MLP 2023 Mock Draft – Season 1

We completed a mock draft before the very first MLP event last year but we did not get one done for the 2022 season – only draft grades. Just call us Mel Kiper and Todd McShay because we’re coming at you with another mock draft ahead of the big Thursday evening reveal on Tennis Channel from Las Vegas. A lot has been put together by MLP in a short period of time with the PPA-APP drama, tour cards, new owners etc (we plan to provide our thoughts on all of that sometime soon). The Premier League draft already happened on Monday and, along with the draft, there should be some new ownership groups announced – we already had the Naomi Osaka, Patrick Mahomes, Nick Kyrgios news come out Wednesday morning.

Also, keep in mind it was announced on Monday that there will be a promotion/relegation system in play with the Premier League and the Challenger League for 2024, with the results from 2023 determining which owners start in which league for 2024. You can get full details about MLP’s upcoming season here.

The above chart is the completed our mock draft based on our rankings for 12 teams. The mock draft selections do not exactly follow our big board top 48 with gender and team fit considerations. Overall, though, the draft generally reflects where we have players ranked. The combined snake draft with new owners creates a whole new set of considerations with no draft history for decision-makers to rely on. Note that Parris Todd is not part of the available draft pool and will not participate in MLP due to what appears to be an inability to come to an agreement on her appearance fee.

Round 1

(1) Anna Leigh Waters – The 15-year-old has the biggest gap between her and the #2 female. She is the only female out there who can win a match all by herself at this stage.

(2) Ben Johns – A true game changer in all 3 facets of the game. Ben can also win matches on his own and gets the clear edge over Riley Newman in MLP format with his singles prowess. Upon reflection, we think the optimal strategy is to go with Ben Johns first overall. The benefit with taking Ben first is that you pretty much guarantee two strong women with your 2nd and 3rd round picks. On the flip side, the Anna Leigh selection means you may not get even one higher end male to bookend the foundation of your team. 

(3) Riley Newman – This is where it already gets dicey. Riley will miss the first event due to a prior commitment, but he is the only player left who can win matches all by himself. He’s a monster and we think he should still go in this #3 slot because of what he can offer a team. With the all the players involved and the level of competition being higher, having arguably the best doubles player in the world could be a difference maker. 

(4) JW Johnson – A smidge below Ben and Riley, JW is a guy who can dominate in both men’s and mixed doubles. A consideration for building around JW is to find some other players with leadership presence and higher energy as that is the only thing JW lacks in this format. 

(5) Anna Bright – What a rise for AB. Slim said she would be top 5 in women’s doubles after the draft and here she is on our board as the #2 female selected (no bias, obviously!). When taking a girl early, you want a left-side woman to be part of the foundation of a championship team and that’s what she offers. The one bigger question for Anna’s game is how good her play in traditional mixed on the right as a female is progressing. 

(6) Dylan Frazier – His DUPR is much lower than this #6 slot and we had the #6 through #12 players ranked very close together. Frazier makes it to the top because he is the most versatile player left out there with his ability to be high-end in all 3 events as well as play the left or right side in men’s doubles. 

(7) Andrea Koop – In our view, Andrea is limited in terms of her ability to take over a game. However, she is versatile in the women’s doubles game and one of the most consistent women out there. It’s unclear where her singles game is currently at. 

(8) Jessie Irvine – Jessie can only drop so far for us. She is best utilized as a right-side female, but she’s also the #2 mixed player out there in our opinion. The limited singles we have seen from her is not promising, but her doubles prowess overrides the downsides of taking her. 

(9) AJ Koller – Versatility is going to be a theme for us here. Although not the best singles player, Koller is more than capable of playing a Dreambreaker, and he can win with a bunch of different players in doubles. The results with Thomas Wilson have been somewhat perplexing but he’s winning with other people when he gets his opportunities. 

(10) Matt Wright – Quite possibly the toughest evaluation of the top players available. Matt is in his mid/late 40s right now and we have never seen him play MLP. He can light up the best in the world in doubles, but his ability to be a true alpha for this format is a legitimate question with his partners almost exclusively being Riley Newman and Lucy Kovalova these days.  

(11) Jorja Johnson – This could be too high for Jorja. However, she is one of the few true left-sided females in the games and has power to match anyone out there. We have concerns about building around her but the sky could be the limit for Jorja in 2023. She just keeps getting better. 

(12) Etta Wright – Too high, again? We are pretty much all-in on Etta Wright at this point, but there are concerns about a small sample size with her along with the fact that she doesn’t play singles. This is a pick you make to try to win as she could be a top 3 women’s doubles player by this time next year, but it could put you in a bad spot if she’s taken this high and doesn’t perform as well as more proven talent.

Round 2

(13) Tyler Loong – We have come around on Tyler in a big way. Nothing flashy here, but he can hang with the best of the best, especially in men’s doubles. He does not like to grind back draws but we’d be very happy to have him play 4 points at a time for us in a Dreambreaker. Going high upside with Etta and pairing her with someone steady seems to make a lot of sense. As a #1 male, Tyler’s lack of elite mixed results is a question mark.

(14) Tyson McGuffin – Often underrated, you have to be concerned with his upside as your #1 guy. He’s going to do a lot of things well, just nothing spectacular. But you know he’ll bring the energy as well and every point will be a grind. 

(15) Vivienne David – Vivienne was a tough evaluation. This is probably too high for her unless your team is going female/female to start the draft, which was not the case here. We have seen Vivienne suffer at MLP when put in a position where she has to try to carry the team rather than be that rock on the right side. 

(16) Callie Smith – She is an enigma at this point. Very few partnerships outside of Koller and Kovalova this year make it hard to evaluate whether Callie is the reason for the relative struggles for someone who was winning gold medals at the beginning of 2022. She still has some of the best hands out there and is a left-side female to build around. 

(17) Dekel Bar – Dekel is a stay away for us but you can only let him drop so far. With his ability to take over games, he will make it look silly at times to pass on him. However, until he can sort out his mixed doubles, Dekel will continue to be overrated for this MLP format. 

(18) Lucy Kovalova – Lucy is a strong fit next to Andrea, but the question going girl/girl is whether your team suffers by the time the next pick rolls around from a lack of #1 male. It is a tough evaluation whether Lucy or Callie has been the bigger issue in their women’s partnership so it would be interesting to see Lucy in a new format. 

(19) Catherine Parenteau – Another hard stay away for us. Parenteau falls all the way to #19 with her limitations in terms of power and being a good teammate. 

(20) Jay Devilliers – Another guy who is tough to grapple with. He looks the part of a foundational piece to your team, but can he impact winning enough without better partners? His lack of elite hands is his biggest detriment, but you know he is going to grind and take a lot of court. Anna is a good fit for him in mixed with her power and hands. 

(21) Andrei Daescu – This is not a great fit here with two left-side guys, but Daescu is too good for us to let him slip farther. His mixed is getting better and there won’t be another better men’s team in this mock. 

(22) Jackie Kawamoto – Although not necessarily a #1 female, Jackie would be a great fit next to Riley and his power as she has shown she can compete with the best women out there too. 

(23) Simone Jardim – Ben and Simone back together! The fit here is a bit of an issue but there are still women left on the board to help Simone out from a power perspective. She is still a top mixed player and can grind out women’s doubles as well as anyone.  

(24) Jade Kawamoto – Jade is a strong fit next to the power of Anna Leigh, with the only concern being Anna Leigh having to play the right. We’re curious whether there truly is a wide gap between Jade and Jackie, or if Jade is right on par with her sister.

Round 3 

(25) Zane Navratil – This is where you see that things can get dicey with Anna Leigh as the first overall pick. With the men available, Zane is the best option for us left on the board, but he is better as a #2 male, or at least someone who is paired with someone who has more offence creation. We don’t put too much stock into the no spin serve for 2023, but it is a factor to consider too.

(26) Lea Jansen – This is a perfect fit for this team. Lea can play the left and have Simone on the right, and it also means you can form a pseudo #1 mixed team with Lea and whatever guy falls here in the 4th round. 

(27) Irina Tereschenko – She is in the Zane world of being in between a #1 and #2 gender doubles player so this Jackie fit seemed to make sense. She can play the left or the right, and also form a solid foundation for a #2 mixed team. 

(28) Lauren Stratman – Our board has a massive drop off after Stratman for women who can impact winning. Regardless of the order you have these women, the gap between the 17th best female and 18th best female is significant, DUPR be damned. JW and Andrei are fortunate to find a true left-side female here, but Stratman’s consistency continues to leave something to be desired. 

(29) Thomas Wilson – He should be a good fit next to as Thomas has some more juice to his game, which Jay really needs. For any team that does not have their women locked in, their 2nd female is going to be questionable from this point onwards. 

(30) James Ignatowich –We are quite high on Ignatowich’s ability and where his game will be in a few months time. The fit with Dylan is great as well because he can play the left if that’s where he is more comfortable. You need strong mixed players in MLP and James is a good start to a #2 mixed team. 

(31) Julian Arnold – You probably don’t feel great with Arnold as your #1 guy. Despite having #1 guy qualities, his consistency, particularly in mixed, is still a work in progress. However, you need to take someone like that in this spot if you go female/female and he is the best of the bunch left for us. 

(32) Meghan Sheehan-Dizon -This is actually quite a bit higher than we had Meghan on our board, but we felt a left-sider was needed for Jessie. Outside of Matt Wright, Meghan was our toughest evaluation with the way those PPA draws go. Too many 2-2 days with the same partners make it difficult to tell whether she is just another girl, or if she has real upside as a left-side female. 

(33) Allyce Jones – We think Allyce is the safer choice over Meghan as she is going to make a lot of balls and has proven to be a strong mixed player. She’s a good fit next to Callie too on the right side as a steady Eddy type player.  

(34) Rafa Hewett – We did not expect there to be a world when Rafa Hewett would go this high in a combined MLP draft but we have really come around on Rafa, especially in this MLP format. He is the weird combination of steady and patient in men’s with finishing power, but a demon mad man in mixed. He is a pseudo #1 mixed player and can steal some mixed matches for a team with the right partner. 

(35) Federico Staksrud – Fed can play either the right or left in men’s right now and his game keeps improving. This is going to be a good singles team if they can get to a Dreambreaker, but whether the men are strong enough to do that would be the question. 

(36) Spencer Smith – We take the Utah player here. Spencer has limited upside, but he’ll make a lot of balls, much like Tyler. Etta will need to be a rockstar for this team to win. We had DJ Young slotted ahead of Spencer, but we see DJ better as a right-sider so it’s not a great fit with Tyler Loong. 

Round 4

(37) Susannah Barr – Another big MLP question mark. She played with Etta in Mesa and can provide some juice for Spencer in mixed. Susannah is by far the best doubles player available after Stratman. The problem for Susannah is her singles ability. 

(38)  Mary Brascia – She’s ahead of her sister because of her singles ability. She’s also one of the best teammates around. It’ll be interesting to see how she fares at this level of MLP. If you don’t recall, she was able to beat Johns/Parenteau when playing with Julian Arnold. 

(39) Yana Newell – The female fit is a problem here, which is why going Vivienne David in round 2 could be a problem if you can’t find a strong female next to her. Yana is another tough evaluation with her 2-2 PPA days, but she had that bronze with Thomas Wilson in mixed, which is promising. 

(40) DJ Young – This could be a good slot for him with his ability to play the right in men’s and be an alpha in mixed. This may be lower than some may think he should fall, but DJ’s mixed results have been very spotty for someone who gets high level partners consistently. 

(41) Collin Johns – Collin’s mixed is the biggest question. He’ll be a great fit next to Dekel in men’s and those two have a relationship that goes back to their tennis days. The problem with Collin is whether he can win mixed matches.

(42) Travis Rettenmaier –This is probably too low for Travis, depending on how you feel about him as a teammate. He has alpha qualities with his power so it will be interesting to see how he builds around himself.

(43) Lacy Schneemann – You need some power to pair with Parenteau and Lacy is someone you can draft with power at the end of the draft. Her consistency is the question with her being still new to pickleball. 

(44) Megan Fudge – This one was tough so we give two options here. If you want to form a strong #2 mixed team, you take Lindsey Newman. The better Dreambreaker option but lower upside in terms of ability to win women’s and mixed matches is Megan Fudge. What do you value more? This is a strong Dreambreaker team with Fudge.

UPDATE: (45) Lina Padegimaite – We made an oversight in our initial mock putting 3 men on this team. Lina was higher than Lacy and Megan on our board so we have slotted her here and moved everyone down a peg.

(46) Kyle Yates – Kyle will be a fantastic fit next to AJ. The concern is whether he can win enough mixed matches, but a strong #2 female like Stratman should be helpful.

(47) Hayden Patriquin – Hayden has shown he can play the right with Julian Arnold, and he has a lot of pop to pair with Riley to create offence. He is better mixed player than he may be known for too, and will be a legitimate option at the end of the draft for teams.

(48) Callan Dawson – A strong right-side male who Ben has said he would like to partner with previously. The problem with Callan is his ability to win mixed matches and play singles with that weird way he holds the paddle.

Notable Undrafted: Wes Burrows, Rob Nunnery, Hunter Johnson, Christian Alshon, Maggie Brascia, Lindsey Newman, Cierra Gaytan-Leach.

Agree or disagree? Let us know in the comments below or email us at nmlpickleball@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook too!

41 thoughts on “MLP 2023 Mock Draft – Season 1

  • December 14, 2022 at 10:18 pm
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    Wow after Maggie’s great mixed results with Hayden and decent women’s results I had her ahead of Schneeman and Fudge. But it is close.
    Thanks for analysis, can’t wait to rate the teams as they get announced.

    Also I think Travis fell quite a bit too low. Would have at least like to have seen him with Etta Wright. He’s scary in mixed

    Reply
    • December 14, 2022 at 10:24 pm
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      The singles thing with Maggie is tough. We would have no issue if someone drafts her.

      The Travis thing is difficult. Agree he fell too much but he’s almost certainly getting drafted by his own team, so why not pick himself in round 4?

      Reply
      • December 15, 2022 at 3:02 pm
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        Also, what if Travis’s team is in the challenger bracket? I’m assuming he has to play on the team he owns.

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        • December 15, 2022 at 3:49 pm
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          A very good question. Who knows. Big potential conflict

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  • December 14, 2022 at 10:21 pm
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    Zane a 3rd rounder? Slander!

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    • December 14, 2022 at 10:24 pm
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      In this level of MLP, he’s right on that 2nd to 3rd round border for us

      Reply
  • December 15, 2022 at 4:07 am
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    Surprised you chose Dizon, Jones, and Yana. The first two are C level players with inflated DUPR ratings. Of those 3 I’d take Yana and expand my options over the other two.

    Yana may not have the most tools, but she’s shown she can be tactical and a decision maker. The other two only have one game plan.

    Reply
    • December 15, 2022 at 8:07 am
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      Interesting. They were all still selected well below their DUPRs. Who would you put in those spots?

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    • December 15, 2022 at 9:19 am
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      Agree about Yana. I have never understood the hype — not only does she rarely medal, she usually doesn’t even come close.

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      • December 15, 2022 at 9:37 am
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        She has a bronze with Thomas Wilson. The question is who are you putting ahead of her. The toughest evaluations were Yana, Meghan and Allyce outside of Matt Wright

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        • December 15, 2022 at 12:52 pm
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          To be frank, anyone. There’s a reason that they (Dizon/Jones) are classified as the team pros want to play in the first round of a PPA. They’re both one dimensional players, granted different sides of the spectrum, with little tactical prowess and are considered a warm up for any non no-name team.

          You have some names in honorable mention (Lindsey/Cierra). There’s plenty of others from MLP2022 who you drafted under them/didn’t draft at all who are better role players with more options in their respective games.

          The hard truth is a player like Beth Bellamy, with her skills & tactical mind, would offer more on court/off court benefit to a team than them.

          Reply
          • December 15, 2022 at 3:51 pm
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            Beth Bellamy…that’s a big reach to expect a lady who may or may not even be the best senior pro female to play premier division MLP. We could see Meghan and Allyce being overrated but they could be underrated too. They play those top teams close sometimes

          • December 15, 2022 at 7:04 pm
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            I can’t respond to the other comment for some reason. I wouldn’t expect Beth to do well in the premier level. The same as how I don’t think Dizon & Jones will based on their skills and lacking strategic minds.

          • December 16, 2022 at 12:43 am
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            Guess we’ll see. Meghan is on the best team on paper probably

  • December 15, 2022 at 5:29 am
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    Dekel in round 2 with his mixed results? Nope, I’d leave him until round 3. I’d choose Callan over Spencer so switch the rounds where they get picked. Patriquin is tough. If I really wanted him on my team, I probably wouldn’t wait until round 4. “No team fit considerations” – obviously — your Ben Johns team – no chemistry there at all. And again putting Andrei with JW instead of Dylan. Andrei and Dylan were great together. And James and JW humor on the same team would keep that team laughing all the way to the bank.

    Reply
    • December 15, 2022 at 5:42 am
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      *Switch Arnold for round 2 and Dekel for round 3.

      Reply
    • December 15, 2022 at 6:54 am
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      She has zero upside and can only reset. If she does get picked, it’ll be for the lower division and probably at one of the later draft spots.

      Reply
        • December 15, 2022 at 2:51 pm
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          I would NOT count out James Blake doing a favor and drafting Sam Querrey if and when the opportunity arises. He’s made some comments on it before and it wouldn’t surprise me.

          Reply
  • December 15, 2022 at 7:53 am
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    How much consideration did you give to Sam Querrey and/or Noah Rubin?

    Reply
  • December 15, 2022 at 9:17 am
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    Dylan Frazier 6th?! The same Frazier that got absolutely spanked in every division at nationals when he had to play against PPA players?

    It does make me wish sports betting were in place, because I would love to bet against teams that draft Frazier at 6, CP and Lucy after Jorga, or Kyle Yates at all!

    Reply
    • December 15, 2022 at 9:36 am
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      We’ll see. We believe in Frazier’s talent. He has played Ben/Collin and Matt/Riley to 12-10 losses in the third game on 3 separate occasions this year. No one else comes that close

      Reply
  • December 15, 2022 at 10:34 am
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    Props to NML for putting something out there. No 2 humans are going to agree on 48 consecutive decisions, so it’s always fun to discuss.

    Any place doing live updates as the draft happens?

    Reply
    • December 15, 2022 at 10:47 am
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      We are both busy so we won’t be giving live updates unfortunately. Maybe go on Twitter? MLP twitter or others on there? We’ll have draft grades though!

      Reply
      • December 15, 2022 at 2:54 pm
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        LIVE DRAFT UPDATES on Twitter are A GO! @johnny5pointOH

        I’m sure there will be some others including pros giving thoughts as well

        Reply
  • December 15, 2022 at 3:34 pm
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    i think you have etta viv dylan jorja dek callie spencer and lucy ranked too high

    I think you have Zane jamesI leah rafa wilson stak ranked too low

    notable absence on men’s side is Pablo. he’s a right side specialist. maybe in short supply.

    I think it’s possible that AB goes #4 ahead of JW.

    Let’s see how I do!

    Reply
    • December 15, 2022 at 3:49 pm
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      Even Dekel too high? These are our rankings not what we think will happen. Pablo’s recent results have not been great

      Reply
  • December 15, 2022 at 3:41 pm
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    i bet you CP goes way higher than 19. I think SBarr falls out of the top tier. I think maggie gets into the top tier as does her sister. I think your list lacks high upside players, and relies too heavily on legacy names. 🙂

    let’s see how I do

    Reply
    • December 15, 2022 at 3:48 pm
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      This seems like it might be a spot on prediction for how the draft plays out tonight. CP will definitely go higher

      Reply
  • December 15, 2022 at 4:14 pm
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    some stats just came out that reveal RN to be an impactful MLP player. I would not be surprised if he is drafted in the fourth round because of his connections to MLP and DUPR.

    I think the CP is a “bad girl” meme that was going around is a giant nothing burger. What she can be accused of is recognizing PPB is “bidness,” and acting in her own professional self interest, months before the other players recognized the new realities.

    Reply
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  • December 16, 2022 at 8:24 am
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    In your mock, you probably forgot to account for the fact that there are only about 8 or 9 truly top women players (and one of them was not in this draft – Todd). I think this is what caused a run on women starting at #8 with Irvine.

    Jorja isn’t there yet but may be soon. Simone has flashes of still being top but her weaknesses usually get exposed against the best of the best. Etta has potential but only has limited results.

    Hard 8s took the opposite strategy and grabbed two top males — Newman and Koller (how was Koller available at 19?!). Mary Brascia and Lindsey Newman will lose every match they play, but they will be perfect complements in mixed to the alpha males. Will be interesting to see how this plays out.

    I like Zane, but Clean Cause drafting him at 12 is nuts.

    Reply
    • December 16, 2022 at 8:50 am
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      “I like Zane, but Clean Cause drafting him at 12 is nuts.”

      yeah, some teams clearly overly influenced by who did well in a PPA- free MLP, others have their idea of top players frozen in 2019

      Reply
      • December 16, 2022 at 10:56 am
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        Seems like some owners may have favored familiarity

        Reply
    • December 16, 2022 at 10:54 am
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      Not sure it was forgot as we were going more off our board, but we definitely underestimated both how many women would go as early as they did and underestimated how teams valued men. We would have been more inclined to go girl/girl if we knew that some of these players like Tyler, Andrei and Thomas would fall like they did

      Zane that high is too high

      Reply

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