November 2, 2024
Locked On Women’s Basketball: 2024-25 preseason All-American teams mock draft
By The Next
Does Paige Bueckers or JuJu Watkins go No. 1 in this mock draft?
In the latest episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball, The Next’s Hunter Cruse, Emily Adler and Lincoln Shafer welcome Clutch Points’ Russell Steinberg to do a mock draft to create women’s college basketball All-American teams.
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There are a few rules to know for this draft: The players selected to fill out each All-American team have to credibly be able to play together in a five-player lineup. Once a player from one college team is selected, no other players from that team can be selected. (For example: Once USC guard JuJu Watkins is selected, teammate Kiki Iriafen isn’t eligible to be picked.)
Shafer selects UConn guard Paige Bueckers with the No. 1 pick, and Cruse takes Watkins at No. 2. At No. 3, Steinberg selects Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo — deciding on a Fighting Irish player in part to eliminate her teammates from selection.
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With the No. 4 pick, Adler considers picking someone from South Carolina but ends up choosing one from SEC rival LSU:
“I’m going with Aneesah Morrow. As much as I did consider Flau’jae [Johnson] — obviously, I would have just picked both if I could. But I feel like Morrow gets the easy stats more, especially given the fact that she’s going to be playing next to … the reincarnation of NaLyssa Smith, in a good way, [in Sa’Myah Smith].”
Related reading: Who are the top WNBA draft prospects in college basketball?
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