Before this season started, it looked like this UNC team was going to be pretty similar to those before it: anchored by strong team defense, Alyssa Ustby’s versatility in the post on both ends, and steady but unspectacular point guard play, with unproven or inconsistent offensive threats outside of Lexi Donarski as a shooter. Instead, the Heels had their best regular season of Courtney Banghart’s tenure in Chapel Hill before reaching the Sweet Sixteen and taking what felt like a real step forward as a program. You could point to a few developments as to how this overachievement happened — Reniya Kelly’s growth into an upper-tier point guard as a sophomore and Lanie Grant immediately becoming a steady rotation guard as a reclassified first-year — but none was bigger than the evolution of Maria Gakdeng from a pretty good center to knocking on the door of college basketball’s elites at the position and putting herself in position to be drafted today.
WNBA Draft Profile: Maria Gakdeng
