Indiana sits on the first pick, and I keep staring at these mock drafts, wondering how folks keep skipping Hannah Stuelke. I’ve watched enough Fever games and enough Iowa tape to feel pretty sure of this: Stuelke just fits. Clean fit, sharp fit, whatever word you want. Some players slide into a system like they grew up in it, and I’m telling you, she’s one of them.
I scroll through mocks and still see Garzon linked to Indiana. She put up 14 on George Mason today, and even that felt like a grind. Maryland sits at 6–0, but they keep wobbling through weak opponents. They nearly let George Mason sneak up on them. And Garzon keeps tossing up those 12-on-12-shot nights that make you rub your face and sigh.
Stuelke doesn’t give you that headache. Her Baylor game says enough, and honestly, I caught myself focusing on her matchup with Little Paige Bueckers’ frontcourt teammate. Stuelke gave her nothing. Iowa tossed Stuelke at her possession after possession. Zero points allowed. I watched that and thought, yeah, Indiana could use that.
People forget the America Cup. They keep talking names, not production. Look at that USA roster. Everyone who’s anyone in college ball showed up. The bigs guarding Brazil’s two best players — Damiris Dantas and Camila Cardoso — weren’t the household names folks expected. Audi Crooks, who gets hyped like a freight train, logged only three mins. Reagan Beers, projected above Stuelke in some drafts, didn’t touch the floor in the game that mattered.
Grace VanSlooten and Hannah Stuelke carried the frontline that night. Stuelke put up 7, grabbed 7 boards, swiped two steals, blocked Cardoso at a huge moment. I watched that sequence twice. She stepped in like she’d been doing it for years. I think a lot of analysts ignore that because she doesn’t have the loud brand behind her.
It’s a six-player draft before things get weird. After that, you draft on fit, and she’ll be long gone before Indiana picks again. Teams might look slow sometimes, but they’re not clueless. Stuelke clears players like Timpson. She shoots the midrange a bit. She can’t stretch to the arc yet. She still nails huge shots in tight spots. She’s learned to take cues from Caitlin Clark directly, which isn’t nothing. Playing with Clark means living in that relentless rhythm, that constant pace. She’s already conditioned for it.
Put her next to Clark again and she might explode in that smaller WNBA role. She gives you what KK has been trying to stabilize, just steadier and sharper. Fewer lapses. Better instincts. I kept thinking about it last night after watching more mocks that keep throwing names like Garzon, Bugs, Okot, or even Ashlon Jackson at the Fever.
Okot’s interesting, sure. But if she were as good as her flashes, she wouldn’t be sitting at 10 in projections. Pros don’t let rare centers slide to 10 unless something feels off. She has 6 points vs USC. She might turn into something wild, or maybe not. Hard to know. Duke in a few days might tell us a bit, but I’m not holding my breath.
And still, none of those players line up with what Indiana actually plays like when Caitlin controls the pace. If the Fever want slow, plodding iso sets like last postseason, then fine, forget Stuelke and trade Clark for someone who enjoys molasses offense. But if they want to run, push, sprint into space, hit that seven-seconds-or-skip-it style? Stuelke snaps into that system perfectly.
Some folks say, “You can’t take her at 10.” Fine. But you won’t see her again if you don’t. Trade down if you must, grab an extra pick, whatever works. Just don’t skip her because her name isn’t trending on social timelines. I watched teams burn assets trying to avoid taking the guy they actually liked, like that Pelicans fiasco with Dereck Queen. They didn’t want to “justify” taking him at 7, so they traded two picks that turned into top-5 values. Madness.
Indiana can’t fall into that trap. If you want Stuelke, then take Stuelke.
I know it’s an unpopular take, but I think she projects better than Lauren Betts at the pro level. Call that spicy, call it reckless, but that’s where my head lands. Stuelke just plays in a way that translates quicker, cleaner, with actual edge.
And honestly, it shouldn’t be this complicated.
Also Read: Latest Trending News
