Photo by UK Athletics
History was made tonight in New York City as Kentucky’s Rhyne Howard went first overall in the WNBA Draft. Howard was selected by the Atlanta Dream to add to her long list of achievements as a Kentucky Wildcat. Just five days ago the Dream traded picks No. 3 and No. 14 to the Washington Mystics for the top selection in this year’s draft. It’s now obvious they mortgaged a valuable asset with the intent of landing a generational player in Howard. Atlanta finished the 2021 season with an 8-24 record, so there’s clearly room for improvement on the basketball court. Howard provides an immediate impact in that regard and is a young piece the organization can build around for years to come.
It was a stellar four-year career Howard put together at Kentucky. She averaged an impressive 16.4 points per game as a freshman and saw an even larger leap to a career-high 23.4 PPG during her sophomore season. She averaged more than 20 PPG in her final two years as a Wildcat to put together the most decorated career in the history of the program. Her efforts on the hardwood throughout her career earned her multiple All-American awards as well as All-SEC honors each of her four years playing college basketball.
She’s now the seventh player from the Kentucky program to be selected in the WNBA draft and the first since Evelyn Akhator and Makayla Epps in 2017. Howard also becomes just the seventh player from the Southeastern Conference to be selected first overall, joining the company of Candace Parker, Dena Head, Chamique Holdsclaw, Seimone Augustus, LaToya Thomas, and Aja Wilson.
Howard, who played basketball at Christian County Middle School before her family moved to Cleveland, Tennessee, put together a remarkable college career full of fantastic memories and will now get to continue her journey in the WNBA.
