Grace Berger is already among the greatest players in Indiana women’s basketball history.
But she’s set to join one of the program’s most exclusive clubs on Monday: players drafted into the WNBA.
The 2023 WNBA Draft is Monday night in New York City, and Berger is one of a select group of players who will be in attendance, as an expected high draft pick. She’ll become just the fifth WNBA Draft selection in IU women’s basketball history.
See you in the Big 🍎! @grace_berger34 ❌ #WNBADraft pic.twitter.com/h5S1niVIa8
— Indiana Women’s Basketball (@IndianaWBB) April 7, 2023
She’ll join Ali Patberg (2022 third-round pick), Jori Davis (2011 third-round pick), Jill Chapman (2002 second round), and Quacy Barnes (1998 third round). So if Berger lands in the first round, she’d be the first-ever Hoosier to do so.
There’s a real chance for her to end up back in Indiana, as the Fever have two first-round picks — No. 1 and No. 7 — along with the first pick of the second round, No. 13 overall.
That top pick will most likely be South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston. FanDuel put +16000 odds on Berger being the top pick. It would be a surprise to see her as a lottery pick (top four) at all.
But various projections and mock drafts suggest it’s plausible Berger could go in the first round.
ESPN’s latest mock draft (published April 7) has Berger going ninth to the Seattle Storm. CBS Sports (published April 7), Bleacher Report (published April 7) and WInsidr (published April 8) has the same pick.
The Athletic (published April 6) pegs Berger at No. 12, the last pick of the first round, to the Minnesota Lynx.
Sports Illustrated (published April 7) is projecting Berger at No. 8 to the Atlanta Dream.
Just Women’s Sports (published April 6) sent Berger to the Fever at No. 7.
But not all outlets have Berger in the first round. Her Hoop Stats (published April 7) noted she’s among several candidates at the back of the round, but left her out of their top 12.
