RebKell's Junkie Boards

[Luuuc]

[tfan]

[justintyme]

[pilight]

WNBA Draft ratings hit six-year high

https://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2020/04/wnba-draft-viewership-espn/

[toad455]

[PUmatty]

[myrtle]

I was busy elsewhere for most of it but saw the end that seemed to be all Kobi. A friend who is a casual fan watched it and her comment was, 'well I learned a lot about Kobi and Sabrina and not much else' She said the beginning tribute to the girls who died was moving, but that after awhile the show seemed pretty boring and not very informative. And also that they stopped talking about the picks, just randomly put a list up. She thought that was pretty 'sleazy'. Sounded like normal to me. I guess they made it 2 hours long so they could spend at least 1/2 hour talking about Kobi? I didn't see many comments about that so what was your take?

_________________
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.
- Amanda Gorman

[Luuuc]

[Richyyy]

For a minute there I thought you meant they'd spent an inordinate amount of time covering Kobi Thornton...

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Independent WNBA coverage: http://www.wnbalien.com/

[pilight]

WNBA Delivers Most-Watched Draft in 16 Years

https://www.wnba.com/news/wnba-delivers-most-watched-draft-in-16-years/

[Stormeo]

[WNBA 09]

they added a 1 to the 6

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3-Time WNBA Champion-3-Time National Champion-4-Time Olympic Champion....And Yes DT "We Got Confeti" lol

[ucbart]

[Stormeo]

I find it interesting that we didn't see the two UConn prospects have particularly "inflated" selections (get picked higher than they should have due to to the pedigree of their program) like we traditionally have seen in past years imo. While both certainly had their own red flags as prospects, such as Walker's underperformance in big games and Dangerfield's height/defensive concerns, both undeniably were talented enough to be top prospects for the League and emerged as star players for UConn (well, at least in this past season anyway), as the stats will show. And it's not like UConn wasn't a Top 10 program this year, but was that slippage from the top spot NCAA WBB has collectively grown accustomed to over time a big part of the reason why the prospects didn't get picked higher? It'll be interesting to see, if the team can't get back to being #1 for stretches of time, where WNBA prospects from UConn will get picked in the next few years. There isn't scheduled to be any UConn draftees in 2021 now that Walker has left early, but 2022 is scheduled to have both Christyn Williams and Olivia Nelson-Ododa - both of whom were highly ranked out of high school and neither of whom have particularly shown to be playing at their best with any sort of consistency, as of yet.

[myrtle]

I suspect the fact that some UConn players have clearly been picked too early has made GMs/Coaches a bit more discerning.

_________________
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.
- Amanda Gorman

[Richyyy]

[Randy]

[willtalk]

In the past Geno generally had his pick of the litter and that eventually translated into them being top picks. The WCBB landscape has changed and more and more talented players are entering the pool. They are also being dispersed more to the various other top programs that have emerged in WCBB. I doubt that any program will dominate either college basketball and the draft as consistently as they once did.

_________________
No one one is ever as good as their best game, nor as bad as their worst.

[Stormeo]

I should've said above that I'd argue Walker at 9 and Dangerfield in particular at 16 are deflated picks (if that's the right word to use here as the opposite of "inflated"), and probably were 'supposed' to have been picked higher - though GMs and fans (like us) alike are more or less in agreement on how much of a crapshoot it was from the post-lottery picks all the way up towards the end of the second round.

Btw, for those who are unaware that this exists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UConn_Huskies_in_the_WNBA_draft

As far as 2019's Draft, from what I remember, not many had pencilled in Samuelson as a lottery pick in their final mocks - I think my final mock at least ended up having her at 11. I'd call her an inflated pick, so I'd also argue that the UConn inflation phenomenon was happening as recent as last year. Although, Collier to me felt about right being picked at 6 at the time; but yes, if anything I'd call her a slightly deflated pick like y'all are saying. Oof, imagine 2019's ROY being picked #1 overall by Vegas.

[toad455]

Walker might start at PF for New York, but I do wonder if she thought she'd go higher(#5 to DAL or #6 to MIN). She might have been a lottery pick in 2021.

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Twitter: @TBRBWAY

[Davis4632]

[RavenDog]

[UK1996]

[myrtle]

In recent times, KML was clearly picked way too early.
It's yet to be seen about MoJeff, but she could also be one of those 'way to early' picks.
I really like Gabby but her tweener status with no shot certainly raises warning flags about her career. She could develop...

_________________
For there is always light,
if only we’re brave enough to see it.
If only we’re brave enough to be it.
- Amanda Gorman

[snlMINAJ]

i think the catch here is almost everyone noticed she was always sharing time/playing behind dolson, stewart, tuck... add in jefferson, KML, hartley, williams, etc.

i think yes if she averages those numbers for say maryland, she's not even drafted... but the talent was clearly there and i would say for the most part, when she got minutes, she produced. sometimes there just aren't enough minutes to go around.