The San Antonio Stars have the No. 1 pick, so if Plum is drafted as the top choice, she’ll be packing her bags for training camp in Texas. She doubles as an equally smart defender who doesn’t get caught up in switches and can guard multiple positions.
Advertisement
“I had to kind of pinch myself because I didn’t realize, ‘That’s my name. I know I’m probably going to get beat up as a rookie, but I’m looking forward to it”, Coates said. It’s just a lot of motivation for me when I do come back.
After watching her teammate get picked No. 1, UW senior Chantel Osahor got some good news of her own.
Coates was the second pick, going to Chicago.
Three members of the National Champion South Carolina Gamecocks were selected in the first round of WNBA Draft 2017 presented by State Farm Thursday night at Samsung 837 in NY.
The WNBA moved the draft to NY after a successful stint at Connecticuts Mohegan Sun the last few years.
There has been only one No. 1 pick that has been traded on draft day – Lindsey Harding in 2007. “Use your veterans, use your coaches, and be students of the game”. We feel like she really fits in to what we’re trying to build here. “She’s only scratched the surface of her potential”. “If San Antonio wants to keep me, great”. “Wherever I went, I was gonna be happy”. It’s special and I’m super excited. Coates has been projected as going fourth to Dallas (Bleacher Report and Excelle Sports), and fifth to San Antonio (Draftsite.com and Newsday). “She’s preparing us for this every moment, and preparing us for this level of play”.
Then Staley, who was named one of the WNBA’s top 15 players of all time, offered some advice to her now former players.
“She’s the complete package”. She joins a Stars team that went a WNBA-worst 7-27.
“The best advice is, stay true to themselves”, she said.
Borders said there will be former and current players at the draft and that there will be some changes to the format, although she was coy about the exact differences.
Plum left an indelible impact on the program and rewrote the UW, Pac-12 and NCAA record books in her final year. For her career, she averaged 12.1 points and 9.25 rebounds, playing on four teams that earned No. 1 NCAA Tournament seeds and advanced to at least the Sweet 16.
Coates was one of three Gamecocks taken in the first round Thursday, with two of them – No. 4 pick Allisha Gray and No. 10 Kaela Davis – headed to Dallas, the city where they won the national championship. She was also a three-time 3A player of the year and helped lead Washington County to a state championship in 2011 and a runner-up finish in 2012.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.
Coffey, who was All-Big Ten first team all four of her years here, was the first Northwestern player to have 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds. She hold school career records for rebounds (910) and blocks (279) and had single-game highs of 39 points, 20 rebounds and 10 blocks.
Advertisement
“For me to go number two, especially in my situation, I’m just really excited about that”, stated Coates, who is recovering from a season-ending ankle injury and recently had surgery.
