Leigha Brown picked 15th overall in 2023 WNBA Draft

For a second straight year, Kim Barnes Arico and the Michigan Wolverines women’s basketball program have sent a star to the WNBA.

After three years in the maize and blue, Leigha Brown is joining former teammate Naz Hillmon in the red and grey of the Atlanta Dream — being drafted 15th overall in the 2023 WNBA Draft.

The pair of former Wolverines not only share a club, but a selection number, as the Dream drafted Hillmon with the same exact pick in last year’s draft. 15th overall is the highest any Michigan player has been drafted to the WNBA, with Tabitha Pool and Stacey Thomas previously holding the top place after being drafted 23rd overall in the 2005 and 2000 WNBA Drafts respectively.

In three seasons as part of the Wolverines, Brown was a All-Big Ten first team selection in 2023, and a two-time All-Big Ten second team selection in 2021 and 2022. She also received All-American honorable mention honors this season after leading Michigan to a 23-10 record and a six-seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Brown leaves the Wolverines as just one of five players in the program’s history to amass 1,000-plus points and 300-plus assists, finishing with a total of 1,188 points and 303 assists in her Michigan career. In her two years at Nebraska prior to transferring to Michigan, Brown received the Big Ten Sixth Woman of the Year Award as a sophomore in 2020.