The WNBA draft is tonight. Taylor Mikesell could be the first OSU player picked since 2018
Exactly two weeks after the final game of her Ohio State women's basketball career, Taylor Mikesell could become the program's first WNBA draft pick since 2018.
Mikesell played her first two seasons at Maryland, then transferred to Oregon for a year before landing with the Buckeyes ahead of the 2021-22 season.
In her two years at Ohio State, Mikesell started all 68 games, playing an average of 35 minutes each night. She was the second-leading scorer behind Jacy Sheldon her first season, averaging 18.6 points to Sheldon's 19.7, and was the Buckeyes' leading scorer this season with 17.2 points per game.
Though Mikesell played just two seasons in Columbus, she ranks fourth all-time in made 3-pointers with 230 and second in 3-point percentage at 44.2%. The 116 threes she made this year, as she helped lead the Buckeyes to the Elite Eight for the first time in 30 years, ranked third in the country behind Iowa's Caitlin Clark (140) and Virginia Tech's Georgia Amoore (118).
As the 5-foot-11 guard prepares for Monday night's draft, here's what you need to know.
When is the 2023 WNBA Draft?
The 2023 WNBA draft is Monday, April 10. All three rounds, 36 picks in total, will be broadcast on ESPN beginning at 7 p.m.
Mikesell will be one of 15 prospects attending the draft in person, at Spring Studios in New York. The list of players attending includes presumptive No. 1 pick Aliyah Boston from South Carolina; former Ohio State forward Dorka Juhasz, who spent the last two seasons at Connecticut; and two other players from the Big Ten, Maryland's Diamond Miller and Indiana's Grace Berger.
Which Ohio State women's basketball players have been drafted into the WNBA in the past?
In total, since the league's first season in 1997, 14 Ohio State players have been drafted into the WNBA and five were selected in the first round.
The most recent first-round pick from the Buckeyes was Kelsey Mitchell, who was taken second overall by the Indiana Fever in 2018 and went on to win WNBA's Rookie of the Year honors. She's coming off the best season of her five-year career having averaged 18.4 points per game for the Fever in 2022.
Stephanie Mavunga was also drafted by the Fever in 2018, with the No. 14 overall pick. She played two seasons in Indiana and split the 2020 season between the Fever and the Chicago Sky. She now plays for BC Polkowice in Poland.
In addition to Mitchell, the four other Ohio State first-round picks are Tayler Hill (No. 4, 2013), Samantha Prahalis (No. 6, 2012), Jantel Lavender (No. 5, 2011) and Jessica Davenport (No. 2, 2007).
The program's most famous former player, Katie Smith, graduated in 1996 and joined the now-defunct ABL and thus was never drafted into the WNBA. After the ABL folded, Smith played in the WNBA for 14 years and is now an assistant coach for the Minnesota Lynx.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State women's basketball: Taylor Mikesell in 2023 WNBA draft
