Seniors Haley Jones and Ashten Prechtel are WNBA bound, as Jones was picked sixth overall by the Atlanta Dream and Prechtel 34th in the third round by the Connecticut Sun during Monday’s draft.
Jones, a highly anticipated first-round pick in the draft, had an outstanding run with the Cardinal. Over the course of the guard’s college career, she amassed 1535 points, 889 rebounds, 396 assists, 107 blocks, 90 steals and 111 starts out of 118 games played. She was first or second on the team in scoring, rebounding and assists for the previous three seasons.
Hailing from Santa Cruz, Jones also has a robust career accolades list, including numerous All-America honors. She was a 2022 Naismith Trophy Finalist, three-time Cheryl Miller Award Finalist, Most Outstanding Player of numerous tournaments, 2022 Pac-12 Player of the Year, 2022 Rainbow Wahine Showdown MVP and an ESPN Top-10 NCAAW player for the 2022-2023 season.
Jones is Stanford’s second consecutive first-rounder, following Lexie Hull ʼ22 in the 2022 Draft. Coincidentally, both Jones and Hull were picked sixth overall. Jones looks to bring myriad talent to the Dream, including her crafty assists and aggressiveness in the paint.
Prechtel also had a celebrated career at Stanford, accumulating 578 points, 437 rebounds, 93 assists, 98 blocks and 37 steals in 1447 minutes of playing time. The former five-star recruit shot 43% from the field and 32.5% from beyond the arc. Her career accolades include 2020 Sixth Player of the Year, a Pac-12 All-Freshman Team honorable mention and two Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll nods.
Both played on the 2021 NCAA championship-winning team, won three Pac-12 regular season championships and two Pac-12 tournament championships, and they solidified their reputations as part of the so-called Funky Four — alongside fellow seniors Hannah Jump and Fran Belibi — at Stanford.
With Jones and Prechtel moving on to the next chapters of their respective basketball careers, head coach Tara VanDerveer says goodbye to three-fourths of the Funky Four. Forward Fran Belibi looks to retire from basketball and will be attending Harvard in the fall to shift focus to her studies. The departing seniors won’t be the only gap in the Cardinal roster, as freshman guard Indya Nivar, junior guard Agnes Emma-Nnopu and freshman center Lauren Betts, a former No. 1 recruit, have all entered the transfer portal.
Despite these departures, the Cardinal — who will keep core players such as guards Jump and freshman Talana Lepolo, as well as their All-American junior forward Cameron Brink — are still expected to be placed in the top 25 next season.