When Maryland guard Shyanne Sellers opened January with a torrid stretch of 20-plus points in four of five games, Andraya Carter took notice. Then February turned into March, and Sellers continued to score at an efficient clip. The ESPN analyst couldn’t look away.
“When you think about a player with a high ceiling and her height at 6-2, watching her play,” Carter said, “I started thinking she would be a really intriguing prospect for teams and organizations at her size.”
In four years at Maryland, Sellers ascended from highly touted prospect feeling her way around a loaded Terps squad to becoming the centerpiece of a Sweet 16 run, graduating as the first player in program history with 1,500 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists.
On Monday night, she’s expected to hear her name called early in the WNBA draft.
Sellers is one of 15 players invited to be in the green room in New York City for the draft, which will be televised at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN. Carter will be one of the prominent analysts steering ESPN’s draft coverage.
Sellers will likely join a list of 20 former Terps drafted into the WNBA, which is tied for 10th most. Sixteen of them played under coach Brenda Frese. Nine were picked in the top 10.
Most mock drafts project that Sellers will join that coveted group.
After a gutting loss to South Carolina in the NCAA Tournament last month that ended Maryland’s season and put a bow on Sellers’ college career, Frese had this to say: “She is a competitor. She is a person that we’ve been able to challenge throughout the course of her career, and she has risen to the occasion every single time.”
Her next challenge: WNBA rookie.
Carter spoke with The Baltimore Sun about Sellers’ career and why teams find her to be an intriguing prospect heading into the draft on Monday night. (Editor’s note: Some questions and answers have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.)
Watching her senior season, and maybe particularly Maryland’s tournament run, what impressed you the most about Sellers’ game?
Obviously, that South Carolina game, it was a tough one; such a battle. But you watch her compete in the Alabama game. That’s a double overtime game, and the way that she played, there’s just a toughness and a confidence in making that comeback that I felt like she played with. The shot-making ability in that game that she showed, like, just ability to get a bucket. And the competitive edge. I think that game, for me, was like, ‘Wow, that was a really big moment.’ For the team, but also, I think, for Shyanne to really step up to that and play in that moment. Because you think about it, the Big Ten Tournament, she struggled.
And then the first couple games [of the NCAA Tournament] she was fine: Norfolk State, 12 points, South Carolina, 10 points. But that game against Alabama, it was just like another gear. I think that game, for sure, was really exciting and a good boost for her.
Sellers injured her knee twice in the past two years. Neither ended her season and she was able to play through it with a bulky brace. How much do you weigh that if you’re a WNBA front office, and how might that influence the discourse of her WNBA potential?
I think injury history is always a part of the conversation for coaches and GMs. Just obviously, it’s a grueling WNBA season, because you’re coming in as a rookie, you’re playing against grown women, and you’re playing back to backs, and you’re playing multiple games in a week, and there really isn’t much time to even prepare for the season. So I do think durability and injury history is something that could factor in for teams that are evaluating her. As much as there are pros and positives and an upside, that is something to consider.
There are a handful of Maryland alums playing in the WNBA right now. Have you noticed any similarities in women who have played under coach Brenda Frese? What is a WNBA team getting in someone from Maryland?
I think they’re all pretty different players to me. When you think about Bri Jones, when you think about [Alyssa Thomas], when you think about Diamond [Miller] when she’s healthy, I do think there’s a consistent level of toughness that they show. Kaila Charles has obviously been pretty limited the last couple seasons, hasn’t really played that much. But, yeah, I would say that — a baseline, foundational level of toughness. Kind of gonna go into get the work done. I just think a toughness on the court. But yeah, from AT to Bri Jones to Diamond Miller to Shyanne Sellers, they’re all very different players.
ESPN mock drafts have Sellers going No. 6 to the Washington Mystics. The Athletic projects her No. 8 to the Connecticut Sun. Where do you think might be a good landing spot for Sellers?
It’s really hard to tell, actually. I think this draft is probably one of the more difficult ones because we aren’t sure what these teams are going to look like. A lot of changes to the roster, changes to the coaching staffs. Think about all the head coaches that are new, all the new systems that are going to be put in place. So it’s hard.
It’s really hard to tell because I don’t know the systems that Washington and Connecticut are going to try and play with. So we’ll see. As hard as it is for us to tell, it’s hard for the players to tell. But I do think that a good thing when you’re going to a team like Washington or Connecticut, I think if that were to be the case, those are two teams that are really building something. It’s not like she has to go in and fit a mold. The mold is being made. She will be a part of the mold. I think that’s an upside to that. But we’ll see where she falls. I think the 6-to-12 range, they’re all teams that could possibly be looking at guards. So I could see her going anywhere, which makes it probably hard for her, but hard for us as well.
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