Women’s college basketball is in a place of high interest right now after the careers of stars like Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, LSU’s Angel Reese, South Carolina’s Kamilla Cardoso and UConn’s Paige Bueckers.
In fact, Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James spoke recently about how that familiarity has generated more star power for the women’s side than the men’s side of the sport.
However, the odds of losing one of those premiere talents after a year could ruin the women’s college hoops altogether, at least to UConn coaching legend Geno Auriemma told ESPN Radio’s “UnSportsmanLike” this week.
As of 2022, domestic women’s college players who are graduating seniors or are at least 22 years old can be eligible for the WNBA Draft. Meanwhile, men’s college basketball players only have to play for a year pre-NBA before turning pro.
To Auriemma, giving women’s basketball athletes the chance to leave after only a year could prove catastrophic.
“It depends whether you want the game to grow or you want to kill it,” Auriemma shared on the show. “If you want to kill it, then let the kids leave after freshman year.
“On the men’s side, it’s become transactional. Everybody’s a free agent. Everybody’s a mercenary. It’s not the kids’ fault. … To me, what helped the women’s game grow is the people in Iowa got to grow up with Caitlin Clark. The people of Connecticut got to grow up with all of my great players. There’s something to be said for that.”
While we’re not sure what the future holds for WNBA eligibility, we do know that Auriemma joins the group who feels things should stay exactly as they are.
