A remarkable Final Four is in the rear view mirror and that means the WNBA Draft is just days in front of us. With that in mind, here is a look at some of the names to know as the Indiana Fever embarks on an historic draft, April 12, with three of the first 14 selections.

In a draft that will be Indiana’s first with two of the top eight picks, the Fever own overall selections at No. 2, No. 8 and No. 14.

Purely looking at some top names and storylines — ATKINS, BUSS, DESHIELDS, GULICH, HINES-ALLEN, MAVUNGA, MITCHELL, NURSE, VADEEVA, VIVIANS, WILLIAMS, WILSON — here is a preliminary draft primer with names of interest to Indiana Fever fans.

Who Goes First and Second?
Not a single draft projection I have seen since last fall lists a different 1-2. EVERY projection I have seen has South Carolina center A’ja Wilson going with the top pick and dynamic Ohio State point guard Kelsey Mitchell going with the second pick. In November, Indiana earned the second pick by way of the WNBA Draft Lottery and, at the time, was in dire need of help in the post.

Wilson was indeed a target for Indiana. She probably still is. But with Las Vegas expected to nab her atop the draft board, that leaves the high-scoring Mitchell (24.3ppg) available for the Fever. Mitchell is the top scorer in Big Ten history and the second-leading scorer in NCAA history. She led the NCAA in scoring even as a freshman and she led the Buckeyes to a Big Ten championship as a senior.

Other Backcourt Candidates
Should the Fever not opt for Mitchell, here are three other top backcourt candidates to consider. Kia Nurse is noted for her defense as much as her 13.6 points per game while leading UConn to last week’s Final Four. She also is a member of the Canadian National Team with Fever stars Natalie Achonwa and Kayla Alexander. Lexie Brown is a quick, slick point guard from Duke who will likely be a first-round selection and Diamond DeShields is a former Tennessee star who chose to leave college after her junior year to play professionally in Turkey in 2017-18. Nurse and Brown both are point guards, DeShields is more of a scorer.

Final Four Names
Active in last weekend’s Final Four in Columbus, there are six highly regarded draft candidates — now three from UConn, two from Mississippi State, plus Louisville’s Myisha Hines-Allen. Hines-Allen is a very athletic, 6-2 forward who averages 14.1 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. Nurse teams beside 5-11 forward Gabby Williams whose all-around game includes averages of 11.1 points and 7.3 rebounds. A late addition to the draft puzzle is the Huskies’ 6-6 center Azurá Stevens who announced on Monday she would declare for the draft. A draft-eligible junior after transferring from Duke, Stevens averaged 14.7 points off the bench for the national semifinalists. Stevens was not a regular starter for UConn and her placement in the draft is a wild card, but at the very least, she makes the first two rounds one player deeper. The Bulldogs’ duo of Victoria Vivians and Morgan William helped MSU to consecutive trips to the national championship game. Vivians is a 6-1 All-America combo guard who averages 19.7 points per game and shoots 40 percent from 3-point range. She is a likely first-rounder while William, the diminutive point guard remembered for her buzzer-beating shot to slay UConn in last year’s tournament, will probably slide to the second round.

Big Ten Quartet
Ohio State was the most prominent team in the Big Ten Conference this season, winning the league’s tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse earlier this month. Mitchell was the tournament MVP, but former Indiana Miss Basketball and Brownsburg High School grad Stephanie Mavunga was named to all-conference and all-tournament teams, too. A 6-3 power forward, Mavunga turned in a 27-point, 21-rebound effort in the Big Ten semis. She is the sister-in-law of current Fever star Jeanette Pohlen-Mavunga and could sneak her way into a late first-round selection. Two other Big Ten stars expect to hear their names called on April 12 are Michigan guard Katelynn Flaherty, whose 22.9 points per game were fifth in the country, and Rutgers guard Tyler Scaife, another high-scoring backcourt star who lit up scoreboards with an average of 19.4 points.

Don’t Forget IU
Not to be forgotten is Tyra Buss from Indiana, who led the Hoosiers to the WNIT championship. Buss is the all-time scoring leader at IU who also set school records for steals and assists. The 5-8 guard could be a WNBA draft target, but likely not before the Fever’s final selection at No. 14.

Next Duncanville Star
The Indiana Fever’s selection of Tamika Catchings in 2001 was probably the most prominent No. 3 selection in WNBA Draft history. Her high school — Duncanville High School outside of Dallas — has another graduate who could make a splash in this year’s draft! Ariel Atkins is a versatile, 5-11 combo guard who, like Vivians or Williams, could find herself as a late-first round selection.

Big Russian and Big German
Every year, there are draft names that pop up from countries outside of the United States. In contrast to DeShields, an American who currently plays in Turkey, there are two foreign-born post players that could have an impact in the draft. Maria Vadeeva is a 6-4 Russian center who averages 12 points and 7 rebounds for Dynamo Kursk in the Russian League. She is a young, emerging star in Russia’s national program who is WNBA draft-eligible for the first time. Another is 6-5 German-born, Oregon State center Marie Gulich who led OSU deep in the NCAA Tournament with 17.5 points per game.