In men's basketball, the best American prospects can reach the NBA after a single college season. Women's basketball works differently. The path from high school to the WNBA almost always runs through several years of college — which is why the college game and the professional game are so closely tied.
Why players stay in college
The WNBA draft sets the rule. A U.S. player becomes eligible if she is 22 by December 31 of the draft year, has finished her college eligibility or graduated, or is four years out of high school. In practice, most draftees arrive after four college seasons, often as household names.
The draft has had three rounds since 2003.
The college stage
The NCAA women's tournament has been held since 1982; before that, a separate organization, the AIAW, ran the national championship. From 2022 to 2026 the tournament had 68 teams, the same as the men's, and both expand to 76 teams from 2027.
That tournament is where many future WNBA stars first reach a national audience. Programs such as Pat Summitt's Tennessee and Geno Auriemma's UConn turned it into a showcase.
Three players, one path
Tina Thompson played at USC from 1993 to 1997 and was the first pick of the first WNBA draft in 1997, taken by the Houston Comets. She won four titles in Houston and entered the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2018.
Candace Parker led Tennessee to national titles in 2007 and 2008, and in 2006 became the first woman to dunk in an NCAA tournament game. In her first WNBA season, 2008, she won both the Rookie of the Year and MVP awards — the first player to do so — and later added a Finals MVP in 2016.
Breanna Stewart won the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player award four years in a row at UConn, during a run of four straight national titles. She was the first pick of the 2016 WNBA draft.
What to read next
- The Stare: Pat Summitt and Tennessee — how a college program was built
- 111 Straight: Inside UConn's streak — Stewart's college years
- A beginner's guide to the WNBA — how the professional league works
- NCAA women's champions and WNBA champions — the full lists
