The WNBA season tips off in less than a month across Michigan sports betting, and while there’s no team in Michigan, that doesn’t mean the Mitten State doesn’t have a connection to the league.
In preparation for the upcoming season, BetMichigan.com wanted to see which colleges and conferences have produced the most talent in the WNBA since the 2020 Draft. As it turns out, the University of Michigan ranks high on that list.
We used Basketball-Reference.com to find the win share for each draft pick since the 2020 Draft – not including the 2025 Draft as they have not played yet – and added the total shares by school and conference. We ranked each based highest to lowest total win share.
Rank | School | Total Win Shares |
1 | Oregon | 33.4 |
2 | South Carolina | 19.4 |
3 | UConn | 14.4 |
4 | Kentucky | 9.4 |
5 | Baylor | 9.0 |
6 | Michigan | 5.5 |
7 | Louisville | 4.7 |
T8 | Northwestern | 4.1 |
T8 | Ole Miss | 4.1 |
10 | Tennessee | 3.8 |
Several schools on the list had multiple players, but Michigan’s total came from just one: Naz Hillmon. And thanks to the likes of Oregon, Michigan and Northwestern, the Big Ten is the top conference for developing WNBA talent.
Rank | Conference | Total Win Shares |
1 | Big Ten | 48.0 |
2 | SEC | 43.0 |
3 | Big East | 16.9 |
4 | Big 12 | 11.3 |
5 | ACC | 6.0 |
Hillmon is entering her fourth year in the league. The Atlanta Dream drafted the 6-foot-2 forward in 2022 after a stellar four-year stint in Ann Arbor. While with the Wolverines, Hillmon was a two-time All-America selection. She averaged 23.9 points and 11.4 rebounds in her junior season and followed it with averages of 21 and 9.6 as a senior. The Wolverines reached the Elite Eight for the first time in her senior year, with the team’s 25 wins ranking as the second highest in Michigan history.
With the Dream, Hillmon has played in 114 games during her first three seasons, and she’s started in 34. She averaged a career-best 5.7 points per game last season for the Dream, who lost in the first round of the playoffs for the second consecutive season.
Her 5.5 career win shares rank 11th all time for the Dream.
Hillmon also enjoyed the best game of her WNBA career last season when scored 18 points and went 6 for 7 from the field in the Dream’s 107-96 win over the Dallas Wings.
The Dream enter the 2025 WNBA season as longshots to win their first league title at Michigan betting apps. Oddsmakers at BetMGM have priced Atlanta at +5000 to end the season as league champs.
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USA Today photo by Wendell Cruz.
Author
Steve is an accomplished, award-winning reporter with more than 20 years of experience covering gaming, sports, politics and business. He has written for the Associated Press, Reuters, The Louisville Courier Journal, The Center Square and numerous other publications. Based in Louisville, Ky., Steve has covered the expansion of sports betting in the U.S. and other gaming matters.
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