WNBA draft prospects to watch in Sweet 16 games in Birmingham Regional

Several players in the Birmingham Regional of the Sweet 16 are top prospects for the WNBA draft.These 7 can’t miss prospects include Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles & Sonia Citron, Maryland’s Shyanne Sellers, South Carolina’s Te-Hina Paopao & Sania Feagin, and TCU’s Hailey Van Lith & Sedona Prince.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – In women’s March Madness Sweet 16 action starting here Friday, WNBA scouts will have their eyes on several players who could go high in April’s draft.

Any fans watching will see each of these players are set to dazzle WNBA arenas next year. Here’s a closer look at seven stars in Birmingham.

Olivia Miles, Notre Dame

Olivia Miles is a prototypical point guard in every sense of the word. She sees the court better than almost anyone out there and has the assists to show for it, averaging 5.9 per game. Her ball-handling gives her the space to make excellent decisions with it.  

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She excels as a versatile shooter on a screen, averaging 15.5 points on 48.8% shooting, and has markedly improved from distance, up to 40.1% this year from 22.8% in the 2022-23 season. Her defense is more of a question mark, but she should develop at the professional level given time. Miles’ game with the ball in her hands is so good that any team that takes her can deal with the growing pains.

For The Win’s Megan L. Hall grades Miles as the second pick in her most recent WNBA mock draft.

Sonia Citron, Notre Dame

Sonia Citron is a solid outside shooter, hitting 38.1% from 3-point range. She makes her living as an off-ball guard with 14.2 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. 

She has the experience to get hot in late-game situations but must start playing more instinctually on offense, as she gets open looks as the third option. She has a strong defensive motor, averaging almost two steals a game, and she is the first to guard the opposing team’s best player. 

Hall projects Citron as the fourth pick in her latest WNBA mock draft.

Shyanne Sellers, Maryland

Shyanne Sellers can play at either the one or the two-guard spot. She is versatile as a playmaker and excels with the ball in her hands. She is a true two-level scorer who drives downhill often and gets to the foul line, where she shoots 86.4%. 

Sellers distributes the ball well and often makes the incisive final pass, averaging 4.1 assists per game. She rebounds in a secondary role but provides a spark on the defensive glass on longer shots. 

Her jack-of-all-trades playing style is perfect for the combo guard role, especially for someone with her size at 6-foot-2. 

Hall has Sellers as the fifth pick, going to the Washington Mystics, in her latest WNBA mock draft.

Hailey Van Lith, TCU

Hailey Van Lith is one of the most electric scorers, averaging 17.7 points per game on 45.9% shooting. She moves well without the ball and finds ways to get open, but works best off the dribble and uses her jab step to get open. 

She can also catch-and-shoot well, especially off the pick. She plays solid defense and can rebound when needed, but due to her size (5-9) she struggles against bigger guards when down low. She disrupts passing lanes well, averaging 1.2 steals per game. 

Hall projects Van Lith as the 11th pick, to the Minnesota Lynx, in her latest WNBA mock draft. However, she is such a threat with the ball in her hands that teams could reach for her in the earlier part of the draft.  

Te-Hina Paopao, South Carolina

Te-Hina Paopao is a 40.1% career 3-point shooter over three seasons with Oregon and two with South Carolina. But she has molded into more of the prototypical 3-and-D guard this season, averaging 1.1 steals and 9.7 points per game. She cooled off from behind the arc this year, dropping to 37.1% shooting this year from 46.8% last season.

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But she is a tenacious defender on the perimeter and creates havoc with her ability to break up passing lanes. (She recorded four blocks and two steals in South Carolina’s second-round NCAA Tournament win over Indiana.) She projects as a great depth piece with the potential to be a starter later. 

Hall projects Paopao as the ninth pick, to the LA Sparks, in her latest WNBA mock draft.

Sania Feagin, South Carolina

Scoring may not always be Sania Feagin’s go-to for her game. However, in the SEC Tournament, Feagin earned All-Tournament honors with a lights-out performance against Texas, when she shut down Madison Booker for 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting. 

Feagin is efficient, shooting 61.6% from the field, and rebounds well (4.5 per game), but not at the pace many expect of her. She logs just 19.3 minutes per game, so that could change with more playing time.

Her presence as a rim protector (1.5 blocks her game) gives her an upside at the professional level as she continues to grow into her game as a physical and efficient power forward with a knack for being a leader.

Feagin’s lack of a consistent outside shot threat hurts her in draft boards, but her defense establishes her as a gem in the draft that GMs might hunt for. 

Sedona Prince, TCU

Sedona Prince is possibly the best pure center in this draft class, but she could slide off the board due to myriad off-court personal issues. On the court, Prince uses her size (6-7) to average 17.5 points per game, and she is a consistent-yet-unflashy finisher. 

With second-chance points, she must kick out to the perimeter on the offensive rebound to distribute to TCU’s shooters. But she rebounds better than almost anyone on the court (9.5 per game), and she creates problems for the other team with an eye-popping three blocks per game, fourth in the country. 

Cooper Burke is a student in the University of Georgia’s  Sports Media Certificate program.