Eight Big Ten players were drafted last night and six were from the same team! What is that, some sort of record?

Before I talk draftees, I have some business to attend to: Everyone who beat me in the NCAA Tournament group.

Last Hoopla: BIG TEN NATIONAL CHAMPIONS

An annual tradition at Hoopla, I must shout out all the brackets that finished above me, For the second straight year, I followed a similar path: Start horribly, end with the correct champion.

UCLA’s title run did help me stay in the top half of the group, but because so many of you believe in the gospel that is Big Ten Women’s Basketball, the Bruins were also the most popular champion choice, going against the overall favorite of UConn.

In total, 24 out of 52 brackets submitted went with a UCLA winner, and we were rewarded for our belief. I finished 14th among those 24 winners with 1,480 points (94.1 percentile). I did not have South Carolina in the final, but my boring all 1-seed Final Four was proven correct and that ended up earning me a couple spots.

The winner of the group was T$’s Ice Cold Picks, who finished well ahead with 1,660 points (99.2 percentile) thanks to a perfect championship game and correctly predicting the Notre Dame and TCU runs to the Elite Eight. Their biggest error was believing in the Big Ten too hard and having Michigan take down Texas.

Rounding out the podium was cattman00’s Picks and Bracket? I hardly know it each finishing with 1,610 points (98.6 percentile). The former was another one of three UCLA champs to have South Carolina as the runner-up (CHH11’s Picks as the third), while the latter also correctly predicted the Final Four of 1-seeds and had a perfect second region, including Duke’s Elite Eight run.

Those are the top finishers, but here are all the names of people who are, statistically, better than me. Congrats on your superiority:

Maybe that list will be a lot longer in 2027. Maybe it won’t be any list at all and I will prove to be the smartest ball knower to ever exist. Regardless, thanks to all that participated!

As said above, eight members of the conference were selected last night in the now-45-person draft. A WNBA record six were from UCLA, and those all came within the Top 20 which is genuinely unbelievable. There were also two notable Hoopla alums in the mix, so let’s talk about all 10 of them

After the Wings and Lynx both went guard, and the Seattle Storm went for ceiling with Awa Fam Thiam, Betts landed in what I believed to be her lowest possible landing spot and went to a great spot in Washington. The Mystics showed a lot of promise with a younger core last year and added a ton of new pieces in this draft as well. Betts should pair well with former teammate and Hoopla alum Kiki Iriafen, as well as Michaela Onyenwere, a recent Mystics signee and UCLA assistant coach.

I was curious how long after Betts we would have to wait for a teammate to be selected. It turns out the answer was not at all. Jaquez should be an immediate impact player for the Sky and gives them a terrific high-energy wing option to go with the new adds of Skylar Diggins and Rickea Jackson. She also certainly knows how to play with height, which should make the Kamilla Cardoso pairing work well.

UCLA went back-to-back-to-back and had half of the top six selections. I think Rice is going to be such an excellent, steady guard in the W. She has tremendous vision, patience and composure and has continued to improve without forcing anything. She should thrive next to scorers like Marina Mabrey and Brittney Sykes.

This one surprised me! Dugalić is staying paired with Betts (and Onyenwere!) and is likely to still come off the bench, a role she thrived in this season. Dugalić is a great stretch forward counterpart to what Betts brings, while still being a great rebounder and defender for her size. I’m curious about Washington’s roster construction, but I love seeing teammates stick together at the next level.

The Mystics must believe in the Hoopla Agenda! McMahon also heads to Washington after a year at Ole Miss and three prior seasons with Ohio State. While an incomplete player still working on her perimeter shot, her ferocity and assertiveness at getting to the rim is unmatched and can be the spark a team needs in the right situation.

I was hoping the Dream would get Kneepkens at 13, but instead the near-50-40-90 sharpshooter is going to get a chance at a more substantial role on the developing Sun. Kneepkens has proven to be an efficient shooter all over the floor no matter what situation she is in, and I think she is going to continue to be that in the WNBA. She also gave UCLA the record for the most first-round selections in league history with five. That team was pretty good, huh?

Another teammate pairing! Leger-Walker joins Kneepkens in Connecticut (and eventually Houston) where she can use her excellent vision and scoring ability to stand out. Like Kneepkens, Leger-Walker has proven she can be a lead option or thrive in a lower-volume role, which should help her adapt to the changes of moving to the W.

Gray is the first non-UCLA Big Ten player off the board, and her perimeter shooting is going to be what sets her apart. I thought Gray was playing her best basketball late last season and really started impressing as a spot-up shooter in Ohio State’s system. There’s always a place for someone like that on a roster, and I hope she gets a Chance (sorry) to create a Spark (sorry sorry) for them off the bench.

So happy for Serah Williams! The Wisconsin superstar took on a diminished role for UConn around all that insane talent, but it allowed more eyes on her game and she will now get a chance to prove herself in the same state with the Sun. She’s such a strong rebounder with immense potential, and she's proven capable of a heavy workload in the past. All of those things give her an above-average chance at making the roster for a team looking to build for the future.

After two strong years at Michigan State, VanSlooten will get a chance to prove herself on the Storm, another team looking toward the future. She’s a great rebounder and has solid versatility as a player inside the paint, but her lack of shooting will be a hurdle to overcome. Like the Sun, the Storm will value potential in their current position, but Seattle is also particularly stocked with high-potential bigs which will make the hill a little bit harder to climb.

Next week will be the End-of-Season Hoopla 40.

After that, my long offseason hibernation.

If you are interested in more Big Ten women’s basketball content like this, you can subscribe with the button at the top or bottom of the post, or share it with the button below. Thanks!