July 26, 2025
Locked On Women’s Basketball: 2017 WNBA Draft steals
Why Brittney Sykes and Brionna Jones fell where they did in the 2017 WNBA Draft
On this edition of the Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast’s WNBA Retrospective series, our trio of Hunter Cruse, Emily Adler and Lincoln Shafer look back at the 2017 WNBA Draft, and especially two draft steals: Brittney Sykes and Brionna Jones. They discuss how and why these 2017 draft picks fell to eighth and ninth, respectively, and the other players who were selected instead of them.
Continue reading with a subscription to The Next
Get unlimited access to women’s basketball coverage and help support our hardworking staff of writers, editors, and photographers by subscribing today.
Already a member?
Login
Adler on Sykes’ return as a junior after multiple ACL injuries in her first two collegiate seasons:
Despite tearing the same ACL twice in a row … she comes back her junior year. And you know, you can see on the stat sheet, you can see on the film, she’s just not the same player in terms of the actual production. She’s still sort of learning how to get back there again after basically not having two legs for more than, like, a week over the past two calendar years. But then she’s just the same athlete… that is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen.
“Becoming Caitlin Clark” is out now!
Howard Megdal’s newest book is here! “Becoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar” captures both the historic nature of Clark’s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible, including interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and many others.
Cruse on why scouting reports at the time mischaracterized Brionna Jones as “slow”:
It’s because they just looked at how she moved without analyzing the details, the nuances … she does some impressive stuff at [her] size. … She had 28 points in [a senior season game against Iowa], 12-of-13 from two. The more impressive part here was that Megan Gustafson, who was the Naismith Player of the Year … had 10 points on 3-of-10 from the field. This was her season low, and it was her lowest points scored over her final three college seasons. This was [Gustafson’s] sophomore year. This was her worst college game after she had her breakout, and it was against Bri Jones and Maryland.
Want even more women’s sports in your inbox?
Subscribe now to The IX Sports and receive our daily women’s sports newsletter covering soccer, tennis, basketball, golf, hockey and gymnastics from our incredible team of writers. That includes Basketball Wednesday from founder and editor Howard Megdal.
Readers of The IX Basketball now save 50% on their subscription to The IX.
To stay up to date with every episode of the podcast, subscribe on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch up on all our WNBA coverage here.
