-
Mechelle VoepelESPN.com
The Dallas Wings ranked Texas running back Charli Collier on Thursday with No. 1 pick in the 2021 WNBA draft.
Collier is the first Longhorns player to be the best selected in the WNBA and the second in the Big 12, after Baylor center Brittney Griner in 2013.
The Wings caught another post player, Finland’s Awak Kuier, with No. 2 pick. The 6-foot-five Kuier is the sixth international player to not play in a collegiate position. among the top five in the WNBA draft.
For the second consecutive season, the three-round draft is virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. WNBA curator Cathy Engelbert, who announced the home selection last season, was in an ESPN studio this year.
The 6-and-a-half-foot Collier averaged 19 points and 11.3 rebounds per game, while shooting 51.1% from the field for the Longhorns 21-10, who advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight. Collier is a junior eligible for the draft because he turns 22 this calendar year.
He will play for a professional team in his native Texas; is from Mount Belvieu, in the Houston area.
“My heart is beating right now because I’ve worked so hard for it,” Collier told ESPN’s Holly Rowe. “This is a game I love. I deserve to be here and I’m built for it. This is my moment.”
Collier is the third true junior to be No. 1 after Notre Dame guarded Jewell Loyd in 2015 and Jackie Young in 2019. Tennessee’s Candace Parker was a junior in eligibility when she was No. 1 in 2008, but had been in school for four years. , after having dressed in red what would have been his first season in 2004-05.
Kuier, 19, plays professionally in Ragusa in Italy, where he has averaged 8.9 points and 6.8 rebounds per game this season. He does not turn 20 until August. Kuier was born in Cairo after his parents fled war-torn South Sudan. When he was 2 years old, his family emigrated to Finland.
Dallas went 8-14 and missed the playoffs in ninth place last year’s condensed season in Bradenton, Florida. Like the rest of the WNBA teams, the Wings will return to their local market this season, playing at the College Park Center in Arlington, Texas.
Vickie Johnson is in her first season as Wings coach; she previously coached in San Antonio and played 13 seasons in the WNBA.
In Collier and Kuier, Johnson and the Wings get two players with great size, scoring ability and rebounding. The Wings have three first-round picks and four of the top 13, while the Los Angeles Sparks have two in the first round and five in the overall.
The Atlanta Dream beat NCAA tournament star Aari McDonald at No. 3. The goalie drove to Arizona in the national championship game and became the first Wildcat player to participate in the first round of the draft. of the WNBA.