WNBA GM Pebley, ESPN's Lobo high on Virginia Tech's Kitley entering draft (2024)

Elizabeth Kitley tore her ACL in the Virginia Tech women’s basketball team’s regular-season finale, so she did not get a chance to shine in the postseason this year.

But the star center had already done more than enough to open eyes around the WNBA heading into Monday’s draft.

“I was at a few of her games and practices … actually right before the injury happened and she was playing I think clearly some of her best basketball,” Los Angeles Sparks general manager Raegan Pebley said Thursday on a WNBA video conference. “Playing with a point guard [Georgia Amoore] like she got to play with I think really did a lot to help her develop. Being in ball-screen action a lot I think definitely helped prepare her for the W.”

So even though her ACL surgery last month will prevent her from playing in the WNBA until next year, Kitley is expected to be chosen in Monday’s three-round draft.

“One GM or coach was telling me she was a stock riser the last month of her career because she was consistently putting up 20 [points] and 10 [rebounds] kind of numbers and could be unstoppable at times in the college game and proved that she could be a consistent backup [center] in the WNBA,” ESPN analyst and former WNBA star Rebecca Lobo said on the video conference.

“It’s tough with some of the athletes that play her position in the league in terms of defensively how her game will translate. But certainly a player, especially now that you’re going to have a year to either work with her or help her rehab and get her to where you want her to be next season, … who I think a lot of coaches, GMs, think can be a player that can help them at that backup [center] spot.”

In the 12-team WNBA, even healthy first-round draft picks are not locks to make a squad. Teams can have a maximum of just 12 players on their regular-season roster; some squads carry only 11 for salary-cap reasons.

So there are teams with loaded rosters who could be willing to use a pick on Kitley and wait until next year for her to contribute.

“The reality is that second- and third-round picks have a really hard time making WNBA rosters. Certain first-round picks that go late have a hard time making WNBA rosters,” Lobo said. “We talk about a league of 144 [players]. It’s not a league of 144. … Many of these teams only carry 11 players and maybe by the end of the season they can carry a 12th.

“Liz Kitley, Mackenzie Holmes [are] two players who will get drafted this year as [what] we would call a deferral pick because a team might not have room on their roster but know these are players who could help them in the future.”

Holmes, who starred at Indiana University, will be undergoing knee surgery. Like Kitley, Holmes won’t be able to play in the WNBA until next year.

Kitley tore the ACL in her left knee in the team’s March 3 loss at Virginia. She missed the ACC and NCAA tournaments.

“It’s just heartbreaking what happened,” said Pebley, who is in her first year as the Sparks’ general manager. “[It’s hard] whenever you see any player go through an injury at any point in their career, but especially at that point, the special season that Virginia Tech was having.”

But Pebley said Kitley still has “a lot of runway ahead of her.”

“She’s going to … have a great career with her versatility, her footwork abilities and I think her impact around the rim,” said Pebley, a former WNBA player and ex-college coach.

The 6-foot-6 Kitley was one of 15 prospects who were invited by the WNBA to attend Monday’s draft at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York.

“She brings great size at 6-6, with a good wingspan,” said Lobo, who will be one of the analysts for ESPN’s telecast of the draft. “She certainly developed her skill set under [then-Tech coach] Kenny [Brooks]. She [was] a player who early on in her career could get knocked off balance a little bit. … They started using that to her advantage — ‘All right, if you’re going to get knocked off-balance, let’s perfect your little fadeaway shot.’”

Kitley was named an Associated Press second-team All-American this year for the second straight year. The three-time ACC player of the year averaged 22.8 points and 11.4 rebounds as a graduate student this year.

Kitley, who helped Tech reach the 2023 Final Four, feels she improved as a player this year.

“That has a lot to do with our team’s needs,” she said in an interview Friday. “Me and Georgia both, this year we were able to take more shots. We didn’t have some of the key pieces from last year.”

Kitley was projected to be a first-round pick in the 2023 draft had she turned pro last year. But she opted to return to Tech for her extra year of eligibility.

She feels the additional college season has made her more ready for the WNBA.

“I did get more skills,” she said.

In an ESPN.com mock draft on Feb. 22, Kitley had been projected to go to Atlanta this year with the 12th and final pick of the first round.

Then came the knee injury.

In an ESPN.com mock draft last week, Kitley was predicted to go in the second round to Washington with the 21st overall pick.

Kitley, who has done a few interviews with WNBA teams via video conference, is not worrying about which teams might take her.

“I don’t want to overwhelm myself with information … [so] no matter what happens, I won’t be disappointed,” she said. “I don’t want to start hoping for something really hard when who knows what’s going to happen?

“I also just want to be excited regardless of the moment. … I’m not setting my sights on a certain team.”

But the ESPN cameras might be showing Kitley waiting at her table for some time Monday before she is picked. Did that make her think hard about whether to accept last week’s invitation to attend the draft?

“I don’t know,” she said with a laugh. “I’d rather be the person sitting there waiting than not be there at all.”