As the NCAA tournament ended with top prospect Paige Bueckers and her UConn Huskies cutting down the nets, all eyes turn toward the WNBA draft. The draft takes place on April 14, just eight days after the title game where UConn took down South Carolina, 82–59.
Bueckers is likely to hear her name first on draft night, where the Dallas Wings hold the No. 1 pick. She cemented herself as the top prospect long ago, but a career-high 40-point game in the Sweet 16 and her first national title didn’t hurt.
The 2025 draft class goes far beyond only Bueckers, though, and a handful of WNBA prospects worked their way up draft boards throughout the tournament. Some proved themselves as a worthy first-round pick as they lifted their college teams to new heights, while others jumped onto the radar to earn an opportunity before the three-round draft reaches its conclusion.
Here are five draft-eligible players who improved their WNBA stock over this year’s NCAA tournament:
Hailey Van Lith, G, TCU
Debatably, no player raised their WNBA draft stock more than Van Lith through the NCAA tournament. She led the TCU Horned Frogs to their first Sweet 16 and Elite Eight in program history. The tournament run marked Van Lith’s fifth Elite Eight appearance, becoming the first player in men’s or women’s NCAA tournament history to take three different programs that far. In four tournament games this March, she averaged 18 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game, including a 26-point performance in the Sweet 16 to help take down Notre Dame. Van Lith has won at all three stops (TCU, LSU and Louisville) through her college career. With the most recent tournament run, any questions about Van Lith as a first-round talent may have been answered.