Dawn Staley calls Rickea Jackson the top pick in WNBA Draft 'without a doubt'

Dawn Staley turned heads following South Carolina’s 66-55 win over Tennessee on Thursday. During the postgame press conference, the South Carolina head coach made an extremely bold take about Tennessee forward Rickea Jackson.

“Top pick in the WNBA Draft without a doubt,” Staley said of Jackson. “This year really helped her on both sides of the basketball. She’s defending a lot more. She’s rebounding. I mean, she can score at will however you want it. She can score, and she did that to us.”

Jackson has been fantastic this season, averaging 18.6 points and 8.0 rebounds per game while shooting 45% from the field. However, Staley’s lofty prediction for Jackson’s future was unexpected.

In ESPN’s Michael Voepel’s latest 2024 WNBA Mock Draft, he listed Jackson as the No. 5 prospect in the draft. Jackson even trailed Kamilla Cardoso, a player on Staley’s team. Cardoso is an obvious WNBA prospect, standing at 6-foot-7 and leading the No. 1 team in the nation in points and rebounds per game.

Even more shocking, Iowa standout Caitlin Clark is expected to enter the WNBA Draft after this season. On Thursday, Clark broke the NCAA all-time scoring record while simultaneously shattering Iowa’s single-game scoring record with an explosive 49-point performance.

Staley knows about Clark’s talent all too well. The Iowa standout exploded for 41 points, six rebounds and eight assists to knock South Carolina out of the NCAA Tournament last season. In comparison, Rickea Jackson recorded 19 points and seven rebounds in Tennessee’s lost to the Gamecocks on Thursday.

While Jackson didn’t put up the same jaw-dropping numbers as Clark, she still forced Staley to game plan for her.

“I thought we did a really great job. We had to run somebody at [Jackson] or we had to make sure that we put an extra body on her just to get her to put two hands on it and maybe pass it out,” Staley said. “Kudos to Rickea. I know she’s gonna have a great career the rest of the way here at Tennessee, as well as in the pros.”

Jackson has been picking up momentum throughout the season. The 6-foot-2 fifth-year senior missed eight games during non-conference play due to a lower leg injury. Despite any obstacles, Jackson is yet to scores less than 10 points in a game this season.

Watch Jackson continue to stack up her accolades on Sunday when Tennessee faces off against Vanderbilt at 2 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.