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Megan Gustafson: C, 6’3, Iowa
College Stats in 2018-19 (as of March 1, 2019):
27.4 PPG, 13.3 RPG, 1.7 BPG, 1.7 APG, 70.4 FG%, 78.4 FT%
Where she’ll go:
Gustafson will likely be a late first, early second-round pick.
The Rundown:
Those numbers above are real. Yep, 27 points and 13 rebounds per game. That’s insane.
Gustafson is a 6’3 left-handed center who is a scoring and rebounding machine – at the college level at least.
Her bread and butter is positioning in general. The video above shows Gustafson scoring 35 points on zero dribbles. That’s because Gustafson does such a good job of positioning herself down low. The only thing she has to do is spin, pump fake or go straight to the basket. Her nimble feet and basketball I.Q. will equal success at the next level.
She likes to primarily finish with her left hand, but she can finish with both.
The question is whether or not she’ll be able to go up against the best of the best. The Big 10 is solid, but she isn’t going up against players that she’ll go up against at the next level.
The team that drafts were will need to pair her with a power forward or center who can stretch the floor. Gustafson isn’t afraid to shoot midrange shots, but she’s not a threat at all from the 3-point line. She attempted just one shot this season from deep, although she made it.
That’s why it’s difficult seeing the Lynx taking a flier on her with their first-round pick. The Lynx already have a great thing going with Sylvia Fowles, obviously, who is similar player to Gustafson at the core.
With that being said, if Gustafson were somehow to fall to the second round, don’t be surprised to see unlikely teams make a run at her. She’s too talented not to.
It doesn’t help Gustafson that this is a pretty deep draft for centers. It wouldn’t be wild if five or six centers were taken in the first round.
Check out the rest of our prospect profiles, plus more Lynx-related draft coverage at lynxbasketball.com’s Draft Central.