(Stanford) Draft Day Dreaming

The 2011 WNBA draft will be televised live Monday, April 11th on ESPN at 3:00 PM West Coast time.

Chris Hansen of HoopGurlz online has Stanford Women’s Basketball Player Kayla Pedersen projected as a number five draft pick. He says she could have gotten her numbers up but unselfishly did whatever the team needed rather than worry about statistics. Always praises her “good decisions on the floor and should have a long career.”

BTW, Minnesota Lynx have the first pick and everyone and their brother says to take Maya Moore. We spoke informally to our girl Candice Wiggins and she said she is excited to get a chance to play with Maya. However, what we really wanted to point out is the Los Angeles Sparks have the fifth pick, so wouldn’t it be cool if Kayla went to LA (Where we could take a road trip and see her) and play with Candice Parker?

Chris Hansen has another Stanford player, Jeanette Pohlen, listed as number 16. He recommends she go to a team that will put her back in her “natural” positions of off-guard instead of point.

Now Frank Della Femina of WNBA.com ran a mock draft and has Kayla Pedersen going eighth to the Atlanta Dream, and Jeanette Pohlen going 12^th to the Seattle Storm, so you just never know how these things are going to go.

Now we checked out the WNBA official mock draft and they have Kayla going fourth to… Minnesota! To be reunited with Candice Wiggins and play with Maya Moore. Oh to dream! They have Jeanette going ninth to Indiana, and that is a heck of a road trip for C and R!

Okay, Ben York of Slam Online has Kayla going sixth to the San Antonio Silver Stars, where she would be reunited with Jayne Appel! Unfortunately, he doesn’t’ have Jeanette Pohlen in his top twelve. C and R think they should quit dreaming while they are ahead and just tune in Monday.

Other notables, Gonzaga point guard Courtney Vandersloot is in the top ten of most mock drafts, and C and R were amazed by her, and wish her luck. Playing for a “smaller in stature” team then a traditional powerhouse, she received a lot of exposure in Gonzaga’s  NCAA run, and most notably when her team was trying to knock off Stanford.

So Texas A&M’s Danielle Adams is in the top twenty. She led her team to its first National Title, knocking off Stanford in the Final Four along the way…ungrind teeth and keep typing… and C and R are going to make a bold prediction. A bold prediction that is in no way fueled by bitterness and supported by the Courtney Paris model. We believe Adams will get drafted but will not make the team’s starting day roster.

Courtney Paris, you’ll recall, had a stellar college career, setting rebounding records and “double-double” records, points coupled with rebounding records, etc. She also battled weight issues her whole college career, and her weight caused her to be out of shape and have trouble keeping up with the pace and flow of the game. Sound familiar? She was drafted but couldn’t lose enough weight to enable her to keep up with the WNBA players and was cut. She has since been signed again by the LA Sparks and it remains to be seen if she will make this year’s team.

Danielle Adams had similar problems with weight and with making it up and down the court in both the Final Four games we saw her in. In fact, her team would have to walk the ball up the court to allow her to get up the court. If she cannot keep up with the pace of play in the WNBA, she will not make her team, and perhaps teams might remember how Courtney didn’t pan out and might not want to waste a valuable draft position on her. With only 11 roster spots on the 12 WNBA teams in the league, jobs are at a premium. Even if you are drafted, there is no guarantee you will make a team.

One last notable, they have Brittany Spears getting drafted! Oh baby, baby…hee hee...Hit me baby, one more time...