Campus Connection: Schools that have Produced the Most WNBA Draft Picks - WNBA.com - Official Site of the WNBA - WNBA.com

Which collegiate program has produced the most players drafted into the WNBA over the league’s first 25 years? What about first round picks? What about No. 1 overall picks? What about players that went on to become league MVPs? How about Finals MVPs?

If you ever see any of those trivia questions, don’t worry we have the answers to all those questions and more after digging through the data from the first 25 WNBA Drafts.

Schools that have produced the most overall WNBA Draft picks

The two schools at the top of this list should come as no surprise as they have been the preeminent collegiate programs over the 25-year history of the WNBA – the University of Connecticut and the University of Tennessee each with 40 players drafted into the WNBA.

Geno Auriemma has been at the helm at UConn for the entirety of the WNBA’s existence, beginning his tenure in 1985 and leading the Huskies to 11 NCAA championships. The Connecticut program has produced some of the best players in WNBA history, highlighted by No. 1 overall draft picks Sue Bird (2002), Diana Taurasi (2004), Tina Charles (2010), Maya Moore (2011) and Breanna Stewart (2016).

The late Pat Summitt led Tennessee until 2012, winning eight national championships and also sending plenty of Lady Volunteers to the WNBA. Of the 40 WNBA players drafted out of Tennessee, 29 came during Summitt’s tenure, including a pair of No. 1 overall picks in Chamique Holdsclaw (1999) and Candace Parker (2008).

Below is the list of the top 10 schools (and one country) that have sent the most players to the WNBA via the draft.

Connecticut: 40 players
Tennessee: 40 players
Stanford: 27 players
Duke: 25 players
Georgia: 24 players
Baylor: 21 players
North Carolina: 21 players
Rutgers: 21 players
Australia: 20 players
Maryland: 19 players
Notre Dame: 19 players

Schools producing the most first round draft picks

There has been a total of 81 rounds in the history of the WNBA Draft – the current three-round format has been in place since 2003, prior to that it was a four-round format – but for this section we’re going to focus solely on first round picks.

When looking at the schools that have delivered the most first round draft picks, the same top four schools from the list of most overall draft picks remains the same, but the margins are quite different.

While UConn and Tennessee have each produced 40 WNBA draft picks, 26 of UConn’s picks have gone in the first round (a whopping 65%) compared to 15 from Tennessee (37.5%).

Stanford and Duke round out the top four schools, but Notre Dame makes a leap from a tie for ninth in overall picks (19) to fifth place with 10 first round picks as over half of their draftees have gone in the first round, including a pair that have gone first overall in Jewell Loyd (2015) and Jackie Young (2019).

Connecticut: 26 players (last in 2020 – Megan Walker, No. 9, CON)
Tennessee: 15 players (last in 2021 – Rennia Davis, No. 9, MIN)
Stanford: 12 players (last in 2019 – Alanna Smith, No. 8, PHX)
Duke: 11 players (last in 2018 – Lexie Brown, No. 9, CON)
Notre Dame: 10 players (last in 2019 – Jackie Young, No. 1, LVA; Arike Ogunbowale, No. 5, DAL; Brianna Turner, No. 11, ATL)

Schools producing the most No. 1 overall picks

We just mentioned Notre Dame’s pair of No. 1 overall picks as the Fighting Irish are tied with Stanford and Tennessee for second most top selections in the WNBA Draft. UConn holds a commanding lead with its own starting five of first overall picks.

SCHOOL	NO.	NAME	YEAR	TEAM
Connecticut	5	Sue Bird Diana Taurasi Tina Charles Maya Moore Breanna Stewart	2002 2004 2010 2011 2016	Seattle Phoenix Connecticut Minnesota Seattle
Notre Dame	2	Jewell Loyd Jackie Young	2015 2019	Seattle Las Vegas
Stanford	2	Nneka Ogwumike Chiney Ogwumike	2012 2014	Los Angeles Connecticut
Tennessee	2	Chamique Holdsclaw Candace Parker	1999 2008	Washington Los Angeles

Schools with multiple players selected in the first round

Back to trivia time. What was the only occasion in which a school had three players taken with the first three overall picks (1-2-3) in the WNBA Draft?

The answer is the 2016 Draft when UConn teammates Breanna Stewart (No. 1, Seattle), Moriah Jefferson (No. 2, San Antonio) and Morgan Tuck (No. 3, Connecticut) were the first three names called to the stage that night.

There have been four occasions in which the first two players selected came from the same school:

USC (1997): Tina Thompson (1 / Houston), Pam McGee (2 / Sacramento)
UConn (2002): Sue Bird (1 / Seattle), Swin Cash (2 / Detroit)
UConn (2016): Breanna Stewart (1 / Seattle), Moriah Jefferson (2 / San Antonio)
Oregon (2020): Sabrina Ionescu (1 / New York), Satou Sabally (2 / Dallas)

Only one time has a school produced four first round picks in a single draft. Once again, the honor goes to UConn, this time back in 2002 when Sue Bird led four Huskies selected with the first six picks in the draft – Bird (No. 1, Seattle), Swin Cash (No. 2, Detroit), Asjha Jones (No. 4, Washington) and Tamika Williams (No. 6, Minnesota).

There have been seven schools and one country that have seen three players selected in the first round of a single WNBA Draft.

Australia (2001): Lauren Jackson (No. 1, Seattle), Penny Taylor (No. 11, Cleveland), Kristen Veal (No. 13, Phoenix)
Connecticut (2016): Breanna Stewart (No. 1, Seattle), Moriah Jefferson (No. 2, San Antonio), Morgan Tuck (No. 3, Connecticut)
Connecticut (2018): Gabby Williams (No. 4, Chicago), Azurá Stevens (No. 6, Dallas), Kia Nurse (No. 10, New York)
Georgia (2001): Kelly Miller (No. 2, Charlotte), Deanna Nolan (No. 6, Detroit), Coco Miller (No. 9, Washington)
Notre Dame (2019): Jackie Young (No. 1, Las Vegas), Arike Ogunbowale (No. 5, Dallas), Brianna Turner (No. 11, Atlanta)
Oklahoma (2002): Stacey Dales-Schuman (No. 3, Washington), LaNeishea Caufield (No. 14, Utah), Rosalind Ross (No. 16, Los Angeles)
Oregon (2020): Sabrina Ionescu (No. 1, New York), Satou Sabally (No. 2, Dallas), Ruthy Hebard (No. 8, Chicago)
South Carolina (2017): Alaina Coates (No. 2, Chicago), Allisha Davis (No. 4, Dallas), Kaela Davis (No. 10, Dallas)
Tennessee (2012): Shekinna Stricklen (No. 2, Seattle), Glory Johnson (No. 4, Tulsa), Kelly Cain (No. 7, New York)

The NCAA Title / No. 1 WNBA Pick Double

With the WNBA Draft being held just days after the conclusion of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, prospects have a chance to pull off an incredible double – finish their collegiate career by winning the NCAA national championship, then begin their professional career as the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA Draft.

That feat has been accomplished five times in WNBA history, most recently by Breanna Stewart, who won her fourth collegiate championship at Connecticut on April 5, 2016 and was drafted first overall by the Seattle Storm just 11 days later.

Sue Bird (UConn, 2002) – drafted first overall by Seattle
Diana Taurasi (UConn, 2004) – drafted first overall by Phoenix
Candace Parker (Tennessee, 2008) – drafted first overall by Los Angeles
Tina Charles (UConn, 2010) – drafted first overall by Connecticut
Breanna Stewart (UConn, 2016) – drafted first overall by Seattle

Schools that have produced the most WNBA league MVPs

There are three schools in that have produced multiple players to win the WNBA league Most Valuable Player honors. Connecticut leads the way with four different players winning the MVP, but the most total MVPs belongs to USC as Lisa Leslie (3x) and Cynthia Cooper (2x) combined to win half of the league’s first 10 MVP awards.

USC: 2 players, 5 MVPs – Cynthia Cooper (1997, 1998), Lisa Leslie (2001, 2004, 2006)
Connecticut: 4 players, 4 MVPs – Diana Taurasi (2009), Tina Charles (2012), Maya Moore (2014), Breanna Stewart (2018)
Tennessee: 2 players, 3 MVPs – Candace Parker (2008, 2013), Tamika Catchings (2011)

Schools that have produced the most WNBA Finals MVPs

USC, UConn and Tennessee are all represented on this list of MVPs as well, but they get some company from LSU and Rutgers, who each produced a pair of Finals MVPs. USC holds the mark for the most Finals MVPs as Cynthia Cooper (1997-2000) and Lisa Leslie (2001-02) combined to win the first six in WNBA history.

USC: 2 players, 6 Finals MVPs – Cynthia Cooper (1997-2000), Lisa Leslie (2001-02)
Connecticut: 3 players, 5 Finals MVPs – Diana Taurasi (2009, 2014), Maya Moore (2013), Breanna Stewart (2018, 2020)
LSU: 2 players, 3 Finals MVPs – Seimone Augustus (2011), Sylvia Fowles (2015, 2017)
Tennessee: 2 players, 2 Finals MVPs – Tamika Catchings (2012), Candace Parker (2016)
Rutgers: 2 players, 2 Finals MVPs – Cappie Pondexter (2007), Kahleah Copper (2021)

Longtime WNBA reporter Brian Martin writes articles on WNBA.com throughout the season. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the WNBA or its clubs.

NCAA players mentioned in this article will become eligible for the 2022 draft at such point as they renounce their remaining NCAA eligibility and thereby make themselves available for the draft.

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