about today. So...

Welcome to the pre-March Madness 2023 WNBA Mock Draft edition. I've been really excited to make this all season long. I've been watching these players, been watching a ton of women's basketball, a ton of college women's basketball.

And primarily, that's kind of where I sit with this. These are all going to be college players that I'm talking about today. Obviously, there's a couple international names that we'll take a look at. But this year in particular, I don't think there's going to be an international player taken in the first round. I just don't see that happening. So with that in mind, we're going to stick mostly with college players. I'm going to be doing this in a two-part series.

So I'm recording all of it today. So you're listening to part one right now. Part two will probably come out the day after this one releases. So make sure you're checking back for that. But...

I want to go through who I think will be the first round draft picks as it stands right now. This is who I see going on these individual takes. Now, I'm not going to mention like the actual teams as we go. I'm just going to go. I'm just going to pick one through 12. All right. Just to keep things flowing, keeping it pretty simple here. So without further ado,

Let's hop right in.

All right. I don't think this is any surprise at all that I'm taking this player first overall. I think everybody's thought this for the last several seasons, but Aaliyah Boston out of South Carolina is going to be your number one draft pick unless something absolutely crazy happens. There is no reason why Boston won't be number taken number one overall and likely heading out to Indiana. So again,

With Aaliyah Boston going to South Carolina, I think a lot of people, there's been some questions by maybe some people who don't necessarily follow super close. They're wondering, they're like, why is she going so high? Her numbers aren't off the charts. Her points per game are going to be the lowest that you will see pretty much in this entire first round.

I believe she has the lowest points per game prior to heading into conference tournaments of anybody going that I have going in the first round. Now, that being said, we have to take context into everything. Aaliyah Boston does not need to be dominant individually on this South Carolina team. There are so many other players, a couple of which we may hear a little bit about later that,

There are several other players on the South Carolina team that can do so much, and there's no reason why Aaliyah Boston has to go out and do it all herself. So currently, she's listed at 6'5". She's a big, she's a forward. She has 13.3 points per game.

9.7 rebounds per game and just shy of two assists per game. That's where she's at. And again, she does not have to be dominant and put up insane numbers, although her rebounds are pretty impressive. But Aaliyah Boston is hands down the best player in this draft class. And it takes all you got to do is watch a game to be able to tell that.

She also, South Carolina has an insane margin of victory, average margin of victory. It's way up there. So she also doesn't have to play late into the games. She's able to sit down and rest a lot of times in that fourth quarter. And so, yeah, her points per game and her overall stats are going to take a little bit of a hit.

simply because she's sitting and she's not going to be in the game the whole time. So there you have it. Leah Boston, no surprise there. That's just a given.

All right. At my number two spot, I actually have Diamond Miller. Diamond Miller was on my radar for the last couple seasons. I was wondering what was going to happen. She has had a phenomenal season at Maryland and has really kind of made her mark and put a lot of the rest of, you know, the rest of NCAA basketball on notice and

She stands, she's listed at six foot three. She plays a guard and she, uh, she's averaging 19.9 points per game, 6.4 rebounds per game and 2.8 assists per game. Diamond Miller can kind of do everything. She's a big guard that, uh,

is very athletic uh she did have kind of an injury uh early you know a little while ago that not this season but in a previous season that kind of hindered her a little bit she's back she's absolutely tearing it up maryland um has done a ton with what they've had this season um the big 10 in general is absolutely stacked across the board and maryland is

uh you know i think is the three seed heading into the big 10 tournament um and but that's not to say that you know they couldn't win the whole thing they're a phenomenal team this maryland squad is very very good and diamond miller is kind of that one a person that leads uh the terps so diamond miller i've got going number two uh hayley jones is actually who i have going number three and i had her at number two for a lot of this season

Quite a bit throughout this season. I had her up at number two, but right now she's at number three and it's kind of a soft three. I think that I honestly do think that two through five in this draft class is

all could be somewhat interchangeable depending on the teams that are going to be selecting their picks and kind of where you know what their preference is i don't think that there's a huge huge gap between my number two and my number five i think that they're pretty pretty well spread out or pretty well even across the board i think it comes down to preference and what

who's going to fit best with each team. Haley Jones is also a pretty good-sized guard. She's listed at 6'1". She averages 13.5 points per game. And here's where Haley Jones stands out. She averages nearly nine rebounds per game as a guard.

That is all alongside the fact that she's playing with Hannah jump and Cameron Brink and these other really great rebounders that, you know, the fact that she's also in there rebounding very well. She also has a great, um,

Great read of the floor. She keeps her head up while she's facilitating. She also, I believe, has the highest assist per game of anybody I've got going in the first round here. Let me check. Yes, she does at four assists per game. So Haley Jones, I think, is WNBA ready.

and I think she's been playing with other WNBA potential prospects at Stanford, and so I think she's kind of used to that, playing with those types of players. Haley Jones has been good for many years. I think she's kind of a safe bet. I don't know if Haley Jones is going to come in and necessarily win Rookie of the Year, but she's a very safe bet. She's someone who you can take and really feel good about and know that you're not going to be

having a bust. That's, that's kind of how I see her. Her ceiling may not be quite as high as some of these other players, but I don't, I think her floor is, she has a very high floor. Um, I don't think she's going to bust at, at all. I think Haley Jones is a very safe pick. So I've got her at three.

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Indeed.com slash blue wire terms and conditions apply need to hire. You need indeed. Jordan Horston coming in at my number four out of Tennessee. She's a six, two guard is what she's listed at right now. And now some of these players do kind of move throughout it. When you have somebody who plays sometimes on the wings, some of these players will play out on the wing at times with different, different sets from their team. So,

I'm literally just going off of what their university lists them at right now. Some of them may be better as a point guard or a wing or a power forward, like just across the board on any of these players. I'm simply giving you what their college website lists them at right now. So that's kind of where we're at with this. Jordan Horston, 6'2". She's averaging 15.2 points per game.

6.9 rebounds per game and 1.3 assists per game. Jordan Horst and Rekia Jackson, these two Tennessee players, they're very, very good. They have been phenomenal for Tennessee. Tennessee has probably been a little bit underwhelming. They've been a little bit, I guess you could even say disappointing from what a lot of people expected of them at the beginning of the season.

That being said, I feel like Jordan Horson's draft stock has stayed really strong. I think preseason I had her listed at three and she's only dropped to four simply because I had Diamond Miller who went from my number four all the way up to my number two.

So it's not been necessarily that Horson's been bad, but it's simply that I do think Diamond Miller has elevated herself up to that number two spot, which obviously just bumps Haley Jones and Jordan Horson down to three and four.

So Horstens, Horstens solid, um, again, big, um, a pretty good size guard. And that's where I think both, uh, all of diamond Miller, Haley Jones, Jordan Horstens, they're all kind of that guard could, could play anywhere from the one to the three, but they all have pretty decent size. They're six, one, six, two, six, three. Like they're all, they're all pretty good size players that I think are, and I think a lot of WNBA, um, executives,

executives are looking at a guard that can come in with size that can guard players that have length. And I think that's where these three fit really well is because they can, they're quick enough to, and athletic enough to guard down to the one, but they also have a little bit of length and can guard out to the two and the three. And I think that on the defensive end, that's really, that speaks well to all three of these last players.

Rekia Jackson, I'm already talking about Tennessee, so let's throw her in as well. Forward, she's listed as a forward. She's also 6'2". She has been very consistent as far as her scoring goes for Tennessee, averaging just shy of 19 points a game, 6 rebounds a game, and 1.3 assists per

Horston and Jackson really have been kind of the whole show for Tennessee. They've played very well. I think the surrounding pieces for Tennessee have been kind of the weak point for that team this year, but Horston and Jackson really have looked strong in my opinion. And in fact, Jackson, I had pretty far down on my preseason. She was really like a ways, a ways down that, that,

I didn't, she wasn't necessarily like one that I was really big on. She has totally changed my mind. I've got her all the way up to number five in my mock draft right now. So looking really strong for these two players, I would be surprised if either of these two players drop beyond like the seven or eight pick.

I could see some other players maybe making a stretch moving up. Especially, we'll see what happens here in March. But Horstead and Jackson both, in my opinion, are near lottery picks for this WNBA draft.

All right, we're going to wrap up kind of the first part one here with who I have at number six. And this is simply because this player has been as electric as anybody not named Caitlin Clark. And honestly, she kind of...

She kind of might be even as electric as Caitlin Clark. And that's Maddie Sechrist out of Villanova. I know I probably have her higher than a lot of people. I've got her at six. I know some people probably have her quite a bit lower than that. I really like... I really like...

I don't think that anybody in the WNBA is going to be upset by someone who can just put up buckets. I mean, we've seen so many players come in and be able to carve out a piece for themselves simply because they can put up points.

I mean, like Arike Agumbawale, you know, she can just really take over on the offensive side of the floor. Now, I don't think Maddie Segrist or Arike Agumbawale are comparative players in their style of play in any way. So let me be clear there. But I do think that that could be a piece that Maddie could play in the WNBA. Someone who can shoot

who has good vision, who moves into space very well and just knows where to be in order to get a good look at the hoop. She leads the country in scoring, beating out even the likes of Caitlin Clark. She's phenomenal. She's adding a ton of eyes onto Villanova basketball this year. I guess I should give you her numbers. 29.7.

zero points per game, but that's not all she does. She also averages 9.1 boards per game. So she's, she works hard, not just for shots, but for rebounds as well. 1.4 assists per game. She's phenomenal. I really like her. She's an exciting player. And maybe it's just some of the, uh, some of that bias or, you know, kind of recency or just like hype bias that we get around players like this every once in a while, but I've got her all the way up at my number six spot.

Okay. I'm going to go ahead and take a break right here. Um, and, uh, just appreciate you guys. We're going to have, I'm going to have part two releasing tomorrow. And so make sure you're listening for that. And, uh, yeah, it should be good to go. Um, but, uh, yeah, go ahead and make sure you're checking out WNBA nation.com. I will have this mock draft going up, um, with,

within a day or two after these episodes release so that you can hop on and see, um, you know, read through them. I'll have little blurbs about each of them. And then these points, you know, kind of their stats along with it. So watch for that. That will be going up on wma nation.com. Um,

And, yeah, I hope you enjoy the conference tournaments. March is starting, and it's my favorite month of the entire year. It's my birthday month. I think it was just fitting that I was born in the month of March because I absolutely love this month. I love brackets. I love basketball. And this gets to merge both of those things. It's a happy birthday for me. So there you go. There's part one. Stay tuned for part two tomorrow as I'll be looking at

uh numbers 7 through 12 in the first round as well as a couple honorable mentions to keep your eyes out for um but for wmba nation i'm kyle haywood and we got you next time

We're sunsetting PodQuest on 2025-07-28. Thank you for your support!

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