Guru's Musings: WNBA Draft Will East Appel's Pain
By Mel Greenberg
In some cases, the WNBA draft coming less than 48 hours after the NCAA women's title game will keep the highs going.
That would be in Connecticut where UConn star Tina Charles will go as quickly as Sun coach Mike Thibauldt wants to tease the masses when his organization takes the first turn on the clock. The big suspense is now over whether he will also add Huskies star Kalana Greene, whose stock continued to rise as her team bulldozed its way down the stretch to an unprecedented second straight unbeaten season.
The Sun are in position to grab Greene after gaining the seventh overall pick in a trade with the Tulsa -- formerly Detroit -- Shock.
Meanwhile, back on the West Coast, Stanford was still hurting after throwing away a chance to stop the Huskies' record streak, now at 78.
It was revealed that star center Jayne Appel also had a stress fracture besides the right ankle sprain that helped limit her along with the UConn defense to 0 points.
However, Appel will go quickly behind Charles depending on needs and she will be all smiles when she learns the next stop in a prolific basketball career.
Two years ago, the Guru asked Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer in Tampa whether it was a good thing for the draft to come so quickly on the heels of the collegiate championship, which back then was the next day.
The Women's Basketball Hall of Famer, whose team had just lost to Tennessee after giving UConn its last loss in the semifinals.
VanDerveer liked the idea that seniors could quickly move on to the next phase of their careers without dwelling over what just had occurred.
Biden Got The Memo
There was some speculation that Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill were anxious to see Connecticut in the title game so he can resume ties with Elena Delle Donne from the days when she was making shots as a high school phenom in Delaware and he was still the United States senator from that state.
No truth to that so apparently he got the word that Delle Donne's UConn experience two years ago was less than 48 hours before she headed home with a severe case of home sickness that ulitmately resulted in her playing the sport near her home this season with the Blue Hens.
Incidentally, with former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice in the house to cheer for Stanford where she once drew a paycheck, it would have been a nice motif in San Antonio for a notable with the last name of Beans to in the Alamodome also so it could be mentioned that Rice and Beans were among the crowd of about 22,000 spectators.
Local Draft Hopefuls
Names that may or may not be taken Thursday from Division I schools of interest here include Drexel's Gabriela Marginean and Penn State's Tyra Grant. Of course, former Rutgers star Epiphanny Prince is expected to go high after foregoing her senior season to play in Europe.
Former Villanova star Laura Kurz recently signed a training camp contract with the Seattle Storm and coach Brian Agler said he like the Wildcats leader who helped restore the team to prominence after she transferred from Duke.
Since the Guru plans to be on the scene at NBA Entertainment Studios off the Jersey Turnpike, he is going to sign off now.
-- Mel