Hammond to play in All Star Game...The WNBA draft picks.

Hammond selected to play in All-American
prep basketball game 

TUESDAY @ C.C.

-Hammond in All-American Prep All-Star Game.

-The WNBA Draft..a few surprises

-Lady Cards a top five?

-Who's getting what...

Sara Hammond headlines a group of 22 senior girls basketball players chosen for the All-American Prep All-star game this Saturday in Chapel Hill, NC. Hammond, a Louisville signee, led Rockcastle County to the Kentucky Girls High School State Championship title this spring. She is the only participant from Kentucky on the East roster.

The game, which is sponsored by FILA, is a showcase for 22 of the top college bound seniors and is part of the Deep South Classic AAU event.

Sara will get to see several of her future BIG EAST opponents on the hardwood. Loliya Briggs, a Pittsburgh signee from Jacksonville, FL. is on Hammond's EAST squad. Jasmine Jackson(Georgetown), Madison Cable (Notre Dame) and Charise Jenkins (DePaul) are also listed as players. Of particular interest also are California signees Erika Johnson and Reshandra Gray. Speculation has developed that they may be looking to change commitments now that former head coach Joanne Boyle has taken the Virginia head position.

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The WNBA Draft Monday Night offered a few surprises in the three rounds. Georgia Tech star Alex Montgomery went in the first round to the New York Liberty and Danielle Adams (Texas A&M) wasn't selected until the second round as the 20th. pick. She's headed to San Antonio. WE didn't get to see Xavier's Amber Harris and Ta'Shia Phillips end up on the same team, like we hoped... but both were first round picks...like we figured. Amber is headed to Minnesota, where she'll join #1 pick Maya Moore and Ta'Shia was selected by Atlanta...who promptly traded her to Washington. Here are the three rounds of selections:

FIRST ROUND
1. MINNESOTA. Maya Moore (UConn)
2 TULSA. Elizabeth Cambridge (Austrailia)
3.CHICAGO. Courtney Vandersloot (Gonzaga)
4. MINNESOTA. Amber Harris (Xavier)
5. LOS ANGELES. Jantel Lavender (Ohio State)
6. SAN ANTONIO. Danielle Robinson (Oklahoma)
7. TULSA. Kayla Pederson (Stanford)
8. ATLANTA (traded to Washington)  Ta'shia Phillips (Xavier)
9. INDIANA. Jeanette Pohlen (Stanford)
10. NEW YORK Alex Montgomery (Georgia Tech)
11. WASHINGTON. Victoria Dunlap (Kentucky)
12. SEATTLE. Jasmine Thomas (Duke)

SECOND ROUND

13. Minnesota (traded to New York) Jessica Breland. (North Carolina) 14. Minnesota. Felicia Chester. (DePaul) 15. Chicago. Carolyn Swords (Boston College). 16. Connecticut (traded to New York) Sydney Colson. (Texas A&M.) 17. Chicago. Angie Bjorklund (Tennessee). 18. Atlanta. Rachel Jerry (Australia). 19. Phoenix. Brittany Spears (Colorado). 20. San Antonio. Danielle Adams (Texas A&M). 21. Tulsa. Italee Lucas (North Carolina.)  22, New York (traded to MInnesota) Angel Robinson (Marquette).23. Washington.  Karmina Christmas (Duke). 24. Seattle. Ify Ibkewe (Arizona).

THIRD ROUND

25. Tulsa. Chastity Reed (Arkansas-Little Rock). 26. Minnesota. Kachine Alexander (Iowa). 27. Chicago. Amy Jaeschke (Northwestern). 28. Connecticut. Adrienne Johnson (Louisiana Tech). 29. Los Angeles. Elena Babkina (Latvia) 30. San Antonio. Porsche Phillips (Georgia) 31. Phoenix (traded to Connecticut) Tahnee Robinson (Nevada). 32. Atlanta. Kelsey Botte (Iowa State). 33. Indiana. Jori Davis. (Indiana) 34. New York. Mekia Valentine (UC-Santa Barbara). 35. Washington. Sarah Krnjic. (Serbia). 36. Seattle. Krystal Thomas. (Duke).

Is it just us, or is the name recognition factor in the third round lacking? No draft for Liz Repella from West Virginia...which surprises us. With the tight restrictions on WNBA rosters and the proliference of good players returning from last year on most of the rosters...the chances that the third rounders will be sticking on rosters is pretty remote.

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Baylor, Notre Dame, Tennessee, Connecticut and Louisville? That's one preseason top 5 picks we've seen out there for the 2011-12 Women's College Basketball season. Three schools from the BIG EAST in there.
We think the honor of the selection is a great tribute and testimony to the hard work of Jeff Walz and the UofL coaching staff that seems to be bringing in top name talent every time we turn around. We're not sure if the Lady Cards are going to be a top five team by the time the BIG EAST Tournament rolls around, though. Too many intense battles in the BIG EAST are going to lay some "L"'s in the Cards win/loss record next season. We do think the Cards have the potential to be a serious contender, though, in the conference and national title picture if Walz can get the young talent on his roster to jell and play together. With one starting position open due to Keisha Hines graduation and an intense battle expected for point guard, the competition around Cardinal Arena ought to be quite challenging and fun to watch. Is any position already locked up?  We'd like to think that Monique Reid and Shoni Schimmel have preferred seats at the starting banquet...but you never really know when it comes to Walz Ball...

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USA Today has listed a breakdown of the top paid coaches in women's college basketball. The figures are for 2011...but it should be noted that Van Chancellor has retired and there were no figures provided for Doug Bruno (DePaul) Tara Vanderveer (Stanford), Joanne P.McCauley (Duke) or Melanie Baucom (Vandy)...The top ten are listed below:

1) Pat Summitt (Tennessee) $2,028,932
2) Geno Auriemman (Connecticut) $ 1,600,000
3) Kim Mulkey (Baylor) $1,112,016
4) C.Vivian Stringer (Rutgers) $1,085,500
5) Gail Goestenkors (Texas) $1,052,500
6) Shari Coale (Oklahoma) $948,000
7) Gary Blair (Texas A&M) $827,737
8) Brenda Frese (Maryland) $806,239
9) Jim Foster (Ohio State) $798,200
10) Van Chancellor (LSU) $666,000

Louisville's Jeff Walz was 13th on the list...weighing in at $550,000.

Information on the salaries comes from USA Today.
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