Is Gabbie Marshall going to the WNBA?

Iowa guard Gabbie Marshall played her last college career game on April 7 after five years as a Hawkeye.

She has been the team’s defense expert, pairing up with Caitlin Clark and Kate Martin to take the Hawkeyes to their second straight championship appearance.

Gabbie Marshall graduated from the University of Iowa in 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in Health and Human Physiology with plans to pursue her master’s in occupational therapy.

As of now, she has not indicated any interest in taking her talents to the WNBA.

Is Gabbie Marshall going to the WNBA?

No. Despite being eligible for the draft, Gabbie Marshall will not be going to the WNBA.

While she is a great defensive player, Marshall’s stats are relatively quite low to be considered a pro-league prospect.

In her college career, Marshall averaged 6.1 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.6 assists while shooting 37.6%. Teams would likely be unwilling to bank on players like her in an era where numbers speak the most.

The other option for the guard would be to go international like former Iowa player Monika Czinano, but she has not expressed any interest in it as of now. When speaking in her last year with the team, Marshall said:

“My mentality this year is to focus on my teammates. Just making the most of every opportunity that I get, all the memories that we’re making. I think it’s really bittersweet.

“I think in my other years I’ve just focused on improving in basketball, which I’m still doing but at the same time, I know I’m nearing the end of my basketball career forever.

I’m just trying to soak in all the memories off and on the court,” Marshall said.

Gabbie Marshall signs off as one of Iowa women’s basketball’s best

Gabbie Marshall, along with Caitlin Clark and Kate Martin, were the three driving forces behind the Iowa Hawkeyes’ exploits.

Notably, Marshall played in 166 games, the most for any player in Big Ten women’s basketball history.

Caitlin Clark is well aware of the impact that Marshall has on the court.

After their Final Four win over the UConn Huskies, Clark said:

“Gabbie Marshall just comes up with big defensive plays all the time. Like you see it time and time again for us. And she doesn’t get enough credit for what she does.

She guards one of the best players in the country and really, you know, challenges her quite a bit.”

With Clark headed to the WNBA as the expected No. 1 pick and Martin looking into coaching, the three women leave behind a huge legacy in Iowa.

Bueckers broke the news on senior night.

UConn star Paige Bueckers, an expected lottery pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, announced on Friday that she will return to school for the 2024-25 season. Bueckers broke the news after putting up 21 points and eight assists in the Huskies’ dominant 85-44 win over Georgetown on senior night.

“I can’t put into words what this program has meant to me, what you guys have meant to me, the best student section in the country,” Bueckers said.

“Thank you guys. Obviously, these four years didn’t go how I planned or how I wanted it to go, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I wouldn’t be able to get through what I went through without everybody here, so thank you to the best fans in the country.

“I know everybody wants me to address the elephant in the room. Unfortunately, this will not be my last senior night at UConn. I’m coming back. Thank you guys, we love you. We still need your support the rest of the season, and we’ll see you soon.”

Bueckers won multiple national high school player of the year awards, and was the No. 1 ranked recruit in her class. She arrived in Storrs with high expectations, and fulfilled them immediately by winning Naismith Player of the Year in 2021 as she led UConn to the Final Four.

Since then, however, Bueckers has been plagued by injuries that have limited her to just 44 games.

She underwent ankle surgery after her freshman season, suffered a tibial plateau fracture and torn meniscus early in her sophomore season and tore her ACL just ahead of her junior season. She took a medical redshirt in 2022-23 and sat out that entire season.

Bueckers was cleared to return to action ahead of this season, and has been terrific, averaging 20 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.2 steals on 54.1/44.1/83.8 shooting splits.

This time around, however, her teammates have been the ones on the injured list, and, as a result, the Huskies do not look like national title contenders.

While Bueckers would likely be the No. 3 pick, at worst, in this year’s WNBA draft, it’s clear she has unfinished business at UConn.

She’s eligible to return for a fifth season because of her redshirt, and in fact could use the COVID eligibility extension to play a sixth season in college, if she wanted. Though, at the very least, UConn fans can expect to her suiting up come next season.

Connor McCaffery and Caitlin Clark (Photos via Getty Images)

Basketball can bring you some extreme highs and although you might be one of the best to ever do it, it does not guarantee you a championship like Caitlin Clark found out in college.

South Carolina rained on Caitlin Clark’s parade, with the Iowa superstar failing to end her college career on a high with an NCAA championship win ahead of the WNBA Draft later this month, as the Gamecocks are crowned as this year’s national champs.

The 22-year-old Clark – NCAA’s all-time leading scorer for both men and women – made 10 of 28 shots which included 5 of 13 3-pointers and finished off her four-year career with 3,951 points. She also had five assists.

Clark played in the final game of her college basketball career but the moment was made special after her longtime boyfriend, Connor McCaffery, sent a heartfelt message on social media.

“My GOAT,” he wrote on his Instagram story that featured Caitlin Clark walking to the tunnel after the game.

Despite Sunday’s loss for the Hawkeyes, Clark’s run to a second straight NCAA Championship game further helped push women’s basketball into another stratosphere.

Just her being on the court set a new TV ratings record for women’s college basketball twice in the last week alone, with another record likely waiting once the numbers from Sunday come out.

Women’s college basketball is certainly going to miss her, but she now has bigger fish to fry in the next phase of her life.

Caitlin Clark Can Forever Change The State of The WNBA

Caitlin Clark (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

Despite some of the older players in the WNBA seemingly taking shots or not fully supporting Caitlin Clark, she is that one person who could become the Stephen Curry or Michael Jordan of the women’s professional league and could forever change the direction of the WNBA.

If Clark turns out to be just as good if not better in the WNBA, everyone will reap the benefits of it.