2019 was an interesting year as far as the WNBA Draft was concerned. With many drafts, there is a phenomenal college star who is expected to go on and also become a generational talent at the next level.
Arike Ogunbowale was the phenom in 2019, having electrified college basketball with her offensive pizzaz, including back-to-back game-winning shots to lead the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to victories in the 2018 Final Four and title game.
But when Ogunbowale didn’t go No. 1 overall to the Las Vegas Aces, it wasn’t a shock. For a rare moment, prognosticators saw that the phenom wouldn’t be the top selection. They saw that other players were considered more pro-ready by WNBA general managers and that then-Las Vegas Aces head coach Bill Laimbeer liked Ogunbowale’s Irish teammate Jackie Young’s fit with his team.
So Young won the coveted feeling of hearing her name called first, despite scoring 7.1 fewer points per game as Arike’s teammate in 2018-19.
Not too surprisingly (because she truly was more of a fit pick than most No. 1s), Young did not become a star as a rookie, averaging just 6.6 points per game. Ogunbowale averaged 19.1, finishing 10th in MVP voting and second in Rookie of the Year voting. Young has since become a better player than Ogunbowale though,…
