Awaiting Her Future: Patberg likely will play overseas if not picked in WNBA Draft

Columbus North graduate and Indiana University senior Ali Patberg drives to the basket against Princeton on Monday March 21 in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament.

Associated Press

As the WNBA Draft unfolds on Monday night, Ali Patberg and her family will be watching with particular interest.

Patberg, a 2015 Columbus North graduate who recently wrapped up her basketball career at Indiana University, is a potential late-round draft pick in Monday’s draft, which will be televised by ESPN.

“She’s gotten positive feedback,” said her father, Ron Patberg. “They think she could possibly go late second or third round. If she doesn’t get drafted, it’s not the end of the world. Her agent (Mike Cound of Atlanta) said probably the more important thing is, if she gets invited to a camp, it improves her prospects overseas.”

At least one WNBA executive thinks Ali Patberg’s game would work well in the league. Indiana Fever interim general manager and former coach Lin Dunn said on Thursday that despite her age (25), Patberg’s experience level might work in her favor.

“I think the fact that she’s already played seven years in college makes her uniquely prepared for the next level,” Dunn said. “She’s a little bit older than everybody else and has experience that most haven’t had leading their teams. She has great size. She’s 5-11. She can get to the rim. She can shoot the 3. She has leadership skills, so I think she is prepared and ready for the next level, definitely.”

There are 12 teams in the WNBA, and the draft is three rounds.

“There’s not a lot of turnover,” Ron Patberg said. “You have 144 roster spots, and there’s three rounds. They’re picking 36 kids, and the WNBA rosters aren’t going to turn over 25 percent.”

Ali Patberg

This season, Ali Patberg averaged averaged 11.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists in helping lead the Hoosiers to a 24-9 record and NCAA Sweet 16 appearance. She finished with one of her best games of the season, leading them with 16 points in their regional semifinal loss to eventual runner-up UConn.

Patberg finished here career ninth on Indiana’s all-time scoring list with 1,752 points and third on the all-time assist list with 528, and her career 14.2 points-per-game average ranks eighth. She started all 123 games in which she appeared for the Hoosiers and earned honorable mention All-Big Ten honors this season to become one of only three players in program history to be a four-time All-Big Ten player.

Last month, Patberg was named a Senior CLASS Award First-Team All-American.

Patberg graduated from Indiana’s Kelley School of Business in May 2020 with a 3.7 GPA and a degree in finance and currently is pursuing a master’s degree in recreational administration, where she holds a 3.9 GPA. She is a three-time Academic All-Big Ten selection, three-time CoSIDA Academic All-District honoree and 2021 CoSIDA Academic All-American and two-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar.

While she has expressed a desire to eventually go into the coaching ranks, Patberg isn’t quite ready to quit playing basketball.

“She definitely is going to play somewhere,” Ron Patberg said. “If she doesn’t make the WNBA, she wants to play overseas. She’s not done with her playing career.”