The NCAA March Madness Tournament is slowly coming to an end as the national championship games for the men’s and women’s are going down this weekend, and many college players are looking ahead to their future basketball careers. On the women’s end, it has been quite some time that we have known about Caitlin Clark declaring for the WNBA Draft, but others like Angel Reese just released her decision for the draft on Wednesday. Let’s look at five of the biggest names in women’s college basketball who will be taking the next step in their basketball journeys at the end of the college season.
Caitlin Clark: Guard – Iowa
Starting with the back-to-back Naismith Women’s College Player of the Year (2023 and 2024), Clark. Her historic collegiate career at Iowa will come to a close at the end of this season’s tournament. After gaining attention last season after the 2023 national championship game against LSU, Clark has only taken her game to another level this year. She became the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer among both men and women. She leads the nation in scoring with 32.0 points per game and assists with 9.0 per game. Recently in the world of college basketball, all eyes have been on Clark, and she lives up to the standard every single time her show-stopping three-point range. She is projected to be the No. 1 pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft with a long professional basketball career ahead of her.
Angel Reese: Forward – LSU
Since transferring to LSU from Maryland in 2022, Reese has dominated college basketball. In her first year with the Tigers, she helped to lead the team to a national championship and was named a first team All-American. In addition, she was named the 2023 NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player, as she averaged 23 points, 15.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game. This season, Reese continued her impressive play, averaging 18.6 points and 13.4 rebounds per game, also recording 20 double-doubles in 33 regular-season games. In her final collegiate game with LSU in the NCAA Tournament, she recorded a 17-point, 20-rebound performance in the Elite Eight loss to Iowa. Reese feels as she has done everything she’s wanted to in college; winning a national championship, SEC Player of the year and being named an All-American. Her goal is to be a pro and Reese is ready to take that next step into the WNBA.
Cameron Brink: Forward – Stanford
Brink has had quite the run in the NCAA Tournament through her four years of college. She achieved her top accomplishment early in her freshman year of college by helping lead Stanford to a national title in 2021. The team then lost in the Final Four the following year and was heavily upset by No. 8 Ole Miss in the second round of last season’s tournament. It’s safe to say that Brink has been up and down the tournament, having experiences in every part. She decided to pass up her fifth-year option with Stanford and declare for the 2024 WNBA Draft. Standing at 6-foot-4, she averaged 17.8 points, 12.0 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game this season. Her greatest force comes on the defensive end as she is the nation’s leader in blocks with 3.5 per game. On Wednesday, Brink announced on Instagram that she was named the 2024 Naismith Women’s College Defensive Player of the Year. Brink had quite the career at Stanford and she has a bright future ahead in professional basketball.
Kamilia Cardoso: Center – South Carolina
Being on the best team in the country, undefeated nonetheless, Cardoso has played a huge role in the Gamecocks’ success. She is leading South Carolina with 14.1 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. She stands tall at 6-foot-7 and her 77 blocks are the second-most in South Carolina. Cardoso’s 58.4% field goal percentage shooting is 16th in the nation. After transferring to South Carolina from Syracuse her freshman year of college, she has spent the last three seasons with the Gamecocks. In her time, she captured a national championship with the team in the 2021-22 season after defeating the UConn Huskies. Cardoso is a valuable piece of South Carolina’s dominant team, and she is projected to be picked at No. 4 in this year’s WNBA Draft.
Rickea Jackson: Forward – Tennessee
Jackson returned to Tennessee for a fifth collegiate season and has surely made the most of her time as a Vol. She added to her game tremendously in the 2023-24 season after transferring from Mississippi State. She posted a career high of 8.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists in addition to 19.4 points per game. In her time at Tennessee, she was a two-time All-SEC forward and is considered second to Clark in this year’s draft class in terms of scoring. As did Candace Parker and Diamond DeShields did, Jackson looks to be the next Lady Volunteer to thrive in the WNBA. Her success in college basketball is appearing as something huge to lead her to a lofty draft status for this year.
This year’s 2024 WNBA draft is stacked with prestigious players who dominated the collegiate level and are ready for the next step of their basketball careers. These players’ talents thrived in college with the NCAA and the future is nothing but bright.