UConn, South Carolina Stars Headline 2026 WNBA Draft

With their skilled debuts looming on the WNBA Draft, UConn and South Carolina standouts are heeding their head coaches‘ closing orders.

NEW YORK—With WNBA Draft hype in full swing, stars from the South Carolina Gamecocks and UConn Huskies have had their closing phrases on the Last 4.

(Picture by C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Pictures by way of Getty Photos)

The newest chapter between the school basketball powers predictably produced a number of gamers who will hear their names referred to as on the 2026 WNBA Draft on Monday night time in Manhattan (7 p.m. ET, ESPN). Azzi Fudd represents the Huskies in New York, whereas Raven Johnson, Ta’Niya Latson, and Madina Okot comprise the Columbia contingent that posted a 62-48 win, incomes them entry into the nationwide title recreation.

Postgame extracurriculars between lauded head coaches Geno Auriemma and Daybreak Staley considerably overshadowed the newest chapter of the comparatively younger but passionate rivalry. Tensions rose within the in any other case mundane custom of the postgame handshake, however cooler heads have since prevailed: each Auriemma and Staley put apart the drama to name for the nationwide narrative to shift again towards the progress and improvements of ladies’s basketball as a substitute of honing in on their lack of pleasantries.

Associated: 2026 WNBA Mock Draft

South Carolina, UConn Will Shake It Off

Gamers on each side have been prepared to satisfy their respective coaches‘ closing orders as they descended upon New York to satisfy their skilled destinies.

„The expansion has been insane…I do not assume anybody may have predicted this, simply how a lot the sport has grown, the media, the eye, and all of the optimistic suggestions,“ Azzi Fudd stated as draftees gathered at The Luxurious Collective Lodge in Midtown Manhattan. „I felt like, rising up, there was a lot negativity round ladies’s sports activities, ladies’s basketball. To have all these… labels form of squashed [is great]. We really are actually good at our sport, like we’re stronger, assured, like we do not again down.“

Raven Johnson making it onerous for NPOY Sarah Sturdy pic.twitter.com/016DlusPbd

— Shabazz 💫 (@ShowCaseShabazz) April 3, 2026

„She all the time says that you have to work for what you need. In the event you do not work for what you need, it is simply not going to be handed to you,“ Raven Johnson added, taking issues a bit extra personally. „I believe she means it’s important to get in a fitness center. You place in what you get out. It’s a must to put into basketball to get the awards, the advantages that you really want out of basketball. Each time she says that, which means quite a bit to me. Which means me watching movie, getting in a fitness center, pouring right into a teammate. It is little issues like that that go alongside the best way. So I need to carry that with me for the remainder of my life.“

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UConn, South Carolina Prospects Headline 2026 WNBA Draft

Draft night time has lengthy been a vacation for followers in Columbia and Storrs, and the pattern will proceed on Monday. All 4 gamers from the 2026 Last 4 assembly ought to hear their names referred to as pretty early. Fudd has been a preferred choose to steer mock drafts, with many expressing curiosity in seeing her reunite with fellow UConn champion Paige Bueckers in Dallas, which owns the best choice for the second consecutive spring. Along with Fudd, UConn followers can also get to see the drafting of Serah Williams, who has been a preferred choice in mocks that stretch to the second and third rounds.

„That is why I got here to South Carolina. To play within the Nationwide Championship and win it.“

—Ta’Niya Latson is one win away from glory 😤 @GamecockWBB pic.twitter.com/AWnzdsxCUm

— SEC Community (@SECNetwork) April 4, 2026

Gamecocks and Huskies on the high of the board convey a couple of sense of custom and normalcy atop the draft board, however there’s one thing a bit completely different about this class: it is the primary to be staged because the WNBA and its gamers agreed to a groundbreaking collective bargaining settlement that has raised salaries throughout the league. Reviews of seven-figure salaries throughout the free company fastbreak have emerged, whereas Monday’s high choose is because of begin on a $500,000 wage.

The work of the veteran gamers, those that fought on the bargaining desk fairly than on the ground, will function the final word instance for the incoming expertise.

„[The incoming class] needs to be carrying all of the load that the Gamers Affiliation did for us, particularly with the CBA serving to the brand new technology have the ability to be energetic and have a voice for girls’s basketball and ladies’s sports activities generally, ladies generally,“ Latson stated in explaining what she’ll do to heed Staley’s phrases. „[We can’t] be afraid to voice [our concerns]. We simply acquired to maintain transferring the needle.“

The Draftees Will Let Their Play Do the Speaking

The newest bout between UConn and South Carolina, the fourth within the regional closing spherical or later since 2018, left a profound influence on the draft board. Latson harkened again to her headlining days at Florida State with a game-best 16 factors (pairing them with 11 rebounds) whereas Johnson’s protection on Fudd and extra opened eyes as effectively.

Fudd, restricted to eight factors in an offensive battle for Storrs, opted to glean the positives from the defeat, which may effectively be used as gas for the remainder of her profession.

Azzi Fudd is supplied with a pure jumper and easy vary 🎯

Observe her subsequent steps within the #WNBADraft introduced by State Avenue Funding Administration SPY.

📺 Tune in Monday at 7pm/ET on ESPN pic.twitter.com/NKsJM1qD9g

— WNBA (@WNBA) April 11, 2026

„It isn’t the best way we needed to finish our season, however there was quite a bit to remove, [like] how unimaginable my 5 years have been,“ Fudd stated. „It is onerous to take a seat figuring out my final recreation [was a loss], however that is not what it is all about. [It’s about] with the ability to be taught from that, with the ability to take all these experiences, the wins, the losses, the onerous practices, the every little thing.“

„[It’s about] the great, the unhealthy, with the ability to be taught from that, proceed to develop from that, after which convey all these habits, and people from that championship, that profitable mentality I acquired from UConn, with the ability to convey these with me and implement that wherever I’m going.“

Remember to comply with us for 2026 WNBA Draft protection LIVE from New York. Take a look at our mock draft right here.

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