-
Mechelle VoepelESPN.com
NaLyssa Smith doesn’t hesitate to answer the question. Yes, the Baylor Bears All-American thinks she should be the No. 1 pick in the 2022 WNBA draft. And if it doesn’t happen? She will get busy proving right the team that took her.
Smith, a 6-foot-4 forward, is expected to go in the first two picks of Monday’s draft (ESPN, 7 p.m. ET). That is where she has been projected all season, as she led the Bears to the program’s 12th consecutive Big 12 regular-season title. She repeated as a WBCA All-American, the Katrina McClain Award winner as country’s best power forward and the Big 12 Player of the Year.
Even so, Smith motivates herself with the motto “Slept on.” It’s hard to make that fit with someone who has won so many awards, but Smith grins when you point that out.
“I’m 1 or 2,” she said of her perceived draft status. “So I feel like I’m still slept on if you don’t think I’m 1 off the bat.”
Smith says this with both conviction and good humor. She has dreamed of the WNBA for a long time, and wants to approach the pro level the same way she did the college game: with unshakeable confidence and nonstop energy. Smith, who averaged 22.1 points and 11.5 rebounds per game this season, has the talent to be a building block for the WNBA team that takes her Monday. After playing her first three seasons at Baylor under coach Kim Mulkey, Smith spent this past season refining and expanding her game with coach Nicki Collen and thinks she is ready for the jump up to the WNBA.
“She’s a WNBA athlete,” said Collen, who took over the Bears this season after coaching six years in the WNBA. “Her game translates immediately. And she proved this season…
Source : espn
