South Carolina guard Brea Beal is entering the 2023 WNBA Draft, she announced on social media Tuesday. Here’s what you need to know:
- The 6-foot-1 Beal averaged 6.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.1 blocks per game in her senior season.
- Despite playing four NCAA seasons, Beal had an additional year of eligibility remaining because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Gamecocks went 36-1 this season, falling to Iowa in the Final Four on Friday.
- The Athletic’s Sabreena Merchant projected Beal to be selected at No. 7, by the Fever, in her latest mock draft. Beal’s college teammate Aliyah Boston declared for the draft Saturday and is the projected No. 1 pick, also by Indiana.
The Athletic has live coverage of the 2023 WNBA Draft.
— Brea Beal (@QueenBrea_1) April 4, 2023
Did Beal’s draft stock rise this season?
Throughout her career, Beal has primarily been known as a defensive player, becoming one of the best perimeter defenders in the game. While she hasn’t always had a chance to show the offensive side of her game, it has always been there. After all, she and Candace Parker are the only three-time Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year award recipients and you don’t win that award while only excelling at one end of the court.
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This season, in lower volumes, Beal displayed an expanded offensive game. She attempted fewer than three 3s a game but hit 38 percent of them. And if you take out the Iowa Final Four game, she was 6-of-13 from that range during the NCAA Tournament. Is that enough to make a general manager that wasn’t interested suddenly change their mind about Beal? Probably not. But for a franchise that might’ve been on the fence about how much work her offensive game would need, it was a step in the right direction. — Jennings
Where’s a potential landing place in the draft?
Despite her expanded offensive game, I still see her ending up with a defensive-minded team, with Dallas and Indiana coming to mind. She would be a good fit in both of those systems as a big guard who can play immediately, fit into a system and defend well. Dawn Staley runs her program with a professional mindset, so franchisees know exactly what they’re getting when they draft a Gamecock — someone who’s going to come to work, do their job and work to get better.
I don’t see the Wings using the No. 3 or No. 5 pick on Beal, but if the Fever don’t pick her up at No. 7, maybe they’d take her with their 11th pick. — Jennings
Required reading
(Photo: Jeff Blake / USA Today)
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