WNBA DRAFT

April 14, 2025

Madison Scott

Dallas Wings

Q. Your word for your final season was "joy," and here on Draft Night, how has that word taken on a new meaning for you?

MADISON SCOTT: You saw it with my tears. Those weren't sad tears, those were tears of joy. This year, Coach Yo [Yolett McPhee-McCuin] was big on making "joy" our word because it's important that we have gratitude through it all. Things could always be worse. Look at me, as much as I doubted myself and as much as I didn't always come out on top, God was with me through it all, and look where I'm sitting right now.

I'm so blessed and grateful to be here, so blessed to be going to Dallas and just so happy to see what God has planned for me. No matter what God has planned, I plan to do it all with joy.

Q. What is it about playing in the W that you're looking forward to the most?

MADISON SCOTT: Competing against the best in the world. I'm a competitor. I love to compete, especially on that defensive end. It starts there. It gets me motivated, gets me juiced up. I'm looking forward to competing against the best. These are legends that I watched growing up. These are people that I aspired to be like. These are people that I studied and really idolized.

I'm just really excited to compete against the best. May the chips fall where they fall. Sometimes they're going to get me, sometimes I'll get them. I just want to compete at a high level and just grow and learn and just be the best that I can be.

Q. You talk about the effort you want to put on the defensive end. You're going to be with DiJonai Carrington, one of the better defenders in the league. Talk about being able to learn from her and just what those conversations are going to be like throughout this process.

MADISON SCOTT: DiJonai is absolutely amazing. She is that person that's going to lock you up. She's going to guard the best player, and she's been in the league, so she has that experience.

I cannot wait for training camp so I can be up under her, be a sponge and just learn all there is to learn. One thing about me is I'm versatile. I'll be switching and I'll be guarding those guard positions that DiJonai guards. Any tips that she can give me, any knowledge that she can give me, I want it all because I want to be great and I want to surround myself around people that want to be great, as well.

It starts on the defensive end, and I'm excited to have those conversations with DiJonai and get all the tools and any knowledge that she has that will help me grow and be the best that I can be this season.

Q. You're one of four players from Ole Miss to leave with over 1,600 points, 1,000 rebounds, you have multiple defensive teams. Just talk about something that doesn't show up on the stat sheet that will just tell WNBA fans about yourself?

MADISON SCOTT: My leadership. My leadership. One thing that I plan to show -- my leadership, but I want to make sure that I come in with that leadership even as a rookie. Of course, I want to come in and be a sponge and learn from these vets and gain as much knowledge as possible, but I still want to be me. I know that I can communicate at a high level. I know that I am a great teammate. I know I can encourage and bring people along with me, and I know that I'm also a great follower, so I know when I need to follow.

I think that's all makeup of what makes me a great leader, and of course I'll continue to grow and get better, but I plan to come in and bring that leadership, and that doesn't always show up on the stat sheet, but I think my presence is big. I'm going to be an energy ball. I'm going to come in with all that passion. I'm going to bring anything that needs to be brought for our team to be successful. I can't wait to showcase that as soon as I touch down in Dallas.

Q. My question is just basically what are the intangibles that you're looking forward to bringing to this incredibly talented team and what message do you have for the Dallas sports fans?

MADISON SCOTT: It's going to start on the defensive end. I keep harping on that, but I've been in the program for five years where our motto was dictate and disrupt. It's embedded in me. It's in my blood to play defense at a high level. When you look at our team with Paige and Aziaha and Arike and I can go down the list of offensive power, great, great players, how can I help this team. You get what I'm saying?

Yes, there will be direct things that Dallas asks me to do to help the team, but I know that I can come in immediately and be a force on defense around these great players to help them out.

Again, that's what I plan on bringing. It's going to start on the defensive end, and again, I'll learn and grow, and my role will expand.

Q. You were able to sustain something that we don't see too often in college basketball anymore, just staying at a school for the longevity that you stayed at Ole Miss. For you moving forward in Dallas, what are going to be your immediate goals when you arrive in the 214 and arrive with your new teammates in Dallas?

MADISON SCOTT: To work my butt off and to stick. I want to really stick on this team. I want to help this team be successful. I want to help this team have a great season. I'm going to do everything in my power to do that. I'm going to work my butt off not only in practice but outside of practice. I'm going to be with my vets, DiJonai, like we talked about, and gain as much knowledge as possible. I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that I'm putting myself in the best opportunity, the best place to stick on this team because I really want to help this team be successful.

They believed in me, so I really want to give them my all.

Q. After all the years of work and blood and sweat and tears you've put into basketball, can you just describe what that moment was like for you to hear your name called?

MADISON SCOTT: I'm just so blessed. That's why you saw those tears. I have been blessed to play this game at a high level five years straight, no injuries. God has placed me around great teammates. God has allowed me to experience things that I never thought I would experience, allowed me to create memories that I never imagined, allowed me to travel the world and meet great players. Even being here, surrounded by great players. I'm just extremely blessed, and I don't take anything for granted.

I'm just super excited for all the work that I've put in before and I'm just super excited for all the work that's to come, as well, with God by my side. Super excited.

Q. I'm curious if you can share with us some of your earliest WNBA memories. What was the player or the moment that made you fall in love with the league and think, I want to be there?

MADISON SCOTT: Candace Parker made me fall in love with the league. She's absolutely amazing. Her versatility, she's the GOAT in my eyes.

What makes Candace so special to me is her presence. This is what I talked about having an impact, that leadership. Candace didn't always have to score, but Candace did other things. She was a stat stuffer, from rebounding to defending, blocks, assists, you name it. That's what I like to say that I do, stuff the stat sheet. I want to do whatever my team needs me to do to be successful.

So, Candace is a great example of that. I got to take a picture with her this weekend, and I was so excited. I hope that I continue to be in settings with her, so I can learn from her and gain knowledge from her because I've been studying her forever, and I hope to -- I aspire to do a little of what she did in her career.

Just grateful to be in a position to have conversations with her.

Q. What's one thing about your game that fans will be surprised about in Dallas?

MADISON SCOTT: Surprised about? That's a good question. I think they'll be surprised, maybe see what I do on the offensive end. I think the sky's the limit and there's a lot more to my game, and of course there's a lot more work to be put in. But the sky's the limit. There's really no ceilings to what I'm capable of doing. All it takes is belief, them believing in me, me believing in myself and God.

I just think that there's so much to be unlocked when I touch down there, so I'm just excited for it all, excited for every single moment.

Q. You talk about your pride as a defender. Who are you most excited to guard in the WNBA?

MADISON SCOTT: You know, I was asked this question earlier and I know it's a generic answer, but I said everybody because I'm a competitor. I really want to play against the best because I want to be the best one day. You can't be what you can't see.

Even if I'm out there in my rookie season and let's say I'm guarding Breanna Stewart and she comes down and does what she does and scores on me, I still know that I'm getting better because I'm going against the best. I'm going against a WNBA champion.

No matter what I'm going to take each experience and learn from it, grow from it and be the best that I can be. I want to guard everybody. I want every opportunity to be successful, to get better, I want it. So I'm going after that.

Q. Having helped take Ole Miss from the cellar to a couple of Sweet 16s, now going to a team that has struggled. What are the keys to turning it around?

MADISON SCOTT: Great coaching staff, great GM, great players. They have all the pieces, and most importantly they have the belief. I think that's what separates it. At Ole Miss nobody believed. Nobody believed in my decision to go there. Nobody believed that we could go to the Sweet 16s. Nobody believed that we could have the success that we had. But I believed. You get what I'm saying? And I believe in Dallas, and I am so excited to get to work because I can't wait for all that's to come.