With the WNBA draft lottery set to take place Friday, attention will turn to potential draft picks. The Atlanta Dream, Washington Mystics, Indiana Fever and Minnesota Lynx all have a shot at securing the No. 1 pick in the lottery, which will air at 5:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2.

There’s plenty of talent to choose from at the college level, and a few of those players will be on the court after the lottery, as No. 1 South Carolina takes on No. 17 Maryland.

Just Women’s Sports looks at five college players with professional potential for WNBA teams (and fans!) to keep an eye on this season:

Aliyah Boston, South Carolina

Much of the draft order is up for debate, but I don’t think anyone is arguing when it comes to the first overall pick. That spot belongs to Boston, the reigning Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Wooden Award winner… you get the idea.

The best part about Boston’s game is that from offense to defense – or vice versa – there is no drop-off. She’s a great rim protector and help defender while also being an efficient, strong scorer on offense. The 6-foot-5 forward averaged 16.8 points and 12.5 rebounds a game last season while shooting 54% from the field.

Boston’s one weakness is that she doesn’t extend the floor by shooting 3s. But another Gamecock, A’ja Wilson, didn’t shoot 3-pointers in college, and she was able to extend her range once she got to the WNBA.

National Player of the Year ✅
National Defensive Player of the Year ✅
National Champion ✅
Most Outstanding Player ✅

Take a bow, @aa_boston. pic.twitter.com/3Y7KHmif6b

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) April 4, 2022

Diamond Miller, Maryland

In many ways, Miller is the perfect prospect. She’s versatile, with a great build for the next level – 6-foot-3 with long limbs – and has shown proficiency in almost every category.

Miller has a lot of raw skills and there is still untapped potential within her game. But she already does well in several areas that the WNBA values, such as running the court and playing multiple positions.

She battled injuries last season and because of that actually saw her production dip from the season before – as a sophomore, Miller averaged 17.3 points and 5.8 rebounds a game, compared to 13.1 points, 4.0 rebounds as a junior. I’d like to see her shoot a bit better this season, improving on 40.8% from the field and 31.6% from 3-point range. Her form is slightly jerky, so there may be some adjustments to be made when she becomes a pro.

Haley Jones, Stanford

Her value is super high because Jones is truly positionless. She’s played in the post, at the point guard spot and everywhere in between for the Cardinals over the last three seasons.

Another thing WNBA teams will love is her maturity. She bounces back the same whether win or lose. She’s also a great playmaker, with a high basketball IQ and elite court vision.

The biggest weakness I see for Jones: She’s not going to break people down off the dribble, and with more isolation ball popping up in the WNBA, some teams may want that. But there is still plenty of room in the league for a player like her, whether or not she can blow by defenders.

Ashley Joens, Iowa State

The Iowa State star popped up on plenty of draft boards last season, but she chose to come back for one more year as a Cyclone.

The fifth-year remains an exciting prospect because of her array of skills. Versatility is key in the WNBA, so you will see that as a factor throughout this list, and Joens fits the bill. She’s 6-foot-1 but has surprising strength for her size, and she can play three positions – guard, point guard or forward.

Joens averaged 20.3 points and 9.5 rebounds per game last season, and she can score from the inside out, shooting from long range at a 37.6% clip last season. Her post game makes her an asset as well, as she is capable of scoring on smaller guards in the paint.

Her weak spot is defense, and at the WNBA level she may struggle to stay in front of quicker guards. But she fills so many holes offensively that plenty of teams should be willing to overlook that aspect of her game.

Elizabeth Kitley, Virginia Tech

One of the few true centers in the NCAA, Kitley has carved out an impressive career at Virginia Tech. And this season, she has All-American potential.

She’s 6-foot-6, which already will turn heads, and she averages 18.1 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game.

Kitley’s best asset is her body control, which helps her on offense and defense. Offensively, she boasts great awareness when it comes to the position of her defender, help defenders and double-teams, often scoring without having to dribble – and that will be especially important with the athleticism of WNBA guards coming down to help. Defensively, she’s able to block shots without fouling and rarely has to sit due to foul trouble.

Kitley isn’t going to blow you away with her footspeed or athleticism, a weakness she’s overcome at the college level but that may require more adjustment in the WNBA. Other than that, her main weakness is a lack of an outside game. But Kitley has great form out to the free-throw line, so a 3-point shot likely could come with practice.

We’re just getting started 😏#Hokies 🦃 pic.twitter.com/ddy3W1p77B

— Virginia Tech Women's Basketball (@HokiesWBB) November 7, 2022

Longtime USWNT fixture Carli Lloyd took to Instagram Wednesday morning to announce that she’s pregnant with her first child. 

"Baby Hollins coming in October 2024!" she wrote. The caption framed a collaged image of baby clothes, an ultrasound photo, and syringes indicating what she described as a "rollercoaster" fertility journey.

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In a Women’s Health story published in tandem with Lloyd’s post, the Fox Sports analyst and correspondent opened up about her struggles with infertility and the lengthy IVF treatments she kept hidden from the public eye.

"Soccer taught me how to work hard, persevere, be resilient, and never give up. I would do whatever it took to prepare, and usually when I prepared, I got results," Lloyd told Women’s Health’s Amanda Lucci. "But I found out that I didn’t know much about this world. I was very naive to think that we wouldn’t have any issues getting pregnant. And so it began."

Lloyd went on to discuss her road to pregnancy in great detail, sharing the highs and lows of the process and expressing gratitude for the care and support her family and medical team provided along the way. She rounded out the piece with a nod toward others navigating the same challenges, encouraging people to share their own pregnancy journeys, painful as they may be.

"My story is currently a happy one, but I know there are other women who are facing challenges in their pregnancy journey. I see you and I understand your pain," she said. "My hope is that more and more women will speak up about this topic, because their stories helped me. I also wish for more resources, funding, and education around fertility treatments. There is much to be done, and I hope I can play a role in helping."

The 41-year-old New Jersey native retired from professional soccer in 2021, closing out her decorated career with 316 international appearances, the second-most in USWNT history, in addition to 134 international goals. A legend on the field, Lloyd walked away from the game with two World Cups, two Olympic gold medals, and two FIFA Player of the Year awards.

On Tuesday, FIFPRO announced the launch of Project ACL, a three-year research initiative designed to address a steep uptick in ACL injuries across women's professional football.

Project ACL is a joint venture between FIFPRO, England’s Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), Nike, and Leeds Beckett University. While the central case study will focus on England’s top-flight Women's Super League, the findings will be distributed around the world.

ACL tears are between two- and six-times more likely to occur in women footballers than men, according to The Guardian. And with both domestic and international programming on the rise for the women’s game, we’ve seen some of the sport's biggest names moved to the season-ending injury list with ACL-related knocks.

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Soccer superstars like Vivianne Miedema, Beth Mead, Catarina Macario, Marta, and England captain Leah Williamson have all struggled with their ACLs in recent years, though all have since returned to the field. In January, Chelsea and Australia forward Sam Kerr was herself sidelined with the injury, kicking off a year of similar cases across women’s professional leagues. And just yesterday, the Spirit announced defender Anna Heilferty would miss the rest of the NWSL season with a torn ACL. The news comes less than two weeks after Bay FC captain Alex Loera went down with the same injury. 

Project ACL will closely study players in the WSL, monitoring travel, training, and recovery practices to look for trends that could be used to prevent the injury in the future. Availability of sports science and medical resources within individual clubs will be taken into account throughout the process.

ACL injuries in women's football have long outpaced the same injury in the men's game, but resources for specialized prevention and treatment still lag behind. Investment in achieving a deeper, more specialized understanding of the problem should hopefully alleviate the issue both on and off the field.

With recent transfers Talia von Oelhoffen and Kiki Iriafen joining first-team All-American JuJu Watkins and the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class at USC next season, the Trojans look to transition from an up-and-coming squad to a legitimate title contender. 

Former Oregon State graduate student von Oelhoffen is the latest collegiate talent to commit to the program, announcing her transfer Monday via ESPN. She follows ex-Stanford leading-scorer Iriafen in the jump to the pair’s one-time Pac-12 rival.

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The 5-foot-11 Washington native was a two-time All-Pac-12 guard during her time at Oregon State. But after the recent dissolution of the Pac-12, the Corvallis side found themselves without a permanent home conference going forward. Many big name players opted to take their skill elsewhere as a result, with von Oelhoffen’s fellow ex-Beaver Raegan Beers announcing her own departure to Oklahoma on Monday.

According to DraftKings, USC is now tied with UConn for the second-best betting odds to win the 2025 NCAA women’s tournament. Dawn Staley’s tested South Carolina side, poised for a repeat performance, holds down the number one spot.

Last year, LSU loaded up in the transfer portal after beating Iowa to win the 2023 national championship. The Tigers were clear favorites coming into the 2023-24 season, but were bounced in the Elite Eight by Caitlin Clark’s Hawkeyes. Shortly thereafter, star transfer Hailey Van Lith opted to transfer a second time, this time signing with TCU. 

Yet while history proves that an excess of star power doesn’t always translate to on-court chemistry, on paper, USC sure looks ready to hold their own — in 2025 and beyond.

The United States and Mexico have withdrawn their joint bid to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup, per a Monday afternoon release from U.S. Soccer and the Mexican Football Federation.

According to the statement, they will instead focus on developing a "more equitable" bid for the 2031 tournament, with the ultimate goal of "eliminating investment disparities" between the men’s and women’s tournaments.

The federations went on to cite the upcoming 2026 Men’s World Cup in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico as an opportunity to build support for local infrastructure, improve audience engagement, and scale up media and partnership deals in preparation to "host a record-breaking tournament in 2031."

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"Hosting a World Cup tournament is a huge undertaking — and having additional time to prepare allows us to maximize its impact across the globe," said U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone. "Shifting our bid will enable us to host a record-breaking Women’s World Cup in 2031 that will help to grow and raise the level of the women’s game both here at home as well as across the globe."

The decision leaves just Brazil and a joint bid from Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands in the running for the 2027 host spot. Brazil — the rumored frontrunner — has never hosted a Women’s World Cup, while Germany hosted the 2011 tournament as a solo venture. 

Furthermore, this postponement doesn’t mean the U.S. is a shoo-in for 2031, as it's been previously reported that 2022 UEFA Women's EURO host England is considering their own Women's World Cup bid. FIFA is scheduled to confirm the winning bid after the FIFA Congress votes on May 17th.