Basketball On The Internet.

BOB'S BACK: PLENTY of excitement last night for our US correspondent BOB CRAVEN, but not a lot that was really new news, with the annual WNBA draft. Of course Aussies would be pleased with three players selected, but first, the obvious, Caitlin Clark taken at #1 by Indiana Fever.

Indiana will be one of the teams that should improve significantly next season, as the Fever have been mediocre for a while now. 

However, last year they also managed to get the #1 pick, big post player Aliyah Boston.  Now with Clark, they have a perfect complement in Boston, as the Fever will become one of the best inside/outside tandems in the league next season.

Another team which should be significantly improved next season is Chicago. 

The Sky had three of the top 13 picks and took 201cm big, Kamila Cardoso of NCAA champion South Carolina with the #3 pick, then took LSU star Angel Reese with the #7 pick. 

Those two will be big pieces of the puzzle for the Sky along their front line.  They also added at #13 Brynna Maxwell, a top guard from Gonzaga, as a complement to those two bigs.

The LA Sparks also improved themselves significantly. Earlier they lost perennial all-star forward and former league MVP, Nneka Ogwumike, to the Seattle Storm via free agency.

But they picked up a future star with the #2 pick, Stanford's 194cm Cameron Brink, the NCAA's D-I Defensive POTY, a big-time scorer and the D-I leading shot blocker. 

Shortly after that with the #4 pick, they added 188 cm forward Rickea Jackson of Tennessee.

I'm sure given all the publicity here in the US lately, that most women's basketball fans in Australia are aware that three Aussie ladies were also drafted. 

Two of them came directly from the WNBL, Southside Flyers forward/centre Nyadiew Puoch at #12, and Adelaide Lightning's Isobel Borlase at #20.

Both were by Atlanta Dream but media reports here say that neither of them are likely to play for Atlanta this coming season, given their youth and the desire to get them more top level experience. 

They will probably sign contracts that will have them labelled as "draft and stash" players for at least a year.

Jaz Shelley was taken at #29 by Phoenix. 

Interestingly, she was not identified as being from Australia, but rather as being from the U. of Nebraska, where she played her final years of college ball.

She started her first two years in the States at the U. of Oregon and was mostly used as a scorer/3-point sniper off the bench there. 

When she transferred to Nebraska, she became a starter and a much more all-around player, rather than just a shooter, and played well during the NCAA tourney recently, which upped her draft stock.