10 Women's College Basketball Prospects to Watch After Sky Secure 3rd Pick
The WNBA Draft lottery is in the books, and Chicago will now look to add more talent alongside 2024 first-rounders Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso.
Sunday’s draft lottery was kind to the Wings (who should draft UConn G Paige Bueckers) and ultimately gave Chicago a chance to add another lottery talent to their roster 2 picks later at number 3. In the process, the Sky also completed the Marina Mabrey trade—with no further damage in the form of 2025 draft compensation owed to Dallas. With nearly the entirety of the college season plus the NCAA Tournament still left to take place before the Wings and Sky have to make their selections, let’s take a look at the shortlist of players that GM Jeff Pagliocca, new head coach Tyler Marsh and the rest of the Sky brain trust (and fans) should be keeping a close eye on as a potential option at 3 next April.
Olivia Miles — G — Notre Dame
It’s too early in the draft process to say the Sky should have settled on any one player, and it’s too early in Miles’ return from injury to pencil her in as a surefire lottery pick in April’s draft. However, another guard would have to make a strong charge up draft boards this winter to present themself as a better fit for Chicago’s roster than the Fighting Irish’s floor general. Miles is great at doing most of the things that made Lindsay Allen so valuable to the Sky in 2024 and brings with it a bigger frame (5’10”) that makes her even better suited to lead a WNBA offense. At the defensive end, she’s a consistent performer who (again in part thanks to her size) would represent an upgrade on Allen’s already solid performance, and her ability to work with teammates in the pick-and-roll would make her the perfect long-term partner for Cardoso in the Sky’s offense. The only concern with Miles’ game is her inefficiency as a shooter. While she’s scored the ball at a solid level in a difficult conference (14 PPG in her last two fully healthy seasons), Miles has slashed only 47/26/72 at the collegiate level. In the W, things are only going to get more difficult, and teams will likely be closely watching her marks as a shooter this season (she’s off to a strong 56/50/91 start through 3 games) in order to determine if picking her in the lottery is a wise decision. If her shooting stats continue anywhere near their current level, she’s a perfect fit for Chicago.
Aneesah Morrow — F — LSU
Thanks to her Chicago roots (played at Simeon and DePaul), history with Angel Reese and tenacious playstyle, Morrow would definitely go down as a popular pick with much of the Sky fan base. However, the realities of Morrow’s game mean she may not be a perfect fit for the current roster. Like Reese, she can rack up the rebounds and offers enough athleticism to hold her own at multiple positions defensively, but she’s also not much of a shooter. Her college numbers suggest she may be a more efficient finisher inside than Reese has been early in her WNBA career, but that’s not of much value to the Sky as (1) they’ll expect to see significant leaps in Reese’s inside efficiency as she settles at the pro level and (2) future draft choices should go towards finding players that complement—not overlap with—Reese’s skillset. If Morrow somehow makes it to the Sky’s 10th pick, she’s a great option to add to the rotation but choosing another non-shooter inside the lottery would be a risky decision for Pagliocca.
Sonia Citron — G/F — Notre Dame
Once upon a time, a “3-and-D” wing like Citron would’ve drawn rave reviews from scouts for her ability to impact the game at both ends. Yet, the rise of this archetype as more necessity than luxury in modern W & NBA roster building has taken some of the luster away from these prospects. Regardless, every team still needs them and the Sky are no exception. Thanks to Citron’s solid size (6’1”), optionality at the defensive end and shooting ability (37% on 4 threes a game in college), it seems like she could be the perfect complement to (or replacement for) SF Michaela Onyenwere in the Sky’s rotation. Her high-floor and pro-ready game at both ends mean Citron could easily slide into the Chicago starting 5 at the start of next season or provide valuable minutes off the bench, but the limits on her ceiling may be what scares a team away from taking her this high. I think Citron is simply too well-rounded as a prospect to make it to 10 and could be perfect for the Sky thanks to her skillset, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see her passed up in the lottery in favor of a player with more presumed room for growth. Then again, Marsh’s ability to help players grow in the W could make him the ideal candidate to refine an already useful pro player into a star.
Te-Hina Paopao — G — South Carolina
Paopao will, at this point, be well known to even the most casual fans of women’s college ball thanks to her integral role in last year’s perfect SC season, but it’s her otherworldly shooting numbers (46.8% on 5 3PA a game last year) that make her a legit candidate to go in the lottery. She’s an intelligent enough decision-maker to be a team’s primary point guard, a good enough catch-and-shoot threat to play off of another ball handler and a clever enough scorer in the lane to (once again) form a legit pick-and-roll partnership with Cardoso at the professional level. Because of her middling defense and struggle to consistently finish at the rim, I’m not sure many other teams would pull the trigger on Paopao in the top four, but the complete lack of shooting on the Sky’s current roster hints that Chicago could be the franchise who’s willing to choose her so high. Her final collegiate season, if nothing else, should give her a chance to show where she’s improved as a player—especially at the defensive end—just like Cardoso did last winter before she shot up draft boards in the spring.
Shyanne Sellers — G — Maryland
Sellers starts a run of two guards in a row in this column who are worth a watch for Sky fans (because of their skillset and the team’s glaring need for perimeter play) but look highly unlikely to go in the top four of April’s forward-heavy draft. Sellers is the ultimate multi-dimensional prospect thanks to her ability to score at all three levels (albeit with up-and-down 3PT efficiency), create for others and generate her own shots in the mid-range and at the rim. Much was made of the ability of Rickea Jackson to create shots in last year’s draft, and Sellers could well be the prospect that creeps up draft boards throughout the college season this year thanks to the same abilities. Like with Jackson, some of the questions about Sellers will, perhaps, be with her consistency at the defensive end—an area where she should have a chance to show strides on a solid Terrapins team this season. For now, Sellers is a dynamic player who could be a great fit for Chicago with the 10th pick in the draft, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see her out of reach so late in the first round after a strong season under Brenda Frese.
Georgia Amoore — G — Kentucky
Amoore seemed a perfect candidate for the Sky’s eighth (and then seventh) pick last April before (1) she decided to return to college and (2) it became apparent that Angel Reese would slide far enough in the first round to be had outside the top six. After transferring from Virginia Tech to Kentucky to stay with head coach Kenny Brooks, little has changed early on in the Aussie’s SEC life. She’s still a high-volume shooter (though her early numbers [23% 3PT] are well below her usual standard), a willing playmaker (3rd in NCAA in assists so far) and a leader who impacts winning (19 pts in UK’s first win over rivals Louisville since 2015). Because of her ability to shoot and attack the paint, she’d be a fantastic complement to the Sky’s front court players, and her ability to create for both Reese and Cardoso would benefit all three players’ ability to score. However, because of Amoore’s size and overall playstyle, she probably doesn’t make too much sense for the Sky if Chennedy Carter returns in restricted free agency on a high-priced deal that cements her as one of the franchise’s core pieces.
Other Names to Watch
Kiki Iriafen — F — Southern Cal
As things stand, Iriafen looks a clear second pick behind Bueckers (though she’s an interesting fit with Jackson and Cameron Brink in LA), but it may not matter where she’s selected from a Sky perspective as she doubles up at a position where Chicago invested heavily in last year’s draft. That being said, Iriafen is such a high-potential player that she’s at least a name worth keeping an eye on with so much time left until the draft. After narrowly missing out on averaging 20-10 a year ago with Stanford, she joins presumptive 2027 top pick JuJu Watkins in Los Angeles for the Trojans move to the Big 10 this season.
Janiah Barker & Lauren Betts — F/C — UCLA
Both Betts and Barker could declare this year or return to Pauley Pavilion for another season in 2025-26. Regardless, they both figure to be first-round picks whenever they do declare—with Betts amongst the shortlist of favorites to go first in the 2026 draft if she returns to college next season. Positionally, neither makes sense for the Sky, but Betts figures to be a dimension-altering big for her eventual WNBA team in the same way Cardoso has been early on for Chicago.
Azzi Fudd — G — Connecticut
Fudd could be a perfect prospect for the Sky thanks to the pedigree she’s shown as a shooter (43% from three in 21-22) even if a rash of injuries have hurt her consistency in that department (33.3% in just 17 games since). However, the early indication from the senior is that she’ll return to Storrs for the ‘25-’26 season.