Ryan Ruocco Tabs Former Caitlin Clark Foe as Fever Fit in WNBA Draft
After Caitlin Clark's injury-riddled 2025 campaign, the Indiana Fever could target backcourt reinforcements this offseason. Ryan Ruocco pointed to Clark's former collegiate foe, Raven Johnson, as a potential fit.
"One place I think would be interesting for her is as a backup point guard in Indiana," Ruocco, ESPN's lead WNBA play-by-play voice, said Wednesday on The Robin Lundberg Show. "There's a chance the Fever are going to have to go get their backup point guard through the draft, and if they are, that's a player who I think would be interesting there."
Johnson and Clark went toe-to-toe twice in the NCAA Tournament, meeting in the Final Four in 2023 and the national championship in 2024. Clark memorably waved off Johnson during a Gamecocks possession in 2023 -- part of a 77-73 win that sent the University of Iowa to the title game.
Johnson got the last laugh, though, helping South Carolina take down the Hawkeyes in the 2024 national championship with an 87-75 victory, highlighted by her defensive efforts against Clark.
"I gave my net to Aliyah Boston because she helped me a lot along the way."
— Amanda (@AmandaPooleTV) April 8, 2024
When Raven Johnson (@HollywoodRaven) was guarding Caitlin Clark, CC was 27% shooting (3-11) with 7 points.
The revenge tour is over.@wachfox @GamecockWBB pic.twitter.com/XV8aVpJsjL
"I think Raven Johnson has really improved her stock this year. I've been so impressed with her," Ruocco noted. "I'm going to be honest, when I watched her previously, I never really saw her as somebody who was going to be able to stick on a WNBA team. Her going back to South Carolina for an additional year, I think, has completely changed the trajectory of her professional prospects."
Johnson is making the most of her fifth and final season at South Carolina, setting career-highs in points (10.0), assists (5.3), and field goal percentage (49.8). Her three-point shooting also surged, jumping from 29.5 percent in 2024-25 to a career-best 39.8 percent on higher volume in 2025-26.
"Raven has gone from someone who you didn't guard on the perimeter to now, confidently, without hesitation, taking and making threes at volume and in big spots," explained Ruocco. "I give [South Carolina coach] Dawn Staley so much credit. She does an amazing job preparing her players for the pro's. And I give Raven so much credit for the way she's continued to work, the confidence she's had."
Even more enticing for Indiana is what Johnson brings as both a facilitator and a tenacious defender.
"Her get ahead passing is terrific. She's a great defender. She's a floor general as well," lauded Ruocco. "I think Raven has absolutely worked her way into being a first-round pick."
Whether the Fever opt for the 2025 SEC All-Defensive Team point guard is a different question. Indiana owns the 10th pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft, and is looking to bolster a squad that came within a win of the WNBA Finals -- even after losing Clark to injury for the final three months of the season.
UCLA seniors Kiki Rice and Gabriella Jacquez are guards with higher ceilings offensively who could fall to Indiana at No. 10. Ruocco also mentioned the University of Kentucky's Tonie Morgan and Duke University's Taina Mair as a couple of options in the draft that could become quality WNBA backups.
Fever Should Target Point Guard in WNBA Draft
The Fever shouldn't be short on guard talent in 2026. In fact, they could boast one of the league's top backcourts if free agent Kelsey Mitchell returns alongside Clark. But both would benefit from a dependable backup point guard who can play elite defense and run the offense, giving Clark and Mitchell more freedom off-ball.
Johnson checks those boxes. The 5-foot-9 guard is a relentless defender who could potentially guard multiple positions at the pro level, all the while quarterbacking the nation's third-best offense.
Indiana cycled through a myriad of backup options in 2025, including Aari McDonald, Odyssey Sims, Sydney Colson, and Bree Hall. McDonald and Sims proved most effective, but neither is guaranteed to return in 2026. Drafting a young guard to fill the role for the foreseeable future is a tempting route -- and it's not a bad safety net if the Fever can't keep Mitchell long term.
Admittedly, the Fever might have more pressing needs. Clark and Mitchell excel at creating their own offense, and the team could certainly use a stretch big to help space the floor. Still, their talents would be maximized if another quality guard helped shoulder some of the ball-handling duties -- not to mention easing the load on Clark after a string of lower-body injuries in 2025.
The 2025-26 NCAA women's basketball season concludes with the national championship April 5 in Arizona, follwed by the 2026 WNBA Draft on April 13 in New York City.
Lou Orlando is a Fordham University alum, graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Journalism. At Rose Hill, he covered women's basketball for the university newspaper, the Fordham Ram. In addition to calling games on 90.7 FM. The Brooklyn native enjoys bagels and thinking about random early-2010s athletes, that is when he isn't penning stories for Women's Fastbreak and Indiana Fever On SI.
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