October 29, 2022
Locked on Women’s Basketball: The best guards in the WNBA Draft
By The Next
How do Jacy Sheldon, Charisma Osborne, Zia Cooke, Ashley Joens and more stack up?
The latest episode of the Locked on Women’s Basketball podcast features our Em Adler, Hunter Cruse and Joshua Welch discussing the top prospects in the 2023 WNBA Draft at the guard and wing positions. (A future episode will focus on the top frontcourt prospects.)
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Em and Joshua disagree on whether Ohio State’s Jacy Sheldon or UCLA’s Charisma Osborne is the better prospect, though they agree that both are first-round talents. Em has this to say on Sheldon:
“The first thing you notice with her is the athleticism is just, it’s unbelievable. … [And] her natural game is to get to the rim, score as efficiently as possible, relocate on the perimeter, and just hunt open shots and attack defenses and holes. She has the athleticism to make that work. She has the shot-making to make it work. And [in the WNBA], hopefully she’s going to be playing on teams that have bigs that demand more attention and point guards that help open more shots than she does at Ohio State.”
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Joshua, though, isn’t sold on Sheldon’s defense. Here’s his counter on Osborne:
“I’m more anticipating that Osborne’s going to have a better roster around her this season. [UCLA] had some injuries where she was over-relied upon and everything. Now they got an elite [recruiting] class coming in … and she’s not going to have to overexert herself. I really like her game. I think she’s got a great jump shot, is able to drive to the basket, [and] plays solid defense.”
The hosts also discuss players including Syracuse’s Dyaisha Fair — whom they think could also be a first-round pick — Duke’s Celeste Taylor, South Carolina’s Zia Cooke, Ohio State’s Madison Greene and Virginia Tech’s Ashley Owusu. On the wing, the hosts look at Iowa State’s Ashley Joens, Oklahoma’s Madi Williams, Stanford’s Hannah Jump, Maryland’s Abby Meyers and more.
To learn even more about the 2023 WNBA Draft, plus get previews of the NCAA season and so much more, don’t forget to subscribe to the Locked on Women’s Basketball podcast!
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